let's remember some guys

it's almost the new year and time for auld lang syne, which, if harry burns and sally albright are to be believed, encourages us to remember that we've forgotten some people. while i haven't forgotten the people in this post, clearing out some cards from my scanned folder gives me an opportunity to remember them.

here are don drysdale, roy campanella, and don newcombe

on their respective 1985 tcma award winners cards. i bought these cards to complete the team set - nick had sent me the maury wills card at some point - but failed to post them during the postseason awards announcements.

1996 topps mystery finest mike piazza

i remember pulling a few of these cards from packs back in '96. while the card front was covered, you could figure out who was featured by looking at the images on the back

as the card fronts were slightly embossed.

1997 fleer ex 2000 raul mondesi

obligatory "rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul"

2000 topps gold label shawn green the treasury insert

fitting for green to be on a currency themed insert

2004 donruss team heroes eric gagne

game over!

2004 topps darren dreifort gold parallel

i saw dreifort pitch in person in 1997 and he was throwing darts. injuries suck.

2004 topps cracker jack edwin jackson variation and mini

modeling a forgetful jersey from the davey johnson and jim tracy eras

2007 bowman orange matt kemp

kemp isn't getting any love from the bbwa, not that he belongs in the hof, but i thought he might get a vote or two

2008 topps chrome derek lowe xfractor

quick - who was the last dodger to lead the league in wins prior to clayton kershaw doing so?

2013 topps randy choate gold parallel

acquired by the dodgers as part of the hanley ramirez trade, choate led the national league in appearances in 2012, combining his time with the marlins and dodgers. no dodger has led the league in that category since.

2015 topps juan uribe rainbow foil

two-time world series champion!

2015 topps heritage dee gordon retail foil

i think this was the only time prior to this year that there were foil parallels in heritage

2016 topps chrome kenta maeda refractor

he hit a home run in his second big league at bat

2021 topps edwin rios gold parallel

not sure why i scanned the back, but here you go

now i remember - rios hit the first two-run homer to lead off an inning in major league history as a result of the 2020 extra inning rules.

2022 topps tribute albert pujols

one of the goats, and i'm glad he played part of a season for the dodgers.

another standout chrome year

while i was completing my 2007 topps chrome refractor run dodger team sets, i was also picking up other refractors from other topps chrome releases. the one set that i hit the hardest during that time was 2008. the card design from that year really lends itself to the refractor treatment as there is color built in to the design along with ample border space.

these base refractors - hiroki kuroda

blake dewitt

and chin-lung hu (autograph)

were the ones i needed to complete the team set of refractor parallels.

the copper parallels from 2008 are pretty sharp, and i've almost completed that team set, too. here are the last few that i acquired in that effort - brad penny

russell martin

james loney

derek lowe

andre ethier

hiroki kuroda

and blake dewitt

i also have the matt kemp and andruw jones copper parallels, leaving the chin-lung hu autograph as the only card yet to obtain.

there is no x-fractor hu autograph but i only have a few of the dodgers, including russell martin

martin is also only one of the two blue refractor parallels that i own

but i will probably work to correct that. they are really great looking cards. i don't know if topps has changed their refractor printing or if its design based, but these 2008 cards hit a little differently than more recent releases from what i can see.

40 for 40

back in his "should have been mvp" 2011 season, matt kemp fell one home run short of becoming the fifth member of the 40/40 club. that honor has since gone to ronald acuna jr, some 12 years after kemp just missed out.

today is kemp's 40th birthday, so that's one 40 milestone he has reached successfully. in honor of his 39/40 2011 season and his latest trip around the sun, here are 40 kemp cards from my collection that i've not previously shown here.

2006 topps turkey red red parallel

2006 upper deck special fx

2007 topps chrome refractor

2008 topps chrome copper refractor

2008 upper deck timeline gold parallel

2008 upper deck ultimate collection

2009 bowman chrome

2009 bowman chrome xfractor

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee black parallel

2010 bowman chrome refractor

2010 topps chrome refractor

2011 bowman international

2011 topps attax foil parallel

2012 bowman orange parallel

2012 topps gold parallel

2012 topps walmart blue parallel

2012 topps tribute bronze and blue parallels

2012 topps update golden parallel

2013 bowman blue parallel

2013 bowman state and hometown parallel

2013 bowman platinum gold parallel

2013 topps blue slate wrapper redemption parallel

2013 topps chrome blue refractor

2013 topps chrome purple refractor

2013 topps chrome black refractor

2013 topps tribute blue parallel

2013 topps tribute superstar swatches and famous four baggers relics

2014 topps kemp green parallel

2014 topps chrome orange refractor

2014 topps chrome purple refractor

2014 topps chrome xfractor

2014 topps turkey red

2018 topps big league blue parallel

2018 topps chrome update pink refractor (all-star game)

2018 topps chrome update pink refractor 

2018 topps update (all-star game) rainbow foil parallel

2018 topps update (all-star game) rainbow foil parallel

and how about a 2013 topps museum collection primary pieces quadruple relics patch card numbered to 5 to cap things off

there are only five players better represented in my card collection than kemp, who clocks in at around 530 unique cards. i am always keeping an eye out, so that total will likely continue to grow.  happy birthday to the bison!