that's right neighborly

i'm a fan of david cross.  from his standup to his role on arrested development, i find him to be pretty darn funny.  i even accept his decision to do that alvin and the chipmunks movie because, well, sometimes you need to make the money grab.  anyway, he has a standup bit where he takes on the idea of the term 'friendly fire'.  that's what comes to mind when i see this 2012 topps heritage card featuring a giant and a dodger.

i'm sure this post has already been written by now, but i am compelled to do it anyway after finding some heritage in a dime box at one of the recent shows i attended.  i hadn't seen the cards until then.  obviously, i recognize that topps was emulating the 1963 set not just in design, but in content, and so they were recreating this card

however, the whole idea of duke snider and gil hodges being friendly foes was that they were teammates for a long time, and even won two championships together.  it's also interesting to note that snider and hodges were not actually foes in 1963, as the silver fox joined the ny metropolitans in time to  play alongside hodges in his final month as a player.

ethier and vogelsong, on the other hand, have never been teammates.  they are certainly foes, and they do look somewhat cordial on the card, but friendly?  well, maybe.  the oldtimers would have us think that all the ballplayers these days are too friendly with their opponents.  in ethier's case, he has a good reason, as he's hitting over .300 in his career against vogelsong.

the other dodger multi-player card from the 2012 heritage set is this one, featuring ethier, matt kemp, and clayton kershaw

the 1963 set featured all pitchers - johnny podres, don drysdale, and sandy koufax.

there's no arguing that topps chose the right 'big three' for 2012 - i don't think a card of ted lilly, chad billingsley, and kershaw would have been as nice.

as an aside, i am really not looking forward to the 'sealing tigers' doom' card in next year's heritage.  stupid giants.

and just think, in 45 years, topps will be due to recreate some other combo cards, like these two from 2008 topps update & highlights

ugh.  luckily, i'll have my nuclear powered thought glasses to help me ignore those cards.