2021 Topps....the set so nice? I tried to build it twice.

 

So…

            The above picture. About a week ago I posted it on Twitter with the Tweet: The set so nice I think I’ll build it twice. Or…something to that effect. The reason I did that is because I’ve been trying to get like cards from random boxes all together in one box. When I saw how many 2021 Topps Series 1 & 2 base cards I had, my first reaction was, holy shit, that’s a lot of base cards. My second reaction was wondering if I had enough to build a second set.

            Turns out I didn’t.

            But I was close.

            I need 18 cards in total to build a second copy of the 2021 Topps base set. One card from Series 1 (Mitch Keller, a Pirate, no surprise there, as he’s in a few sets of Pirates cards I’ve kept aside), and about 17 other cards from Series Two, most notably the Jazz Chisholm rookie card and, no surprises here again, Ke’Bryan Hayes’ rookie card.

            18 cards for a second set.

            It gets worse.

            Here’s a photo of the doubles that I have left after building the second 2021 Topps base set.

            That’s too many 2021 Topps cards.

            I don’t even like the design that much.

            Honestly, I think 2021 Topps is the closest I’ve seen them get to making a base set that resembles the kind of uninspired work the Panini company does with baseball product. No offense to Panini lovers, but I don’t like what they produce. Even if they had MLB licensing at their disposal, I’d still consider them a far inferior rival. That’s not to say I’m putting 2021 Topps on the level of Panini. I just think it falls into the category or the more generic of Topps base releases.

            And maybe that’s because it was 2021. And the planning, if I’m speculating here, was done mostly in 2020, when there was a global pandemic raging. Design meetings done by Zoom.  I don’t know. Or maybe Topps plans their designs years in advance, and pandemic or no pandemic, we were getting the Panini-ized 2021 Topps base with its small print, no matter what.

            Let’s shift gears here.

            One of the things that I love about base cards is the way they anticipate the new baseball season while paying total homage to the previous baseball season, obviously via the stats on the back of cards, league leader cards, post-season cards, all-star cards and now, sadly, photos of players in City Connect uniforms. But, as I was sifting through and sorting and building 2021 Topps again, I realized, and probably not for the first time, how truly unique this set is.

            Topps 2021 details not only the baseball season that came before it.

            But the pandemic itself.

            I know, I know, you’re all wondering why it took me this long to make connections. It didn’t. I just continue to be fascinated by the idea. Case in point, look at these images.

            In 2021 they run pretty similar.

            A close-up on the batter in the box.

            A close up on a batter swinging.

            The pitcher seemingly alone on the mound and in the stadium.

            You can do the same for batters on base, batters rounding bases, guys in the field, guys in the outfield. They are all close-cropped images that try their best to limit the idea that the truncated 60-game MLB season, in 2020, was played without fans in attendance.

            Obviously, that’s not always the case.

            I swear I wasn’t playing favorites with the Red Sox.

            But you look at the cards. The close-up shots. The ones, and there aren’t many, that actually show the empty seats.

            A card like this.

            Or this.

            And you stop for a second. And think. What’s missing? What’s missing?

            Oh…it’s me.

            And you.

            And you and you and you.

            We’re missing.

            I know we all have those sets from our youth that put us in a time and place. I’ve sure gone on and on about 1987 and being thirteen, and how profound collecting was to me back then. But the images on those cards are indistinct from other years, since the advent of in-action shots on cards. There are players on the field. At the plate. In the dugout. And there are FANS. Actual fans in the stands in all of those cards in all of those previous years.

            Except 2021 Topps base.

            For the most part.

            I mean you have your few dozen photos taken at Spring Training or a doctored photo here and there.

            But most images look like these.

            Some look like this.

            And it’s not as if Topps shied away from the pandemic. One of my favorite cards in the 2021 Topps base set happens to be this one.

            And if you’re taking team photos for team cards.

        

            Spot any masks?

            It was hard to think of where I was just two short years ago, too, when sorting through those doubles. I was still home from work, at least every other day. Which might explain why I bought so many. My library was closed to the public. They had us some into the branch in shifts. I hadn’t seen half my staff in almost a year. I was still unvaccinated when 2021 Topps came out. A week after their release, my wife (thankfully vaccinated…I guess if breast cancer gave us anything, she was able to get vaxed before regular people could) had to fly to Buffalo because her father, my father-in-law, was dying. We didn’t see each other for two weeks other than on FaceTime. I spent a lot of time alone. I opened a lot of those packs.

            I…well, you get the idea.

            And I’m sure a lot of you were in your own situations.

            So…Topps 2021 base. Not my favorite set. But a loaded one in terms of what it means, culturally, personally. It was also a set that anticipated a return of fans to baseball. Remember the capacity rules? The spaced seating. Etc.

            Ah, what a decade to be living in.

 

Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

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