Random Wax: 2021 Big League Baseball

2021 BLB:  The forty-one year-old Justin Verlander struggled through 2024.  I haven't heard of any plans for him to step away from playing and has one more year at $35M on his contract with Houston.  With 262 wins, a career 3.30 ERA, 3 Cy Youngs, League MVP and Triple Crown winner he's an easy first ballot hall of famer.

After the 2024 season, Charlie Blackmon hung up his spikes after 14 seasons in the big leagues, all with Colorado.  He had 1800+ hits to go along with a .293 batting average.

Verlander has also won two World Series titles with the Astros.

Shane McClanahan has been a really good starter for the Rays with a 33-16 record and 3.02 ERA.

The back of a League Leader card.  2020 was of course a shortened season (60 games) due to the pandemic so the numbers are not what we expect in a normal season.

Some inserts.  I really like the look of the Wanted cards.  Defensive Wizards isn't bad either.  

It's so easy to forget about Ryan Braun and how good he was.  2020 was his last season but he was a Rookie of the Year, MVP, 6X All-Star and 5X Silver Slugger.

The design on this set is good.  Maybe not great but it's good for what they are which are cards on the lower end of the price spectrum.

Kyle Seager would play one more season, totaling 11 years with Seattle.

These are fun cards and a set I look forward to every year.

BREAKOUT:
36 – Total Cards
7 – RC
3 – League Leaders
3 – Orange Parallel
1 - Wanted
1 – Souvenirs
1 – Defensive Wizards
1 – Award Winners

Random Wax: 2021 Topps Big League Baseball

2021 Big League Baseball:  The Toronto Blue Jays are struggling this season but Vlad Jr. is having a good if not great year.  I know Blue Jays fans would like for him to find his power stroke.  This is one of the three Orange Parallels in this pack.

Some nice star power in this pack.  Clayton Kershaw and his career 2.48 ERA are still injured and haven't taken the mound this year but I think he's expected back soon.

Jonah Heim showing off the hair.  All three of these youngsters haven't had much success yet but they have spent plenty of time in the majors.

We don't get all of a player's stats on these but it's still not a bad card back.

Tatis Jr. hot pack.  I like the look of the Wanted inserts.

I'm disappointed they don't have names with the photos but I get it might be tight.

Yordan Alvarez is having another excellent year in his age 27 season.

You have to think about it but yes those win totals are correct.  We're looking at 2020 which was a short season for baseball and many other sports.

Who woulda thunk Chris Sale would be doing this well after his trade to Atlanta.  He was the May National League pitcher of the month.  He's been huge for a starting staff dealing with injuries.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

5 – RC

4 – League Leaders

3 – Orange Parallel

2 – Award Winners

1 – Wanted

1 – Souvenirs

1 – Defensive Wizards

Random Wax: 2021 Topps Big League Baseball

2021 Big League Baseball:  Opening week is always fun so I'll try to get the hype going with baseball this week.  This is a favorite photo of mine.  Nolan Arenado is already a favorite player of mine but something about this picture really works for me.  The look on his face, the eye black, the uni...it just really is one I like.

I like the Topps Big League baseball brands.  I've liked this one's design more as time has gone on.  Big League Baseball is a "cheaper" option for cards.  I think I'll pick up a hobby box of this.  We'll see.  No guaranteed autos in those.  I'm waffling a bit.

League Leader cards are always good but I would have liked it if they had added the player's names somewhere.

The photos are similar to the flagship Topps self but feel like they are cropped differently.  Not complaining.  Just a different feel.

Robert had that breakout power season hitting 38 home runs which was more than this first three seasons combined.  The background of this Defensive Wizards doesn't seem to fit but I like the look of the card.  Robert has won one Gold Glove.

Great Mookie Betts photo.  He'll be the Dodgers' shortstop this year?  One thing to be a great hitter but he's had to be very versatile defensively in his career.  I do like the Wanted inserts (6X Gold Glove winner).  Souvenirs are okay but really don't tell a story with the design.

2024 will be the first time in 18 season Waino won't be on the field for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Unfortunately the backs don't have the complete career stats of the players.

These are fun.  I'm looking forward to opening some 2024 Big League Baseball cards.  Seem like they only show up at Target nowadays.  We'll see.  Two more days until the season starts!

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
6 – RC
3 – League Leaders
3 – Orange Parallel
1 – Wanted
1 – Souvenirs
1 - Highlights
1 – Defensive Wizards

Random Wax: 2021 Topps Big League Baseball

2021 Big League Baseball:  How good is this dude?  Albert has had a really good last season as he marched to 700 home runs.  It's hard not to root for him and it was fun to watch.  He's been so good over his career.  You just have to overlook the rough patches with the Angels.

Great pull in this box.  I wasn't sold on this design to begin with but it's growing on me slowly.

A Rainbow Foil parallel #/199 kicks off these youngsters.

I always enjoy league leader cards and stolen base leaders are a fave of mine.

I really like the Wanted and Defensive Wizards inserts.  Both look really good.  I do wish Wanted had photos of the players robbing someone on defense.  Souvenirs isn't bad but doesn't blow me away.

I'm a fan of the backs. Nice color. They don't have all career stats so that is a negative if I'm looking for one.

Award Winners and Highlights are subsets in the set.

Fun pack of cards.  We'll end it where we started.  This Highlights card focuses on Albert passing Willie Mays with his 661st homer.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

4 – Leaders

3 – RC

3 – Orange Parallel

2 - Highlights

2 – Award Winners

1 – Wanted

1 – Souvenirs

1 – Defensive Wizards

1 – Rainbow Foil #/199

2021 Topps Big League Baseball Blaster

2021 Topps Big League:  I'm a big fan of cheap cards and Big League falls right into that category.  Doesn't mean their design is always a hit.  This year's is growing on me.  This is my first box or pack and at first I wasn't sold at all.

The base checklist is good sized at 300 cards with 55 of those coming in subsets.  A good size to ensure you can get some stars while also pulling plenty of complimentary and young players.  These three help any pull with Altuve and Moline being PC guys for me.  Altuve is a blue parallel.

I really like the backs.  Nice color, not too hard to read and lots of information.  Some how I never found any of the 2020 Big League Baseball.

Plenty of young players.  Cardboard Connection stated these have a 80s/90s vibe to them and I won't argue that.

Decent mix of inserts.  I like the colors and design on the Defensive Wizards cards.  The Art of the Game cards have some hit or miss art but I like the inclusion here.  Wanted is a pretty good looking card as well.

League Leaders are always good.  Another fun way to look at top players while also reminding us who was best at their craft that season.  I'm always surprised when I look back.  "Oh yeah that guy did well..."

Looking at the League Leaders and Award Winner cards are good at reminding you this set is a year late in coming out.  Crazy.  Souvenir inserts are okay but it seems like something is missing.  Highlights are good as well.

These cards are not extremely thin like some past Big League sets.  Decent sized card stock.  That Arozarena is a Black & White parallel #/50. 

One of my orange parallels comes in the form of a Stephen Strasburg card.

Can't tell you how many times I had to remind myself these represent the 2020 season like when I read the back of this Freddie Freeman Award Winner.  A fun box of cards that had a nice pull and decent variety.  I'll grab more of these if I see them.

BREAKDOWN:
105 – Total Cards
20 – RC
10 – Orange Parallel
6 – League Leaders
5 – Blue Parallel
5 – Award Winners
3 – Art of the Game
3 – Defensive Wizards
2 – Wanted
2 – Souvenirs
2 - Highlights
1 – Black & White Parallel #/50