when the cards go blue

it's nice when the coloring of a card accentuates elements in the photo, and it is particularly nice when it is dodger blue that is being accentuated.  following up on my recent decision to complete the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set (which is not really a recent decision - as a team collector, i had already decided to complete it - it's more like prioritizing), i have picked up a trio of cards.

2007 topps chrome jd drew blue refractor

2007 topps chrome brad penny blue refractor

and 2007 topps chrome juan pierre blue refractor

see what i mean?  jd's helmet, brad's stirrups, and juan's fake blue jersey all look better surrounded by those blue borders.

here are some other blue parallels.

2010 topps finest manny ramirez blue refractor

and 2010 topps opening day manny ramirez toppstown

go ahead. steal the code.

sometimes, the blues don't quite match, which was the case with the walmart parallels that started showing up in 2012.

2012 topps dee gordon walmart blue parallel

2013 topps kenley jansen walmart blue parallel

2014 topps hanley ramirez walmart blue parallel

2014 topps update chone figgins walmart blue parallel

and then there are some blue parallels that sparkle, like this 2013 topps dee gordon silver slate blue sparkle parallel

with dee turning two.

sometimes, the blue is subtle, as is the case with this 2014 panini hall of fame don drysdale blue refractor

numbered 54/75 - one off of his jersey number!  just kidding - that does not excite me, but blue cards featuring the big blue wrecking crew (yes, by that i mean dodgers - not new york football giants) do.

turning two in black and blue and other colors, too

here's a quick post to show some double play cards that i picked up last november during a black friday spree.  timely, i know.

2012 topps chrome dee gordon black refractor

and 2012 topps chrome dee gordon blue refractor

blue works better for the dodgers, and so i picked up a couple others as well

2009 topps chrome orlando hudson blue refractor

(hello, juan castro)

and 2011 topps chrome rafael furcal blue refractor

with the position error

i am on record as noting that the best card in 2014 topps update belonged to justin turner, but before he was turning two as a dodger, he made the pivot in the flagship set as a met.  i picked up some of the parallels for my dp collection

2014 topps justin turner gold

2014 topps justin turner red hot foil

2014 topps justin turner toys r us purple

2014 topps justin turner walmart blue

unfortunately, turner wasn't included in the chrome set last year - either as a dodger or a met - so no blue refractor for me.

speaking of blue refractors, i am still trying to piece together the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set, and could use some help...

how to assemble an atomic team set

i finally bit the bullet and bought the last few cards i needed to complete the 2011 topps chrome atomic refractor dodger team set.  i really like these kaleidoscope looking things.

clayton kershaw

of the 10 dodgers in the set, mr. cy young/mvp is one of only two players still with the dodgers.

chad billingsley

bills is pitching for the phils now. he's on the dl, but has made a couple of rehab starts in the minors as he works his way back from tommy john surgery.

dee gordon

dee is playing second base for the marlins following an offseason trade. he's hitting .348 with 7 steals so far in 2015.

jerry sands

sands was traded (as one of the players to be named later) to the red sox in the big adrian gonzalez/josh beckett/carl crawford deal, but was flipped to the pirates for joel hanrahan a short time later.  he finally resurfaced in the majors with the rays in 2014, and is currently hitting .381 for the indians in 7 games this year.

those were the last four cards i needed to complete my team set, but here are the other cards just to be thorough about it.

jonathan broxton

broxton is pitching out of the brewer bullpen these days. the good news is that his k/9 ratio is up (10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings so far in 2015), but so his is era (6.75).

ivan dejesus

dejesus was included with sands in the trade with boston in 2012, as well as the trade with the pirates that followed. unlike sands, dejesus played for boston in 2012 - he was 0 for 8.  that was the last big league action he's seen, but he's currently playing in the reds organization and hitting .364 at triple-a louisville.

andre ethier

currently the dodgers' fourth outfielder, ethier has appeared in 14 games and is hitting .276 in 2015.

rafael furcal

furky has been hobbled by injuries the last couple of years, playing in just a few games for the marlins last year after missing all of 2013.  he's currently with the royals, although still injured.

matt kemp

kemp seems to be enjoying himself in san diego, and he's healthy to boot. he's played in all 17 games this season, and is hitting .333 with a couple of triples, 14 rbi, and two steals.

james loney

loney was another one included in that 2012 trade with the bosox, but he is the rays' first baseman now.  he has only appeared in one game this season, however, as he suffered an oblique strain in the season opener.

good ol' chrome.  i think i will shift my attention to the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set next.

8 jd drew

23 andre ethier

48 rafael furcal

54 jeff kent

106 brad penny

125 juan pierre

128 chad billingsley

149 jason schmidt

159 matt kemp

173 randy wolf

176 takashi saito

193 russell martin

229 derek lowe

275 greg maddux

please help me out if you can!

sandy koufax then means a bevy of cards now

the dominance of sandy koufax in 1966 - he won his third cy young award and third pitching triple crown that year - means that he shows up a lot in this year's topps heritage 'then and now' 10-card insert set.  never mind that topps is comparing 1966 (the base set's design year) to 2014 (the previous season).    i guess it's as close as we can get to 'now', because we missed it - just now.

here's a bunch of sandy goodness.

2015 topps heritage then and now #6

this card celebrates the era leaders - koufax posted a 1.73 era in 1966, while kershaw's 1.77 was the best in baseball last year

2015 topps heritage then and now #7

these are your strikeout leaders - koufax had 317 in 1966, and david price k'd 271 batters in 2014. kudos to topps for noting that price split his time between tampa bay and detroit last year.

2015 topps heritage then and now #8

is all about the wins leaders - koufax had the most in 1966 with 27, and kershaw's 21 victories were the most in baseball last year.  three cards into the set, and topps is already recycling a koufax photo. nice.

2015 topps heritage then and now #9

these are a couple of workhorses.  the innings pitched leaders - koufax threw 323 innings in '66, and david price completed 248.1 frames in 2014.  so far it's been all leftys….

2015 topps heritage then and now #10

finally a righty.  these are the shutout leaders - koufax (and 8 others) had 5 shutouts in 1966, while wainwright (and 2 others) spun 3 last year.  and, while i appreciate the photo of koufax standing in dodger stadium, i didn't necessarily need to see it on two consecutive cards.

there could have been more koufax cards in this set had topps made one for complete games, starts, k/9, or batters faced, or a bevy of modern stats like fip and era+.  still, the dodgers dominated the insert set with adrian gonzalez gracing card #2, and dee gordon appearing on card #4

one guess as to which statistical category that card represents.

there's another insert set featuring koufax - a legend retires - but i don't have any of those cards.  i do have this 2015 topps heritage baseball flashbacks card

that notes how koufax clinched the national league pennant for the dodgers on the last day of the season in his last career regular season start

no mention of the final start of his career - a game 2 loss in the 1966 world series.  it's worth noting that koufax's teammate phil regan had a 1.62 era in 1966, although he pitched only 116.2 innings that year, all in relief.  besides, most people would rather have cards of koufax than the vulture.

spring has sprung

spring training camps have been broken for the year, and the dodgers are now in southern california passing time with the angels until their season opens on monday.  arpsmith is also in socal, and that's where he presumably acquired these cards that i received recently.

2015 topps adrian gonzalez spring fever

there's only one local card shop that i go to these days (i think there are 3 or 4 in the twin cities), but i don't know if they participate in this promotion or not.  thankfully, arpsmith has a guy who does.

here's a midsummer card - 2014 topps update dee gordon all-star relic

that would be a piece of the all-star game warm up or practice apparel. kudos to topps for getting a photo of dee from the asg to use on the card.

here's another relic - 2014 topps gypsy queen zack greinke

i'm expecting big things from zack since this is an opt-out year for him.

2014 topps heritage minors jesmuel valentin

valentin is the son of jose valentin, who is currently the padres' first base coach.  the dodgers traded jesmuel to the phillies last year as one of the players to be named later in the roberto hernandez (fausto carmona) deal.

2001 topps heritage gary sheffield

arpsmith sent me some cards towards my 2001 topps heritage want list, including the sheff above. i recently took a quiz to see if i could name the top 21 los angeles dodger home run hitters of all time. i got 18 of them right - i forgot john roseboro and ron fairly, who were tied with 90 at the bottom of the list, but i am ashamed to have not named sheffield who put up some of the best offensive numbers ever by a dodger.

last, but not least, here's a 1987 fleer bill russell card, signed by the shortstop of the team of my youth himself

russell did not make the list of the top 21 la dodger home run hitters despite playing his entire career there and appearing in more games than any other la dodger.  russell had only 46 home runs during his career.

thanks for the trade adam! here's hoping the giants give someone else from their division a chance to win the world series this year.

a five star trade of four infielders

matthew from bob walk the plank gave me a heads up that yet another package was on it's way, and it was a nice one.  my first look at a 2014 topps five star card leaves me wondering 'why is it so thick?'  anyway, it's nice to have an alex guerrero auto in the collection 

the card says that guerrero plays second base.  the dodgers used him as a pinch-hitter and left fielder in 2014.  of course, that only amounted to a handful of appearances, and guerrero did spend the bulk of the season playing second in albuquerque.  the dodgers didn't think he was ready for the big leagues at the start of the season, so that's why dee gordon became the starter at second.

here's dee's 2014 topps update gold parallel

gordon did well enough to earn a spot on the all-star team in 2014 and also generate trade interest from the marlins.  the dodgers still don't think guerrero is ready, because howie kendrick will be playing second in 2015.  

as you'll recall, the reason that gordon was bumped from shortstop was the arrival of hanley ramirez in 2012, whose 2014 topps update 1989 die-cut mini card was also included in the package.

the fourth and final card of the package was this 2014 topps update erisbel arruebarrena gold parallel

like guerrero, arruebarrena is on the outside looking in, as jimmy rolllins will be playing shortstop this coming season.

thanks for the cards matthew - i'll be sending something back to you shortly!

it's the end of the year as we know it, and i feel like showing some dodger double play turns

one last post in 2014, and it's all dodgers and all double play turns.  too bad there's no davey lopes or bill russell.  there is, however, their infield coach jim gilliam, turning two on his 1995 topps brooklyn archives 1956 reprint card

i dont think i knew that topps had listed gilliam as an outfielder on his 1956 card.  he's definitely not playing as an outfielder on the card.

here's a 2009 topps chrome orlando hudson xfractor

i'm working on updating my double play binders. there are a number of dodger dps, like the hudson above, that i only have one copy of.  i'm trying to get a handle on that so i can pursue duplicates appropriately.  i know i only have one of these - a 2011 topps ivan dejesus factory set limited edition card

but i might have two of his diamond anniversary parallel

conversely, i actually do have two copies of rafael furcal's 2011 topps factory set limited edition card

but maybe only one of the diamond anniversary parallel

furcal's 2011 topps card may be the best double play card of the set (remember - dee gordon's fantastic double play card came in 2011 topps update), and i had been lax in chasing the parallels.  so, here are the cognac,

gold,

and walmart black versions

the same photo was also used in 2011 topps chrome, thankfully, so here are the orange refractor

and xfractor parallels

gordon got his first taste of the topps flagship in 2012, when he was featured on a rookie cup card and another card that showed him turning two with larry 'chipper' jones sliding in.  this is the golden sparkle parallel

fast forward to 2014, and we had more parallels of dodgers turning two.  i found a yellow parallel of mark ellis from 2014 topps a while back

i definitely only have one of those.

same with this other retail parallel - a 2014 topps alex guerrero green border

it's a tatooine card, too, but i'm currently focused on two copies - the tatooine collection can wait.

i'm less certain about some of the other parallels of this card that i have, like his gold card,

red hot foil,

and 2014 topps chrome cards

pretty sure i have two copies of his 2014 topps chrome refractor

but i know i only have one 2014 topps chrome blue refractor

orange refractor,

and xfractor.

in fact, the duplicate xfractor is one of my nefarious 9 - my most wanted cards.

i'll finish the post, and year, with this - one of my 1953 bowman color pee wee reese cards

that i finally removed from its casing.  this is the one in my dodger binder - the one with the pinhole is in the double play binder.

happy new year everybody - if you can't tell, i'm resolving to work on my want/have lists.