base set bs

even with the proliferation of sets, it's always nice as a team collector to complete a team set. that's why it is so frustrating when card companies make it difficult to do so thanks to short printing or other shenanigans. 

i get that high numbers are scarce in many vintage sets, but there were no separate series in topps sets during the latter part of the 1970's, so why are short prints still a thing in topps heritage sets? sure, scarcity drives some collectors, but in a set like heritage it is just annoying. here's a 2024 topps heritage short print of freddie freeman

that i bought from a third party meaning topps gained no advantage from me by making this card and most of the other first 100 cards short prints. the freeman completes my team set and that makes me happy.

topps big league is another current set that uses short prints, thanks to its tiered checklist. i only have the foil and the "rare" blue foil cards in terms of upper tiered dodgers, including max muncy

and will smith

what makes this tiered system even more bs is that shohei ohtani has a regular base card but is also featured in the "super rare" red foil part of the checklist. nonsense.

back in the early 2000's, every card company was playing along with short prints as part of base sets. in some cases, like with 2002 upper deck diamond connection, these cards were numbered as seen on the danny mota and jose diaz cards below

there are a bunch of these and i am nowhere near a complete dodger team set for this release. i am somewhat closer with 2002 upper deck sp authentic now that i have this jose diaz card

but being three cards closer isn't really enough to make me go out and track down the other three cards. two of those cards are autographed which is a whole other level to base set abuse.

bowman and topps chrome were some of the notable offenders of this trend, along with other upper deck sets like 2007 spx which included this delwyn young rookie signatures card 

as a base card.

and, it hasn't just affected me as a team collector. i've only attempted to complete one topps heritage set - 2001 - and i consider it complete even though i don't have many of the high number short prints. and then there is the case of 2003 upper deck vintage. i've long considered my set to be complete as i have all the regular cards and short prints, other than the super short printed 3-d sluggers. i have several of them, but not all. 

most recently, i was able to add carlos delgado's card

but most of the others are usually priced beyond my interest level. these should have been inserts!

i like shiny cards and i like numbered cards and i like autographed cards. i just don't like them as base cards.

maybe they do exist

i am five, well, really six, cards short of a complete dodger team set of 2015 topps 1978 buybacks. while it wasn't the first time that topps included buybacks in packs of flagship, for some reason the foil stamp used on the 2015 version appealed to me and i went about trying to amass dodgers from every year.

from what i could find, topps included all flagship years from 1957 through 1980, except for 1964 and 1965. i assume those two years were omitted due to the need for buybacks in the then current and "on deck" heritage releases. another anomaly is that only the first 10 or so cards of the 1980 set were included in the buyback release. of course, manny mota had a record breaker card at the top of the set, so the dodgers were represented.

i did pretty well with this effort, with right around 200 of the 2015 buyback dodgers, ranging from a 1957 don bessent card 

to the aforementioned manny mota card 

from 1980.

as the hunt went on, i realized that i was close to a complete team set of my favorite release - 1978. and, while tcdb only lists 16 dodger cards as 2015 buybacks, i was able to track down 23 of the 29 cards that make up the dodger team set from that release. now, i am almost certain that topps did not include any of the 4-in-1 rookie cards in the buybacks released in 2015, so i am not counting lance rautzhan's card in my quest. however, i would find it difficult to dismiss the others that i am missing from existence.

one of them, elias sosa, i am certain exists because i saw it on ebay - after it had sold for a pittance. so, there is at least one of those. the other four i am missing i have never seen. those four are tommy john, dusty baker, terry forster and tom lasorda.

comc shows a record of these buybacks for john's 1973, 1974, and 1977 cards, and i have the 1973 and 1974 but not the '77.  i have also seen baker's cards show up from 1973 through 1976 (when he was a brave), and i own a buyback of his 1979 card, but i haven't seen the '77 or '78. topps did issue a buyback version of dusty's 1978 card in 2017, but i don't own it. and one more note on sosa - i haven't seen his 1977 card as a 2015 buyback either. his non-dodger cards seem to show up from time to time, however.

forster's pre-1978 cards, along with his 1979 card (which i have), all have shown up in 2015 buyback form, but i've never seen his 1978 card. topps did issue it in 2016 as a buyback, and i added the blue foil version to my collection

so at least there is that. i do have his 1979 card and 1975 league leader card as part of my collection, 

since he shares space with dodger mike marshall, but i would really like to find that missing '78.

as for lasorda, i have his 1978 card in 2014 topps buyback form

but not 2015. in fact, in addition to not ever seeing his 1978 card as a 2015 "original", i don't recall ever seeing the dodger team cards for 1977 or 1979 in 2015 buyback form. both of those cards identify lasorda as the dodger skipper. i do have the 1978 topps dodger team card with the 2015 foil stamp though. curious.

in related buyback news, i added a 2016 buyback of steve garvey a while back. it's the silver foil version of his 1982 card

which is one of the more abundant garvey as a dodger buyback cards around. topps held some of these cards to include in their archives signature series release that same year, and here's my copy

that the seller removed from the magnetic case for some reason. this card continues to show up in subsequent archives signature series releases in varying numbers.

baker and john have also been showing up in topps' archive signature releases, but i don't think topps is holding back a bunch of elias sosa or terry forster cards for future signed releases, so i am left to wonder what happened back in 2015. maybe those cards, along with the others, do exist in reasonable quantities and someday my diligence will be rewarded. maybe. and if not with the 2015 buybacks, then hopefully in 2027 when i will try to assemble the team set with heritage buybacks. stay tuned!

inspired by baseball cards at dodger stadium

during one of the many dodger broadcasts i've watched in the last two to three years, i saw a photo from dodger stadium that was used as a bumper or a promo background that showed steve garvey's legends of dodger baseball monument. on that monument, his 2005 topps pristine card was shown.  during my recent trip to dodger stadium, i wanted to be sure to find the monument and see what cards represent the other members of this fairly new dodger tribute group.

i had a heckuva time finding them, however. i wandered all around the stadium, looking at a bunch of other displays including gold gloves and murals and photos but couldn't find those specific items. i saw an information booth tucked under the right field pavilion just off center field and walked over to inquire. on my way there, i spotted some glass cases with a bunch of baseball cards in them. one of those cards was steve garvey's 1976 topps card

these cards (they are high-res reprints) dangle from either end of a player's bat, and the display honors los angeles dodger all-stars.

no players have been added since 2017 which is too bad, but i still had fun looking through the cases. they aren't in any particular order (juan samuel is hanging above garvey) and there is a wide variety of cardboard representation.  here are photos of the cases (sorry for the glare)

there were a few mother's cookies cards in there along with a couple tcma/renata galasso cards, plus an unlicensed panini donruss card for dee gordon, and even a topps now card for cody bellinger. i was happy to see some 1978 topps for rick monday and don sutton. for the record, the infield was represented with 1976 topps (garvey and davey lopes), 1983 topps (bill russell), and 1975 topps (ron cey).

the person at the booth was able to direct me to the legends display (it's under the drip line of the left field pavilion just off the center field plaza) and so i headed over. each player has a metal display with a card and text displayed. here's a sideways view of all six members:

the first three members were inducted in 2019 - they were don newcombe, steve garvey, and fernando valenzuela

so there's the pristine card i mentioned up top. newcombe has a 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 card, and fernando's card comes from 1986 topps and shows an alternate take on his 1981 topps traded card. none of these cards are iconic for the player, and i have to admit i was a bit disappointed with the card selection.

here are the other three members - maury wills, kirk gibson, and manny mota

wills and gibson went in during the 2022 season, and mota was just added in april of this year. those are obviously 1972, 1990, and 1970 topps cards, respectively. orel hershiser will be inducted later this year - not too long after the dodgers retire fernando's number 34.

speaking of which, here are the retired numbers on display in the left field corner:

this was my first time to the stadium since they added the microphones for vin scully and jaime jarrin, and number 14 for gil hodges.  i will have to come back sometime after number 34 is added.

i was actually surprised to see that the dodgers also had a display for the retired numbers behind the right field pavilion at the back of the center field plaza. each of the numbers and microphones have the same sort of display as the legends of dodger baseball, complete with baseball card images for the field personnel.

 

1 - pee wee reese

that's reese's 1953 topps card, but the borders tell me it's actually from the 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 set.

2 - tommy lasorda

1989 topps

4 - duke snider

1959 topps

14 - gil hodges

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

19 - jim gilliam

1964 topps

20 - don sutton

1978 topps

24 - walter alston

1965 topps

32 - sandy koufax

1964 topps

39 - roy campanella

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

42 - jackie robinson

2012 topps archives

53 - don drysdale

1961 topps

vin scully

jaime jarrin

some interesting choices there, and it's a shame that there aren't even dodger team issue cards for scully or jarrin to be used. it would have been easy enough, i think, to include them in the lapd/dare sets at some point.  it will be in august that fernando valenzuela joins this group, and i wonder if they will just move his marker from the legends side, or add a new marker. he is obviously the first (and will probably be the only) legend of dodger baseball to later have his number retired so there are no set rules for how to handle the "promotion".

seeing all these cards got me thinking.

i thought about pulling together the cards that represent the dodger all-stars in to a mini-collection, but the fact that the post-2017 all-stars aren't recognized killed that idea. then i thought about a mini-collection for the legends of dodger baseball, but the card selection didn't thrill me. same for the retired numbers, even though the use of the 1991 archives set would make chasing down cards for campy and the others a lot less expensive.

after returning from my trip and looking through all my photos - it hit me. i have decided to put together a mini-collection featuring cards of all field personnel to have their number retired by a major league team. so, not just the 11 (soon to be 12) dodgers, but the dozens of yankees (i exaggerate only slightly) and people from the other 28 (plus the expos) teams as well. my goal will be to find cards that show the player/coach/manager's number but i know that will be impossible thanks to honus wagner whose 33 was retired by the pirates even though i don't know that he ever wore 33. plus i don't think there is a card of don zimmer showing him wearing 66 for the rays. focusing only on field staff means i don't need (or want, frankly) a card of bud selig wearing number 1 for the brewers or august busch jr wearing 85 for the cardinals. gene autry actually wore an angel uniform with 26 on it, but there are no cards showing it.

there are over 200 retired numbers in major league baseball, and i've already begun culling cards from my duplicates and monster boxes that have been sitting around without a purpose. i'll post some cards from time to time and i'll have a "have" list up at my want list site.

some teams don't display uniform numbers anywhere but the back, so one or two of you may be wondering how i will differentiate these cards from my "name/number on the back" mini-collection. well, i knew from the get go that there would be at least one card in both collections, but for the most part i will try to avoid duplication across collections. for example, this 2002 topps stadium club bernie williams card

meets the criteria for both collections, but is only going to be in the "name/number of the back" binder. i've got a different card that isn't quite full back for the retired numbers collection. and yes, the yankees retired bernie williams' number. stay tuned!

comc eta? omg!

i had a comc order of just a few cards that i decided to have shipped to me. this was in march of 2020, and i was not planning to place any further orders in the foreseeable future. so, on march 14, i requested shipment. two days later, i was working from home amid the measures taken to flatten the curve of the covid-19 infection rate. the initial estimated ship date for that order was march 30, but it didn't ship until april 23. 

later in the spring, i got a hankering for a few different items that were only readily available at comc. so, i deposited more funds and bought more cards. at the end of june, i was ready to bring the cards home, and i most certainly was not going to put in another order, so i requested shipment. that was june 30, and the estimated ship date for that order was listed as september 30. three months! it turned out that it took longer than that, as the cards weren't shipped until november 7!

in the meantime, of course there was a card listed for sale on the site that i decided i wanted/needed, and so i deposited more funds and pulled the trigger on just that one card. that was on october 28, and that order shipped on november 3, nine days ahead of the estimated ship date of november 12, and before my previous order.

i applaud comc for taking necessary precautions to protect their staff during the pandemic - that is my understanding for the reason behind the delays in order fulfillment. however, i also bought an item on ebay through their consignment division, and that card showed up with no delay whatsoever. i am guessing that comc likely had to make choices between their uploading of new inventory, consignment selling on ebay, and fulfillment of "regular" orders due to staff limitations, and it was the latter that suffered. what the heck - they already had my money.

still, i received my cards. here are some of them.

this 2001 topps tribute walter alston patch

was the card i purchased on october 28. some of you may recall a blog bat around that i initiated regarding cards that got away. the primary card that i wrote about was another 2001 topps tribute alston patch that i purchased back in 2001 at a local card shop off of their "markdown wall" and immediately flipped on ebay for about 4-times what i paid for it. i bought the card with the sole intention of selling it for profit, but soon regretted it. since then, i've looked off and on for another, and when i saw this one on comc, i pounced.

the rest of the cards i'll show are from my shipment request that was made on june 30.

2008 upper deck timeline ramon troncoso (1995 sp)

troncoso was one of the last two cards from this set that i needed for my dodger team collection (i've already completed the full set). the last card i need is the clayton kershaw card from this same subset, unfortunately.

i am still sort of a sucker for dodger buybacks, especially when they feature players from the team of my youth and dodger stadium, like this 2014 topps 75th anniversary 1975 topps manny mota buyback

2015 was my favorite year for buybacks, and this 2015 topps original 1967 topps bruce brubaker buyback 

is a new one to my collection.

my favorite inserts from 2019 were the greatest moments/players/seasons cards, and i used comc to complete my dodger set of those cards. sort of.

i needed four cards of jackie robinson

two of duke snider

and one each of sandy koufax

clayton kershaw

and adrian beltre

the kershaw is from topps chrome update, and the beltre is from regular topps update. there is also a don sutton card out there that i don't have, but it is only available in autograph form and was part of the clearly authentic release. topps redeemed themselves in 2020 for leaving kirk gibson's home run out of the 'greatest moment's set by including an image from that night in their 'decades' best' insert set.

now we get in to the sort of random part of my order. some of these cards complete team sets or get me down to just one card, like these next two.

1996 topps mike piazza star power

this is the insert, not the base card that looks similar but not as glittery. insert set complete!

2011 topps platinum diamond anniversary chad billingsley

i am now down to needing the kershaw and the retired dodger sp's to complete my team set of these parallel cards.

i'm always looking for matt kemp cards that i need, so i picked up this 2013 topps chrome refractor matt kemp

i still need a few refractors from this set, but not kemp's!

i also decided i needed more brian dozier dodger cards, so i added a 2018 bowman's best atomic refractor

and a 2018 topps holiday

card of the short-time dodger and 2019 world champ.  while i was waiting for these cards to show up, someone out there sent me this very card, so now i have one in my dodger stadium mini-collection, too!

here's a 2016 topps update adrian gonzalez 500 hr futures club gold card

there are three non-relic/manu-relic versions of this card. i had joc pederson's card in the base and silver versions, but didn't have any of gonzalez' cards. so i went with the gold parallel. a-gon did not get to 500 home runs, by the way - he finished with 317.

i discovered i didn't have a copy of this 2015 topps heritage sandy koufax/david price then and now card in my dodger stadium mini-collection

but now i do! you can understand how i could have been confused, as topps used the same photo of koufax on another then and now card that same year.

here's a new-to-me double play card - 1996 leaf preferred derek jeter

that i saw on the blogs while i was putting together this order.

finally, here is a 2002 topps 206 lou brock card

that i needed for my set build. around the time that this card arrived, i completed the set. i'll give that achievement its own post.  similarly, many of the other cards i included in my comc order(s) will be part of more focused posts. stay tuned!