better late than never with some 2013 dodger topps update cards

i am scheduling this post well in advance, so i don't know if 2014 topps is on the shelves yet.  i do know that i had some 2013 topps update cards scanned and unpublished on this site, and it's probably better to post them before the blogs get all filled up with 2014 stuff.

i am not really pursuing a full rainbow, but i did pick up a few parallels of nick punto's nice looking update card - black

gold

emerald

target red

and walmart blue

and, oh by the way, here's the plain old base

easily my favorite base card from update.

jose dominguez appeared in a handful of games during the summer

he made his debut in june (he struck out the first batter he ever faced) and stuck with the team into july. the dodgers were 8-1 in games in which he appeared.

clayton kershaw was the lone dodger representative at the 2013 all-star game

he could be a centaur, and we wouldn't know it thanks to the odd layout of that card.

here's a better one - his 1971 topps style mini parallel

and, better yet, a chasing history insert

sandy koufax was on the postseason heroes checklist

i think that's from the 1963 world series - koufax coming off the mound after a game 4 complete game to finish the sweep of the yankees.

here's another dodger postseason hero, but on a chasing history insert

johnny podres shut out the yankees in game 7 of the 1955 fall classic

jackie robinson's chasing history card

doesn't deal with the 1955 team.  instead, it marks his franchise record set in 1949 for most hits by a second baseman in a season.  and can i just say that i dislike insert sets that span multiple releases?

scott van slyke gets a non-bowman card

i am guessing his 2014 card (if there is one) will feature him standing for the national anthem in the nlcs.

topps didn't include managerial cards in the 2013 set, but dodger skipper don mattingly did get a card in the 1971 style mini insert set

i am disappointed that the manager cards seem to have migrated to heritage the last few years.  yes, that is in line with the topps sets from yesteryear (will there be a cubs' head coach variation in this year's heritage?) but i wouldn't mind having a flagship mattingly dodger card.

speaking of flagship, here's one more card from either series 1 or 2, i don't recall - a hanley ramirez chasing history foil insert

and with that, i'm almost ready for 2014 product.  almost.

swing and a win

i posted earlier today about a trade that i made with bert at swing and a pop up.  i was also fortunate enough to win a contest that netted me a value box of 2013 topps update from the man.  i chose the walmart version, hoping for some blue-bordered dodger goodness, and i got some.

it's nick punto turning two at dodger stadium

this would be my favorite card from update this year if it weren't for puig's presence in the set.  no puigs in this box, however.

but, there was another blue-bordered double play turn thanks to ryan roberts of the rays

plus a didi gregorious turn

although not of the blue-bordered variety.

now for the inserts.  my 1971 topps mini was troy tulowitzki

and the chasing history insert was miguel cabrera

the emerald parallel was bryce harper

here's the making their mark insert - the cardinals' carlos martinez

and the postseason heroes card was none other than mariano rivera

bonus insert!  a camo parallel of jim henderson of the brewers.

this is the first non-dodger camo parallel i have owned, and the first one i have pulled from a pack.

bert also sent a few dodgers along for the ride, like this 1996 bowman onan masaoka

i believe masaoka was the fourth hawaiian born pitcher to play for the dodgers.  the others were carlos diaz, sid fernandez, and of course charlie hough.  it's too bad he couldn't stick in the majors long enough to establish loogy status.

last but not least, here's a 2007 topps card of jason schmidt celebrating his transformation from hated rival to cheered starter

schmidt won his dodger debut, but the team lost the other 5 games in which he pitched in 2007.  he worked hard to get back to the team, but made only a few more starts in 2009 before hanging 'em up.

bert - thanks again for the contest and the extra cards!

the first adrian

this is adrian gonzalez's 2013 topps card

it was the first card of gonzalez as a dodger that i owned.  it won't be the last, but there is one that i pretty much know that i will never own.

for the first time since i began collecting (and now dating back to the 1957 set), i do not have a complete dodger team set of topps' flagship and traded/update cards because of the ssp nonsense that was perpetrated in last year's update set.

sure, for $700 i could own this gonzalez card

and this nick punto card

plus this card of carl crawford

and this josh beckett card

but i won't.  instead, i'll settle for this 2013 topps beckett

and wait for series two (maybe) for a punto and a crawford.

things were simpler in 1999 when another adrian made his dodger topps debut

i've been thinking about making 2013 the last year that i would bother with the non-ssp dodger team sets.  we'll have to see what kind of shenanigans (beyond the out of bounds short prints) topps brings to the table.