Dodgers Baseball Playing cards: Collection 1 Topps 2024, plus a Topps 1989 type

Baseball season has began, so let's have a look at some baseball playing cards. Topps unveiled the primary a part of its 2024 baseball lineup in February, with Collection 1, which incorporates 330 playing cards within the common set.

Later within the yr will come Collection 2, after which a set of “updates”, which is able to embrace extra gamers who’ve switched groups plus some rookies this yr who didn't make the reduce within the first two collection.

The design of the fundamental set of 2024 is a departure from the final years, which suggests no extra strange white edges, in favor of what I described as a neon diner signal aesthetic. Right here is the Dodgers group card, back and front.

The group leaders part gives a reminder of the fashionable state of baseball and the various accidents confronted by the Dodgers' pitching workers in 2023, wherein no pitcher qualifies for statistical raters (a minimal of 1 inning per group play is required) for simply the third time in franchise historical past, all within the final six seasons (additionally 2018, 2020).

Right here's a have a look at a couple of extra playing cards to see the entrance design, together with Walker Buehler specified by panorama format. Plus a glance behind some playing cards, with some gamers too outdated for a sturdy bio/enjoyable details part to suit.

The Mookie Betts card is an efficient instance of how the league leaders are given the statistics on the again of the Topps playing cards. The League leaders are in crimson, which pops completely on the cardboard, in contrast to the monochrome baseball playing cards of my youth. Placing for a league chief earns a diamond subsequent to the stat. A have a look at Freddie Freeman's chart reminds us that Betts and Freeman are each tied atop the Nationwide League with 117 runs scored in 2022.

The League leaders distinction has been round for a very long time in Topps baseball card units, which brings us to a different facet of the 2024 set. This yr, there are a bunch of Topps 1989 variation playing cards for every group. This shouldn’t be confused with the annual Topps Heritage set, which additionally options trendy gamers within the type of the outdated playing cards; that set is 49 years previously (The 1975 Topps-style heritage for 2024 was unveiled this week; extra on this later).

My solely quibble with the Topps 1989 variants within the 2024 set is that they don't denote the league leaders on the again of the cardboard. Wanting on the 1989 type Clayton Kershaw card in comparison with the present Topps 1989 Orel Hershiser exhibits the distinction.

Solely 5 Dodgers within the 2024 Collection 1 set have a 1989 Topps variation (the guidelines is beneath), and one in all them is a glance even additional again, with Jackie Robinson getting his personal card on this set.

In a little bit of a fumble by the parents at Topps, Robinson's card is numbered 54 within the 1989 variations, as an alternative of 42 (which went to Ichiro).

As for the opposite Topps 1989 variations from this yr, I seemed again on the unique 1989 set to attempt to discover comparable actors in comparable poses.

These aren't all excellent matches — though I just like the pairing of Betts and Kirk Gibson as champions of their first yr with the Dodgers — however they're comparability of how this yr's playing cards emulate the previous