While furloughed from his job, Chris Torres began talking about Topps Project 2020 on YouTube. And plenty of people listened.

By Mike Payne

Chris Torres had some unexpected time on his hands. So he turned on his camera and began to talk. Furloughed last spring due to COVID-19 fallout, Torres took to the cyber airwaves and created a YouTube show that, in short time, became a destination for all things Topps Project 2020.

“I sort of wanted to record myself during what I thought could be called an historic time period,” Torres, a native Texan now living in Seattle, says. “So I started this video series called Furloughed. Half of it was what I did that day, and half was sports cards. It was kind of like a vlog, which at the time I didn’t even know what a vlog was.”

But as Topps Project 2020 began to explode, so did Torres’ little YouTube show. Before long, the Furloughed name became the Project 2020 Show ... with a lot more viewers.

After two rounds of furloughs, Torres returned to his job as a general manager in the auto collision industry. But he’s still doing his show, although his 12-hour work days leave less time to talk about the project. Yet he still finds the time to produce the show, update his website (crtsportscards.com) and talk about the cards of the week.

We tapped into some of that time.

BECKETT BASEBALL: What drives your enthusiasm for this set? 

CHRIS TORRES: “I’m a huge fan of the project. My point was never to have 1,000 people watching the show. I just wanted to talk about it.  If you want to watch, great. And if you don’t, I understand. But I’m just a fan. I’m still amazed that to this day people watch religiously and go to the website. I just can’t be more appreciative. That was never the goal. The goal was to talk about a great project. The support and the community has just been fantastic. It’s almost sad, in a way, that this is going to end in six weeks.”