even more cards from doc holoday

finishing up the trade posts for today with a few more from my trade with doc holoday.  he really did send a nice group of cards as part of a 'spring cleaning' on his part.  i am quite appreciative.

2007 topps jeff kent hit parade insert

kent was 7th on the active leader list for career rbi when this card came out.  he is currently 49th on the all-time leader list, but should be passed by albert pujols this season

1994 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

one of holly's two cards in that set

2007 topps update & highlights brady clark

by the time this card was released, i believe clark was already an ex-dodger playing in san diego

2007 upper deck sp authentic rafael furcal authentic speed insert

i don't know if doc saw this post or not, but the furky was needed and is appreciated!

2008 upper deck x andruw jones xponential insert

he's an x-dodger, thankfully

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee mark loretta

still working on that set!

2011 bowman chrome justin sellers

and 2011 bowman chrome dee gordon

and 2012 bowman chrome clayton kershaw

both the gordon and the kershaw cards show the duke snider memorial patch, which i will address in a future post.

thanks again for the trade!

topps serves up more dodger variations - a side by side comparison of the 2010 dodgers

yes, it's time to compare the dodgers from the flagship set(s) to their team set counterparts.  2009 was a year with many variations.  how will 2010 fare?  let's find out.  as always, it's flagship/update card on the left, team set card on the right.

first up, lad1: manny ramirez

nice of manny to make an appearance in the team set in 2010.  topps left him out of the 2009 set, i suppose because he was unsigned after the '08 season.  the only variation i detect here is the topps logo, which is slightly displaced.

lad2 is james loney

from the home whites to the away grays.

ronald belisario is lad3

topps didn't issue a belisario card in series 1, 2 or the update set.  maybe they had visa problems.

lad4 is clayton kershaw

it's the same.

as is lad5, jonathan broxton

and lad6, casey blake

lad7, matt kemp

gets a tighter crop in the team set

andre ethier is lad8

with no variation.

lad9 is ronnie belliard

belliard had to wait until the update set to get his regular topps card, which is rotated and not airbrushed like his team set card.  at least i think that's airbrushed.  belliard came aboard at the end of august, 2009 so there is a slight chance he is pictured in an actual dodger uni.

lad10 is chad billingsley

and his card gives us a different angle on his delivery.

russell martin is lad11

and his cards are cropped slightly different.  a fairly weak variation.

lad12 is the departed rafael furcal

the team set photo is a tad racy, with furky standing between musial and slaughter.

lad13 is the also departed george sherrill

mega-crop variation!

hiroki kuroda is lad14

again with the cropping!

lad15 is mark loretta

who was shut out in the topps regular sets.  because he retired.  would have preferred a jamey carroll card instead.

lad16 is hong-chih kuo

whose update card is different from the team set card.  the team set card photo comes from san francisco, which seems to be a default locale for dodgers pitcher's cards

the final card, lad17, is blake dewitt

and thankfully, his topps base card is different from the team set card.  dewitt looks like a vampire on his team set card.  no joe torre in this set, although he is there in dewitt's card, lurking blurrily in the dugout.

final count: 1 logo variation, 6 photo variations, and 4 cropping variations.  plus two cards that had no comps in the base topps sets.  not a bad haul - definitely worth a pick up for the team collector.

topps outdoes itself and serves up variations - a side by side comparison of the 2009 dodgers

by now you know the drill.  topps put out blister pack team sets, and sometimes the cards were different from the flagship set.  2008 was a down year for dodger variations, but topps came back strong in 2009.  let's take a look.  as always, that's the regular topps card on the left, and the topps dodger set card on the right.  note the absence of manny ramirez from the team set - i suppose he was still unsigned when the checklist was being assembled.

anyway, here's number 'lad1' in the set, and for the second year in a row, it's russell  martin

if ever there was a card to not mess with, it was martin's regular issue topps card from the 2009 set.  my happiness in seeing a variation on the top card of the set was tempered by the fact it was martin's card.  still, variety is the spice of life, and i am happy to have it.

lad2 is clayton kershaw

2 for 2 in variations, but there is a serious lack of color on the team set card.  if only he were slightly rotated so we could see the red jersey number.  the photo comes off looking like something off of 2010 upper deck.

here's lad3 jonathan broxton

3 in, and we have 3 variations.  i like where this is going.  here i prefer the team set card.  brox is a little more menacing, while on the regular topps card, i am pretty sure he's just warming up.  that's based on the position of angel berroa's (?) blue glove behind him.

lad4 rafael furcal

gah. it's the same.  a nice card, though so i won't complain.

lad5 andre ethier

back to the variations, but i prefer the flagship.  poor logo placement by topps on the team card as well as a boring photo choice.

lad6 chad billingsley

same.  this is a lot like broxton's card, which is disappointing in general.  remember 2007 topps, with all those lookalike dodger cards from holman stadium?  that sucked.  plus, it looks like a billingsley warm up toss, too, because berroa is standing straight up in the background.

lad7 matt kemp

no diff, but not a bad card.

lad8 juan pierre

ditto.

lad9 james loney

back to variations, but again, i prefer the flagship.  i'm not too crazy about all the mid-thigh cropped shots.

lad10 hiroki kuroda

same.

lad11 blake dewitt

different but not as dynamic.

lad12 casey blake

not different.

lad13 mark loretta

hmm.  which is better, the series 2 loretta from a spring game against the white sox, or the airbrushed loretta that is basically him in a padres uni and a dodger helmet.  i'm not sure what to think.

lad14 hong-chih kuo

good golly miss molly!  topps didn't include kuo in series 1, 2 or the update set.  even after putting him in the team set, and even though he had appeared in 42 games in 2008.  obviously, advantage team set.

lad15 joe torre

i think i prefer the team set version of the walk to the mound.  perhaps joe is calling for kuo to be included in the set.  i find it interesting that he wears a watch, even while managing. 

  

well, that's it for 2009.  if you are keeping score, that's 8 photo variations, zero of those lame cropping variations, and one off the charts checklist variation.  a pretty good ratio given the sad stats from 2008.

time to pay the collector

yes, it is once again time to pay up for i am joe collector's monthly box break.  while i haven't been delinquent in my payments, i have been slow in posting the bounty i have received.  here's a smattering from the april breaks.  you'll note that it's been so long that only one of the players i am showcasing is still with the dodgers!

and that player is russell martin, shown here on a 2009 topps unique card

martin's done for the year, though, so that almost counts.  in fact, he may not be back as a dodger next year.

jim thome is now a twin

along with joe mauer

ok, so mauer was never with the dodgers.  i don't know if the red or the black is the base in this set.  i think it's the black.

here's yet another twin, orlando hudson on a 2009 topps u&h card

this is also the card hudson refused to sign (but he did so very politely) at the twins autograph party.

here's his 2009 topps heritage high number card.  it's an sp, i believe.

here's that thome fellow again.

i wish he would have hit at least one homer as a dodger.

how about jon garland?

he's a padre.  i think we could have used him this season.  11 wins?  yes, we could have used him.

finally, there's mark loretta

he's retired and presumably tired of waiting for me to post his final card.

thanks for hosting the breaks, jeff.  keep 'em coming!

i am joe collector monthly box break bonanza!

i am a happy man, now that i am joe collector has two monthly box breaks.  in the first, the team i have had for the past few months has been the twins.  that's ok, although the one month i traded them to motherscratcher for the dodgers was the only month with any twins hits.  anyway, in the second break, i have the big blue wrecking crew, and boy did it pay off last month.  2008 playoff prime cuts and 2009 sweet spot were the products, and here is what i received:

from the prime cuts break, i got a duke snider card.

it's numbered to 249, i think, if that sort of thing matters to you.

i did better with the sweet spot break.  i'm not sure if i have all of the base dodgers now, but it's got to be close.

here's manny:

he's not pleased with the way i scanned his card.  too far to the right.  sorry manny.

russell martin

i hope topps goes back to calling him russell.  russ doesn't seem to work as well.

hiroki kuroda

the only one of these guys in the home whites, although i am guessing it's a spring training shot and not a dodger stadium one.

clayton kershaw

sometimes i wish the dodgers had a facial hair rule like some other teams.  monty burns would never stand for this sort of thing.

matt kemp

the bison doesn't need to look the ball into his glove.  no sir.

chad billingsley

a year ago, i was wondering whether the broken leg he suffered at the beginning of the postseason would prevent him from starting the season on time.  now i wonder if it wouldn't have been better if he missed some time up front so that he could, in theory, finish strong.

hey - it's billingsley again!

with a silver auto on a black ball.  one of charlie finley's failed experiments.

and mark loretta!

with an auto on a piece of wood.  now, don't get me wrong - loretta had a big hit for the dodgers in the nlds - but he should not have a hit in this product.  he doesn't even have a base card as far as i can tell.  this is just wrong.  but i'm a dodger fan so i'll be ok.  looking forward to the jamey carroll relics in 2010!

finally, the piece de resistance as some might say

a redemption thingy good for a matt kemp 'skin-red stitch black ink'.  that sounds like a tattoo.  hm. anyway, i redeemed it yesterday and it says it's in stock so you know what that means...yes, the official redemption watch is on!  check it on the right.

thanks jeff.  can't wait to see what january brings!