2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary is Good

Sometimes, some things are worth the wait...

Early in the summer of 2021, I was visiting Pal’s Sports Cards, talking about upcoming 2021 baseball card releases. Brian was talking up a new Topps Chrome set that would be coming out in a few months. It would be a massive 700 card tribute to Topps 70th Anniversary of making baseball cards. He said it would feature players from the past 70 years, using the 1952 design. Sill to be sold in Topps’ typical 4 card packs, with 24 to a box. Which is fine when the set is limited to 100-200 cards, but putting out a 700 card set using this type of format is entirely new territory.

Intrigued, yet skeptical…

A few weeks after Brian told me about that Chrome set, which would be patterned after 1952 Topps, this card showed up in the Twins bin. Thinking it was part of that, I didn't buy it. Was going to wait for packs to come out. The product sounded intriguing enough that I knew I'd want a box or two. Only when I took a closer look at the Donaldson card, did I figure out it was something different.

Oh, it’s just another insert in 2021 Topps retail packs...

Not like Topps has ever been shy about reusing the 1952 design as their go-to crutch. I bought this card for $3, and moved on with life. Eventually forgetting all about this supposed 700 card 2021 Topps Chrome 1952 set. I never saw it, so did it exist?

Fast forward nearly a year later.

I start seeing rumblings that 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary is finally being released. In July 2022. Thought seeing 2021 Topps Big League in April of 2022 was strange... The now too familiar excuse of "supply chain" issues led to it's delay. With 2021 Topps Big League, that was due to getting these bad boys shipped out of China:

With a set like 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary, I can't imagine what caused the delay of nearly a year. Besides parallels, there really are no inserts (or gimmicks) that should take that long to resolve. The only thing I could think of would be the autographs. Every card is hard signed, with no stickers used. From what I've seen, there are also no redemption cards in the set. So Topps had to wait for all 164 players who signed, to return their cards.

Given what this set was supposed to represent, I applaud Topps for handling the autographs in this way.

In early July (2022), I finally got my hands on a Hobby Box of 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.

And I loved it!

Looking at the checklist, the set would break down as roughly 125 rookie cards, 225 legends and fan favorites, and about 350 current MLB players. Which is a pretty decent mix for a set trying to accomplish an anniversary piece, while still trying to be a current release.

All of today’s stars are here, including my favorite oft-injured Twins outfielder, Byron Buxton.

And a fair number of rookie cards, of varying quality prospects.

Base Refractors fall at one in 4 packs, so you should see 8 of them in a Hobby box. Which seems like a lot, and if this was a 200 card set it would be. But when those 8 per box are coming from a 700 card set, pulling decent ones aren’t that easy.

So getting one of a decent rookie is a slightly bigger deal than it normally would be.

Or even a Refractor of a tainted former star.

Ryan Braun was a player I really wanted to like. I pulled his autographed Refractor from a pack of 2005 Bowman Draft, back in 2005. I watched this card reach a pretty high level, then watched it free fall as all of Braun’s hitting accomplishments came under the label of confirmed steroid user. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't really like Braun as a player.

Good thing there are plenty of players I do like in this set…

Now this is more like it!

You know that you’ve made it when Chris Farley plays you in a Saturday Night Live sketch…

Hrbek is joined by 1987 World Series champion teammates Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven in the set, but Kirby Puckett does not appear. That's kind of disappointing. Other Twins legends appearing in the set are Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, Rod Carew, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. The Twins actually have one of the larger representations in the set.

Unfortunately, the Colorado Rockies have only about half as many cards as the Twins.

I guess that makes sense. There were no Rockies before 1993...

Dante Bichette is joined by an appropriate collection of Rockies veterans, Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker and Todd Helton. Arguments could be made for Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, but its a good representation. 

Just nice to get a card of Bo's father out of a pack again!

You know, I think I need another Hobby Box of this stuff...

So I can pull a base card of Cal Ripken Jr. Next to Ken Griffey Jr. (who was in my first box), there wasn’t a player I collected more in the entire decade of the 1990’s. Sure could use a Refractor of this…

Was never a Nolan Ryan fan, but the LCS had this single priced at $1.00. There are very few Nolan Ryan cards that aren’t worth at least $1.00. And this one is a steal at that price!

Since we’re talking about some of the biggest legends in the history of the game, here’s a couple more that were added via pack:

Of all the New York Yankees legends, I like Lou Gehrig above Ruth, Mantle, Jeter and DiMaggio. Not arguing their value to the team, or rank in team/baseball history, I just like Lou Gehrig better. 

And of course on the Boston side, I can’t stand the Red Sox and never have liked anything about them, but I can’t deny Ted Williams credit for being probably the best hitter of the 20th century. 

But what about???

Yeah, there is a Mickey Mantle card. 

It's a short print shows up at a rate of 1 in 11,416 hobby packs. Or 1 in 476 Hobby boxes.

Not bothering with that...

Now where is the Jeff Innis SSP?

Even some legendary managers make an appearance, which is really cool! The former Washington Senator had a 8 year playing career, as a part-time first baseman-outfielder. But he became a Hall of Famer for his managerial run of 17 seasons. My memories of Whitey come from the 1987 World Series. Didn't appreciate his cockiness, but I'm glad to see Herzog included in this set.

Also nice to see the St. Louis Browns have a representative! Ferrell was a Hall of Fame catcher for the Browns, Senators and Red Sox, between 1929 and 1947. Even in that low offense era, Ferrell put up a .281 / .378 / .363 slash, in just over 7,000 plate appearances. 

Looking at the insert odds, you get an idea how rare each insert tier is. (Though I accidentally scanned a Lite wrapper, instead of a normal Hobby box wrapper. You get the idea...) From what was originally put out in the 2021 sell sheet, the amount of different Refractor parallels has been drastically cut. When Brian first told me of the set, he said there would be something like 35 different types of Refractors. The set that finally came out, only has 15 different Refractors. 

I'd kind of like to see some of the varieties that were cut. Would make opening these boxes, absolutely wild.

Something else that's pretty funny about the timing of these cards, If you look at the NO PURCHASE NECESSARY paragraph, it includes the standard instructions for acquiring these insert cards through the mail. However, both the eligibility window and drawing date, were two months BEFORE the product hit the street. Even getting the Canadian math skillz question correct, wont help you retroactively.

It's 115, by the way...

Hobby Boxes promise one autograph per box.

Very happy with the autograph from my first hobby box. I wanted an autographed Jazz rookie all last year, but didn't pull one from a pack. In July 2022, I get one!

The autograph from my second Hobby box, was a base card of former New York Mets relief pitcher, Franklyn Kilome. He of the 11 and 1/3 total Major League innings (all in 2020), with an 11.12 ERA... Yeah, not really worth scanning there...

In addition to the guaranteed autograph per box, the Aqua Wave Refractors fall at a rate of 1 in 21 packs. So you’re pretty guaranteed one per box. Although I did manage to get 2 in one box. (One of which was a Chipper Jones, but I didn’t feel like scanning Braves today.) I chose Diaz as my representation of an Aqua Wave Refractor, since he was once a Twins farmhand. Minnesota sent him to Miami in a deadline deal for Sergio Romo, back in 2019. Plus the Aqua Wave is really fitting on a Marlins card.

X-Fractors are also scheduled to fall one per box. And they always look awesome.

Blue Mini Diamond Refractors are serial numbered to 199, and are inserted at a rate of 1 in 41 packs. Every 2 boxes, more or less. A better name would be nice. But getting commons means that better names are worth more, because they’re harder to get.

1961 World Series hero! When you think about all of the 20 possible Refractory color/pattern combinations that Topps cut from the set, and compare it to the Gold/Rose Gold 70th Anniversary Wave Refractors, you have to imagine all of the awesomeness you missed out on. And this card is awesome. That gold/rose looks great for the Pittsburgh Pirates. These are serial numbered to only 50, and fall 1 in 163 packs. Or 1 every seven boxes. I managed to get 2 of them, from 2 boxes. 

Maybe I should try for a set of Gold/Rose Gold 70th Anniversary Wave Refractors?

After all, I'd already completed the 4 card Montreal Expos team set.

Consisting of Vladimir Guerrero, Moises Alou, Tim Raines and...

Now there's a deep cut!

Steve Rogers pitched for the Expos from 1973-1985, putting up a 158-152 record over 13 seasons, all with Montreal. Solid, but definitely not spectacular numbers for his career. An obscure Expo to begin with, his inclusion in the set made me start seriously thinking that I want to put the whole 700 card shebang together. 

I've not taken on a big card project in probably over a decade. The last I think was 2007's Upper Deck set, clocking in at a massive 1020 cards. Most of that was put together from heavily discounted jumbo packs, from the old Englewood, CO, KMart. I finished it in early 2009. Buying the last 14 commons, where everything else came from packs. When you can pick up 50+ cards to a set for just over $3, it's pretty easy to accumulate a whole lot of them, quick and cheap

Putting a full set of 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary would be anything but... 

My mom pulled the Steve Rogers' base card from a pack, and gave it to me, because she had no use for it. Instantly it was my favorite card in the set. If Topps went with some of the more unrecognized players to sprinkle into the typical stars in the set, well now I really want it...

The second Lite Box I opened (I'll get to that) had this Steve Rogers Red Atomic Refractor, serial numbered to 100, inside. Clearly, that is a direct message from the baseball card gods, saying I need to collect this set.

She also got the Vladimir Guerrero (and Tim Raines) from the box she opened earlier in the week, and gave them to me. Knowing that I'd want the Expos, and she didn't need them. 

In addition to the 2 Hobby boxes, I split two Lite Boxes with my mom. I still like the idea of a lower priced option with near impossible odds for autographs, but an exclusive parallel set. Now if they could only work on actually getting that price lower...

Second pack, my first Black and White Mini-Diamond Refractor is Vladimir Guerrero!

Out of a 700 card set, it's a sign...

This set will look so nice in a binder...

Even if they're not Black and White Mini-Diamond Refractors... 

Undertaking a project like this calls for my secret weapon. Collecting a big set old school needs...

A many generation Xerox copy of the Jeweltiques Set Checklist page (circa 1987). Still don't remember where this came from, but I've been duplicating it since the late 1980's. 

I'm comparing this to a combination of my experience completing both the 1992 Bowman and 1993 Finest sets. Combining the size with the relative cost. Most of my 705 card 1992 Bowman set was put together from cheap 1992 Bowman packs, before collectors noticed that 1992 Bowman was a very worthwhile set. I had to buy only a few singles to complete it. 

There was no mass buying of packs of 1993 Finest. They hit nearly $40/pack within days of release (in 1993!!), and I never bought one until MUCH later. That 199 card set was put together buying singles one at a time. This was when stars were selling for $30-$50, and commons were $2-$3 per card. 

As far as Jeweltiques, they were done by the end of the 1990's.

The Skywood Mall is still going strong today...

I was briefly excited when I thought the 7 Foot Hippie would have a fellow bullpen-mate, the 6 Foot 4 Inch Hippie, but Weems was lost on waivers to the Arizona D-Bags, after the 2020 season. Weems is now pitching for the Washington Nationals.

A slightly below average 30 year old mop-up reliever on a last place ballclub.

Not exactly strong investment potential...

Would have liked Topps to be a little more selective in choosing the rookies featured in a set like this. Certainly Topps has a research staff that can put in a minimal amount of background on the players who likely wont make any sort of impact at the major league level. Cutting 50 of these fringe rookies, instead replacing them with more legends and fan favorites, would have made this an even stronger set. 

Rookies sell, but too many poor ones bog down a product.

(See 2021 Topps Chrome...)

Still, Weems is a fairly rare parallel from a massive set.

Will have a safe home, with all the the rest of the inserts from this set.

After sorting my 2 Hobby boxes, two halves of Lite boxes and the small stack of singles picked up at the LCS, this is how my official Jeweltiques 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary checklist looked...

2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary will likely take years to complete. And I'm fine with that.

But there's no Wander Franco?

Hooray! There's no Wander Franco! 

Now you people wont artificially jack the prices, just to look for your junk bonds! 

Topps finally put out a product that hits in a whole lot of the right places.

They made a set specifically to interest and challenge me. 

Well I accept, Topps.

No matter how long it takes...

******

In other sets I'm trying to collect news: Last weekend I went from having just 1 card, to owning 7, from the...

1985 7-Eleven Minnesota Twins set!

A 13 card set that I had most of when I was a kid, and got destroyed because I was a kid. I went back to the Valley West card show and picked up a bunch of cool stuff, that I may or may not write about. One of the key finds of the day was six cards from that set, including the Kirby Puckett rookie.

Now that I'm over half way there, I'm obligated to see it through...