deja vu, but not all over again

a week or so before christmas i found myself across the border in wisconsin. i chose not to pick up any new glarus, but i did make a stop at iconic sports cards just off of i-94 in hudson. it was the second time i've been to the shop, and this time was as positive as the last.

i headed over to the monster boxes sorted by team but first saw a random box of miscellaneous cards sitting on a table. this 1996 pinnacle summit card

was fronting one of the rows. i grabbed it thinking that it was probably not anything on my dodger team set list because the front has it as a very clear jason kendall card. the back

does identify piazza and includes a dodger logo. at any rate, it did not look familiar to me so it was among the cards i purchased. when i got home, i realized that this card was on my team want list and that it was one i did not previously own. i was sort of surprised that i need cards from a mid-90's set like this but i guess i do.

it's getting to the point where i can't just pick up a panini clayton kershaw parallel and safely assume it is a need, but this 2021 mosaic mosaic parallel

was one that i didn't previously own.

boxes like these are good for finding base cards from higher end or obscure releases, and i found a 2021 topps tribute duke snider card 

and a 2025 topps all-star game hyeseong kim card

as evidence.

i don't think anyone was asking for a chrome version of allen & ginter, but in 2022 there was a chrome release separate from the regular a&g set. this walker buehler card

is a numbered magenta parallel

parallels like that are the primary thing i look for these days in these sorts of situations. here's a 2024 topps update gold parallel of dinelson lamet's card

along with three parallels from 2024 topps chrome update/2024 topps chrome sapphire edition

sapphire is something that shows up a lot in boxes like this. i am guessing people buy the sets and pull a couple of specific cards and dump the rest?

in addition to parallels, i am on the lookout for inserts. here is a foursome of freddie freeman inserts that were all new to me

those are from 2024 topps cosmic chrome, 2024 topps heritage high numbers, 2025 topps, and 2025 topps chrome, respectively.

one more dodger insert to show - jason wrobleski's 2025 topps silver pack card

at some point, checklists switched from calling these "silver pack" cards to "chrome" cards but that gets confusing when there are 35th anniversary cards (without the "mojo") in chrome releases so i've stuck with the silver pack nomenclature.

the last time i visited the shop, i picked up a couple of non-certified autographs, and i grabbed one this time around

the late tim crews' 1989 donruss card is really a nice looking card in my opinion and i am happy to be able to add a card he (supposedly) signed to my collection.

it wasn't all dodgers that i purchased - here's a 2024 topps cosmic chrome willie mays galactic greatness insert

and a 2025 bowman dylan crews rookie of the year favorites insert

that i added to my stack.

one more that i will show is this 2022 topps chrome sapphire owen miller green parallel

it's a nice double play card and is numbered to 75 on the back. in all, i wound up with 29 singles for which my cost was $15.

i asked the guy at the counter to grab a hanger pack of 2025 topps allen & ginter, and here's what that contained

it was nice to find a new orel hershiser card in a pack. the mel ott card at the end is a short print

and it sort of looks like the short prints have slightly different coloring.

my pack also included a francisco lindor foil filigree parallel

along with a pair of mini parallels

one gold (obviously), one base mini (less obvious)

the main (full size) inserts this year are "wicked curves" and "sweet victory" and i got one of each - both yankees

the checklists for these inserts is not bad, with some players and moments that don't typically get a lot of play in the current hobby (like sparky lyle) showing up.

i also asked the guy at the counter if he had any old 9-pocket pages lying around from people bringing in old binders of cards to sell. the card shop in the western twin cities used to have some of these binders but i hadn't noticed any the last time i was there. and, the monthly card show used to have one or two people selling binders with junk wax era star cards that i bought once or twice more for the pages. i used these pages for sending cards and i had recently run out of my most recent batch.

anyway, the guy looked over and picked up a binder and handed it to me. it was very clearly a 1993 leaf collection of national league teams

i am guessing that the former owner put this together sometime after 1997 as the brewers were in the american league when the set was released but they were in the binder. since i was in wisconsin, here's a look at some of the brew crew cards that were in the binder

i wasn't looking for ultra pro platinum sheets to cut up, but that's what i got. there was no charge for this binder or these sheets or cards, which included a couple of the heading to the hall inserts

pretty cool move and much appreciated.

in all, my total was $22 and i handed over $2 plus my second 2025 topps chrome shohei ohtani card which was easier for me to find than many of the cards i picked up at the shop. it will probably be a few months, but i'll be back to wisconsin and this shop for sure.

card show date to church

back in may i went to the semi-annual card show at a suburban church. it's held in a gymnasium that seems too small to me to function as a gymasium, but i am not an elementary school child so that might be the issue. anyway, i bought cards from four dealers and found some fun stuff.

the first guy i bought from is a regular at the local shows. i picked up a couple of 1955 bowman cards for the set build, along with this dandy

it turns out that these world series pennants were inserts in the 1961 fleer baseball greats packs. there are then only two dodger world champions pennants (1955 and this one) and i bet that the 1955 version is pretty spendy. cool vintage oddball pickup for the collection for sure.

the next seller i picked up cards from was another regular - the guy who always has bargain boxes with a seemingly neverending variety of cards. i found these three legends variations from 2009 topps update

a yasiel puig variation from 2018 topps

and some numbered dodger parallels from 2022 topps uk edition

turner & turner at your service.

he also had a box of autos and relics that were marked at 50% off sticker which meant most were a buck or two. i took a black parallel of victor gonzalez' 2021 topps update 1986 autograph

and a couple of dodger relics

from his inventory.

this 2009 bowman draft derek jeter card

goes in my name/number on the back collection, and this 2010 topps cards your mom threw out 1969 reggie jackson card

is an original back version

and probably the closest i will come to owning the real thing.

i am not familiar with paw patrol (i can tell you all about the wiggles, however) but i still picked up this 2024 topps update aaron judge thing

did he make a guest appearance on the show? not sure what the crossover is supposed to be.

finally, i chose to buy this 2023 topps mike trout city connect manupatch

i actually like the angels' city connect uniforms, although you don't get too much of it on this card.

there was another seller with a 50 cent box that i stopped to check out. i wound up with a few cards, including a desecrated 1975 topps pete rose card

and a beat up phil garner/keith hernandez rookie card from the same set

i mean no disrespect to bob sheldon and tom veryzer, but those top two guys made this card a hot commodity back when i was trying to complete the oakland a's team sets during the early billy ball days.

i also grabbed this 1979 topps lou brock card

even though i don't have a need for it. it's just such an iconic card from my childhood - seeing the same person as the all-time and season record holder was pretty cool to young gcrl. and it's still cool, even though the player on this card would be different today. looking forward to 2028 topps heritage!

finally, i was on my way out when i saw some monster boxes set up near the doorway. there was a kid - probably late teens - who was set up with a table of toploaded and slabbed stuff. the monster boxes were on the side and clearly not the main thrust of his set up. i didn't want to spend too much more time at the show, but i started looking through one of the boxes.

i wish all sellers were like this one. he came over and told me that he would give me a deal on the singles from the box. i pulled this card out - a 2024 topps holiday shohei ohtani variation 

and asked him how he would price it. he said that it was a variation, and so i was ready for the $5 to $10 price tag. instead, he said a buck or so. um ok. i'll keep digging.

i wound up with quite a stack of cards - parallels and inserts - from various 2023, 2024, and 2025 topps releases. finding a 2024 topps chrome cosmic mookie betts extraterrestrial talent insert

was fun, but most of the cards in the one box i looked through came from topps flagship releases. clearly this person was buying a variety of release formats and looking for the big hits. here's a 2025 topps ohtani 8-bit ballers insert

and a 2025 topps rosie red insert

that both came from the celebration boxes. 

i was able to add the one dodger themed first pitch card to my collection

(that's usc trojan juju watkins) plus some other dodger parallels like a 2023 topps freddie freeman silver pattern foil card

from a collector's box, and some 2024 topps aqua parallels from fanatics packaging - freeman on a league leader card

and walker buehler

as well.

i didn't limit myself to dodgers, as i will always go for a miguel cabrera final tribute parallel

and i also couldn't pass up the color match on the padres team card

the last card i added to my stack was this 2024 topps chrome update jackson holliday stratospheric stars insert

i asked the seller to price the stack and figured i was looking at about 20 bucks. he came back with 10 and it was such a pleasant surprise. i hope to see him at future shows, although he hasn't been at the couple i've attended since then, and i won't be able to get to the next church show.

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues!

clayton kershaw made his 2025 season debut (to start his 18th big league campaign overall) last night at dodger stadium against the angels. i was very happy to see him back on the bump, and also pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

kershaw pitched four innings and struck out two batters to give him 2 strikeouts for the 2025 season. those 2 halos that he k'd increased his career total to 2,970.

in honor of his performance, here are 2 not seen on this blog before cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,969 through 2,970.

2,969 - 2024 topps chrome lids mitchell & ness

seeing kershaw on the 1996 topps design made this a must get card for me last year

2,970 - 2024 topps chrome cosmic

i am really not sure how this set is distributed as i have only seen singles of it in bargain boxes at card shows. i will grab some of the cards every time, though.

kershaw struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed a hit followed by a couple of walks and soon thereafter, the angels had a 3-0 lead. he threw a 1-2-3 inning in the second, however, and wound up giving up five runs and throwing 83 pitches overall. there were three walks, and a few more three ball counts. the angels seemed to be swinging out of their shoes at times as kershaw's velocity and location were a bit off which is certainly understandable.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's andy pages' 2023 panini donruss bomb squad insert (rapture parallel)

pages hit a three run homer in the bottom of the first to tie the game and then later made a fantastic catch in right field to limit the angel scoring in the top of the fourth. he is really solidifying his spot as one of the dodgers' everyday outfielders.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke has a career strikeout total of 2,979, and so kershaw is now 9 k's behind greinke and 30 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound next weekend against the mets at citi field. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!