2023 Topps Factory Set
Once again Topps issued two Ohtani cards, one in each series, one with pitching stats, one with batting. I don't have a problem with this. I'm not part of the "Ohtani is the greatest thing to ever happen to baseball" crowd, but I have eyes and can read a box score. He's incredible, and more than worthy of two cards. If I were in charge, I'd probably put the pitching stats on the batting photo card, and batting stats on the pitching photo card, just to emphasize the point. I also would have used a different head shot in the corner, but this is just nitpicking a well executed idea by Topps. And may be a moot point now, but in my dream scenario, Rob Manfred and John Fisher both go to jail, the A’s stay in Oakland, and the new commissioner bans the DH in both leagues, at which point Topps starts doing batting cards for pitchers who hit well. Maybe not every year, but cycle through a couple every season, maybe in the Traded set at the end of the year. Who wouldn’t have like to see Kershaw or Grienke batting stats every few seasons, or Gooden and Fernando back in their day?
A final point about this set, and the Topps set in general, it's just a good excuse to talk baseball. So I have a little rant I want to get out now since it's my blog and no one can tell me I can't. Until he was released last week, Harrison Bader held the title of "My Favorite Yankee." Which through no fault of Bader speaks poorly of Brian Cashman. A fact that seems to be somehow lost to time is the fact that the Yankee rosters that won four World Series from 1996-2000, were built by Harding Peterson and Bob Watson. Cashman took over the GM job in 1998, but seems to get all the credit for the teams that actually built that dynasty. In the last 20 years he's won the same number of World Series as the White Sox and Royals despite more or less having an unlimited budget for most of that time. He needs to go.