spot the difference!

with series 2 out, we are at the point in the year where i can post the annual "spot the difference" writeup comparing the topps factory team set to the flagship releases. i suppose there was a chance that i would have to wait for update again this year, but topps was not averse to getting a shohei ohtani card on to the mainstream series 2 checklist and so here we are.

first, i want to show you how the sets are packaged this year

same sort of hanger/blister packaging, but look at how large the plastic blister is! plenty of room to shake things up if you like!

they also stopped printing the checklist on the back, but i think it's been like that for at least a couple of years.

speaking of backs, the guaranteed difference between these cards and their flagship counterparts is the numbering on the back

and away we go, with flagship on the left and the team set on the right!

lad-1 freddie freeman

same. i don't consider the non-foil logo on the team set cards to be a difference. the team set cards also lack the foil that makes the neon look great on the flagship cards in hand, but they do scan more neon-y if you catch my drift.

lad-2 mookie betts

same

lad-3 shohei ohtani

same. when these sets were first released i saw these cards going for more than the price of the set itself.

lad-4 walker buehler

same

lad-5 tony gonsolin

same

lad-6 chris taylor

same [edit - night owl noticed the difference in positions on taylor's cards. this is a truly bizarre variation, as you would think topps would be set on positions from day one. in 2023, taylor played more games and innings in left field than anywhere else. next in both categories was shortstop, and third base followed. he also played a handful of games at second base]

lad-7 max muncy

same

lad-8 austin barnes

same. i thought that barnes was an interesting choice for the team set checklist, especially since that meant that will smith was not included. i am happy, however, that the dodgers have two catchers in flagship. they don't currently have a third catcher on their roster, but my early collecting days brought me to expect cards for three dodger catchers (steve yeager, johnny oates, and jerry grote each got cards in 1978 and 1979 topps).

lad-9 brusdar graterol

same

lad-10 bobby miller

so here the team set does not to with the "future stars" moniker which makes sense because the focus is on the team. not sure i consider this to be a real difference, but i suppose it is.

lad-11 emmet sheehan

same

lad-12 jonny deluca

same. i am sure we will see deluca in update as a ray.

lad-13 james outman

same

lad-14 clayton kershaw

ah! a true difference here with the team set kershaw changing it's orientation and using a photo from a completely different game! i wish the team set would have done something similar with the buehler card

lad-15 miguel vargas

here we have the same "future stars" difference as bobby miller's card

lad-16 michael busch

the team set gives us one last michael busch dodger card to enjoy. unlike deluca, topps left busch off the series 1 checklist, and 'shopped him into cubs gear for series 2. i appreciate that they used a different photo - i assume because it's easier to go from a dodger to a cub when you are wearing the away grays.

lad-17 gavin lux

same

so, really just one significant difference in terms of dodger cards (kershaw) plus what turned out to be a bonus dodger card (busch). not sure if two cards make the set worth it for the casual collector, but for a team collector like me, you bet it does - especially with kershaw involved.

i remembered that i put together a running list of these posts a couple of years ago, and have now updated the list below. 2016 and 2018 are partial set posts, and i realize now i don't even own the team sets from 2017 or 2019. there was no team set issued in 2021. otherwise, click and enjoy!

2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2018

2020

2022

2023

i will probably seek out those last two sets and get a proper 2018 post at some point. stay tuned!

apathy in the uk

on saturday i showed some cards i had received from madding, and now today i am goint to show a couple more. in an earler pwe, kerry sent a few cards including this 2022 topps uk freddie freeman 1997-98 merlin premier gold redux card

along with regular old brusdar graterol

and max scherzer cards

from the 2021 topps uk release.

i was actually in the uk for a couple of weeks last fall, and seeing these cards arrive, along with my failure to purchase any cards while actually in the uk, inspired me to add a few to a recent comc order.

here's clayton kershaw's 2022 1997-98 merlin premier gold redux card

along with a 2021 topps uk 1978-79 redux cody bellinger card

that last one gives off strong 1977 topps baseball vibes.

i also had one topps uk card sitting in my scanned folder waiting for this post, apparently. it's a 2020 topps uk clayton kershaw card

i did keep an eye out for cards during my time abroad, but saw only a few pokemon packs for sale at a tesco express (or was it a boots?) in london. i did come across some tobacco cards at a christmas market

that were all matted and ready for framing. i assume that these were all reproductions as they looked nice and were well matted - you could see the fronts and backs of each card. not sure why the backs were visible if the intent is to frame the cards. anyway, the only sport i saw was cricket so i passed.

there wasn't much of a baseball presence out and about, either. i probably saw maybe a dozen items of clothing related to major league baseball, and i would guess that 11 of the people wearing the gear were doing so as fashion rather than fandom. most of the items were yankee hats, too. i suppose this is why there are so many packs of uk baseball available here in the states in those drug store repacks (foreshadowing tomorrow's post).

maybe it's different in japan, given that country's high level of interest in the sport. i have no current plans to go, but if and when i do i would hope to be able to add to my topps japan collection that consists of clayton kershaw's 2021 card

at the moment.

this sort of thing is not new, as you all know. topps has printed and distributed cards in countries other than the us dating back at least to the 1960's. i recently decided to add another topps venezuelan card to my collection, and chose the 1966 jim lefebvre card

for sentimental reasons. the back is pretty typical of venezuelan cards

as they were mostly put in albums by collectors.

i also added another foreign 1960's card to my collection recently - this one being don sutton's 1968 o-pee-chee card

the 1968 o-pee-chee backs are easily discerned from their topps counterparts because of the color

as well as the print tagline. 

finally, i also picked up a psa 9 specimen of steve garvey's 1979 o-pee-chee card

i didn't know that there were any '79 opc cards that centered and clean. they sure didn't look like that in the packs that i opened in southern saskatchewan back in the summer of '79.

i wonder if there were cards to be found in south korea a couple of weeks ago?

more 24 to adore?

i mentioned in my first post about 2024 topps series 1 that i had a hobby box on the way. it showed up and i opened it up early last week. i was out of town in texas when it arrived, and it just so happened that i also bought a blaster of the stuff while i was away. the cards are all mixed up between the box and the blaster now, but here we go with my second look at 2024 topps.

my first purchase didn't yield any elly delacruz cards, but in one of the first packs from the box i found a 1989 insert 

of the reds' number 44.  the first 1989 insert that i found, however, was clayton kershaw's

so there's my first kershaw of 2024. i was hoping it was a good omen for the rest of the box, and what i found in the last pack made me think that it might have been. that last pack included jackie robinson's 1989 insert in black parallel form

these are still numbered to 299

this might be the first card that i've noticed i have number 123 in the print run.

another dodger parallel that i found (this one in the blaster) was brusdar graterol's holiday foil card

but let's not forget about the base. between the box and blaster i was able to almost complete my dodger team set. here are tony gonsolin

fredeie freeman on a league leader card

bobby miller, freeman, and emmet sheehan

and the dodger team card

what i didn't find was mookie betts' base card (anyone have a double)?

i like the dodger team card because we get to see a couple of the bat boys plus mark prior makes his return to cardboard. the dodgers' ssp golden mirror team card shows a scene from jackie robinson day, as does at least one other team (the guardians, i think), but the tigers are shown wearing number 42 on their regular old base team card

i was very happy to see this and add it to my 42 collection.

one of the tigers there on that card is miguel cabrera who also got a base card this year, thankfully

i like the image of cabrera waving his cap in acknowledgement of his pending retirement, but why include the two cameramen on the card? he raised his cap in every ballpark he went to last year i am sure. just an odd photo choice in my opinion, or at the least an odd cropping choice.

at least the back has his full career stats

like a final tribute card should. it's nice of topps to include 1b as his position on this card, although he played only one-third of an inning there last year (in his final game). i would have liked an image from that game where he made the putout unassisted before exiting and recognizing the detroit crowd as his career came to an end.

the bigger series 1 set this year means that i don't have to wait for series 2 to get my hands on card number 350 for my flagship 350 collection. this year, matt olson

gets the spot on the checklist

i am glad it wasn't another astro.

my other flagship minicollection is just a representative card, and this year i chose julio rodriguez

to fill that spot. i pulled the rodriguez base in my first blaster and found no additional ones in any of my later purchases.

i am happy to see that the twins plan to redeploy byron buxton in centerfield this year. he remains my favorite non-dodger, and i've put his 2024 topps card

in that minicollection already. i was not sure what to do about my favorite dodger for this year, but now that kershaw has signed with the club i will be able keep him in that slot and hope he is able to get back on the field later this summer.

i found two home run challenge cards - buxton

and bryce harper (not shown), and my twins success continued with the lone royal blue parallel i've found in either of my blasters

jordan balazovic is a 6'5" canadian pitcher who just recently cleared waivers and was sent to the twins' triple-a club in st. paul.

i also found a gold parallel of twin (now former twin) jorge polanco, but i suppose my real luck has been with the orioles. i pulled a vintage stock throwback card of jordan westburg

that i like very much. i think the removal of the neon treatment and addition of the black bar at the bottom is a nice touch with these, and the design stands pretty well on its own. perhaps the team name is a bit awkward but otherwise i really like how thoughtful topps was here. here's the back

good ol' gray cardboard!

less interesting is westburg's 1989 insert

but his was the only autograph

that came from my hobby box. i am not a fan of sticker autos but i understand why they exist.

the biggest oriole hit, however, came from the texas-purchased blaster, and it was this jorge mateo card

that is his golden mirror ssp. here's the back

which is the giveaway to these things. i actually think his regular base card

is better, so i'm glad topps chose the better photo for the more common card.

one of the other 1989 cards i found was that of curtis mead

which gave me a chance to see what rays cards might have looked 35 years ago.

more stars of mlb from my retail purchase, and it seems to me that there is a higher rookie content in this insert set than last year. here's tyler soderstrom

with the vida blue memorial patch visible, and here he is again on a hobby box exclusive gold foil parallel

i hope the a's keep the kelly green uniforms wherever they wind up.

the hobby box came with two silver pack packs. here's what was in the first one

a mix of old and young there. the second pack was all hall of famers

including birthday buddies frank thomas and jeff bagwell.

the second hit of my box was a plain white swatch of bobby witt jr

and the third was a city connect swatch of eury perez

could be worse.

topps was able to sneak elly onto a base card other than his rookie card - this checklist

that also features matt mclain and bally sports guy jim day, but i was happy to also get one of his actual rookie cards

i also pulled one of jasson dominguez

interesting that on the backs

dominguez is mentioned in the same sentence as shelley duncan, while delacruz gets the mick.

one more card for the post - elly delacruz' blueprints insert

there was a time when i would have chased this insert set, but not now. still, i can smell the ammonia!

ok, bring on heritage and series 2!