the annual topps/topps dodger team factory set comparison

with the release of 2015 topps series 2, i figured it was time to address the differences between the topps 17-card factory dodger team set and the good ol' flagship cards.  last year, as you might recall, there was a dodger stadium card included in the factory set (which was nice, but had become somewhat repetitive), and the only other variation was the orientation of brian wilson's card.

before i begin with the side-by-side stuff, i'll note that topps did not add a set descriptor to the backs of the factory team set cards, as they are numbered 'lad-#', with clayton kershaw being the first card up.

so far, only series one and series two have had the descriptor above the card number.

here we go - flagship on the left, factory team set on the right.

lad-1 clayton kershaw

the only foil on this year's flagship cards is the topps logo, and the factory set cards replace it with white fill.  that's the only difference between these two cards.

lad-2 andre ethier

ethier, who was probably on the fence as far as inclusion in the factory set, has essentially the same card.  the only difference is the location of the topps logo.  i would have thought that justin turner had as good a chance as ethier to make this year's checklist.

lad-3 yimi garcia

yimi's topps logo remains in the same spot, but his rookie card designation got moved, which is an improvement over the flagship card.

lad-4 adrian gonzalez

the topps logo made a move on gonzalez's card, which i see as an improvement.

lad-5 zack greinke

again, the topps logo moved, but everything else remains the same.

lad-6 aj ellis

this is the star of the set, folks.  the series two card shows ellis in his catcher gear on the road while the factory set used a photo of ellis from last year's playoffs - nlds game 1 at dodger stadium - in which ellis hit a home run.  he was 4 for 5 in that game, but has only 12 hits in 26 games this season.

lad-7 carl crawford

nothing to see here except the transient topps logo

lad-8 brandon league

another topps logo relocation

lad-9 joc pederson

the topps logo remains in place, but the rookie card designation migrated to the other side of the card.

lad-10 yasiel puig

no change

lad-11 hyun-jin ryu

the topps logo moved to a better location.  seriously, does topps give no thought to where the logo appears? there is no consistency as far as one corner or the other, so i would think that if the logo were to be moved, there would be some effort to put it where it doesn't land on top of a players' elbow.  i guess not.

lad-12 yasmani grandal

ok, now i've come to the point where maybe i should have waited to do this post.  grandal had a card in series one, but he was shown as a padre.  the factory set photoshopped him into todd hundley's old uniform, which is actually a good job by topps. grandal wore number 8 with the pads, but switched to number 9 for the dodgers, and topps took notice of that.  anyway, grandal should get a card in the update set and we will have to wait and see whether or not it matches this one.

*edit - grandal's update card is, indeed, different than the topps dodger factory set

lad-13 jimmy rollins

topps did get rollins switched over to a dodgers uniform in the flagship set, but they did not do as well with his photoshopping as they did with grandal.  i guess that they did not anticipate him wearing number 11 as a dodger, even though that was the number he wore for most of his phillies career.  oh, there's no substantive difference between the two cards.

lad-14 howie kendrick

kendrick is in the same boat as grandal - he had a card in series one as an angel, and so we must wait until update is out to make a comparison between his dodger cards.

*edit - kendrick's update card shows him at the bat, so that's nice

lad-15 juan uribe

uribe should be in update, too, but he'll be wearing a braves uniform.  here, only the topps logo location is different between the two cards.

lad-16 kenley jansen

same.

lad-17 brandon mccarthy

mccarthy made four starts as a dodger, and was 3-0.  it helps when the team averages about 8 runs per start, however, as mccarthy's era was just under six. as for his photoshopped cards, topps got the number right, and then decided that the logo would look better in an already cluttered upper right corner instead of the open and dark upper left corner.

so, no dodger stadium card. no don mattingly card. no alex guerrero or carlos frias or justin turner, for that matter. just some strange decisions on logo placement and a second guessing of photo selection for aj ellis. maybe grandal and kendrick will get real dodger photos in update and there will be three variant cards in the factory set when it's all said and done. we'll have to wait and see.

sunday morning target dodgers - a garvey, a heinie, and a black eye

i'm back with more cards - 15 to be exact - from one of the sheets in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set.  things get started with my baseball hero, steve garvey.

interesting that his position is identified as 'inf'.  true, he did start out at third (he also played one inning of second base and a handful of games in the outfield), but pretty much everyone remembers garvey as a first baseman.  he was the dodgers' first baseman, just about every day, for over 9 seasons.  four gold gloves, an mvp award, 1968 hits, 211 homers, and a .301 average are what he earned as a dodger.  greg brock never had a chance.

randy jackson

a two-time all-star with the cubs before joining the dodgers, 'handsome ransom' played for the dodgers in 1956, '57, and some of '58.  he replaced don hoak as the team's third baseman, splitting time with jackie robinson as hoak had done during the 1955 season, although jackie got all of the playing time there in the 1956 world series.  he was neither a judge on american idol, nor a member of the jackson 5.

george jeffcoat

jeffcoat, the older brother of hal jeffcoat, pitched for the dodgers in 1936, '37, and '39.  he was 6-9 with a 4.68 era in 62 games for brooklyn, and was the last dodger to wear number 42 prior to jackie robinson.

tito landrum

prior to landrum, i think that the only other tito i was aware of was tito jackson, michael's brother, and that was only because eddie murphy had a bit in his 'delirious' special where he is portraying michael and asks tito to get him some tissue.  anyway, this tito hit .429 against the dodgers in the 1985 nlcs, so when he was released by the cardinals in 1987, they signed him right away.  he was used mostly as a pinch-hitter, and it was in that role that he hit his only home run as a dodger - off of phillie pitcher michael jackson.  and that is how you bring something full circle.

billy loes

loes was 50-25 for the dodgers from 1952 through 1955 with a 3.70 era.  he had also pitched for the club in 1950, but earned no decisions, and appeared in one game as a dodger in 1956 before having his contract purchased by the orioles.  he appeared in three world series (1952, '53, and '55), pitching in four games.  he took the loss in game 2 of the 1955 fall classic, but still earned a ring.

heinie manush

manush's given name was henry, and i suppose i see how 'heinie' might have come about.  still, the first time i read his name in lawrence ritter's 'the image of their greatness' i laughed.  manush had the last laugh, though, as he began his career playing alongside ty cobb in detroit and eventually finding his way to the dodgers for the 1937 season.  he hit .333 that year in 132 games, but lasted just 17 games for the dodgers in 1938 before he was lost to the pirates.  manush retired a year later with a batting average of .330, and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1964 by the veteran's committee.

jack mccarthy

mccarthy finished his career that began with the reds in 1893 as a member of the brooklyn superbas in 1906 and 1907.  he hit .304 in '06, but just .220 in 25 games in '07.

bill mcgunnigle

mcgunnigle was the manager of the brooklyn bridegrooms in 1890 when they joined the national league.  he promptly led them to the nl pennant (just as he had led them to the american association title in 1899), but there was of course no world series back then.  for some reason, he was replaced as manager prior to the 1891 season, but returned to the majors as the manager of the pirates later that season.

wally millies

millies' first taste of the big leagues came with the dodgers in 1934.  he was 0 for 7 while appearing in two games for the club that year, and never got another chance as a dodger.  two years later, millies hit .312 in 74 games for the senators.  he also played for the senators, and was a longtime scout for the mets, expos, and astros following his playing days.

johnny morrison

morrison pitched for the robins in 1929 and '30 at the tail end of a ten year career spent primarily with the pirates.  he was 14-9 with 9 'saves' over those two seasons with brooklyn.

tom niedenfuer

target really screwed up niedenfuer's last name there.  mixing up 'i before e' and adding a random d is pretty inexcusable when you consider that he had been with the team as recently as 1987 and had some decent years out of the 'pen.  of course, giving up a home run to a left-handed hitting ozzie smith and pitching to jack clark with first base open in the 1985 nlcs is also inexcusable although only one of those things is really his fault.

irv noren

noren is shown here from his coaching days with the oakland a's.  more specifically, he is shown following a brawl between the tigers and a's on august 22, 1972 when the two teams were in the heat of the pennant race.  noren was punched by a tigers player following a couple of high and tight pitches thrown at a's batters, the second of which resulted in angel manual charging the mound.  you can get all the details here, just scroll down about half way.  anyway, noren actually began his professional career with the brooklyn dodgers in 1946, but was purchased by the senators before he could reach the big leagues.  he faced the dodgers as a yankee in three world series (1952, 1953, and 1955) and eventually joined the club in 1960, his final big league season.  he appeared in 26 games for the blue, all as a pinch hitter, and was 5 for 25 with a walk.

frank o'rourke

o'rourke played for the robins in 1917 and '18, hitting .233 over that span.  he broke into the big leagues in 1912 and played into the 1931 season, after which he managed in the minors and then became a scout.  he worked for the yankees in that capacity for about 50 years, retiring in 1985.  he passed away a year later at the age of 92.  a native of ontario, he is enshrined in the canadian baseball hall of fame.

don padgett

padgett began his career as an outfielder with the cardinals in 1937.  the cardinals converted him to catcher due to enos slaughter's arrival in 1939, and he wound up hitting .399 in 92 games during that season.  he played a total of five seasons in saint louis, and after missing four seasons due to military service in world war ii, padgett joined the dodgers and returned to the majors in 1946.  with brooklyn, he hit .167 in 19 games and had his contract purchased by the braves in june of that year.

charley smith

smith was a third baseman who entered the major leagues with the dodgers in 1960.  he was traded to the phillies early in the 1961 season, and had a total of 91 at bats in 27 games as a dodger.  he is probably best known as the player that the yankees acquired when they traded roger maris to the cardinals following the 1966 season.

sunday morning target dodgers

fourteen more from a sheet of fifteen (double dipping ray hayworth gets his own post later), courtesy the fine folks at twin cites based target who, for some reason, issued a set in 1990 featuring nearly all the players and managers to appear for the brooklyn/los angeles groom/bridegroom/superba/robin/dodger franchise.

let's kick this installment off with some mean muttonchops.

orlando alvarez

alvarez made his big league debut in 1973 as a pinch-hitter for charlie hough.  future dodger jerry reuss struck him out.  the next day, however, alvarez again was called upon to pinch-hit, and this time he doubled.  it would be his only hit as a dodger although he made two more pinch-hitting appearances that season, plus one in 1974 and four in 1975.  in fact, alvarez only played in the field as a dodger in one inning as a defensive replacement in 1974.  alvarez was traded to the angels on the eve of the 1976 season for ellie rodriguez.

george bell

no, not that george bell.  this bell was a pitcher who spent five seasons (1907-1911) in the majors, all with brooklyn.   the image on the card shows him in the 1909 superbas uniform, which matches the year that he had his only winning record (16-15).  the following year, bell led the league with 27 losses.  overall, he posted a 43-79 record in his career, with an era of 2.85.  the teams he played on just weren't very good.

john bolling

following a stint with the 1939 phillies, bolling pinch hit and played some first base for the 1944 brooklyn dodgers and did pretty well.  in 56 games, he hit .351 and made only 2 errors in 27 games spent in the field.  his season was cut short by military duty, and he chose to retire from baseball after a year in the minors following his service.

elmer brown

brown pitched for the superbas and robins during the 1913-1915 seasons.  over that span, he was 1-2 with a 3.66 era.

gilly campbell

campbell finished his major league career with the 1938 brooklyn dodgers.  he had previously played for the cubs and reds, and in 54 games as a dodger, he hit .246.  he spent the rest of his career in the minors, and while with the la angels of the pcl in the early 1940's, campbell had a small role in the film 'the pride of the yankees'.

ownie carroll

carroll, who had led the league in losses as a red in 1932, joined the dodgers for the 1933 season in a trade with the cardinals in which the dodgers gave up dazzy vance.  carroll went 13-15 with 11 complete games in 1933, and followed that up with a 1-3 record in 1934 when he was used primarily out of the bullpen.

cozy dolan

dolan played for the superbas in 1901 and 1902.  he led the league in games played, plate appearances, and at bats in 1902, hitting .280 in 141 games.  a converted pitcher, dolan played outfield and first base for brooklyn, although he did make a couple of appearances on the mound after leaving the superbas.  in 1907, during spring training with the boston braves, dolan contracted typhoid fever and passed away.  the braves wore a memorial black crepe bow on their uniforms that season - if only the t206 set had come out a year or two earlier, i might have been able to find a card with the bow for my memorials collection.

spider jorgensen

jorgensen made his big league debut on april 15, 1947 - the same day jackie robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.  later in his career, jorgensen played for the new york giants in willie mays' first big league game.  in between, however, he put together a solid rookie campaign as the dodger third baseman, hitting .274 in 129 games.  an injury following the 1947 season limited jorgensen's playing time, and he appeared in only 86 more games for the dodgers before he was traded to the giants early in the 1950 season.  he retired following his release in 1951, and later became a scout for the cubs, signing mark grace among others.

tommy mccarthy

hall of famer mccarthy closed out his career with a single season in brooklyn.  playing for the 1896 bridegrooms, mccarthy hit .249 and stole 22 bases in 104 games.  he's probably one of the weaker hall of fame players - 1493 hits, .292 batting average - although he may have been recognized as a pioneer of the game as well.

jay partridge

partridge played for the robins in 1927 and 1928.  somewhere in there is a ornithological joke.  he hit .260 in 146 games as the robins' second baseman in 1927, but played in just 37 games the following year, hitting .247.

mike jeffrey ramsey

one of two mike j. ramseys to play for the dodgers, this one finished his big league career with 9 games as a dodger early in the 1985 season.  he hit .133 before being released in june, thus missing out on the opportunity to face his former club, the cardinals, in the nlcs.

harry riconda

during his lone season with brooklyn (1928), riconda appeared in a career high 92 games, hitting .224 with 3 of his 4 career home runs coming that season.  he was traded by the robins after the season to pittsburgh.

rosy ryan

ryan pitched in 30 games for the 1933 dodgers, all in relief.  a former starter for the formidable new york giant teams of the early 1920's, ryan was 1-1 for the dodgers in what would be his final big league season.

jimmy sebring

having previously played for the pirates and reds, sebring began the 1909 season, his fifth and as it would turn out, final season in the big leagues with the  superbas.  he hit .099 in 25 games before being released by the team.  he was signed by the senators and played in one more game that season.  during the following offseason, sebring died of bright's disease (nephritis) at the age of 27.  he is perhaps best known for hitting the first world series home run in history, taking cy young deep in the 1903 fall classic.