red and some other select cards

i noticed a lot of red in my scanned folder so figured i would create a corresponding post.

sometime last year, i completed my red parallel dodger team set of 2009 topps unique

thanks to chad billingsley, andre ethier, manny ramirez, and jim thome. those four fellows join matt kemp, clayton kershaw, and russell martin in my team binder. as an aside, this may be the most upper decky set topps has ever produced. i don't know why, but i always want to call it upper deck unique.

here's a 2013 topps mark ellis parallel

that was exclusive to target

2020 topps opening day justin turner red foil

i don't think that the red foil cards were exclusive to a retailer, but they might have been.

2025 topps heritage gavin stone

and the alcs/nlcs card

i think these are target exclusives?

panini does red, too. here's a 2022 panini mosaic mookie betts red mosaic parallel

and a 2022 panini donruss red parallel of kenley jansen

that one is numbered to 2022, and this 2023 panini donruss brooks lee red holo parallel

is numbered to 2023. i guess the red parallel (one of them, anyway) is/are panini's topps gold equivalent.

now here's a 2023 panini prizm jim gilliam ruby wave parallel

it's sort of red.

and this 2022 panini prizm walker buehler parallel

is one-third red, as it's a red white & blue parallel. more like red white & buehler!

finally, here's a red prizm parallel of steve garvey's 2024 panini select card.

it's numbered to 149 on the back

it was a nice surprise to see garvey included in that release, and i joined a couple of player breaks back when the cards first came out.  i wound up with mostly base

but did also get a holo prizm

i wound up buying some parallels on the secondary marker, like this orange flash prizm

this red white & blue prizm

and this tricolor prizm

this light blue prizm

numbered to 199 

arrived via one of my break entries.

back to the secondary market for this black and blue prizm

numbered to 49

and it's the bookend!

one of the breaks i joined really paid off when the seller pulled this tie dye prizm

that is numbered to just 25

very nice.

there are (of course) many more parallels out there, and i had one (white prizm) go missing in the mail. i don't have any others queued up for purchase, but never say never.

ace off base?

i recently read a couple of clickbait sort of articles about walker buehler's decision to leave the dodger camp and continue his rehab in florida - away from the club's facilities. my take was that these articles were looking to drum up some drama, and i regret giving them clicks. he's back with the dodgers' triple-a team and made his second start a couple of days ago.

i've enjoyed playing card themed insert sets way more than the actual baseball playing card sets from the 1990's, and i have a couple of recent examples to share. the first one is from 2022 panini mosaic

and is the mosaic prizm parallel. the next is from 2023 topps update

and is part of the "all aces" insert set.

while i chose to complete the 2000 pacific invincible aces of the diamond set, i decided not to complete either of the two above sets, although the "all aces" set was on the bubble for quite some time.

back to buehler, he is a free agent at the end of the season so the next couple of months are pretty critical. i certainly support whatever approach he felt was best to get him back on the mound, and more importantly, the dodgers showed support as well.

3rd and 10

surprise - even thought it's sunday, and the post is titled "3rd and 10", this is not a football post. instead, it's about dodger third basemen and the number 10.

ron cey was the first los angeles dodger to wear number 10 who wasn't a catcher. rube walker brought the number with him from brooklyn and wore until his release during the 1958 season. in 1964, jeff torborg came along and claimed the number until he was traded to the angels following the 1970 season. that's when cey was called up and began to wear the number. he wore it until he left the dodgers after the 1982 season.

the number is only partially visible on cey's 2003 topps tribute world series edition card

but that's the one in the scanned folder, so it will have to do.

since cey was dealt to the cubs after the 1982 season, 15 dodger players have worn the number, with 5 of the last 7 being primarily third basemen. one of those players was jose valentin, seen here on a 2005 topps chrome traded card

valentin's tenure with the dodgers, which lasted just that one season, was forgettable. probably the most memorable or recognizable dodger to wear number 10 since cey was justin turner. i have a few cards of turner sitting in the scanned folder - 2019 topps opening day blue foil parallel

2021 topps blue star parallel

2019 bowman chrome

2021 panini donruss stat line parallel

2022 panini mosaic green mosaic prizm parallel

2021 topps big league electric blue parallel

turner was the dodgers' regular third baseman from 2015 through 2021, a tenure that is second only to cey. no dodger has worn number 10 since turner left the club a couple of years ago as a free agent.

the dodgers' current third baseman, max muncy, wears number 13, but looking through my scanned folder i noticed on this will smith 2019 bowman chrome prospects purple refractor card

that the current dodger catcher is shown wearing number 10, and the card lists him as a "c/3b" to boot!

finally, here's a 2018 topps gold parallel showing turner along with cody bellinger and clayton kershaw

during a happy time in the 2017 postseason.

we may not see number 10 on a dodger this year, but there are only 10 days until regular season baseball begins!