Playing in the Big Leagues (Part 2: Subsets and Beyond)

The days are really starting to blend together. Consider how I opened my blog post with Part 1 of a 2019 Topps Big League blaster:

"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."

All that remains pretty much true today, same as it was this time last week. We're a few days removed from the last measurable snow, and I did manage to spot a few birds today (including a raven), but one day is pretty much indistinguishable from any other, and they're still getting shorter. At least the insert cards we'll see in Part 2 offer a little bit of novelty, something that's in short supply these days.

2019 Topps Big League #346 Charlie Blackmon / Christian Yelich / Matt Carpenter SK

Even the 2019 Stat Kings subset looks pretty much like it did in 2018. Once again, Charlie Blackmon led the NL in runs scored, though his cast of supporting characters is different. Charlie got top billing again with an even scragglier-looking beard than he had the previous year, flanked by 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich, who made a cameo on Trevor Story's base card. Elsewhere in the NL Central, Matt Carpenter rounds out the trio.

2019 Topps Big League #350 Freddie Freeman / Anthony Rendon / Nick Markakis SK

Nolan Arenado led the NL in doubles during the 2017 season, but didn't even crack the top three in 2018. That honor went to Freddie Freeman, who won both the 2020 NL MVP award and the NL Hank Aaron Award, which is given to the top offensive player in each league. He's only the second Brave to win the award, after Andruw Jones. He's joined on this three-player card by Anthony Rendon, who actually tied Freeman's 44, followed by fellow Brave Nick Markakis, who was up to bat during one of the funniest (slightly NSFW) broadcasting moments in Red Sox history.

Interestingly, Anthony Rendon had every right to be the featured player here. I guess he just lost out alphabetically. But he hit an identical 44 doubles in 2019, and managed to tie once again for the NL lead, deadlocking with Corey Seager. I didn't pull the NL Doubles leaders card in 2020 Big League, but it appears that Rendon was listed first that time. We'll eventually see some 2020 Big League, but that's for another day.

2019 Topps Big League Wall Climbers #WC-9 Mookie Betts

I don't remember exactly how many packs were in this blaster. Probably nine or ten. But it was enough to encounter plenty of inserts, such as this Mookie Betts card from the 10-card Wall Climbers set. He was Yelich's MVP counterpart in 2018 over on the AL side, and has racked up five consecutive Gold Gloves by now. Of the many Mookie Betts highlights that belong in this set, Topps chose July 21st, 2018, as noted on the card back. Careful observers will note that the play in question took place in Detroit's Comerica Park, while the photo on this card is clearly in Fenway Park.

In any case, the wall in this part of Fenway isn't particularly high, certainly not high enough to have to "climb". But now that he's a Dodger, he still needs to put those acrobatic skills to the test in Dodger Stadium and elsewhere in the National League. Perhaps you saw him during the NLCS.

2019 Topps Big League Blast Off #BO-10 Giancarlo Stanton

Of course, robbing home runs wouldn't be such an amazing highlight if it happened often. Usually they sail far, far over the wall, especially when they come off the bat of a slugger like Giancarlo Stanton. That leads to his appearance in Blast Off!, fifteen cards showing some of the best power hitters in the game. Joey Gallo is indeed featured in this set, the player who at various points in his career has had more home runs than singles. As of the end of 2020, his singles count is ahead by two.

Stanton is the main event on this card, though, complete with a rocket launch theme. The card back tells us that the longest one of Stanton's 38 homers in 2018 went a whopping 458 feet, and it was the first one he ever hit wearing the Yankee pinstripes. At home, that is.

Back when he was a Marlin, one of his shots to straightaway center featured the single most perfect crack of the bat I've ever heard. Bonus Marlins Home Run Sculpture if you click on that one.

2019 Topps Big League Players Weekend Nicknames #PW2 Jose Altuve

Topps got some good photos on Players Weekend in 2018. We saw Edwin Diaz, aka Sugar, wearing his Players Weekend jersey in Part 1, and they used this photo of Jose Altuvé from the same weekend for a 30-card insert set. The diminutive Astros second baseman is simply known as "Tuve". I saw him play in person once, and the main thing I remember is that he got picked off of first base.

Speaking of the Astros, Family Guy gave us a particularly hilarious take on the team's cheating scandal in a recent episode.

All these Big League insert sets are generally pretty plain. No flashy banners, no foil, not even many bright colors. It's sort of a flat look, like iOS 7 when they got rid of all the shading. I do like the little motion lines they put near the Big League logo and the bat in the lower right. 1982 Donruss could only dream of such things.

2019 Topps Big League Blaster Box Cards #B3 Mike Trout

As in the 2018 set, Topps turned the blaster box itself into a card. Unfortunately, I think I did an even worse job cutting this one out than the Bryce Harper card I tried the year before. I might invest in a paper cutter if they keep doing this sort of thing. It's basically the same as a normal base card, other than a dark brown border and actual cardboard rather than paper stock. Trout is one of four possible options, and it's clear to see which one you'll get when you buy the blaster itself.

I didn't pull Trout's normal base card, but I'm assuming the card back is basically identical, other than the card number. On it, Topps recognizes Trout's talent and how his name alone singularly identifies him as the best player in baseball. With rare exceptions, he's been either #1 or #2 in AL MVP voting his whole career. 2020 was an off year for him, as he only finished fifth.

He's so good, in fact, that all you really have to do is follow which legendary Hall of Famers he passed in WAR in any given month and simply tweet "Mike Trout". That is acceptable as a complete tweet. You may have even arrived at this post from just such a tweet.

2019 Topps Big League Star Caricature Reproductions #SCR-CA Chris Archer

Star Caricature Reproductions is the last insert set I found in this blaster. I'm only missing an example of Ballpark Oddities, a small and intriguing-sounding set. This is a set I've seen before, as Trevor sent over Charlie Blackmon's card in a PWE last year. The artwork on Blackmon's card always struck me as a little strange, and I think Chris Archer's card is a little more like what I expect. The design has the same dotted line border as the Nicknames set, but they replaced the ball and bat with a pennant and a slightly modified Big League logo. It's sort of like a little Easter egg hunt, finding where the crossed bats logo pops up on a design.

Chris Archer has spent some time as a Pirate, but he missed the entire 2020 season for reasons beyond the pandemic. There's talk that he'll end back up with the Tampa Bay Rays, and judging by how far they went in the 2020 Postseason, that looks like the place to be right now.

2019 Topps Big League Blue #150 Albert Pujols

Time for a few parallels before we wrap things up. It's back to the base card design, and this Albert Pujols card is given a nice shade of blue on the border, a color found only in these blaster boxes. The photo is obviously a ceremony of some kind, and it happens to be from June 2nd, 2018, the day that the Angels honored Pujols's accomplishment of reaching the 3,000-hit milestone. Pujols threw out the first pitch to Adrián Beltré, another member of the exclusive club, and that's what's pictured here. 

As you can see on the left side of the card, he was presented with a special portrait for the occasion, and to my eye, it would not look out of place as a Star Caricature Reproduction card. Even the card back mentions this major accomplishment, which is essentially a lock for gaining entry to the Hall of Fame. Of these few players, only Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro haven't punched their ticket for Cooperstown, and they all have special circumstances keeping them out. Among recently-retired and still-active players, I have no doubt that Ichiro, Pujols and Beltré will make it in once the requisite five years after retirement have passed. 

As for potential upcoming members to the 3,000 hit club, Miguel Cabrera might make it; he has 134 to go. Beyond that, it might be a while before we see anyone else get to 3,000 hits. Robinson Canó is relatively close, but he's been suspended for the entire 2021 season. And after him, Nick Markakis is the next active player on the list, but he's not even at 2,400. It's not an easy thing to do.

2019 Topps Big League Blue #327 Cody Bellinger

An hour's drive up The 5 and you'll come to Southern California's latest World Series Champions. The Angels held that title for nearly two decades until the Dodgers finally put all the right pieces in place. A lot of those pieces are happily celebrating in this photo, surrounded by another Blue border. The border color works great on a Dodgers card. The main event here is 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger, who clearly just did something excellent, and we can also see Max Muncy in the background, wearing #13.

2019 Topps Big League Gold #183 Victor Robles

Our final card is of the Gold variety, a one-per-pack parallel that can be found even outside blaster boxes. The border color isn't tremendously different from the light brown found on normal base cards, but I guess it's about as close to "Gold" as it can get at this price point.

Victor Robles has been with the Washington Nationals since his rookie debut in 2017. He earned a World Series ring in 2019, and is shown here wearing the team's special 4th of July jersey. Notice the curly W/quasi-Walgreens logo has a stars-and-stripes motif. I'm guessing he's celebrating hitting a triple, judging from his position on the diamond. That was before they implemented Baby Shark celebrations, with increasing degrees of intensity for hitting a single, double, or triple.

Alternately, "The fish I caught was thiiiiis big!", which I totally would have submitted to Beckett's funny captions column when I was a kid.

Topps Big League just puts you in that frame of mind.

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.

The Trading Post #135: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

I'm finally at a point where I can get trade posts up in a reasonable amount of time. Blasters and Card Shop hauls, not so much, but a PWE hit my mailbox from Trevor at Bump and Run Football Card Blog just a few days ago. This marks the second time Trevor has sent me cards, although this time it was baseball-only.

2019 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-17 Dinger

2019 Opening Day remains in my pile of unwritten-about blasters, as does some Big League. Trevor made sure that this set got a place on the blog before the season ended by sending Dinger's Mascot insert card. The Rockies mascot has been a fixture on this blog since the early days, thanks to Opening Day's long-running Mascots insert set.

On this card, an angry-looking Dinger is practicing his high leg kick, something that's not exactly baseball-related unless you're Paul O'Neill. This card-filling photograph obscures the out-of-town scoreboard, so it's not possible to find an exact date, but he (she?) is there every day. Dinger signs autographs for fans behind the batter's eye, but that's not where I obtained my Dinger autograph.

In case you are unaware of why Dinger is a triceratops and not one of the many other non-extinct species found in the State of Colorado, such as a mountain lion, elk, prairie dog, or perhaps someday the wolf once again, this card tells us that a dinosaur skull was unearthed at the Coors Field construction site. It's a tale that has grown in the telling over the years, ranging anywhere from a fossil to an egg to a multi-ton dinosaur skull. Tall tales like that lead some to believe that it's simply an urban legend.

It's true that Dinger was "hatched" at Mile High Stadium early in the 1994 season; the card gets that right. But as far as a skull being discovered? That's not entirely accurate. There have been some pretty significant archaeological finds in Colorado and even within the Denver area, but not exactly at the corner of 20th and Blake. A recent Colorado Public Radio news article shed some light on the real story. It wasn't a skull, but only a few fragments of what is likely a rib bone from some type of plant-eating dinosaur, potentially a triceratops. They're kept in a little box by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, part of their vast archive of prehistoric fossils.

In short, Dinger is about as historically accurate as a purple triceratops mascot can be, but the archaeological importance of Coors Field has been a bit overblown.

2019 Topps Big League Gold #142 Chris Iannetta

2019 Topps Big League made up most of this PWE, such as this Gold parallel of catcher Chris Iannetta. Part of the Rockies' 2007 pennant-winning team, he returned to Colorado in 2018 for a second stint. They released him in August, the latest former Rockie after Matt Holliday to potentially wrap his career up back in Denver.

A lot of collectors, myself included, enjoy seeing catchers in full gear. It's a punishing position, and I have huge respect for athletes who spend most of their career behind the plate. It's not an accident that so many of them become managers. Iannetta clearly prefers Nike gear, as we can see the famous swoosh on both his mask and his chest protector, the latter with his name tag helpfully sewn in. There's also a look at the Rockies 25th Anniversary patch on Iannetta's right sleeve, dating this photo to 2018.

The card back tells us that Iannetta "has a knack for the big hit", hitting eight walk-off RBI in his career. I went to the game on August 21st, 2018, and though Iannetta hit a home run that game, his long fly ball in the ninth inning that could have tied the game fell just a little bit short, and was instead gloved by Hunter Renfroe for the final out.

2019 Topps Big League #152 Charlie Blackmon

Charlie Blackmon has his share of walk-off hits, too. His first homer of 2019 was of the walk-off variety. This horizontal Big League card shows him laying out to make a great catch in front of an outfield banner. The Big League design works a little better in this orientation, as we can see that the bottom banner is meant to be a ticket stub. We're sitting in Section 2019, Row BB, seat 1.

That's one heck of a big stadium if I have to go up at least 20 decks to find my seat.

The card back goes for sort of a Studio vibe, giving us a "Did you know?" fact about the player's life off the field. This card tells us that "Charlie is married to 2014 Summer Games bronze medalist figure skater Ashley Wagner."

That was news to her, let me tell you.

Charlie's actual spouse is named Ashley Cook. Also, on a much more minor note, since when has there been figure skating at the Summer Olympics?

Errors happen, I get it. Maybe a typo in the batting average, a transposed birthdate, something like that I can understand. But to miss that badly on the one and only fun fact is pretty bad. I certainly hope Topps is doing more robust fact-checking than just glancing at Wikipedia. I'm not sure whether that's worse than the Justin Bieber mix-up on Shane Bieber's 2019 Stadium Club card.

2019 Topps Big League Star Caricature Reproductions #SCR-CB Charlie Blackmon

Blackmon was one of many stars to be featured in the Caricatures insert set, which carries over the pennant theme from the base set. There's not much on the card back besides a congratulatory note that is usually reserved for relics and redemptions. Apparently, the original artwork for each of the caricature cards is randomly inserted in Topps Big League as a 1/1, which is what makes the normal card a "Reproduction".

These remind me a lot of 1993 Score All-Star cards, which had a similar plain white background and perhaps a bit better artwork.

1993 Score #530 Ryne Sandberg AS

Remember these? This subset was one of the highlights of 1993 Score. There's a plain white background, some comic-esque artwork, the position, and absolutely no doubt that this subset relates to All-Stars.

Ryne Sandberg was a ten-time All-Star and the 1984 NL MVP. The Hall of Famer earned a spot in the National League's staring lineup at the 1992 Midsummer Classic in San Diego. Score helpfully included the full All-Star lineup on the card back, where we get to see names like Ozzie Smith, Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, Tony Gwynn, and more.

2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Green #11 Charlie Blackmon

Returning to the PWE, our final card is another one of Charlie Blackmon. Trevor sent me some green cards last time, and remembered that it's my favorite color on a card. This is my first look at 2019 Gypsy Queen, and the design looks a lot busier than it did last year. I don't recall seeing this brand in the card aisle at Target, and it's not a set I like enough to make a trip to a card shop to find. Still, it reliably shows up via trade year after year, so I appreciate my fellow bloggers keeping me in the loop on the various retro sets that Topps releases.

One of these days I'll crack open that blaster of 2019 Big League I've had sitting on the card table, but not until I get a few more posts written. I just hope I don't find any more glaring errors like figure skating being a summer sport.