chewing on 2021 big league

i am not going to bury the lede here. we finally have been given a card featuring the farmer john eastern cornfed pork treat better known as the dodger dog:

the card comes to us from 2021 topps big league, and is (of course) a short printed insert. no matter, i went and bought one after making sure that my box did not contain one of these fantastic cards.  here's the back:

now i never load my dodger dog like the one in the photo - ketchup and mustard is all that i need - and i always go for the grilled option. i think target field steams their hot dogs which is why i always get something else. i've had hot dogs in over 20 different stadiums and dodger dogs are my favorite, hands down.

now that we have that cardboard greatness out of the way, i will mention that, 11 months after pre-ordering a box of 2021 topps big league, i was rewarded

it feels weird to be opening this product in april of 2022, but supply chain issues with the hobby-only action figure/toys included with this release held things up. no longer! 

2020 big league was such a fun break for me, and an enjoyable set to collate as well. let's see if 2021 big league was worth the wait!

first pack:

adam wainwright

alex gordon

jack flaherty

al stolen base leaders

charlie blackmon

didi gregorius

yadier molina

kyle schwarber

fernando tatis "art of the game" insert

trevor rogers orange parallel

first impressions:

• the feel of the cards reminds me of 1992 topps or 1992 donruss, but thicker. slick, in a way. different from 2020 big league for sure.
• a lot of "red" teams in that pack, but so far the goalie stick design coloring matches team colors
• big league changed up the design of the league leader cards so that all three players have the same sized photo. this eliminates the chance for someone to tie for the top spot but get a smaller picture as has been the case on at least one card i can think of in the past.
• i prefer the sketch style card over the caricatures that were in previous versions of big league, but they do make big league less unique - sketch cards are in gallery and other topps releases
• i wish the boxes had the blue parallels instead of the orange. put the orange in the blasters and the blue in the boxes please.

second pack:

mookie betts (highlights)

eloy jimenez

gerrit cole

adam wainwright (award winners)

miguel cabrera

austin meadows

keibert ruiz

clint frazier rainbow foil parallel

francisco lindor "defensive wizards" insert

yadier molina orange parallel

second impressions:

• dodgers get the pink/red coloring. this is nothing new with topps - 1966, 1978, 1979, 1981 are just a few examples of this color scheme for dodger cards in the past
• i wonder if there is a different adam wainwright card in every pack. at least this one is a different card, and is all about the roberto clemente award that he received
• after two packs it is clear that topps has blurred or hazed out the backgrounds for some reason. i'll show some better examples of this later
• cardboard connection listed the rainbow foil parallels as numbered to 100 but they are numbered to 199 instead

third pack:

nl batting leaders

anthony rizzo

brandon nimmo

chris paddack

daniel bard (award winners)

jose altuve

brandon lowe

evan longoria

fernando tatis jr "souvenirs" insert

mike brosseau orange parallel

third impressions:

• no adam wainwright in this pack!
• so far the colors of the hockey goalie sticks have been red (cardinals, phillies, nationals, dodgers, cubs), gold (royals), purple (rockies), blue (marlins), gray (white sox), darker gray (yankees), orange (tigers, mets, astros, giants), light blue (rays),  yellow (padres)

fourth pack:

rafael marchan

alex verdugo

kenta maeda

buster posey

randy arozarena

kris bubic

daz cameron

estevan florial

christian yelich "wanted" insert

sam huff orange parallel

fourth impressions:

• the alex verdugo card shows the hazing of the background i was referring to. it's also the only card so far to have two players in the frame. this is not looking good for the photo variety. while there have been no posed photos so far, there also haven't been any cool or unique photos, either.
• add the rangers, twins and red sox to the pink/red color design teams.
• it's pretty clear that the last two cards of every pack are going to be an insert an the guaranteed orange parallel.

i'll go through the rest of the packs with minimal commentary.

fifth pack:

juan soto (highlights)

gavin lux

dylan carlson

nl saves leaders

trevor story

bryan reynolds

willi castro

xander bogaerts

cody bellinger "defensive wizards" insert

brandon lowe orange parallel

sixth pack:

zac gallen

miguel rojas

dane dunning

jose abreu (award winners)

ryan mountcastle

bo bichette

devin williams

cody bellinger

miguel sano "souvenirs" insert

matt olson orange parallel

seventh pack:

ronald acuna jr

trevor rogers

sam huff

hyun-jin ryu

pavin smith

braxton garrett

kyle lewis (highlights)

elvis andrus

jackie bradley jr "wanted" insert

yoan moncada orange parallel

the acuna base card is the best of the ones that i pulled. it really contrasts with the rest of the tightly cropped photos topps used, other than the ones that appear on the highlights cards that is.

eighth pack:

chris sale

miguel sano

stephen strasburg

leody taveras

dylan bundy

tony gonsolin

luis patino

sixto sanchez

ronald acuna jr "art of the game" insert

evan longoria orange parallel

ninth pack:

yoan moncada

gio urshela

nl rbi leaders

tyler glasnow

mike soroka

keston hiura

mike clevinger

sonny gray

anthony rizzo "defensive wizards" insert

al war leaders orange parallel

the hiura card is another good example of the background hazing, and it's also a tatooine card. i also don't recall if war leaders were included in previous versions of big league, but they are here now. 

tenth pack:

eric hosmer (highlights)

ryan castellani

josh bell

luis garcia

dean kremer

max kepler

kris bryant

jahmai jones

j.t. realmuto "defensive wizards" insert

miguel sano orange parallel

another tatooine card thanks to luis garcia

eleventh pack:

nelson cruz (award winners)

jose ramirez

spencer howard

max scherzer

daulton varsho

monte harrison

devin williams (highlights)

shane bieber

ronald acuna jr "souvenirs" insert

keibert ruiz orange parallel

twelfth pack:

freddie freeman (award winners)

mike moustakas

matt chapman

joey gallo

anthony rendon

mookie betts

don mattingly (award winners)

kohei arihara

kevin kiermaier "wanted" insert

tyler stephenson orange parallel

good to see mookie betts celebrating the 2020 world series title on cardboard again, and also nice to see a manager card in a base set. outside of allen & ginter, i can't think of that happening for quite a few years.

thirteenth pack:

al hits leaders

kyle tucker

brandon crawford

mike brosseau

carlos carrasco

sean murphy

devin williams

j.d. martinez

casey mize "art of the game" insert

stephen strasburg orange parallel

the photo on j.d. martinez' card would fit right in on a 2010 upper deck card.

fourteenth pack:

juan soto

starling marte

patrick corbin

max muncy

kole calhoun

jesus sanchez

kyle lewis

carlos correa (highlights)

christian yelich "art of the game" insert

kyle schwarber orange parallel

juan soto is on tatooine, and kyle schwarber is heavily photoshopped.

fifteenth pack:

nick solak

jo adell

corey seager

kolten wong

nick castellanos

mark canha

keegan akin

luis campusano

nolan arenado "defensive wizards" insert

joc pederson orange parallel

like schwarber in the last pack, joc pederson is heavily photoshopped. and, this is two teams ago for joc!

sixteenth pack:

randy arozarena

luis castillo

clint frazier

nl hits leaders

lucas giolito

dj lemahieu

trea turner

nolan arenado

eloy jimenez "souvenirs" insert

chris sale orange parallel

randy arozarena squaring up a ball in the world series was not a rare sight. it's good to see it on cardboard.

seventeenth pack:

al hr leaders

jorge soler

j.p. crawford

al era leaders

tanner houck 

jacob degrom

justin dunn

alex kirilloff

mookie betts "wanted" insert

austin meadows orange parallel

the kirilloff card features the rare centerfield shot of a batter. i like it. and, yet another orange parallel of a rays player. great.

eighteenth pack:

cody bellinger (highlights)

george springer

joey bart

dominic smith

andrew benintendi

byron buxton

rafael devers

alex bregman

bobby dalbec "art of the game" insert

paul dejong orange parallel

love that bellinger card!

how about some card backs?

here's a base back - corey seager's card to be exact:

i also scanned the back of alex kiriloff's card

because of the strangeness of the 2020 season. there was no minor league season as you recall, and kirilloff didn't make his big league debut until the postseason. so, he gets nothing on the back for 2020. i am pretty sure he is the only one in the set with no line for 2020. the back of buster posey's card includes the standard "did not play" text in case you were wondering.

here's the back of a highlight card 

of course i took bellinger's card detailing his robbery of fernando tatis jr as the example. 

and here are the backs of the four inserts i found:

i am not sure why topps is so congratulatory about finding the "art of the game" inserts. they are seeded the same as the other inserts. in fact, i found five of them in my box. i also found five of the defensive wizards and four each of the souvenirs and wanted cards.

final impressions:

• good collation! no duplicates at all.
• with no players' weekend in 2020, i had hoped that topps would include a jackie robinson day insert set in place of the players' weekend insert sets that had been included in previous versions of big league. no dice.

overall, this set is, to me, a cross between 1992 donruss and 2017 honus bonus. 1992 donruss for the feel and forgettable-ness of it, and 2017 honus bonus for the odd treatment between the player and the background. throw in the tight cropping of player images, except for a very few exceptions, and for me this is a big disappointment after the fun of 2020 big league.