AT LONG LAST! 4 Rack-Packs of 2020 Topps Big League

It feels SO GOOD to have new cards on the shelves again.

The last few months have been excruciating, with  solely dregs of Flagship and Heritage clogging retail shelves, and the latest weeks of...nothing hanging there except for 2019 Topps Star Wars or boxes of Stickers. So it felt amazing to open something new, and it felt even cooler that this something was Topps Big League.

I loved 2018 Topps Big League, I loved the 2019 version, and I was even more excited for the 2020 edition on the basis of its base design  alone. So what if there's no baseball for another month. BIG LEAGUE IS HERE!

Here are the results of the four rack-packs I got of it:

Okay...this is frigging awesome. THIS BASE DESIGN IS SO COOL. I feel like this is the sort of design we'd get if Upper Deck continued their OPC set after 2009. It's so retro and so fun-feeling without entirely pandering. AND THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS GREAT.

AND THE BACKS ARE AWESOME TOO. Oh man. This back is some classic Topps stuff right here.

 It's still generally cool to see cards of Zack Greinke as an Astro, even in 2020.

 Yeah, more impressive landscape action.

The rest of this section  of base, plus Renato Nunez, which I didn't scan. A ton of iconic-looking stuff right here. Even the Award Winner cards look cool. That Gurriel shot is an awesome one.

 I am glad this card is in this set. No photoshopping, no airbrushing, the real deal. Gerrit Cole on my team. Excited to see this in 2020.

Every pack comes with  some orange base cards, including this Santana. Also, Alvarez rookie despite exceeding rookie limits in 2019, rant goes here.

 INSERTS! ALL OF THESE ARE COOL. Flipping Out is a very 90s-feeling set that I somehow got 2 cards of this pack, Vlad and Soler. The sketch  reproductions  return, and this Tatis is a nice one to pull.

This insert I absolutely love, though. Yes, some airbrushing probably, but...look how awesome he looks. Look how intimidating. This is a very  cool insert, and a great card for me to have.

2 more orange borders and a Seager base. Again, even the throwaway base cards look cool. The orange borders do work better for teams with orange colors, like the Astros.

Three of the base cards I was genuinely looking for, and they all pop up here. Guys in new uniforms. That Betts card looks insanely nice, too.

And we end pack one on a killer landscape shot of Sonny Gray. One pack in and this set has already won me over.

Pack 2- [I'll do the rest with occasional photo  highlights
91- Shin-Soo Choo
292- Bo Bichette Highlights
43- Cody Bellinger
149- Chris Sale
244- Leaders

That Choo photo is so damn fun.

202- Carlos Santana
131- German Marquez
259- Leaders
1- Salvador Perez. It is genuinely cool that they give #1, not to some big star like Bellinger or Trout, not to some hot rookie like Tatis or Alonso, but to good ol' veteran catcher Salvador Perez. I love it.
143- Harold Ramirez

SUCH A GOOD CARD. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Early candidate for card of the year. Even the 90s throwback looks awesome.

175- Dawel Lugo
210- Ketel Marte
119- Andrew Benintendi
238- Leaders
129- Dansby Swanson
52- JT REALMUTO
232- LUIS ROBERT RC

 ALL OF THESE CARDS ARE GREAT. Yes, the JT takes priority due to my collecting habits, but now I can say I have a Luis Robert RC. Which is nice.

Our three inserts. Defensive Wizards is a nice one, very  comic-book oriented, but I still love Flipping Out.

300- Ronald Acuna Jr.
191- Gio Urshela
3- Patrick Corbin
100- Michael Conforto, again an underrated pick for a hero number
114- Jorge Polanco
5- George Springer

More wins for the landscape division.
187- Howie Kendrick
181- Gio Urshela again
51- Ramon Laureano
173- Hanser Alberto

Good to see Howie and Gio. Two of my favorite unsung heroes of the MLB.

Pack 3-
213- Rowdy Tellez
188- Rhys Hoskins
272- Stephen Strasburg Award Winners
56- Sean Murphy
184- Manny Machado
8- Jose Urquidy
107- Aristedes Aquino RC [YAY]
36- Noah Syndergaard

Yeah, this set doesn't have many bad cards or photos in it, guys. Even Stephen Strasburg holding an award looks good in this set.

111- Juan Soto
211- Tim Anderson
235- Justin Verlander
79- Jordan Yamamoto
142- Eddie Rosario
72- Anthony Rizzo
157- Brandon Lowe
298- Aristedes Aquino Highlights

I now have 2 more Aristedes Aquino rookie cards than I did yesterday. Go me.

265- Leaders

This pack's batch of inserts. All three are pretty good.

103- Eugenio Suarez
51- Ramon Laureano
156- Nick Solak
294- Shohei Ohtani Highlight
229- Zac Gallen
196- JD Martinez
243- Leaders
186- Mike Yastrzemski
66- Luis Castillo
252- Leaders

Cool stuff here. That Yaz card is a cool one, very  SC-esque. The Castillo is a 4th-of-July shot, judging by the cap.

Pack 4-
104- Mitch Keller
286- Ichiro HL
180- Kyle Lewis
148- Maikel Franco
264- Leaders
138- Brandon Crawford
77- Charlie Blackmon
255- Leaders
60- Dustin May
20- Griffin Canning

I am glad Topps threw in that Ichiro. Class act. Also, good to see Maik on the Royals

The next batch of cards, from there to the inserts, were all dupes from Pack 3. So Topps' lovely collation issues are still a thing

113- Albert Pujols orange
12- Tommy La Stella orange
89- Paul Goldschmidt
216- Joey Gallo
289- Pujols HL
194- Josh Hader
101- Joe Musgrove
285- Mike Trout AW
185- Randal Grichuk
151- Michel Baez

And this assortment of awesomeness ends our packs.

I still love this set. Yes, the collation issues take away slightly, but so much of this base set, design, and mindset still impress me, and I'm likely going to keep busting packs of this until well after S2 and SC are out.