The buy-back is back!

Topps honors league MVPs

Sep 21, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts against the Colorado Rockies during the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

By John McTaggart
On SI Collects
The buyback is back (say that fast five times!)
The ever-popular Topps Chrome MVP Buy-Back program is returning this November to hobby shops all across the country. 
It’s the opportunity to turn your cards into credit at your local hobby store.
The process is a fairly simple one, and similar to years past.

1. Buy 2024 Topps Chrome baseball and get together the game’s MVP candidates.

2. When the MLB announces the MVP for each league, bring those 2024 Topps Chrome cards to your LCS.

3. Exchange the cards for store credit.

It really is that simple. 
Exchange amounts range from $20 to base cards, to $1,000 to 2023 Topps Chrome Back-to-Back Stamped MVP cards /50.
More information on the program can be found on Topps website by clicking here. 
So, that beckons the question — who should you be hoarding in terms of league MVPs?
With one week to go in the regular season, the field of contenders is narrowing, and virtually closed at this point.
The National League is a no-brainer, right?
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers has done things at the plate and on the base paths this season that not a single player has been able to do in the games 100-plus year history.
If he doesn’t win the MVP in the NL then something is very wrong with the world, and there’s a very good chance the whole things could be ending soon. 
Slugging 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in a single season is an unfathomable feat to many baseball purists who believed you either knocked the ball out of the park or ran real fast, not both things at the same time. 
Ohtani does both things — and is hitting .301 heading into the close of the 2024 campaign.
I, personally, can not think of too many seasons in the past where the choice was so clear —so get you 2024 Topps Chrome Ohtani cards ready for the buyback. 
The American League, well, that’s a little different story — but not much! 
The odds-on favorite is undoubtedly Aaron Judge from the Yankees.
The guys has been a stud, hitting .323, with 56 homers and 139 RBIs thus far, with a ridiculous OPS of 1.158 as of Sept. 25.

I suppose you could make an argument for Bobby Witt Jr., who has led the oft-struggling Royals into the postseason.
And, yes, Juan Soto and Gunnar Henderson are worthy of mention in this conversation, but in all reality, this is Judge’s race to lose, and it’s doubtful he will.

So, what have we learnd here today?

For starters, the buy-back program is cool.

Secondly, get your Ohtani and Judge cards ready to roll once the program kicks off in November.

 
The buy-program is one of the hobby’s most unique and interesting ideas, and one collectors and fans have flocked to for good reason — it’s a great program.