It's blue and it's beautiful

Beauty, eh?

What is the point of putting any other team on blue refractors? The Dodgers go perfectly with these cards. I suppose you could make a case for the Mets or the Cubs. But there is no "Met blue" or "Cub blue." There is "Dodger blue."

I think I might petition Topps to reserve the blue refractors for just the Dodgers. The other teams can have something else. Dig out the 1990 Donruss design for the Reds. The White Sox can take 2007 Topps.

This is just my second Topps Chrome blue refractor Dodger. But at least Derek Lowe has company now. The card came from Amy of Project Phillies. I'll give you one guess as to what team she collects. That's right, she collects Diamondbacks. ... OK, I'm kidding. She's a Mariners fan.

Anyway, I was pleased to send a bunch of Phillies her way for some key Dodgers, and one stray Twin thrown in. More on that later.

It's hard to top the blue refractor card since I drool a puddle onto my scanner every time I see one, but I'll try.

This is a 2004 Leaf Press Proof card of Fred McGriff. I do not know the significance of the "Press Proof" moniker. Is it an actual proof card? Was Leaf just being cute? It's a 2004 card, people. That means I'm clueless.

Three pristine 1976 Dodgers. I don't know how Amy got them in such good shape. After reading "The Card," I think there are card-trimmers behind every tree. But us bloggers are good people. We'd never do anything like that. Shame on me for even bringing it up.

Here is the random Twin. I actually needed it for my 1976 Topps set. And I've got a story to tell about Steve Brye. Ready? OK. Steve Brye was the favorite player of my brother's stuffed lion when we were kids.

Yeah, I really just wrote that. My brother's going to kill me if he finds out this is on here. But it's all true. Why would a stuffed animal have a favorite player? And why Steve Brye? I don't know. We were 9 or 10 years old. Some kids are still eating paste at that age.

Two identical 2003 Topps 205 Shawn Green mini cards (scanned very largely). But are they really identical?

Of course they're not. One is a Sovereign back and one is a Polar Bear back. Kids, those are references to tobacco brands from long ago. I suppose Topps shouldn't be making tobacco references these days. Kind of not politically correct. But there aren't any children collecting anymore anyway, right?

An Xcellent Xrfractor card of the underutilized Blake DeWitt. Xfractor technology is a bit odd when you think about it. Why little squares all over the card front? But somehow it works.

Finally, a green-bordered Masterpieces card of Jackie Robinson stealing home. (I don't care what you say, Yogi. He was called safe). The bordered cards make Masterpieces, in my eyes. Don't have much interest in Masterpieces otherwise. But this is quite nice.

Amy, thanks for the fancy Dodgers. Your Phillies should be arriving any day now.

That's it for now. I'm off to a card show today.

How about that? I buried the lead.