a moment for davey lopes

damn.

davey lopes passed away earlier today.

i heard he was in bad health just the other day thanks to a comment on night owl's excellent recent post. i went looking for an update on that news just about an hour ago and saw the announcement that he had passed away.

there aren't many words, so here is a retrospective of his primary topps cards from his playing days, each of which has a special place in my collection.

of course, lopes also featured prominently on topps record breaker and league leader cards throughout his career, as well as the 1978 topps 1977 nlcs retrospective card

and 1982 all-star and in action subset cards along with a traded set card that year. i even made a custom when he was left out of the 1984 and 1986 topps traded sets. he returned to topps flagship sets as the brewers' manager in 2001 and 2002

and has a ton of other cards from various releases due to his career as a player, coach, and manager.

i've written often about my love for the dodger infield, and that i played second base quite a bit. i was a big fan of lopes, and i wore his number 15 on a couple of different occasions in my babe ruth baseball playing days. i never really had the chance to interact with him other than a short recognition and simultaneous head nod and thumbs up from him at a nationals game in 2017 where he was the first base coach under dusty baker.

my most recent lopes additions to my collection come from that same year, as these 2017 topps rediscover topps buybacks

arrived in my mailbox just a week or so ago from a sportlots seller.

lopes is the eighth member of the 1978 topps dodgers to pass away, joining jerry grote, vic davalillo, don sutton, tom lasorda, lance rautzhan, johnny oates, and glenn burke. i am sad to have lost another member of the team of my youth, but happy that i was able to witness the majority of his career. 

rest in peace 15.

anyone still using psa?

it's been about 20 years since i've sent any cards in for grading, but when i did, i split my submissions between beckett and psa. in total, i've probably submitted a total of 10 cards, so i was by no means heavy into the grading scene.

it's a polarizing topic within the hobby, and i've recently seen more disdain for psa because of their "buyback" offers. having a program to buy back cards graded by psa as a 9 and then reevaluating them and potentially giving them a 10 grade and then reselling is pretty corrupt if that is, in fact, happening.

i did recently buy this card 

 

on the secondary market. i had thought about going for a psa rainbow of steve garvey's 1978 topps card (i have the psa 10 already, but sold my psa 9 a couple of years ago) but i scrapped that idea and instead figured i should get graded examples of all of his flagship base cards. 1976 was one i needed, but once it arrived i questioned this pursuit. i'd be looking for psa 7 or 8 at a minimum, and while i have a psa 8 version of his 1971 rookie card, his 1972 high number would be pricey. we'll see.

i talked with the owner of one of the local card shops recently about psa submissions and he said that he has stopped submitting cards for customers. he was running into issues with customers not paying for the grading because the time lapse between submission and return allowed for markets to change. i guess he wasn't collecting the full initial price up front? at any rate, he still sends his own cards and is excited to get the upcharge emails when a card grades highly. seems weird to me, but he's in this as a business so i understand.

if i decide i want more graded cards, i will continue to let others submit cards and then pick them up for less than the cost of grading, thank you very much.

isn't it iconic?

it's been a while since 2025 topps heritage was released and i mentioned that i was working on a post related to the player icons that make the 1976 set so memorable. today, i finally publish that post, and it starts with a red parallel of darren baker's rookie card

it's not his flagship golden mirror variation, but i do like this card. aside from the color match, it features the familiar second base icon with sweet double play action. i've added baker and a host of other cards to my double play collection since that initial post. here's a colt keith chrome parallel

and a bunch of base keystone players

i also picked up a marcus semien variation

for the double play collection. semien's regular card has the all-star star instead of the player icon. of course topps calls these "cartoon variations". more on those later.

there is also an insert set devoted to the player icons, and i added both jose altuve

and semien to my dp collection

as the second basemen represented in the set.

this insert set has both a cardboard and a foil version - here's elly de la cruz to demonstrate

and here's first baseman freddie freeman

to represent the dodger collection. these cards use the 1976 icons and topps calls these inserts "1976 player icons" and not cartoons so i don't understand how the variations are cartoon variations.

anyway, here's a reminder of what all of the 1976 player icons looked like:

i had to use carl yastrzemski's first baseman icon since there were no dodgers given that one back in 1976. steve garvey had the all-star star and when he plays every day there really isn't anyone else to show at that position (as a primary). the designated hitters are from tony oliva and hank aaron cards, respectively (thanks brett alan!)

now, here are the variatons in 2025:

one of the first things i noticed is more detail or shading of the figures, and also that the position text is mostly left justified. 

you can probably tell that the right handed pitcher icon comes from shohei ohtani's variation

that i was fortunate to pick up in a lot of heritage cards i purchased a while back. the lefthanded pitcher icon comes from tarik skubal's card

which i used to own. i tried to convince myself that the icon is based on clayton kershaw 

but i don't think it is. that silver pack card from 2025 topps series 2 is sort of close, but not really. maybe it's justin verlander based. any ideas?

another item of note is that there are a few designated hitters in the 2025 set, including leftys and rightys, just like in 1976. topps used the same player icons for those players:

the lefty is from joc pederson's card and the righty is from marcell ozuna's. here's the variation:

it comes from kyle schwarber's variant card. schwarber hits lefthanded and his base card features the same icon as on joc's card. his chrome parallel, however, features the righty dh. go figure. i did not find a lefty dh variation, but i make no claims that it doesn't exist.

here's a blue parallel of joc's card that i found in a pack

along with ozuna's that was also pack pulled by me

topps also used that dh icon on the batting related league leader cards. here's the american league home run leaders to represent leftys

along with the a.l. batting leaders for the rightys

i would need to be convinced by a preponderance of evidence that the icon used on those cards is not based on carl yastrzemski. his 2012 topps archives deckle edge insert

is pretty demonstrative of my thinking.

topps used the same icons for the league leaders in 2025

including the shortstop icon for the stolen base leaders (minus the baseball)

and the pitcher icons on the pitching league leader cards

topps was pretty true to the original with this leading firemen card, as it is the only leader card that covers both leagues. they are still short on data - the back (as it was in 1976) shows only previous winners and their teams

with no mention of "points" or how the points are calculated. today, i can google this and find out that relievers get 3 points for a save, 2 for a win, and are deducted 2 for a loss. us kids in the 70's just shrugged our shoulders and figured that topps and rolaids knew what they were doing.

it's worth noting that topps took another run at player icons as part of their "1976 redefined" insert set. here's corey seager's card

as an example. the icons are all different from the variations of the base set, and this one in particular screams chipper jones. the jump/throw image is similar to chipper's 1993 upper deck card but matches his 2023 topps stadium club card spot on.

here it is - heritage!

i mentioned last week that i bought a hobby box of 2025 topps heritage while i was on the west coast recently. i wound up opening it in my hotel room one night and then scanning some of the cards when i returned home. it was a pretty good box for this dodger collector, even if topps got rid of the box toppers (i was hoping to strike gold with a nice buyback).  here's what i found

pack 1

the lone insert is the royal blue joc pederson parallel, but i did also get a double play card. yes, i am collecting all of the second basemen in the set for my double play collection just as i have done for the original 1976 cards thanks to the player position icon design. welcome to the collection brooks baldwin!

from here on out, i will just show highlights (to me) from each pack.

pack 2:

yordan alvarez

which is also a short print

this is my first look at the all-star cards, and i like it very much. the star works really well with the design, and alvarez's card is just a flat-out winner.

otto lopez

another second baseman, and it's worth noting that this is a deviation from the color scheme used for the marlins in 2015 archives.

pack 3:

jhoan duran chrome parallel

these are unnumbered for what i believe is the first time in heritage's history. i've seen these referred to as "white border" chrome which is understandable.

ty madden chrome light blue sparkle parallel

also unnumbered

roki sasaki rookie card!

which is surprisingly not a short print.

pack 4:

marcus semien

topps is squeezing in the "second" text in the all-star star. back in my day, they called it "2nd" and we liked it.

cody bellinger

decent photoshop job to get belly into a yankee uniform.

cade smith dark blue parallel

this turned out to be a decent box for guardians collectors.

stan musial

i am collecting this subset, just as i collected the all-time leaders in 2022 heritage and the mvp subset (even though it was highly disappointing) in 2024 heritage. enough has been said about how topps did some strange things with these all-time all-stars, but i'm mostly ok with what they did.

pack 5:

yoshinobu yamamoto

dodger #1 of the pack

shohei ohtani (record breaker) chrome refractor parallel

not a bad card to get a refractor parallel of.

tyler glasnow

three dodgers in this pack, and glasnow's card is a short print.

gunnar henderson

i briefly considered collecting the all-star subset. they are really hitting the mark for me.

pack 6:

justin wrobleski

doing more damage to my dodger want list

curtis mead chrome parallel

this one goes into the dp collection. i won't chase the chrome parallels of second basemen, but i will keep them if i pull them.

brandon nimmo dark blue parallel

the color works pretty well with the mets cards.

pack 7:

corbin carroll 1976 redefined insert

this design looks like what a vintage 1976 design might look like if topps treated heritage like the flagship release. i'm not sure if the player icon is an improvement as i could convince myself that it is a first baseman stretching and receiving a high throw.

gavin stone

he's got some of the most piercing eyes on cardboard since gil hodges. this one is a short print, too.

orelvis martinez

contributing to the dp collection. nice to see topps give the blue jays the same color scheme that the expos had in 1976. they used a different color scheme for toronto in 2015 archives.

shohei ohtani record breaker

another good dodger pack. here's the back:

gcrl favorites matt kemp and vladimir guerrero are noted on the back, both of them so close to 40/40 immortality.

pack 8:

this was a pretty decent pack, so i scanned the whole thing

the mays and altuve (second baseman) cards are keepers. the jake mccarthy card in the middle is the '76 border parallel that is numbered to 76, and the yordan alvarez next to it is the foil parallel of a regular player icon insert.

pack 9:

nl stolen base leaders

it's good to see a dodger on this card, even if ohtani isn't in the top spot as davey lopes was back in 1976. here's the back:

the list goes back far enough to give lopes his due. i see dodgers dee strange-gordon and trea turner also listed.

w.e.b. du bois notable americans

du bois lived to be 95 and he filled his lifetime with work related to social advocacy. he died the day before the march on washington, although he was out of the country and not planning to attend.

yariel rodriguez chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 10:

daniel harris dark blue parallel

adael amador

i believe the rockies have three second basemen in the set, and i like the color scheme. not sure why topps didn't figure it out for the 1976 design in 2015 archives though.

pack 11:

aaron judge (record breaker)

i like the record breakers this year, too. 

luis garcia jr

there are a few cards that look like they may have the fake heritage backgrounds of a few years ago, and this might be one of them. topps let the nationals keep the expos' color scheme from 1976 which is a good move on their part.

gustavo campero chrome parallel

campero was just called up and is now injured. not sure which team goes through players at a higher rate - the dodgers or the angels.

pete crow-armstrong

this one is a short print. here's the back:

interesting that he and masyn winn were in little league (i assume) together and now are in the nl central together.

pack 12:

andy ibanez

nick yorke

back to back second basemen

adley rutschman chrome light blue sparkle parallel

this one might be the closest in terms of photos between the all-stars in this set and the all-stars in the 1976 set. thurman munson was also turned this way, but he was looking at the camera. where are people like pat neshek who are willing to recreate some of those poses from yesteryear?

pack 13:

teoscar hernandez

nice to see a dodger card with the all-star star. in the 1976 set, there were three dodgers (steve garvey, ron cey, and andy messersmith) so honored, plus jim wynn who was shown as a brave on his card. there were only two nl all-star outfielder cards in 1976 (wynn and lou brock) as both ron cey and pete rose (who started in the outfield for the national league) were listed as "3rd base"

andrew walters chrome parallel

max scherzer dark blue parallel

that may be a true background behind scherzer but i don't trust topps at this point.

pack 14:

nl home run leaders

it's not often we see a dodger on top of this leaderboard

jhonkensy noel 1776-1976 bicentennial parallel #/200

more guardians goodness

mookie betts

yes, three dodger short prints in my box!

pack 15:

richie palacios

this is a good color scheme for the rays, but it's different from what topps used in 2015 archives.

john d. rockefeller notable americans insert

noted as the founder of standard oil, he spent most of his later years as a philanthropist supporting medical advancement and the arts. standard oil had such a large monopoly at its peak that it was broken up into 34 different companies to comply with anit-trust laws. he was a rich dude.

matt olson chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 16:

nicky lopez

bryce harper

looks like a phanatic bat

jurickson profar

i forgot what a great season profar had last year. and now he's suspended.

ketel marte dark blue parallel

there's the national league's all-star at second base. i should note that topps changed up the color scheme for the dbacks from what they used in 2015 archives.

michael kopech

this was definitely a box made for me

pack 17:

adley rutschman

angel martinez chrome parallel

like the curtis mead above, this one goes to the dp collection

bryan woo short print

here's the back:

he is off to a pretty decent start this year.

pack 18:

paul skenes

there is some synchronicity here, as pirate jerry reuss was one of the all-star pitchers in the 1976 set

ichiro through the years insert

i am not sure what to make of these. i would much rather have had topps continue with the 'now & then' and baseball flashback inserts then produce these generic looking cards.

bailey ober chrome light blue sparkle parallel

i assure you that there is no second "bailey" on the back of this card

yogi berra

one of the few non-outfielders in this subset

pack 19:

mel ott

one of the many outfielders in this subset

luis peralta dark blue parallel

i liked the rockies' city connect uniforms. i guess they weren't selling enough so it was time for a rebrand.

vaughn grissom

grissom is in the minors at the moment. looks like the braves were the winners in the trade, although grissom is only 24.

pack 20:

river ryan

ryan will still be a rookie next year when he returns (hopefully) from tommy john surgery.

bob gibson

oh so close to a final tribute. it is gibson in a 1976 design, but it's not the base design with stats on the back, unfortunately.

zack gelof

yilber diaz chrome parallel

dylan cease chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 21:

al stolen base leaders

jazz chisholm shouldn't be on this card. he had 40 stolen bases, sure, but only 18 were with the yankees. the other 22 were from his time in the national league with the marlins. by topps' reasoning here, eddie murray should have won the national league batting title in 1991.

jose iglesias

aaron judge 25th anniversary insert

a couple things here - we are getting deep into the box and i had not yet seen my "hit". when i first saw this card, i thought that it might be an auto, but it's not. instead, it's a card celebrating the 25th anniversary of topps heritage. however, it should be celebrating the 25th year of topps heritage. the 25th anniversary comes next year.

edwin diaz dark blue parallel

another mets color match

nl batting leaders

i didn't find the rbi leader card in this box, but this card reminds me of just how close ohtani was to a triple crown.

pack 22:

this pack was chock full of good stuff, so here's all eight cards

the dusty/darren baker father & son card was my most wanted base card in this set and there it is. of course, i already had the card at home but didn't know it yet thanks to a mailer from rod (thanks rod!). the brayan bello and jesse winker cards would be great for the memorials collection, but i will stick with my previous choices for the tim wakefield, bud harrelson, and jerry grote patches. winker's card is a short print, by the way.

three dodgers in this pack, plus a double play is nothing to sneeze at, and then there was that upside down card. here's the front:

it's a photo variation of tyler fitzgerald. for the record, here's the regular photo

that i found in a mega box that i opened a few days ago.

pack 23:

mike trout

corey seager chrome refractor parallel

chris bassitt short print

nico hoerner

pack 24:

francisco lindor clubhouse collection single relic

my "hit" was in the last pack. could be worse.

nl home run leaders chrome light blue sparkle parallel

another nice dodger parallel featuring ohtani

freddie freeman

this was the last card of the box, so i went out in style.

i really do like this set. a lot. however, seeing the 1976 design and the bicentennial themed inserts makes me, once again, feel some regret on topps' behalf that they didn't either start the heritage series with the 1951 design in 2001 or wait until 2002 to debut this series. had they done so, 2026 heritage would feature this design, and we could have some semiquincentennial themed inserts numbered to 250 and the 50th anniversary buybacks would truly make sense.

speaking of which, i've been diligent (but not diligent enough) in my annual pursuit of buybacks featuring the infield of my youth. a ron cey buyback was snapped up on ebay before i saw it, but i have claimed bill russell's card

as well as one of three cards featuring davey lopes

who is a little beat up.

i would love to find the lopes record breaker in buyback form, and i hope to share that card and some of the others i find in the near future. stay tuned!