WTF??? Can't believe they cut this up for a card...

[novakjr]

I can't help it, but I think this is absolutely ridiculous....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROGER-MARIS-...68884541005633

[thetruthisoutthere]

I just can't comprehend anyone cutting up a baseball with those sigs to insert it into a product.

Since Topps obviously purchased the baseball, why not keep it intact and use it as some kind of bonus to their loyal customers. Why cut up that piece of history, Topps?

[RichardSimon]

This is really repulsive on the part of Topps and in my opinion the people bidding on it are all subscribers to the greater fool theory. The winner hopes that he can find someone to pay more for this artificially created rarity than he paid.
Anyone say Dutch tulip craze? They were jumping out the windows in Holland when the tulip market collapsed, when buyers woke up to the nonsense.

[CW]

As an intact baseball, those stains add character. Cut up and inserted into a card like that, it just looks ugly. Even the design of the card itself is unappealing. Such a failure by Topps.

[GrayGhost]

Disguisting

[batsballsbases]

Sad!

[old13man]

How hard would it be for Topps to insert a redemption card to redeem for the entire ball!!!!!! Those products are loaded with redemptions already so why not one more and then you don't have to hack the ball up into that disgusting card.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by old13man

How hard would it be for Topps to insert a redemption card to redeem for the entire ball!!!!!! Those products are loaded with redemptions already so why not one more and then you don't have to hack the ball up into that disgusting card.

I totally agree, Charles. That would have been a hot chase card.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by old13man

How hard would it be for Topps to insert a redemption card to redeem for the entire ball!!!!!! Those products are loaded with redemptions already so why not one more and then you don't have to hack the ball up into that disgusting card.

+1000. Today's sports cards are nothing more than glorified lotteries, w desecrated pieces of shirts, balls, bats, cut sigs, SIGNED balls cut up, and ten different versions of the same card, autographed and numbered. It is nothing but a glorified form of gambling. The saddest thing is you see people, adults and kids (tho how they can afford it is beyond me), buying these packs of cards, looking for the "chase" card and basically caring little or nothing about the others. Its sad. Add that to the crooks who weight/metal detect packs and etc, and sell them to the kids at a huge profit, where the kids can't go to stores, buy a couple packs and have a chance at something.

Its disguisting IMO, and makes me long for the days of being excited opening a pack of 1975 topps my mom got me at the store, chewing the pink and FRESH most times, gum, and jumping around when a REGULAR HANK AARON card with that famous profile shot, jumped out of the pack at me.

I better hurry tho, my local shop has got a deal on Topps glowamania packs. Look for the "randomly inserted" glow in the dark cards, numbered to ten, and the rare invisible ink signed cards too.

[RichardSimon]

Do they even care? NO
Do they worry about it? NO
Do they sit up at night worrying what real collectors think about this junk? NO
They just keep producing more schlock.

[batsballsbases]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Do they even care? NO
Do they worry about it? NO
Do they sit up at night worrying what real collectors think about this junk? NO
They just keep producing more schlock.

Richard,
I think that sums it up in a nut shell!

[steve B]

There is some small hope for change.

I bought my first few 2012 Topps Sunday and the retail ones don't have any of that stuff at all, at least in the boxes.

Kind of refreshing, no autos, no scraps of something, just cards.

Steve B

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

This is really repulsive on the part of Topps and in my opinion the people bidding on it are all subscribers to the greater fool theory. The winner hopes that he can find someone to pay more for this artificially created rarity than he paid.
Anyone say Dutch tulip craze? They were jumping out the windows in Holland when the tulip market collapsed, when buyers woke up to the nonsense.

While I agree with the general sentiment here about this hideous Frankencard, I would not be evoking the Dutch tulip craze on a board that discusses baseball cards and autographs, all of which have zero intrinsic value.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

While I agree with the general sentiment here about this hideous Frankencard, I would not be evoking the Dutch tulip craze on a board that discusses baseball cards and autographs, all of which have zero intrinsic value.

Yeah, but it's just not all that interesting to collect water, A collection of food mostly goes bad after a short time (Except Hostess cupcakes) And collecting shelter can get downright expensive.

Antything beyond water shelter and food is just icing -Fortunately I can choose which sort of icing I like.

Steve B

[Wymers Auction]

Well when they get done butchering memorabilia what is left will be worth more. Trying to find a positive spin even if it is a weak one.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by steve b

yeah, but it's just not all that interesting to collect water, a collection of food mostly goes bad after a short time (except hostess cupcakes) and collecting shelter can get downright expensive.

Antything beyond water shelter and food is just icing -fortunately i can choose which sort of icing i like.

Steve b

like

[Jcfowler6]

Folks stop buying they will stop hatcheting things up. 32 bids! Are you kidding me! Stop bidding on them. Stop watching them. Vote with your dollars.

[Blitzu]

The cuts of memorabilia disgusts the crap out of me. I got in an argument with a dealer a few months back over him trying to sell me a Mickey Mantle jersey card.

I told him I was looking for any Mantle (pre 69) and he offered me some new one with a jersey. I nicely told him I wasn't interested. He insisted I take a look at it and said he would give me a good price. I told him I wasn't interested at all in any cards that tear up pieces of history. He tried to justify it as the only way someone with less money can get near a piece of history like that. I quickly disagreed and said, no, the cheapest way is go to a museum and look at it yourself. He then said well it's the only way someone can own a piece of history. I replied by telling him how disrespectful and selfish it is to want a piece like that by accepting it to be cut up in tiny pieces. No bat or jersey or any other piece of history from Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, or any other player for that matter should ever, under any circumstance be cut up into shreds just to appease a few people. I hate it, and will never condone it, or support it in any way. I refuse to buy any new packs of cards or anything that condones that action. My entire collection has consisted of only vintage buys since these cards came out.

This ball is just another new low reached by these companies in a last ditch effort to stay afloat after they flooded the market with millions of cards. If they just learned to limit their general basic cards, they would again increase value. People would look at the players again, and be excited to have that player's card instead of a piece degraded history.

Off my soapbox.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by Blitzu

The cuts of memorabilia disgusts the crap out of me. I got in an argument with a dealer a few months back over him trying to sell me a Mickey Mantle jersey card.

I told him I was looking for any Mantle (pre 69) and he offered me some new one with a jersey. I nicely told him I wasn't interested. He insisted I take a look at it and said he would give me a good price. I told him I wasn't interested at all in any cards that tear up pieces of history. He tried to justify it as the only way someone with less money can get near a piece of history like that. I quickly disagreed and said, no, the cheapest way is go to a museum and look at it yourself. He then said well it's the only way someone can own a piece of history. I replied by telling him how disrespectful and selfish it is to want a piece like that by accepting it to be cut up in tiny pieces. No bat or jersey or any other piece of history from Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, or any other player for that matter should ever, under any circumstance be cut up into shreds just to appease a few people. I hate it, and will never condone it, or support it in any way. I refuse to buy any new packs of cards or anything that condones that action. My entire collection has consisted of only vintage buys since these cards came out.

This ball is just another new low reached by these companies in a last ditch effort to stay afloat after they flooded the market with millions of cards. If they just learned to limit their general basic cards, they would again increase value. People would look at the players again, and be excited to have that player's card instead of a piece degraded history.

Off my soapbox.

By all means, stay on it. You seem to have a PERFECT view of this madness

[Blitzu]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

By all means, stay on it. You seem to have a PERFECT view of this madness

Thanks, nice to find a place where people think like I do, and can see through the hype and madness. This is truly sickening. I love the game, and the purity of it. I'm a romantic when it comes to baseball, and I even become emotionally moved every time I enter a ML stadium for a game. There's an unexplained aura that exists, especially in those older stadiums (I'm lucky enough to be close enough to wrigley). I played the game as a child with friends, and can remember the smell of the grass, and the dirt off the infield. I love the the sound of a bat as it cracks the ball into the outfield. I loved sitting their in the outfield hunched over with one hand on my knee and the other with the glove over my other knee. Just waiting for the challenge of a ball coming near me so I can make the big play.

I also loved idolizing the greats of the games and thinking about how well they played the game. That coincided with going to a local shop to buy some cards and trying to pull out your favorite players you watch on tv. Then taking those cards and showing them off the next day to your friends. I also loved going to the big shows and finding rare pieces of history with the greats and dreaming of owning one of those old cards some day.

Now it seems all you have is a bunch of companies that forgot why it is they exist in the first place. There's a beauty to this game that they have a responsibility to protect. This isn't just any game, it's America's game, and most people from any generation can relate to it on some level. The history of this game is pretty much as long as the history of this country and it deserves more respect. I would even venture to say tearing up pieces of historic jerseys as criminal as taking pieces of Abraham Lincoln's clothing and cutting them up so that more people can own a piece of it. How well do you think people would respond to that?

Ok, I really need to stop now because I could go on forever, but thanks for the encouragement.

[howard38]

The cutting up of the ball doesn't bother me as much as the PSA grade does. Three crummy looking autographs on a grimy piece of leather should not grade a nine just because Topps decided to put a piece of cardboard around it.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by howard38

The cutting up of the ball doesn't bother me as much as the PSA grade does. Three crummy looking autographs on a grimy piece of leather should not grade a nine just because Topps decided to put a piece of cardboard around it.

The cutting clearly bothers me...BUT looking past that, I definitely agree with you, the grade is technically correct for the card, but completely strange considering the auto's themselves...

[RichardSimon]

Would you expect PSA to give a low grade to a new Topps product?

[Orioles1954]

Neither the cutting up of this ugly ball or the PSA grade bothers me. I could also get on a soapbox about the modern insert hobby and about cutting up jerseys and balls or whatever....it just doesn't seem worth it.

[travrosty]

grading the strength of autographs has been a scam from the beginning,

psa does not guarantee the grade from further fading, so how does anyone know if a 9 grade autograph is still a 9, or has deteriorated into an 8, but still has the 9 designation? you pay for a 9 and get an 8. the grading scale is all made up anyway. just another revenue stream like rookiegraphs or whatever else nonsense they think up a couple times a year to get more money.