How baseball's delay affects 2020 Rookie Cards
Rookie Cards of Jo Adell, Nick Madrigal won't be coming until next year's products.
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You know the name Luis Robert. You’re probably also familiar with Nico Hoerner and Bo Bichette. Along with Yordan Alvarez and maybe Gavin Lux, these are probably the biggest names for Rookie Cards in 2020.
That probably won’t change.
This baseball season is different than any we’ve ever experienced with the start of the season delayed due to the coronavirus. And who knows if the season will even finish?
The pandemic has had deep impacts in the hobby — it caused slowdowns in the global supply chain and led to staffing cutbacks. It also affected the way Rookie Cards will be distributed in 2020.
Generally, a Rookie Card is created after a player appears in their first Major League Baseball game. Companies prepare for these scenarios and have files ready to go in case a player gets called up. There are exceptions to this rule – Major League Baseball Players Association has to sign off – with Shohei Ohtani and Luis Robert being the most recent examples.
As players get called up early in the season, collectors bank on their Rookie Cards appearing in Topps Baseball Update.
Not this year.
Normally, rookies who were called up before July would likely have a Rookie Card in Update. The cutoff date, usually around the All-Star break, is due to the lead time it takes to create products — companies are working 3-6 months ahead on any given product. So, if a player made his debut in August, the earliest he could be able to appear on a card without drastic measures is around November.
Update generally hits shelves in October.
Companies don’t want to leave a rookie out of too many releases as it’s always a big selling point. In addition, if late-season call-ups get cards in that same year, they miss appearing in the flagship product.
It’s an interesting game the companies have to play because they still need to sell trading cards. In the past, Topps Baseball Update has been fueled by flagship Rookie Cards from players such as Kris Bryant, Ronald Acuna Jr, Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto. And in some cases, a player’s Rookie Card was held until their sophomore season — Alvarez and Kyle Schwarber are among the biggest names that come to mind.
Because of MLB’s delayed start, Topps got creative with this year’s Update. RCs won’t be the driving force. Many collectors are disappointed because players such as Jo Adell and Nick Madrigal won’t have their Rookie Cards until next year — just see the comments on Twitter on the 2021 Topps design release.
So what will Update look like?
It seems Topps got permission to include prospect cards in Update. This is a big deal because you normally don’t see prospect cards outside of Bowman products. The Prospects insert will feature the 1989 Topps Baseball No. 1 Draft Pick design. The card featured in the solicitation for this insert – Jo Adell.
Normally, if Adell got called up two weeks into the new season, his Rookie Cards would have appeared in a dozen or more products, including Topps Update, Heritage High Number and Dynasty, with an outside chance of appearing in earlier products like Allen & Ginter or Topps Chrome.
Companies will make cards and get them signed in the likelihood a player will get call-up before the cutoff. That’s how some of those sneaky Chrome autos made their way into the products.
Instead, we’ll have to wait until 2021 for Adell’sRookie Cards.
Tip: If a player has a “call-up” logo on their Topps Now cards, it’s likely their Rookie Card is coming next year.
When companies get creative
This isn’t the first time Topps – or other companies – has had to get creative with circumstances they were given. In 2002-03 Finest Basketball, Topps inserted mystery redemption cards featuring that year’s top draft picks.
Who was the No. 1 pick?
LeBron James.
The redemptions included a base version, a refractor limited to 250 copies, and a gold refractor numbered to 25.
A similar practice has been used by Topps in other products such as Finest Baseball with Mystery Redemptions, or Bowman Baseball’s Lucky Redemptions, that wound up usually being redeemable for cards of players who were called up during the season.
Of course, in the case with the 2020 season, the Rookie Cards won’t be surprising and there are no mysteries in store.
Instead, we’ll just have to keep following the Luis Robert show — and hoping to pull his Rookie Cards.
5 thoughts on the 2021 Topps Baseball design
Borders are back! I didn’t have an issue with no borders on flagship. I found the design elements interesting and always look forward to see what the designers would do.
The honeycomb pattern in the border reminds of how the parallels were in 2015 and I loved the way the parallels came out that year. I hope the honeycomb design means some foil pattern will appear in the parallels or something else that my non-designing brain wouldn’t register.
It does look a little like Donruss as many have pointed out.
As with any card design, the most important thing is when seeing it in hand. Cards can evoke a different feeling from when seeing them digitally to when holding them. In the end, I’m sure I’ll get used to it either way.
An interesting debate occurred during #CardChat the Twitter chat on Wednesday. Does the flagship design even matter? It seems collectors will buy the design regardless of what it looks like. I’d like to think it matters, but maybe it doesn’t.
Basketball in the bubble sees new rising stars
Sometimes waiting pays off.
Up until the past week, T.J. Warren was just another NBA player. The NC State product, drafted No. 14 by the Suns in 2014, has had a respectable career, averaging 15.4 points per game and scoring a previous career high of 40 points in a November 2017 Suns-Wizards game.
Now with the Pacers after an off-season trade, the small forward has started 64 games during this unusual season.
His card values reflected his under-the-radar play. On May 11, an eBay lot that included 10 of his 2014-15 Prizm rookie cards sold for $5.99. Even his rare cards weren’t all that valuable. A Select Gold Prizm — numbered 1/10 — sold on May 31 for $18.59.
Those prices remained consistent until August 1, when Warren had his career game during the NBA’s “bubble” return. He was 20-for-29 from the field, with nine threes, as he torched the 76ers for 53 points. Warren was hot from the long range. He was hot in the lane. He was hot near the basket. As the game wore on, his teammates found ways to feed him the ball. He reached 50 points during the fourth quarter and with 11 seconds left, he let off one final shot from 31 feet that might as well have been from the other side of the court but still found the bottom of the net.
Warren followed up with 34- and 32-point games, so his scoring outburst is showing little let-up (those three games are among his top seven scoring outputs for the season). He’s already been proclaimed “the Michael Jordan of the bubble.”
During the pandemic, collectors have been driving demand for all sorts of players and products, sending card prices higher and higher, and Warren’s key cards have gotten a bubble boost. Raw copies of his Prizm RC, once going for less than a cup of coffee, have sold in recent days in the $30-60 range.
High-grade and low-numbered cards saw the biggest sales spike. On Wednesday, a Silver Prizm — graded BGS 9.5 — sold for $455. And that Select Gold Prizm that sold for $18.59? It went for $500, a 2600 percent spike over its previous value.
Other players who’ve drawn added hobby interest in the NBA’s “bubble” include:
Michael Porter Jr.: The Nuggets forward missed the 2018-19 season after undergoing back surgery, but he’s making up for lost time during the restart. On Monday against Oklahoma City he scored a career high 37 points with 12 rebounds, and he followed with another double-double — and 30 points — Wednesday against San Antonio. With those games, he joined Blake Griffin and Trae Young as the only rookies since 2000 with consecutive 30-point double-doubles.
Fred VanVleet: Remember when the Raptors won the NBA championship? Doesn’t that seem like so long ago? VanVleet, a Wichita State product who was undrafted in 2016, isn’t the biggest player on the court, but he’s scrappy and has great court presence. And after putting up 36 points against Miami on Monday, and showing off nifty footwork against Orlando, it’s getting harder to ignore his talent.
VanVleet is poised to become a free agent after the season, but for now, don’t count out him or the Raptors — Toronto’s ranked No. 2 in the Eastern Conference standings behind Milwaukee and could be gearing up for another deep playoff run.
Bol Bol: Manute's son is drawing lots of attention for his own talent, and while the Nuggets have only given him limited playing time so far, the 20-year-old’s future looks very bright on the court and on cardboard.