the '90s are here

last season, the dodgers had more players wearing numbers from the 90's than in any other year. kevin kiermaier flipped his usual 39 (retired by the dodgers for roy campanella) and wore 93 during his stint with the team. here he is on a 2024 topps chrome update prism refractor

short-timer dinelson lamet wore 94 during his stint with the dodgers. he pitched in three games and was featured in 2024 topps update

his three dodger appearances plus a topps card matches fellow 90's numbered dodger onelki garcia, but is still more than zach lee and bruce brubaker.

and then there is landon knack, who wore 96 for the dodgers last season.

that is a 2024 topps chrome update aqua & blue lava lamp refractor, by the way.

not pictured are michael peterson (i was really hoping to see a dodger card of the brit) who wore 90, and joe kelly who turned to number 99 when he vacated 17 for shohei ohtani, but hasn't had any cards released with his new, higher number.

99 was first pioneered for the dodgers by manny ramirez, seen here on a 2010 bowman chrome refractor card

and was also worn by hyun-jin ryu, who is featured on this 2014 topps tribute forever young relics orange parallel

i remember it sort of being a big deal when joe beimel became the first dodger to wear a number from the 90's in 2006. these days, it's just another series of numbers.

happy holidays

it's christmas eve already which is hard to believe. i don't know whether or not santa will bring me any cards, but i am happy to report that i have found some dodger holiday variations in bargain boxes this year, including a 2020 dustin may

and a 2019 walker buehler

with 2024 topps holiday being such a departure from the first few years of the product, i thought about ranking the various designs. instead, i figured i would just show the progression through the years

2016

this set came on the scene as more of a weather variation than anything else.

2017

the weather continued to be the only thing differentiating these cards in the second year. the yasiel puig above is the "metallic snowflake" parallel which may make it a bit more difficult to see all the snow.

2018

just brought on more snow. i think most were pretty tired of this set by this point.

2019

the snow is gone in favor of some seasonal foliage and a tablecloth approach.

2020

back to snow, but with the addition of a pine garland. that gavin lux is also a metallic snowflake parallel.

2021

a departure this year with a beaded curtain made of ornaments and snowflakes, plus some candy cane treatment of the borders

2022

still sticking with the snowflakes. that clayton kershaw card is the metallic parallel, so the border is all treated up. the base cards just have the regular white border with the bows and garland.

2023

more snow, but topps switched to "charlie brown christmas" snow instead of elaborately designed snowflakes.

2024

topps finally fully embraced the christmas holiday theme, and continued to build on their flagship neon design. this is really a dramatic departure from previous years and it seems to have been embraced by a large part of the collecting community.

merry christmas everybody!

spirit of 76

it's independence day today, and if all went well i was at the ballpark watching the twins and tigers. i last went to a fourth of july game in 2013, so it had been awhile since i celebrated our nation's birthday with our nation's pastime.

i will be on the lookout for some topps now cards tomorrow, but of course there are cards to share today, including this 2020 topps hyun-jin ryo independence day parallel

that i found in a bargain bin some time ago.

the design topps used in 2020 was pretty elaborate compared to what they were using when 2022 topps update came along. i found this ryan pepiot independence day parallel

in a pack or team break, and the design really isn't much different from the money grab factory set gold star parallels that topps put out the same year.

the first two cards are numbered to 76, of course, to go along with their designs.

panini doesn't number their independence day parallels, and they are pretty consistent with white stars on blue backgrounds, or blue stars on white backgrounds. i found these next cards in various bargain bins sometime within the last year.

2019 panini donruss manny machado

2021 panini donruss dale murphy

2022 panini donruss manny machado

2023 panini donruss ichiro

the first of those four i chose because it's a dodger card. the other three because i have little will power when it comes to bargain boxes and parallels.

this last card came from the show i went to in houston and set me back a buck

that's an independence day commemorative patch card from 2017 topps, and topps matched the photo to an actual 4th of july game.

whether you are at the ballpark or doing something else today, happy 4th of july!

the almost daily dodger - hyun-jin ryu

we are less than a week out from pitchers and catchers reporting for all teams, and hyun-jin ryu remains a free agent. here's his 2013 topps walmart blue parallel card

i am surprised that ryu and other still available free agent starters haven't landed on new teams yet given the need so many teams have at that position. ryu showed at the end of last season that he was ready to go following tommy john surgery in 2022 and has pitched well for the majority of his career. 

i thought there was a chance of a dodger reunion (how great would it have been to have him pitch in his home country of south korea in the opening series) but that seems unlikely at this point given the acquisitions and signings the dodgers have made to date. one of those signings includes clayton kershaw which makes me quite happy so while i hope ryu signs on somewhere and has a productive season, i am satisfied with what the dodgers have done.

not as advertised

we may well see the 2023 baseball season come to a close tonight if the rangers can win another road game. seeing corey seager continue his strong play in the postseason makes me a bit wistful for what might have been if he had decided to remain with the dodgers, especially given the diametrically opposed results for the two teams this season.

first up here is a 2011 topps heritage advertising panel that i picked up recently

with the back 

that has nothing to do with the front as you would expect from an ad panel. i show it only because it sort of fits with the title - the dodgers weren't as advertised once the postseason began.

the dodgers won the west (again), just like they did back in 2013 - a title which warranted a mural on the outfield wall that showed up on yasiel puig's 2014 topps photo variation card

before the dodgers went full advertising on the outfield wall.

i picked up a couple more variations from 2014 topps featuring hyun-jin ryu and hanley ramirez

celebrating in ways that i was hoping to see more of this year.

i was hoping to see another pennant which would have made this 2023 panini donruss duke snider card

much more relevant.

same for these 2017 topps update sandy koufax cards - heroes of autumn

and storied world series

that could have been used to draw a parallel to the performance of some other postseason participant wearing the dodger uniform.

finally, i was hoping that this 2022 topps stadium club clayton kershaw trophy hunters card

would have stood in for a different trophy that the dodgers would have hoisted.

back to "wait 'til next year" i guess. in the meantime, i can live vicariously through old friends nathan eovaldi

and corey seager.

what the heck, i may as well give the guy his due and recognize him as a ranger

he may well win his second world series mvp trophy tonight!

i hope it's a classic

looks like the world baseball classic kicks off next week. a couple of months ago, i thought it would be interesting to see how many of the 20 participating countries are represented within my dodger collection. i am not referring to players who hail from those countries, but rather those countries being represented on a dodger card. make sense? let's see how my collection fares!

the teams are divided in to four pools of five teams each. advancing teams in pools a and b will eventually face off (those teams are playing in taiwan and japan), and the advancing teams from pools c and d will square off in the united states. the final is scheduled to be held in miami on march 21. i'll link to the current team rosters in the text below.

pool a 

chinese taipei is represented by this 2008 topps update card of chin-lung hu

hu received a ton of cards in 2008 but never panned out at the big league level.

cuba is represented by this 2014 bowman yasiel puig international parallel

puig famously (and perhaps nefariously) defected from cuba to mexico before signing with the dodgers. puig is not on cuba's roster, but former dodgers onelki garcia and erisbel arruebarrena are. i hope the other players protect their ears!

the kingdom of the netherlands is represented by this 2009 topps chrome kenley jansen wbc insert

jansen, a native of curacao who joined the dodger organization in 2004, was a catcher back then. jansen is on the current roster, too, and bert blyleven is back as a coach. i know bert wasn't a dodger ever, but he's a bit of a favorite of mine so is worth a mention.

italy is not represented in my collection. i don't know of any dodger players who played for italy in the past, and there are no dodgers on their current roster.

panama is represented by this 1996 upper deck collector's choice roberto kelly silver signature parallel

when i think of baseball and panama, rod carew is the guy who comes to mind. panama is one of the teams that was not automatically included in the field - they had to qualify through a separate round of games. old friend javy guerra is on panama's squad this year.

pool b 

japan is represented by this 1997 bowman's best hideo nomo international inssert

the dodgers have had a fair number of players from japan suit up for them, but nomo is the one i think of first. i didn't see any dodgers - former or present - on the roster for japan.

korea is represented by another 2014 bowman international parallel - this one featuring hyun-jin ryu

ryu is injured and so is not on the roster. i didn't recognize any of the names on the roster from a dodger perspective. of course, chan ho park has several cards that i could have used here as well.

australia is featured in my collection thanks to this 1999 bowman chrome luke prokopec international refractor parallel

that is, of course, the sydney opera house behind him. no dodgers on the aussie squad, i am afraid, however there are a few recognizable major league names on the roster/staff.

china isn't represented in my collection, although former dodger jim lefebvre managed their team in the olympics one year as i recall. 

the czech republic is making their first appearance in the wbc, and there are no dodgers on their roster. tough to have a card in my collection to show when that is the case.

pool c 

the usa is represented by this 2022 topps pristine clayton kershaw pristine borders insert

i have plenty of other dodger cards that could have been used here, but the kershaw is the newest. kershaw is no longer on the team usa roster, but fellow dodgers mookie betts and will smith remain. dino ebel is the third base coach as well.

colombia has former dodger jolbert cabrera at the helm, but i don't have any cards in my dodger collection that reflect his nationality.

mexico is represented by this 1998 upper deck karim garcia national pride insert

i guess it's no surprise that i don't have a fernando valenzuela dodger card to show here, as the country-focused subsets and inserts didn't start showing up until after his dodger career came to an end. i will note that i filled out a sportlots order last year with a 2002 donruss super estrellas ismael valdes nacion de origen insert

not remembering that he was a ranger by then. oh well. there are a couple of dodgers on mexico's roster this year - austin barnes and julio urias - as well as former dodger alex verdugo. former dodger pitcher elmer dessens is the pitching coach, too.

canada is represented here by this 2009 bowman draft picks & prospects russell martin wbc xfractor parallel

martin is a coach for team canada in the tournament this year, as is fellow former dodger paul quantrill. freddie freeman is the only dodger player on the squad.

great britain is making their wbc debut, so my collection comes up short for them, although maybe trayce thompson will be featured on a wbc insert later this year? note that i am not counting the topps uk edition cards i own that feature the union jack on the front for this exercise.

pool d 

puerto rico features a roster that includes former dodgers jose de leon and kiké hernandez. i was surprised to not find any dodger cards representing puerto rico in my collection.

venezuela is represented in my collection by this 2021 panini national treasures keibert ruiz international treasures autograph card

ruiz is not on the roster, but old/new dodger miguel rojas is.

israel isn't represented in my dodger collection, although i did recognize a couple of names on the roster. joc pederson, of course, and also fellow 2020 world champion adam kolarek. neither are with the dodgers anymore as i am sure you well know.

the dominican republic is represented in my dodger collection many times, including by this 2001 upper deck sp game bat milestone edition adrian beltre card.

the country's flag is burned in to the bat chip. keep their flag in mind for later, by the way. this year's dominican team is stacked, and includes one former dodger in manny machado.

nicaragua is the last of the three newcomers to the tournament, and i don't have any dodger cards to represent that country.

so, 12 of 20 countries are represented by cards in my dodger collection. that's not too bad, and i am hoping for some others to be produced as a result of this year's contest.

i do want to give an honorable mention to yasiel puig's 2018 topps update international affair black parallel card

that i pulled from a dime or quarter box a few months ago. his bowman international card up above is a better representation of his home country of cuba, however.

finally, let's never forget the time when upper deck messed up royally in terms of international flavor

and issued a couple of cards of raul mondesi, including the 1996 collector's choice card above, referencing the country of dominica, not mondesi's home country of the dominican republic, and i don't think they have the right coloring on the bird featured on dominica's flag, either.

on with the tournament!