the cards you are about to see came to me by trade from brian at highly subjective and completely arbitrary. they have already been lapped by the in person trade we completed at a card show a couple of months ago, but the cards were too good to be ignored.
the note brian included with the package mentioned that he had got his dodger-pulling mojo back, and he wasn't kidding. case in point, this 2019 topps chrome update will smith xfractor autograph
all of a sudden, the dodgers have some depth in the catcher prospect pipeline. here's hoping that they choose wisely when dealing from this perceived strength to bolster other aspects of the roster.
next up is a 1995 mother's cookies dodgers raul mondesi card
i had requested this card after brian posted a bunch of mondesi cards a while back. i have the team set in my dodger collection, but this card makes a great addition to the dodger stadium binder. around the same time that this card came out, phil nevin was making his big league debut with the astros. i recall that he received a lot of flak prior to that for wearing these oakley shades as a collegiate player. it's true! rauuuuuul doesn't care. he's the guy who once sat down along the right field line rather than go all the way back to the dugout for the bottom of an inning. i guess he knew he wasn't going to bat.
transogram time!
i had the cody bellinger card from 2018 topps heritage, but not the seager. this one us actually from the heritage high numbers release.
more from 2019 topps chrome update!
koufax has a few different cards in the 150 years greatest moments/players/seasons set. i personally don't like the way topps spread this set around the different sets. in my mind, it should have stayed with flagship and update only. for example, don sutton's card is only available in signed versions through the clearly authentic release. on the other hand, i'm not trying to collect all of these, so whatever.
more koufax, along with clayton kershaw and jackie robinson
thanks to the faces of the franchise insert. i'll assume that this is the base version and not a red parallel. i missed noticing some of the color parallels of 2019 topps inserts earlier in the year, which prompts the question of why make them if folks don't recognize them? this card brings to mind the "mt. rushmore" debates that were prevalent in sports media a couple of years ago. these three dodgers are solid candidates and appropriate franchise representatives. one could argue that tommy lasorda belongs as well.
this 2019 topps heritage high number david freese card
is the only card in my collection featuring the 2011 world series hero as a dodger. i was disappointed that he chose to retire because he hit really well as a dodger - .328 in the regular season and .400 in the postseason across 2018 and 2019.
last but not least, brian hooked me up with some mini-collection needs. this 2019 topps heritage whit merrifield card
is the dupe i needed to put in my tatooine collection (the only copy i had previously is in my double play collection), while this 1995 score pat meares card
fills a previously unknown double play need. i'll have to keep an eye out for another copy to add to the tatooine collection.
thanks brian! keep up the dodger pulling mojo!
