one fell swoop

no more packs! i mean it.  anyone want a peanut?  right.  i decided last year sometime that i was done buying packs.  so far, so good.  instead, i bought the 2012 topps series 1 dodger team set on ebay.  it came along with a bunch of dodger inserts, too.  so, for the price of maybe 3 packs, i got five jackie robinson golden greats inserts

topps has got to be running out of jackie robinson images to use.  we've seen these photos way too many times in the last few years.

i also received three sandy koufax golden greats inserts

topps should try to find some non-blurry koufax images to use.

there were also a bunch of these things. are they gold? cognac? whisky? what?  anyway, here's tim federowicz

not the catcher who wore 31 that i am used to

javy guerra

with dioner navarro lurking.  nice of topps to get navarro on a card so that his dodger double dip is properly recorded.
tony gwynn jr

i was disappointed that gwynn jr didn't get a card in 2011 update, so it's nice to see him in series 1
here's one of the three (!) league leader cards that matt kemp appears on

having a dodger on a league leader card was a big deal to me when i was a kid.  the 1981 era leaders card is one of my favorites because it seemed like a long time coming to me as i started collecting in 1978, too late for the andy messersmith 1976 cards and the davey lopes cards in 1976 and 1977.
hong-chih kuo

looks like he's pitching in a forest fire
ted lilly

at this point, i am already bored with these cards.  no offense, mr. lilly

here's that dee gordon gold futures insert

someone said this looks like an upper deck card and i agree

more matt kemp!

30/30 = golden moment.  yessir. 40/40 would have been nice, too
here's kemp sharing space with a giant

although i don't really have anything against willie mays.
finally, free agent to be andre ethier and his 1987 style mini

i think it was nice of topps to do this as a nod to the fact that 50 years ago they went with a wood design (1962) and then 25 years ago they updated it (1987).  i would have been disappointed, however, if their flagship design was another play on wood.  so, having an insert set that acknowledges the timeline is ok by me.

see you when series 2 comes out topps!