2020 Topps Series 1 Dodgers baseball card review

The first half of the 2020 Topps baseball card set is out, with 17 Dodgers cards included in Series 1.

The design this year reminds me a lot of 2018 — essentially photo cards with no border save for the one side of the card with the player and team information. The photos themselves are vivid as ever in this set, with one clear standout.

That’s a great action shot of Kiké Hernandez, buoyed on the back side of the card that describes him as “among the games’ most treasured players.”

Certain card numbers are reserved each year for stars, like Mike Trout for instance being No. 1 in the set. Numbers on the 50s and 100s are big names too, and in this set among Dodgers that honor goes to Cody Bellinger at No. 50.

The backs of the cards display each player’s annual stats. Depending on the length of career, that could leave more or less room for a blurb about the player. Note the long write-up for rookie Gavin Lux compared to no space left for Clayton Kershaw, but a ton of red ink (signifying league leaders).

Fourteen of the Dodgers’ 17 cards in Series 1 are standard player cards, including rookie cards for Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Lux. Three other cards represent the team — Hyun-jin Ryu “league leaders” for ERA, the “team card,” and “Hollywood Heroes” which as far as I can tell was determined randomly as the front of a card that is just one of 10 checklists for the set.

On the back of the team card, it’s weird that they denote the players who led the Dodgers in various categories, but not their totals in each stat.

In case you were wondering, Cody Bellinger hit .305 with 47 home runs and 115 RBI, Clayton Kershaw won 16 games, Hyun-jin Ryu had a 2.32 ERA, and Edwin Rios’ longest home run traveled 473 feet.

The full Series 1 set is 350 cards. Series 2 will be out in a few months.

Dodgers Series 1 checklist

• 24 — Kenley Jansen
• 50 — Cody Bellinger
• 80 — Austin Barnes
• 86 — Hyun-jin Ryu (league leader)
• 118 — Clayton Kershaw
• 120 — Kenta Maeda
• 135 — Kiké Hernandez
• 174 — Alex Verdugo
• 203 — Joc Pederson
• 235 — Dustin May
• 245 — Dodgers team card
• 255 — Max Muncy
• 280 — Tony Gonsolin
• 292 — Gavin Lux
• 298 — Bellinger/Verdugo (“Hollywood heroes”)
• 316 — Justin Turner
• 323 — Tyler White