Is anyone excited about eTopps T206 cards?

[michael3322]

Hi everyone. Happy New Year.

I was just talking to a friend about T206 cards, and he was telling me that he is excited about the eTopps T206 set.

I haven't really spent any time with the eTopps offering. Have any of you? Are these eTopps T206 cards of interest to vintage collectors?

According to the stock market-like index on their website, the value of eTopps cards has generally gone down since its inception.

I'd love your thoughts on this.
Thanks.

[scooter729]

As a purely vintage collector (who might buy a pack or two each year, while waiting in line at Target, just for giggles), I have to say I've heard the phrase "eTopps" but have absolutely no idea what it means.

If it helps to promote vintage cards to new / modern collectors, then great, but as for me personally, I could care less if it's something being manufactured today.

[novakjr]

Absolutely ZERO interest in eTopps t206's here... To me they're really no different than your typical modern reprint, Conlon, or the Pacific Greats cards.. Just another modern piece of manufacturing intended to exploit a former era, in order to draw attention away from the mistakes of the modern game.

Now for a younger collector, I love the idea that it will stir interest in that era of cards, so that we will not be the last in line. But I know 100% that it's not topps' intention. They're simple setting out to exploit.

Probably the only modern day/vintage rip-off I'm interested in is the 2003 Topps T205 Louis Sockalexis, or any other notable players who never really had anything issued. But then again for those purposes, I'd rather spend a buck or two on those homemade Miller Press cards on ebay. Yes, the ones with the arbitrarily made up book values.

http://portasite.com/?cat=178

I have a few that I picked up for next to nothing, just for the sake of having 'em...He will occasionally pick an obscure player with a great story to print cards of...Rocky Perone and Joe Bauman come to mind. Although Perone had a minor league card as a coach back in the 80's under his real name Rich Pohle.

Pohle/Perone's story here http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...ahigian/080710
Bauman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Bauman

[Ladder7]

I plan on collecting em... Seventy years from now.

[Tim Kindler]

I have no idea what eTopps is? Are they something you buy in a pack or something you have to buy and print off only on line??? Either way, I have no interest personally, but if it is something like that will get people back into collecting or the next generation interested in baseball cards again, then I'm all for it. That being said , I'm only for it if it is affordable to kids. My personal feeling is that kids can't collect cards these days because the companies sell their packs for 3-10 dollars each just so you have a chance at some limited edition card that is autographed, or a piece of flannel or bat. These special cards have about 10% of their value about 3 years later...whoopy-do da-day! I'm only 38 and I remember buying packs at 10,25, and 50 cents a piece. A kid can afford to blow money on collecting when were talking less than $1. Now a days it stinks because the kids can't afford it. (And Adults for that matter) I think another reason besides those "Special Cards", why Topps and others who are "allowed" by Major League Baseball to produce cards, have their prices so high is because MLB charges the companies so much for their rights to produce them.
Tim Kindler

[novakjr]

I believe eTopps are only sold online...What happens is that Topps basically has a pre-printed amount of these cards(I think they're all encapsulated), and then sells them on the eTopps site. You don't really get the card though, you are legally the owner of a card that they keep for you, and then they run their silly stock market type crap, where the card is traded and sold without ever really physically trading hands. It was originally supposed to fluctuate based on how well a player did in any given year...Basically, their original thought was that a rookie card wasn't always gonna be the most expensive, rather the player's most productive season would be.. They started doing it in 2000, and things had originally gone as planned. You'll also notice the spike in that chart at around '02. Basically there were 2 main cards carrying that market, and it slipped once people started removing the cards from the eTopps marketplace. Hmmm! Who could've that been from? Yep, Pujols and Ichiro pretty much killed it, thus leading once again to the rookie card proving most valuable among modern collectors, and they've been struggling ever since to get it back on track.

You could opt to physically receive the card too. Which alot of people started doing. I picked up a psa 9 of the '01 Ichiro for about $5 on the bay a few years ago....Pretty nice looking rookie card of the future hall of famer. I wouldn't mind landing an '01 Pujols either, but am not really concerned with it. Other than that, it was just another failed fad, in the lackluster modern industry.

[michael3322]

Excellent posting David. Very helpful information.

[Tim Kindler]

David, thanks for the education. I certainly am a dinosaur when it comes to modern collecting and technology, but what a STUPID idea imho! Who was the idiot who actually thought of this and that it would catch on with collectors. Like I said in my earlier post, these companies are trying to come up with all of these expensive and technological types of cards that cost outrageous money thinking that kids and the next generation will get hooked on them. IMHO if you keep it simple and INEXPENSIVE like when we were kids (and I'm talking late 70s and early 80s, let alone 50s and 60s) then people, specifically kids, WILL collect again!
Just my two cents.
Tim Kindler

[novakjr]

Thanks. I never really did the whole eTopps thing myself. It was just something that I looked into a few years ago, when I was watching that '01 Ichiro on ebay. It never hurts to do a little homework before you buy something. The whole idea seemed silly to me, but I kinda liked the Ichiro card and bought it anyway. Print runs are available on the eTopps website. There were 10,000 Ichiro's and 5,000 of the Pujols. I imagine more Ichiro's in an attempt to suck in the Japanese market.

BTW this weeks new cards are Saints, Colts, Seahawks and Packers team cards, limited to 499 at a price of $4.00.

[HOF Yankees]

I dislike all modern cards and the modern companies so I won't buy any., I started off buying vintage and I have to agree its a waste and looks bad to put modern players on vintage styles, ehh to topps on this one.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by HOF Yankees

I dislike all modern cards and the modern companies so I won't buy any., I started off buying vintage and I have to agree its a waste and looks bad to put modern players on vintage styles, ehh to topps on this one.

I'm mostly a pre-war guy myself, but modern-wise I'll still pick up Auto's, HOF rookies, and Topps Complete sets(or build 'em myself). The sets mostly because the ultimate goal is to work my way up to the full standard Topps run from '51-current, and possibly the '48 Magic Photos.

I definitely have to agree with you though, Modern players on vintage styles, or even vintage players on modern styles is just bad in my book. Almost sickening.

[painthistorian]

I am sure one day someone will eventually come out and make E-Topps reprints, maybe a new grading service will grade those! Not excited about any E-cards that were not made 100 years ago personally....

[fkw]

eTopps are not baseball cards

"A true collector card will always be issued FREE with a product or service of some kind."

The day they took the gum out of the packs is the day true collector cards changed to a limited edition collector issue. ie TCMA, etc.

[Section103]

The bit about buying a card I dont possess has always made my mind turn into quick drying cement - I cant begin to conceive of the merits.

[Fred]

After reading the different posts about eTopps and what it is supposed to be I only have one question. Seriously, did people really buy into that crap?

[DixieBaseball]

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[jrb97]

Originally Posted by Fred

After reading the different posts about eTopps and what it is supposed to be I only have one question. Seriously, did people really buy into that crap?

New to vintage and to the board but thought I'd answer your question. People did buy Etopps and it failed miserably. I'm guilty of buying a few unfortunately David pretty much summed up Etopps very well but thought I'd add one more point.

At the beginning of the week, Topps would announce the cards offered and the "maximum" print run for that particular card. Some cards had a max print run of something like 2,000, while others had a max print run of 10,000. Topps then took orders during the week for the cards. The "actual" print run would be based on the orders it received during the week. Topps got very few orders for some of the less popular players and this created "scarcity". I think some may have had print runs of just 200-300 (even though the max print run was going to be say 2,000). In other cases (e.g. Lebron James), Topps issued the maximum print run.