Much of the country is still embraced by bitter cold and snow, but baseball is back in the air with the release of 2021 Topps Series 1 Baseball set for Wednesday. The second annual live rip party took place ahead of that, with former big leaguers joining Topps employees and a selected group of breakers who do it for a living all part of an online broadcast.
Special guests participating in the program including Kris Bryant, Chipper Jones, Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, Fergie Jenkins, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Mariano Rivera, Albert Pujols and collector/journalist Keith Olbermann.
The theme was 70 Years of Topps Baseball and the former players were kept busy opening packs from the past rather than just the 2021 Series 1 boxes. Many of the segments were pre-taped while some were live.
In addition to sharing information on the product, Topps also touted an upcoming baseball-themed partnership with Budweiser without revealing any details.
You can watch the entire three-hour show below.
Series 1 will celebrate Topps’ 70th year of producing baseball cards. All base cards in the collection will contain a “70 Years of Topps” foil stamp. The 330-card set features modern day stars, new rookies who debuted during the 2020 season like Jo Adell and Deivi Garcia, league leaders, 2020 World Series highlights, retired stars like Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken Jr.
The Home Run Challenge returns for another year where collectors can rip, flip and predict which MLB players will hit a home run, all for a chance to win special cards and tickets to the 2022 MLB Home Run Derby.
Several different breaking companies were part of the show in a head-to-head competition.
Hobby boxes with 24 packs of 14 cards including one autograph or relic card along with Jumbo, Retail and Blaster boxes are all currently available on eBay.
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