2021 Topps Home Run Challenge - Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez

I added Home Run Challenge codes for Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez for their Thursday games - Schwarber has been on a Ruthian home run tear through the past week but I felt like I’ve slept on that one lousy code card I had in-hand.

I considered adding the Schwarber HRC code for Wednesday, but figured the Washington Nationals slugger wasn't going to hit a home run in every game and didn’t in a Nationals 15-6 rout over the Tampa Bay Rays - if he’d hit another one then, that would have really been crazy.

Yesterday might have been the start of a new home run thing for Schwarber against righthander Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers - however he hadn't homered in a couple of bats and worst yet, the game ended up being a rain shortened 6-2 win for the Dodgers.

The hulking Alvarez has been solid with the bat all year and checking the probable pitching matchups - all I knew was he going up against a rookie [J.C. Mejia] pitcher for the Cleveland baseball team, so it might be worth adding a code [I have one more unused Alvarez code].

I figured Alvarez might be able to size up the inexperienced starting pitcher and that's what happened as he hit his 14th home run - so at the very least, that's a winner for me.

2021 Topps Home Run Challenge prize card - J.D. Martinez

Off some early 2021 Topps breaks, I pulled Home Run Challenge inserts for Freddie Freeman, Gleyber Torres and J.D. Martinez - pick a date when a player would hit a home run, enter the code on the Topps contest Web site [you have to be registered at Topps.com] and see if the player connects on the game chosen.

Martinez was the only 'winner' out of the group and I felt pretty smart trying to guestimate when he would hit his home run - after seeing I had a winner, it probably took a couple of months for Topps to ship the winning [serial #'d to the number of correct entries] card to me.

I think I've only entered a single Home Run Challenge card before 2021 and didn't know much about the actual prize cards before - going through a box of cards at a show, I think saw a similar Martinez card from a previous year and I guess most of the winning cards printed from the contest are fairly common.

I'd like to point out, Martinez is not a favorite at all, but the slugger has put up significant hitting numbers - while putting together a collection of loose cards together in a page, I made sure to save space for Martinez's 2021 Topps Home Run Challenge card.