chrome doesn't like me much

it's not a rock in my trick or treating pillowcase, but it still stinks to get this "card"

in a pack of cards. specifically, this came from a pack of 2025 topps chrome update that was included in a mega box that i purchased directly from topps. just a blank refractor which i suppose you could use to create your own art card. i understand that these are printing blanks and are (obviously) not supposed to be sent out in the packs, but it has happened the last couple of years.

the mega box was the last bit of chrome update i purchased, but i had bought a lot of it prior to that order, and in all sorts of distribution methods. as a result, i wound up with a bunch of the different guaranteed parallels, like sepia

xfractor

and topps logo 

refractors. the nick kurtz sepia refractor is nice, and i would have preferred to find his xfractor and topps logo refractor instead of willie maciver's but here we are. overall, my purchases seemed to be american league west heavy. here are some of the other sepias i found:

ben williamson

gunner hoglund

and yusei kikuchi

i'll stick with the al west theme to share some of the other cards i found, such as all-star game inserts of brent rooker

and bobby witt jr

night terrors insert of cam smith

power players inserts of kurtz

wyatt langford

and cal raleigh

plus refractor parallels of jacob wilson

blaine crim

and eugenio suarez

suarez also appeared in raywave refractor form

as did ben williamson

while denzel clarke

was one of the prism refractors i found

i came across a very small number of numbered parallels, but one was a purple raywave refractor of hoglund

numbered to 250.

to complete the card type tour via the al west, here's a base card belonging to kurtz

the only other card types i found that i couldn't represent using a player from the angels, astros, rangers, mariners, or athletics were the fortune 15 inserts (here's rafael devers)

and the aqua wave refractor rookie auto card i found in a hanger pack. it's omar cruz

and i would have preferred a different nl west team be represented.

that cruz card is a sticker auto, but not all of the signed cards in this set are like that. the card i wanted most from this release sure isn't. a week or two before chrome update was released, steve garvey made this post on the socials

i am slowing down in my additions of new garvey cards, but a chrome auto is a must have!

sadly, this is the only dodger card i found in all of my sealed product purchases - hyeseong kim's rookie debut base card

to complete the team set, i went to sportlots and bought the cards of will smith

jack dreyer

and dalton rushing

which left me a roki sasaki card short of the team set.

i added some parallels and inserts to these orders as best (and cheaply) as i could. i wound up with a prism refractor of smith

plus his all-star game insert

as well as that of clayton kershaw

and freddie freeman 1990

and power players inserts

plus the mookie betts power players insert

as well.

it's no surprise that i had to go to ebay to find the garvey legends auto, and i was successful fairly early on. the "base" versions are numbered to 50, and that's what i have

on card beauty!  here's the back:

i've seen some other variations sell for silly prices, including the 1/1. i am content to have this singular version. in fact, i would likely purchase one of orel hershiser's cards from this release before i targeted a garvey parallel.

in all, i would have had more success for my collection had i purchased a team break slot for the dodgers and seek out the garvey card as i did rather than buy as much sealed product. but where's the fun in that?

i sort of forgot about this update

with 2026 topps series 1 out, i should close the book on 2025 topps update. i had previously shared the non-dodger cards that i deemed post worthy and then forgot to get that dodger-centric post published. well, it's here now.

i found some of the dodger cards in the blasters i ordered from topps, including world series hero miguel rojas

the tyler glasnow/blake snell combo card

roki sasaki

dustin may

shohei ohtani

and a trio of dodger relievers - evan phillips, blake treinen, and jack dreyer

the treinen card is nice with the gold championship jerseys, but we all know that's still charlie hough's number.

i didn't find hyeseong kim's base card, but did find his holiday black & orange parallel

those cards always make me a bit jealous of tigers collectors.

i found two of the dodger all-star game inserts - yoshinobu yamamoto and ohtani

plus sasaki's 1990 35th anniversary insert

and the unavoidable stars of mlb inserts, of which two were dodgers: dalton rushing and kim

not a bad dodger haul from a couple of blasters, but not a complete team set. 

i mentioned in my original update post that i had bought into a team break, and that's where i found the kim base card

plus the ohtani/sasaki combo card

i also netted a rainbow foil insert of the glasnow/snell combo card

plus all-star game inserts of freddie freeman and will smith

i did well with dalton rushing inserts, finding his night terrors, black gold, and 1990 35th anniversary cards

and then topped things off with cody bellinger's mvp insert

good stuff, but i had also ordered some cards from sportlots prior to winning that team set slot, so i wound up with too many cards of anthony banda, alex vesia, and dalton rushing

i did add some more inserts via sportlots, including ohtani's stars of mlb insert

snell's 1990 35th anniversary insert

clayton kershaw's all-star game insert

and kershaw's mvp insert

what a year he had in 2014.

i was also able to find some dodgers from this release at the december card show while looking through some of the regularly rewarding bargain boxes.

jack dreyer gold parallel

dustin may blue holofoil parallel

evan phillips holofoil parallel

and a pair of miguel rojas parallels - rainbow foil and holiday black & orange

there was one card that i knew i would have to acquire via ebay, and that was steve garvey's 1990 all-star design autograph card. i actually found his gold parallel first

and later added the base

i would like to tell topps that not everything needs a gold parallel, but if they must, make the border gold and not the name lettering. here's the back:

nothing special about it. so far with these topps inserts, garvey has only been featured in 2024 and 2025, and only on the all-star designs, and only in autograph form. it would be nice to have him on a base 35th anniversary insert someday.

well, that's the update. stay tuned for more late to the market posts!