he's a hit in 2021

this 2021 topps allen & ginter insert card of steve garvey

is the closest thing to a regular pack inserted base card that topps has given the garv this year. all of his other cards produced by topps for distribution in packs have been autographed and/or relic cards, and even this card is an insert. it comes from the "historical hits" insert set, and highlights his walk-off home run in game 4 of the 1984 nlcs. here's the back:

at least there aren't any parallels to chase. garvey's big hit came just over 37 years ago. that makes me feel old.

leaf also commemorated garvey's blast in their 2021 lumber set by including a garvey bat piece and jersey image on this mt. crushmore card:

all four of these gentlemen hit game ending, walk-off home runs in the postseason, but garvey's is the only one to come in the championship series and not the world series.

here's a different, more rare 2021 topps garvey card that has nothing to do with his postseason heroics, but i added to my collection all the same some time in the last few months

that's from 2021 topps heritage, and it's a relic-auto combo numbered to 25. there's a 1/1 of this card out there that features a patch rather than a bat chip, but there is not a more common version of this card than the one shown numbered to 25, which is too bad. i have the base "real one" auto from this year's heritage, but not the rarer red ink version which is numbered to 72 but seems harder to find at a reasonable price than this card was.

garvey was also included in topps' diamond icons release this year

which was nice, i guess. the version i have (numbered to 25) is his "base" version. the design of these cards is not good, as the signature area inserted in to the card is really small for guys who actually sign their name, like garvey. here's the back:

based on the checklist, all of garvey's autographed cards are silver ink - it's just the serial numbering that varies.

i've got some more 2021 garvey cards to share in future posts. stay tuned!