some good things from topps (and panini) in 2015 and contest results

imagine opening a pack of cards in 2015 and finding a 1978 topps steve yeager card.

someone out there had that experience, and then decided to sell that card to me.  the only two buybacks i have ever pulled from a pack were a 1992 topps joel skinner card in (i think) 2001 topps, and a 1971 o-pee-chee bob lemon card from 2009 upper deck opc - neither of which had any stamp to distinguish it from a non-buyback card.

i also went out and bought a few other cards that struck my fancy from one of this year's releases - in this case 2015 topps archives.  i was happy to see that topps used the 1957 topps design, and that they did it better than they did in 2006 when they washed it out with heritage.  here's don sutton

clayton kershaw

and a nice surprise, vladimir guerrero.

it's good to see the expos logo on cardboard.

here's the last '57 i picked up from archives, yasiel puig

i wish they would have used photos from inside dodger stadium, however, as one of the best things about the '57 set is the stadium backgrounds on many of the cards.

topps did use dodger stadium in the background for this mlb the show puig insert

which is nice.

it's not dodger stadium on this robbed in right insert

but at least the effort behind the insert set is appreciated, unlike some of the series 2 inserts (hot streak, stepping up, etc).

i really like this 2015 panini diamond kings puig aficionado card

it's good enough to make me forget that it's an unlicensed card.

back to some 2015 topps stuff, here's a nondescript 2015 topps gypsy queen card of adrian gonzalez

i think gypsy queen has run its course.

topps heritage, however, has somehow made me appreciate the 1964 and 1966 sets more than i did in the past over the last three years. here's gonzalez on a 2015 heritage league leader card

he was the first dodger to lead the league in rbi since matt kemp in 2011.  not so long, but before that, you would have had to go back to 1962 and tommy davis.

one of my favorite insert sets this year was the jackie robinson story set.  i've picked up the last four that i needed to complete the set, including these two (the other two were sent to me by wes at jaybarkerfan's junk).

now when i see branch rickey, i think of han solo.

this may be my favorite insert of 2015, however. it's clayton kershaw on a team spirit card from 2015 topps opening day.

he's tipping his cap to the dodger stadium crowd just as i am tipping my cap to those of you who've been reading these posts of mine over the past not-quite seven years.  and to the two of you who took the time to enter my contest.  as you may recall, it consisted of identifying the 31 cards that have made up my header for the past six-plus years.

neither of you got them all, but alec got 29 out of 31 and john was not too far behind.  here are the answers:

this list might be easier to read:

1. 1987 topps fernando valenzuela

2. 1995 topps national packtime mike piazza

3. 2004 donruss team heroes rickey henderson

4. 1978 topps dodger team/checklist (graded)

5. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites pedro guerrero

6. 1989 upper deck orel hershiser

7. 2007 upper deck russell martin

8. 1971 topps jim lefebvre

9. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams kirk gibson

10. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts jackie robinson

11. 2001 upper deck legends don drysdale/kevin brown reflections in time

12. 1978 o-pee-chee steve garvey

13. 2004 topps robin ventura

14. 2001 upper deck decade '70's ron cey

15. 2005 upper deck sweet spot classic maury wills jumbo patch

16. 1987 fleer bill russell

17. 2001 upper deck gold glove shawn green

18. 1974 topps dave lopes

19. 1992 topps darryl strawberry

20. 1981 topps jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela

21. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites steve yeager autograph

22. 2008 topps dodger factory set dodger stadium

23. 2002 topps american pie duke snider american sluggers blue

24. 1956 topps don zimmer

25. 2004 topps world series highlights kirk gibson

26. 2007 upper deck nomar garciaparra

27. 2001 upper deck legends of new york pee wee reese

28. 1989 fleer world series dodgers team/champions

29. 1997 bowman hideo nomo

30. 1962 topps nl strikeout leaders sandy koufax/stan williams/don drysdale

31. 1999 upper deck century legends mike piazza

i admit, the garvey was impossible to discern as o-pee-chee, and the 1995 piazza and the american pie snider were almost completely obscured (kudos to alec for identifying the snider, though).  thanks to both who took the time to give it a shot - since there were only two of you, i'll send more cards than i had previously advertised.

look at some cards that feature double plays

they are self explanatory and offer up an easy post topic, which is what i need right now.  all are either new to my collection or recently unearthed from any number of monster boxes in my somewhat unorganized card collection area.

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell gold medallion edition

1998 fleer ultra mike lansing

1998 topps stadium club ray durham

1999 topps stadium club ray durham

2001 topps stadium club ray durham

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal mini

2004 topps rafael furcal red chunk

2004 upper deck marcus giles

2013 topps silver slate blue sparkle danny espinosa

2014 bowman silver ice ian kinsler

2014 topps chrome jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome refractor jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome andrelton simmons

2015 topps opening day javier baez

i'll try harder next time.

a day that should be a holiday

like most, today i'm featuring cards from opening day sets, like this sticker from 2001 topps opening day

i love that logo.  and, i love opening day. i used to go pretty much every year - from '91 or '92 through '97 - sometimes even getting to sit in my then-company's corporate seats. since moving to the midwest, i've been to a few twins' opening days, but there's nothing like dodger stadium.  even though i've got my mlb.tv subscription filled, i am jealous of the 56,000 that will be at chavez ravine later today.  i won't be able to watch due to some sort of work thing that i need to do most days.  go figure.

here are some cards from 2015 topps opening day that i picked up in a couple of packs, including a yasiel puig hit the dirt insert

and a joc pederson base card

i have high hopes for joc. despite all of the hype that the cubbie prospects are getting, i'm hoping pederson brings the jackie robinson award back to the dodgers.

here's clayton kershaw's base card from 2015 topps opening day

i am hoping to take a road trip sometime this season to see him pitch.  he was hurt last year when i saw the dodgers, and i don't want to miss out on witnessing his stuff first hand.

i was happy to find this card in one of the packs i picked up - a stadium scenes card featuring dodger stadium

that would be the back of the right field scoreboard.  i don't think it used to have the flying ball logo - i seem to remember the interlocking 'la' logo from my last visit in 2012.  anyway, it's a cool card and i've added it to my nefarious 9 because i also need one for the dodger stadium collection.  although, this isn't really a dodger card so maybe this one goes in the dodger stadium collection. hmm.  something to think about while i'm not watching opening day baseball.

well, that didn't last long

when 2015 topps series one was released, i expressed my happiness over the fact that 'series one' was added to the backs of cards. even if it only showed up on the base cards and not the inserts, it was a step in the right direction as far as being able to identify which set a certain card came from.  upper deck had done this for at least three years, and i am very thankful for it.

well, when i opened a pack of 2015 topps opening day, i was disappointed.  here's the back of adrian gonzalez's card from that set.

there is no mention of the set anywhere on the back.  granted, the front of the card

features the opening day logo, but i still lobby for set information on the backs.

here are some other 2015 cards that i've procured through a few pack purchases.

2015 donruss yasiel puig

these are not attractive cards, but flipping the inserts covered the cost of my jumbo pack, and so i got this puig for free.  i do not know what panini is obscuring by pasting into the picture a different group of fans above the brick wall, but i'm guessing it had something to do with logos.

how about some heritage? yes, i bought another 35-card box of 2015 topps heritage recently, and was rewarded with my first howie kendrick as a dodger card

plus the clayton kershaw/adam wainwright nl aces card

and a yimi garcia card

this is not the format for multi-team rookie cards in the 1966 set, by the way.

here's another rookie card from 2015 topps heritage that i picked up on sportlots.

it features the dodgers' centerfielder, joc pederson.

i've also gone and picked up a fair number of the dodger cards from the aforementioned 2015 topps series one set, including mr. pederson

and mr. garcia

who were given cards all to themselves by topps in this set.

here's andre ethier

who looks to be the odd man out in the outfield again this year.

here are yasiel puig on his base card

and his archetypes insert

lots of running photos for puig.

i assume topps is running out of photos to use of sandy koufax because they paired fernando valenzuela with kershaw on this inspired play insert

here's one of kershaw's league leader cards

and here's his base card

i picked up a few gold parallels on sportlots, including kershaw's

and hyun-jin ryu's (but first his base card)

ditto for carl crawford

and matt kemp

although i also picked up kemp's toys r us purple parallel

i thought about doing a rainbow of kemp's last dodger card, but i've sort of lost interest.

here's a-gon's gold parallel

which we know is from series one because it says so on the back.

i'll have to remember a few years from now that these first pitch inserts of suzy

and jeff bridges

are also from series one and not opening day (which has featured presidential first pitch inserts in the past) because topps apparently doesn't think consistently putting set information on the back is worthwhile.  maybe next year?