As a team collector there is no better thrill than opening a pack of baseball cards and pulling an autograph from your team. My team, of course, is the Chicago Cubs.
Topps Big League is what those in the hobby would call a “low end” product. What that means is the price point is cheap compared to other products, but it also lacks the hits.
Though it seems the 2020 Topps Big League boxes are packing quite a punch. I have seen several collectors on social media pull autographs from Big League boxes this year.
Last year I waxed poetic on the Topps Big League release. I love it. The design is simple, yet unique. In fact, it seems better than Topps flagship designs of recent years.
Last week I made my weekly Target run trying to catch the vendor stocking a local store. I made it, but my arrival came after the initial swarm of guys and waiting. The good stuff was picked over, but I was able to snag a little bit of Topps Series 2, a few packs of 2020 Prizm baseball, and a blaster of Big League.
My one blaster box of Topps Big League didn’t yield any Chicago Cubs autographs…but it did yield an autograph. A blue parallel Tommy Edman.
Since this was a rare occasion to pull an autograph from Topps Big League I tweeted it out. Soon after a Cardinals fan and trading partner asked if I would trade the Edman for a Nico Hoerner autograph from Topps Big League. Heck yeah! And yes, that was my actual response.
Hits are hits, and can always be turned into something for your personal collection. That’s why I am always curious why people complain when pulling a non-baseball autograph from Allen & Ginter. Typically, the non-baseball autos sell at 10x as a baseball auto in that release (on average). So, if you pull a shark tooth relic or a skateboarder autograph…sell it or trade it! You’ll get a far better return for your personal collection. This is likely a topic I’ll further discuss when Allen & Ginter is released later this year. In the meantime, check out my story from 2017 when I ordered two cases of Allen & Ginter…that were delivered the WEEK OF MY WEDDING! Not only that…my wife drove me through a tornado to pick the first case up from the UPS warehouse.
Yes, she still married me and we will be celebrating our third anniverary in a couple weeks.