Aside from the Brewers and Astros, which changed color in this set ONLY because they swapped leagues, the Dodgers are the only other team (I am counting the Nationals as an expansion team, not the Expos) with even a minor color change. In the original 1977 Topps set, the yellow team name was the same, but the player name was black and the position flag was red. In fact they were the only team with a red position flag. I changed them to the Rangers scheme for two reasons. One there was already a pair (Orioles & Pirates) with a yellow team name and black player name, so that needed changing. Two, since the Dodgers were the only team with the red flag, it looked strange to keep it. I think the pink and blue works better for LA than the black and red as well. It is obvious why the blue works and the pink is sort of an homage to the honorary secondary color assigned to the Dodgers by Topps for a good chunk of years. Let's finish out this set with the second half of the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers.
My Top 5 Dodgers Cards
1. Carl Crawford
2. Dee Gordon
3. Elian Herrera
4. Alex Castellanos
5. Matt Kemp
I absolutely love cards featuring slides into third and I think this Crawford is one of the better ones I have ever seen. At the very least it is one of the best non-close up shots at third. I appreciate hustle and that image of Dee Gordon epitomizes hustle. The helmet falling off is just icing on the cake. One thing that is criminally underrepresented on cardboard is on deck circle bat weights. I enjoy all aspects of the game and the Herrera showcases one that is not often thought about. At first glance the Alex Castellanos just looks like another average batting photo, but it is actually a vidcap. What makes it stand out to me is the motion of the bat. Modern cameras are actually too quick because if that was a photo the bat would be sharp and completely still, but it would also miss the motion completely. Finally, I had to inject just a little bit of humor into the Matt Kemp card. He really looks like he is in the middle of doing the 'I'm a Little Teapot' dance or maybe the Hokey Pokey.
Coming Monday - The 2013 Quarry Unlimited Recap Part 1
Thanx for reading.
