the annual topps/topps dodger team factory set comparison

with the release of 2015 topps series 2, i figured it was time to address the differences between the topps 17-card factory dodger team set and the good ol' flagship cards.  last year, as you might recall, there was a dodger stadium card included in the factory set (which was nice, but had become somewhat repetitive), and the only other variation was the orientation of brian wilson's card.

before i begin with the side-by-side stuff, i'll note that topps did not add a set descriptor to the backs of the factory team set cards, as they are numbered 'lad-#', with clayton kershaw being the first card up.

so far, only series one and series two have had the descriptor above the card number.

here we go - flagship on the left, factory team set on the right.

lad-1 clayton kershaw

the only foil on this year's flagship cards is the topps logo, and the factory set cards replace it with white fill.  that's the only difference between these two cards.

lad-2 andre ethier

ethier, who was probably on the fence as far as inclusion in the factory set, has essentially the same card.  the only difference is the location of the topps logo.  i would have thought that justin turner had as good a chance as ethier to make this year's checklist.

lad-3 yimi garcia

yimi's topps logo remains in the same spot, but his rookie card designation got moved, which is an improvement over the flagship card.

lad-4 adrian gonzalez

the topps logo made a move on gonzalez's card, which i see as an improvement.

lad-5 zack greinke

again, the topps logo moved, but everything else remains the same.

lad-6 aj ellis

this is the star of the set, folks.  the series two card shows ellis in his catcher gear on the road while the factory set used a photo of ellis from last year's playoffs - nlds game 1 at dodger stadium - in which ellis hit a home run.  he was 4 for 5 in that game, but has only 12 hits in 26 games this season.

lad-7 carl crawford

nothing to see here except the transient topps logo

lad-8 brandon league

another topps logo relocation

lad-9 joc pederson

the topps logo remains in place, but the rookie card designation migrated to the other side of the card.

lad-10 yasiel puig

no change

lad-11 hyun-jin ryu

the topps logo moved to a better location.  seriously, does topps give no thought to where the logo appears? there is no consistency as far as one corner or the other, so i would think that if the logo were to be moved, there would be some effort to put it where it doesn't land on top of a players' elbow.  i guess not.

lad-12 yasmani grandal

ok, now i've come to the point where maybe i should have waited to do this post.  grandal had a card in series one, but he was shown as a padre.  the factory set photoshopped him into todd hundley's old uniform, which is actually a good job by topps. grandal wore number 8 with the pads, but switched to number 9 for the dodgers, and topps took notice of that.  anyway, grandal should get a card in the update set and we will have to wait and see whether or not it matches this one.

*edit - grandal's update card is, indeed, different than the topps dodger factory set

lad-13 jimmy rollins

topps did get rollins switched over to a dodgers uniform in the flagship set, but they did not do as well with his photoshopping as they did with grandal.  i guess that they did not anticipate him wearing number 11 as a dodger, even though that was the number he wore for most of his phillies career.  oh, there's no substantive difference between the two cards.

lad-14 howie kendrick

kendrick is in the same boat as grandal - he had a card in series one as an angel, and so we must wait until update is out to make a comparison between his dodger cards.

*edit - kendrick's update card shows him at the bat, so that's nice

lad-15 juan uribe

uribe should be in update, too, but he'll be wearing a braves uniform.  here, only the topps logo location is different between the two cards.

lad-16 kenley jansen

same.

lad-17 brandon mccarthy

mccarthy made four starts as a dodger, and was 3-0.  it helps when the team averages about 8 runs per start, however, as mccarthy's era was just under six. as for his photoshopped cards, topps got the number right, and then decided that the logo would look better in an already cluttered upper right corner instead of the open and dark upper left corner.

so, no dodger stadium card. no don mattingly card. no alex guerrero or carlos frias or justin turner, for that matter. just some strange decisions on logo placement and a second guessing of photo selection for aj ellis. maybe grandal and kendrick will get real dodger photos in update and there will be three variant cards in the factory set when it's all said and done. we'll have to wait and see.

play at the pwe

like some others, i have recently been the recipient of a plain white envelope containing several baseball cards for my collection from brian at play at the plate.  included in that envelope were some 2015 bowman cards which are a first for me

zack greinke

pitching like an ace in what is essentially a contract year, since he has an opt-out clause after this season

yimi garcia

currently striking out batters at a 15 per 9-inning pace

alex verdugo

the dodgers' 2nd round pick in 2014 is currently playing for the great lakes loons of the midwest league, hoping to add to the outfield glut in a few years.

the other cards in the envelope were from 2015 topps heritage, including a jimmy rollins card

j-roll is in a contract year, and at his current pace, i am not sure he stays with the dodgers past this season.  other shortstop options might include kike hernandez, justin turner, darwin barney (both turner and barney are arbitration eligible after this season), but the real deal is corey seager, currently hitting .324 since his promotion to triple-a oklahoma city.

there were also a now ex-dodger juan uribe card

and a carlos frias rookie card

the dodgers obviously have a need for frias to step up and fill one of the rotation spots, but he was shellacked by the padres the other night.

thanks for the cards brian!

the star of 2014 topps update is justin turner

in 2011, it was dee gordon.  in 2012, adam kennedy.  last year, nick punto's topps update card was my favorite.  this year, i am getting a kick out of justin turner's card.

that's some good double play turning right there from one of the best free agent signings of last offseason (the best after phil hughes and nelson cruz? or better, since he signed as a minor league free agent?).  oh, there are better cards in update - kurt suzuki has a couple, and i do like pat neshek's all-star card, too - but if there were a card i would chase a rainbow of this year, it's turner's.

after finding only chone figgins and scott vanslyke cards in the update stuff i bought, i went ahead and ordered (most of) the other dodger base cards from sportlots.  have a look.

erisbel arruebarrena

his name didn't fit on the card properly.  still seems weird to see a dodger other than manny mota wear number 11.

dee gordon

if not for jose altuve, i am guessing he would have been the littlest all-star.  nice gatorade cameo, by the way.

zack greinke

not a fan of the all-star caps, except for the teams like the twins and padres who actually have worn caps like that during their existence.

clayton kershaw

almost reminds me of the 1978 topps rick monday card where mo seems to be wiping mustard off of his face.

chris perez

and hello lurking juan uribe

yasiel puig

i hit as many hr derby homers as he did…

chris withrow

now i realize that i forgot to order a paul maholm card.  anyone have an extra?

i did pick up a couple of turner parallels - gold

and red hot foil

i could use another red hot foil for the dp collection…

here's kershaw's red hot foil parallel

and one of the inserts - a fernando valenzuela world series heroes card

el toro was 3-1 in 5 starts in the 1981 postseason, but made only one start in the world series - he threw a complete game in the dodgers' game 3 5-4 win over the yankees.  i had hoped to see a ron cey/pedro guerrero/steve yeager card in this insert set instead of fernando, if i'm being honest.

meanwhile, justin turner parallels and paul maholm have taken over the nefarious nine (see list at right on the web version of the blog).  please, help a blogger out!

it's time for the 2014 topps dodgers/2014 topps dodgers factory team set card by card comparison

i finished last year's post comparing the topps flagship cards to their team factory set counterparts (a year ago to the day) by asking 'what is the point' of these factory team sets?  here's hoping that there is more variation to the 2014 version.  it's topps flagship on the left, team factory set on the right.

adrian gonzalez

no difference other than the factory set is more like opening day - no foil for the names or the topps logo.

matt kemp

topps moved the logo on the factory set, for literally no good reason.

clayton kershaw

same

brian wilson

i fear that we have seen the biggest difference that this set has to offer.  the factory set features a much, much better version of wilson's card - the portrait orientation works a lot better.

kenley jansen

landscape works well for this card, so no need to make a change.  and, topps did not.

hanley ramirez

the pose is reminiscent of matt kemp's on his card, except here, topps left the logo in the busy spot.  it would have made sense to move it on this card.

yasiel puig

it's the same.

aj ellis

ditto.

zack greinke

again, no difference.

carl crawford

seriously

josh beckett

what

chad billingsley

is

andre ethier

the

juan uribe

point?

hyun-jin ryu

...

dan haren

logo displacement is no cause for me to continue to buy these sets.

dodger stadium

there's the last card of the set - the only one without a companion in the flagship.

it's nice, but it's pretty much the same view we had in last year's set.  topps had done a good job in 2008 and again from 2011-2013 offering a variety of views of the stadium.  maybe it's time for topps to add a manager card to the set (we still haven't seen donnie baseball in a flagship design yet), or give us a prospect (joc pederson?), or even, god forbid, put vin scully on a card.  come to think of it, that's probably what they will have to do to make me a buyer in 2015.