While I wait

 

Here is the new product-release calendar for upcoming sets, posted on the main page of Trading Card Database:

Please note the first item on that list.

 

2021 Topps Big League baseball.

 

To quote Andre Dawson, "what year is it?"

I am not insinuating anything about TCDB's list. The site doesn't come up with the release dates (note there are several other 2021 sets in that list). Any collector that's a fan of Big League or up on new card sets knows that 2021 Big League's release has been postponed repeatedly. Why Topps even announces a new date anymore, I don't know. It's gotten pretty comical ever since the calendar turned from 2021 to 2022.

Supply issues and backlogs is the reason for the massive delay. I think someone commented when I mentioned the delay earlier that figurines were part of 2021 Big League and the manufacturing/distribution of those was the reason for the delay.

I don't care about figurines (see my shrug with today's Fanatics/Starting Lineup announcement). But I am very aware of the repeated delay of Big League cards because 2021 Big League was one of the reasons I signed up for Nachos Grande's Breaker's Club way back in 2021.

The 2021 Big League set was supposed to be one of the highlights for me. Chris breaks a whole bunch of other stuff in the club, not just new products, so I waited to have all the various Dodgers Chris pulled for me shipped when he finally received his Big League box.

Then I waited, and waited, and waited. New dates for Big League's release came and went.

Finally I could wait no longer and I asked for the shipment of all of the non-Big League cards.

That's the stack that would have been much higher had it included 2021 Big League.

Most of the cards Chris pulled are ones I had already. That's the risk of group breaks and I knew that some of the products he was opening is stuff I've owned for a long time, like 2000 Upper Deck Victory and 1992 OPC Premiere and 2003 Donruss Studio.

But he opens a lot of stuff from a time period when I wasn't collecting. There are parallels to behold! And since a lot of the products from that time short-printed the hell out of the base cards -- the number of sets from that time that contain six-player team sets with two of them short-printed rookies is a crime against collectors -- there are still lots of cards I need from that time. So let's roll the dice!

This is the only card I needed from the 2004 Donruss Classics break, although it's always nice to get a Dodger Rickey Henderson card. The Kaz Ishii is the last of the non short-printed Dodgers that I needed. There are still three other Dodgers I need from the set, all short-prints. Of course.

I've wrapped up the Dodgers team set for 1998 Pacific Online already -- and it feels damn good, too, the team set is 29 cards. But there are always parallels! I was hoping for one of the red ones but a goldie of former can't-miss prospect Darren Dreifort works, too.

 

I had more success with 2002 Fleer Triple Crown, landing the last two cards I needed for the team set, including Hideo Nomo hiding in a Red Sox uniform.

 

I also finished off the Dodgers inserts with this Shawn Green shiny thing. There are probably other inserts that I need that I've lost track of because it's that non-collecting black-hole period from 1995-05. But for now I'm saying I'm done with '02 Triple Crown -- except for about 24 parallel cards.

 

The 2005 Donruss Team Heroes break was probably the most successful for me. No, I didn't complete the team set -- still three more to go -- but the Garvey card always feels like a big get as Garveys from this period always get snapped up.

 

I also received a parallel from two different colors, a blue and red! Love those border parallels! Another odd thing that sets do from this time is give the parallel cards titles but the titles don't have anything to do with what the parallel is!!! Ugh! Why were there not protests at card company headquarters during this time?

 

 

I have this Edwin Jackson card already but it slips nicely into slot #160 in my Night Card Binder, and that fact is sincerely one of the highlights of my day today.

 

The final card is a blue parallel from 2020 Triple Threads. Very nice-looking card from a set that usually looks horrifying to me. The cards aren't as thick as the ones from several years prior, which is nice.

I don't remember Chris opening the Triple Threads box at all (I usually miss his videos as they take place when I'm working and I have to find time to go back to them). It's pretty remarkable that he's able to open boxes like this during these days of insane box prices. I don't know how he does it.

It seems that I should have been just a little more patient as I've read reports that some people have actually received notifications that their 2021 Big League boxes have shipped in advance of Wednesday's new release date!

Maybe Chris will finally be able to open that nearly year-old box after all. And we can check out the players who aren't with those teams anymore.