Mets Card of the Week: 2021 Topps Now Javier Baez

Javier Baez made his MLB debut in 2014. Guess how many cards he has? If he made his debut in 1964, the answer would be easy. Well, maybe not the exact answer but pretty close. Assuming Topps guessed right and gave him a spot on a multi-player rookie card in his debut season, that would mean eight cards. He also made the All-Star team as a starter two times, so two more cards. And he led the NL in RBIs in 2018, so he’d make a leaders’ card, too. That’s 11 cards.

If you guessed 11 cards for how many he has in this century, well, you wouldn’t be close. He has more than 11 cards this year. In fact, according to Trading Card Database, there are 798 Baez cards in 2021. Now, a lot of these are variations. He has a base card in 2021 Bowman and also has a Blue, Fuscia, Gold, Green, Neon Green, Orange, Platinum, Printing Plate Black, Printing Plate Cyan, Printing Plate Magenta, Printing Plate Yellow, Purple, Red, Sky Blue and Yellow versions available.

I only had the eight-box of Crayola Crayons so these colors confuse me some. But even you rich kids with the 64-box of Crayolas might be curious about “Printing Plate Cyan.”

It makes it virtually impossible to collect a “complete” set anymore. And as someone who collected sets, well, it’s a bit sad. But, if you collect cards of an individual player, this is a great time to be alive. Back in the day, it was hard to beat the options available for Tom Seaver in 1971. There was his regular Topps card, plus he was on the Strikeouts and ERA leader cards, too. There were no separate All-Star cards this season but he was on two insert pieces – the scratch off set and the coin issue. Plus, Topps put out a “Super” set of oversized cards and Seaver was in this one, too. Additionally, there was a Kellogg’s card and a Milk Duds one, too. Not counting regional or minor issues, there were eight different Seaver pieces this year.

There are 798 Baez cards this year.

It makes one curious if anyone has all 798. The first set I ever went back and completed was the 1970 Topps offering, albeit years after it came out. The last card needed was #705, Tony Cloninger. Looked for that card forever and was thrilled to finally get it, even though the player himself meant nothing to me. Does the Baez collector experience that same joy? If you were such a big Baez fan that you had to get them all – the answer would have to be yes, right? Getting that elusive Printing Plate Cyan has to be as exhilarating as getting #705 Cloninger. At least let’s hope it is.

There are multiple people in my collector groups who have the complete 1970 Topps set. Maybe there are single-player collector groups and there are fans who have all of the Baez cards from 2021, too. And shoot, maybe there’s someone in that single collector group like me who is going back and completing a second set.

My second 1970 set is 82 cards short. And yes, #705 Cloninger is one of the missing ones. It’ll be funny to me if he ends up being the last one again. No doubt, many of you are shaking your head, wondering why on earth collect two complete sets. Trust me, I understand your reaction. My reactions would be the same to someone collecting a second set of 2021 Baez cards.

Oh, and Trading Card Database says there are currently 6,305 Baez cards out there. And a Duck Duck Go search didn’t show one card of him in a Mets uniform. Hopefully, there will be 700+ of him in a Mets uni in 2022.