Playing in the Big Leagues (Part 1: Base)

It's a sunny but cold day in Colorado, following a few days of snow. And since it's too cold to be able to do much bird photography (another one of my many hobbies), this makes it a good day to look at a blaster of 2019 Topps Big League. It's been a month or so since I went through the debut 2018 Topps Big League set, and I found it surprisingly enjoyable. From what I can tell so far, 2019 picked up right where it left off.

2019 Topps Big League #125 Juan Soto

I've been spending an excessive amount of time on the Topps BUNT app lately. Come find me at AdamK0310 if you're a fellow BUNTer. I mention this because I've found a handful of Juan Soto autograph "cards" in the app. Most current signatures, mine included, are basically chicken scratch, but Soto's is particularly awesome. A good friend of mine ordered a signed 8"x10" after his Nationals won the 2019 World Series, and it's even better to see in person.

Obviously, there's no signature on this Big League base card, but it does capture the moment of Soto's bat flip in horizontal fashion. Maybe this one is more of a bat toss than a true flip, as even a charismatic young player like Soto has to keep it in check, lest he get beaned. MLB has a long way to go before they even approach how well they do bat flips in the Korea Baseball Organization. It's practically an artform.

Also visible on this horizontal card is the Washington Nationals All-Star Game patch, which the team wore in 2018. Somehow, this young star hasn't appeared in a Midsummer Classic yet, but it surely won't be long before he does. He won the NL batting title in 2020, after all. Like Bryce Harper before him, he made a splash with the Nats at a very young age, and we're told on the card back that he's the first Big Leaguer who was born after the inaugural seasons of the Diamondbacks and Rays.

The 2019 Big League design blends a few familiar elements. There's a waving pennant, which is basically 1965 Topps. There's a light-colored woodgrain pattern in the background, which blends in nicely and doesn't make itself as obvious as 1987 Topps did. And there's the occasionally-used theme of a ticket stub. A few sets have done this, but the textbook example in my mind for that is 2003 Fleer Authentix. Soto's card tells us we're sitting in Section 2019, Row BB, Seat 1.

If I have a seat 20 decks above the field and about 50 rows deep, I'm glad I at least have an aisle seat.

2019 Topps Big League #243 Pat Neshek

This isn't the actual debut of 2019 Topps Big League on the blog. Trevor sent several last year, and I even told a similar ticket stub joke then. I get a lot of mileage out of that one, in true Dad Joke fashion. As you can see from the way the ticket stub design is cut off on a vertical card, you really need a horizontal card for that joke to land. On the other hand, the vertical layout makes it a little more obvious that they're also going for a scrapbook theme, with the photo slightly tilted and a border added at the bottom to give the illusion that these are two photographs (or cards, or tickets, whatever) stacked atop one another. It's really quite effective, especially in such a low-budget set.

Noted baseball card collector Pat Neshek appeared in this 400-card set, and Topps didn't miss an opportunity to plug their product. His "Did You Know?" fact on the back is that he pulled a rare red-ink Shohei Ohtani autograph when he opened his own box of 2018 Topps Heritage. He sold it, a move he later came to regret.

2019 Topps Big League #169 Adam Frazier

As in 2018, plenty of fun photographs made it into the checklist. Here's one of Adam Frazier getting a Gatorade shower on throwback uniform day. Usually this kind of thing is relegated to an insert set even in something like Opening Day. But in Big League, it's right there for all to see in the main set. 

Adam Frazier, while a useful utility player, isn't generally known for walkoff home runs. But one is enough to get a great card like this, and this is from his 11th-inning solo shot on August 19th, 2018. He's surrounded by teammates Jordan Luplow, now with Cleveland, and David Freese, the 2011 World Series MVP who retired after the 2019 season.

2019 Topps Big League #33 Jon Lester

The Pirates were their playing division rival Cubs that day, although Jon Lester didn't start. That task went to Jose Quintana, who ended up with a no-decision. That game obviously took place in PNC Park, so this shot of Jon Lester in Wrigley is clearly from a different series. The photo is from 2018, and in the years since, the Nike Swoosh has migrated a few inches over from the undershirt to the jersey itself.

Remember when that logo was the worst thing expected to happen in baseball in 2020? Nothing quite like a global pandemic to put things into perspective.

2019 Topps Big League #279 Edwin Díaz

It seems like this was a pitcher-heavy blaster, at least among base cards. Edwin Díaz had a stellar year in 2018 for the Mariners, and Seattle cashed in during the offseason, trading him to the Mets. Prior to that, Díaz saved a whopping 57 games for the Mariners, and even managed to get the extra-innings win in the 2018 All-Star Game. His fun fact on the card back mentions his haircut, which has a lightning bolt pattern shaved in above the ears. What the card doesn't say is that Mariners manager Scott Servais, who was very briefly a Rockie in 2000, promised to get that same haircut himself if Díaz reached 50 saves.

As mentioned, Díaz did indeed hit that mark, and Scott Servais is a man of his word.

2019 Topps Big League #377 Edwin Díaz AW

Díaz is pictured on his main card as a Photoshopped New York Met, but he had spent his entire career in Seattle when these cards were printed. That's where this photo came from, which Topps used for his Award Winners subset card. Yes, Edwin Díaz was named the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year in 2018, thanks to those 57 saves, 124 strikeouts, and a truly magical WHIP of under 0.8. 

As this card points out, the legendary Mariano Rivera never had 57 saves in a single year. That said, part of that is due to how good the Yankees were back then. Closers on dominant teams who often win in a blowout aren't going to get as many save opportunities as closers on a middling team like the Mariners, who squeak out wins by just a run or two. This card also tells Díaz only had a one-run lead in nearly half of his save situations. That's unquestionably an award-worthy season, but it's been an outlier thus far in his career. 

2019 Topps Big League #394 Edwin Díaz HL

One more Edwin Díaz card, and it's from the Highlights subset. He's wearing his Players Weekend jersey in this one, showing the moment when "Sugar" secured his 50th save on August 25th, 2018. As a Rockies fan, I applaud that, because it came at the expense of the Diamondbacks, who finished one place behind the Rockies in the NL West that year. 

This being the milestone 50th save, Topps also took the opportunity to mention the Scott Servais haircut thing on this card, saving that juicy tidbit for one of the final cards in the checklist. All in all, this was pretty much an Edwin Díaz hot box. He made his mark with the Mariners, but with the recent change in Mets ownership, he could find himself in a very fortuitous situation.

2019 Topps Big League #240 Trevor Story

Those are the highlights from the blaster, but I did have this Trevor Story card set aside with a note that it was sent to me by Rod at Padrographs. I don't usually have the best luck with finding Rockies in blasters, so I appreciate having traders looking out for me. For the moment, Trevor Story is still a Rockie, but with the strategy the Rockies front office has been running the past few years, that remains a question mark. He could be shipped off anywhere at any moment for a questionable return package, much like what happened when the Marlins traded Christian Yelich, the cameo player on this card.

If not for that trade, this card could show negative-career-WAR Lewis Brinson as the cameo, rather than a player in the midst of an MVP season. Story is just as capable of winning the MVP, and I hope if he does so, it's with the Rockies. In any case, he's sure to remain in the Big Leagues for quite some time to come.