topps panders to the team collector and serves up variations - a side by side comparison of the 2006 dodgers

for the most part, the blister team packs that topps has been selling for the past few years offer little other than a point-of-purchase distraction at the local target.  at least that was what i thought, although topps did start to market them as having an 'exclusive' card the past couple of years - be it a mascot or a manager card or whatever.  at any rate, i wound up buying the dodger sets more as a completist than anything else.  i am happy to say that there is more than just a different number on the back.  let's have a look at the 2006 dodgers.  i'll put the regular topps card on the left, and their topps dodgers team set card on the right.  we'll go in the order of the cards in the team set, starting with 'lad1', eric gagne.

eric gagne

the cards are the same, except topps, for some reason, moved their logo over to the right side of the card for the team set version.  what a variation!

rafael furcal

again, topps on the left, topps dodgers on the right.  but you can't really tell since they are the same.  right down to the airbrushing, which is actually an anomaly for topps as we shall see when we get to bill mueller.

jeff kent

here's another one where there is no difference.

cesar izturis

ditto cesar izturis.  at this point, i am wondering why i bothered.

kenny lofton

that's why.  lofton's regular topps card kept him as a phillie, and his topps dodgers version shows him nicely airbrushed into the dodger road unis, right down to the blue cleats.  topps did issue a card for lofton in the update & highlights set

which is different from the topps dodgers card.  i like it - the more variety the better.

jd drew

back to boring, which is fitting for jd drew.  just the movement of the topps logo on these cards.

bill mueller

here's another decent variation.  unlike furcal's card above, topps kept mueller in his former team's jersey (red sox) and just changed the team affiliation to the dodgers in the flagship set.  in the dodgers' team set, however, topps airbrushed the jersey and the hat to make it a little more official.  sadly, there was no update & highlights card for mueller as his career ended due to injury in may of 2006.

jose cruz jr

no difference.

brett tomko

here's the double variation - tomko is airbrushed (appropriately) into a dodger road uniform, and topps moved their logo.  tomko did pitch in the phone booth for the dodgers twice in 2006, but obviously this image ain't from either of those games.

like lofton, tomko got a card in the update & highlights set with a completely different image

i might actually like the airbrushed card better.

derek lowe

speaking of guys with card images from san francisco, here's derek lowe, whose subsequent topps cards were all about pitching on the road in at&t park.  sadly, there is no variation here.

brad penny

brad penny gets the topps logo treatment, and nothing more.

odalis perez

gets nothing, and probably doesn't like it, but nobody cares.  it's just noise at this point.

jayson werth

werth is also left out of the variation party.  on a side note, is there anyone other than don wert whose last name is in order on the standard 'qwerty' keyboard?  i will guess not thanks to most of the vowels being placed next to each other on the top row.

nomar garciaparra

finally, with card 'lad14' we get to the best of the bunch.  nomar goes from a cub in the flagship set to a dodger in the team set.  it's not as good of a job airbrushing as the shadows are different and nomar was put into the dodger home whites.  topps even airbrushed the cubbie in the dugout although they didn't put a red number on the guy's jersey.  it's basically the same card that was in the 2006 opening day set, but i still appreciate it, as it's one of the last nomar topps cards made.  he did get a card in the u&h set thanks to his all-star status

and that was it.  no more nomar.

so, of the 14 cards, we had 4 topps logo variations, 3 team variations, and 4 airbrushing variations. not bad.

we'll see what 2007 brought in a few days.

the forgotten five of 2007

no, these aren't 'cards that should have been' although one could argue that they should have been included in the base set rather than inserted by topps into team-based factory sets.  i think jaybee refers to them as 'cards that will never see the light of day'.  well, i fell for topps target marketing strategy and bought the set, but i'll be cussed if i'm going to leave these cards hidden away.  let's take a look at the 5 players topps deemed worthy of making a card that many will never see.

marlon anderson

anderson was a late season pickup from the nationals in 2006.  he had 73 at bats for the dodgers that year and hit .375.  he also hit one very big homerun in the 4+1 game.  i approve of this card.

brady clark

the dodgers acquired clark late in spring training 2007 in exchange for elmer dessens.  clark was a dodger for about 3 months in which he hit .224.  after the dodgers released him, he went to san diego where he hit over .300 for the padres.

olmedo saenz.

the killer tomato.  this guy was hurt by the smaller sets, as he would definitely have had multiple cards with the dodgers if he had played back in the 70's or 80's.  at any rate, 2006 was his third year with the club and he had a pretty solid season - 11 homers and a .296 average - coming mostly off the bench.  he was with the dodgers for the entire 2007 season although he hit below .200.  topps did make a 2008 card of the guy which, despite his signing with the mets that year, serves as his final tribute card.

brett tomko

tomko was a free agent pickup prior to the 2006 season.  he pitched mostly in relief but spent the first 3 months of the season as a starter.  he was actually 5-1 with a 2.88 era after his first 8 starts, and then it all went downhill.  he wound up going 8-7 on the season.  he was back in 2007 and was 2-11 with an era of 5.80 when the dodgers released him.  like clark, he went to san diego and played a little bit better.

chin-hui tsao.

tsao was a free agent pickup from colorado.  he spent 2007 with the dodgers losing his only decision in a horrific outing against the braves.  he had been unscored upon after 9 appearances and then gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning in atlanta, although he did strike out chipper.  tsao signed with the mets after the 2007 season, but did not appear in a game for them.

thanks topps for making these cards, although it would have been nice if i hadn't had to buy a factory set to get them.