the finest cards not from the national

i saw fuji post a blog bat around yesterday about not being at the national. of course, chris started the bat around asking folks to post show worthy cards in lieu of attending the convention in chicago. well, i am not going to go that route, but i will share some of the recent additions to my collection that i might have found at the national if there were ever a return of bargain boxes.

these cards from 2026 topps finest are the newest to my collection, arriving in yesterday's mail.

yoshinobu yamamoto topps team finest insert

kirk gibson finest timelines insert

love this card. seeing another vin scully call on a card - especially one that features this moment - is fantastic. the back also shares jack buck's call

which i am fond of as well. i also added the card in refractor fashion

as denoted on the back

as you might suspect, i actually purchased two of each of these so that i could put one set in my dodger collection and one in my collection of cards featuring games that i have seen in person.

also in the mail with those cards yesterday was this 2025 topps update insert

commemorating a first pitch at dodger stadium by this gentleman name miyavi.

another card i received last week was this 2021 topps archives snapshots mookie betts 

it completes the (small) dodger team set for me.

the remainder of these cards are ones that have been in my scanned folder for a while, and it's time to show them on the blog. nothing big here, but the types of cards that i've found in dig boxes at past shows.

2004 fleer greats of the game blue parallels of davey lopes

and johnny podres

2013 topps triple threads amethyst matt kemp

and amber duke snider

2014 topps opening day blue foil parallels of carl crawford and hanley ramirez

2020 topps museum collection base and copper parallels of cody bellinger and sandy koufax

2023 topps update royal blue alex vesia

2024 topps cosmic chrome mike piazza galactic greatness insert

2025 topps holofoil parallels of joe kelly 

and justin wrobleski

that scanned differently for some reason

2023 topps clayton kershaw flagship insert

are those cards considered inserts? regardless, it's a bit odd to not be finding many new kershaw cards now that he is retired. chasing his stuff was a big part of the hobby for me the last 18 years so this year has been a bit of an adjustment. thankfully, there are still a ton of his older cards that i can chase. 

2024 topps allen & ginter minis of kershaw

and freddie freeman, 

although freeman's is an a&g back

2025 topps allen & ginter minis of freeman

and blake snell

and this time, snell's is the a&g back

i did find some bargain boxes at the national last year, but the primary reason i made the trip was to do the meet & greet with steve garvey and get a photo and autograph from the first baseman for the team of my youth. it was a great success as far as i am concerned. 

no in person autographs for me to show, but i'll share this 2025 topps museum collection sticker auto/triple relic card of the garv

that is my lone example from the legion of auto-relic cards that he had in the set.

there is a chance that i make it to the national next year in detroit, but regardless, i am sure i will have some cards to show off should this bat around be around again next year.

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!