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  #1  
Old 04-28-2014, 02:54 PM
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Jayworld Jayworld is offline
Jay Shelton
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Default The State of Topps?

On my recent post about Donruss 2014 cards, I was expressing in a way how great it is to have a modern product that is NOT Topps. From my understanding (and please help me here, as I've been "out" of modern day collecting on a consistent basis since the late 1980s), baseball card manufacturers are limited now in the various products that they can make available to the public, yet Topps, especially since it became the sole licensed MLB maker of cards about 3 years ago, has produced a GLUT of product each year:

1. "Regular" Topps baseball card series
2. Topps Heritage
3. Topps Archive
4. Topps Opening Day
5. Topps Gypsy Queen
6. Topps Museum
7. Topps Pro Debut
8. Topps MLB Chipz
9. Topps Stadium Club
10. Topps Top Tier
11. Topps Triple Thread
12. Topps Turkey Red
13. Topps Tribute
14. Topps Heritage Minor League
15. Bowman
16. Bowman Chrome
17. Topps Chrome
18. Topps Allen & Ginter

I'm sure I'm leaving out some, but my goodness, almost 20 or over 20 products a year? Good grief (to quote the great Charlie Brown), that seems to be even more of an overproduction than that overproduced glut of the 1990s. Is there truly enough variety of modern collectors (as I understand several of these products are geared towards the specialty markets) to support all these products? This is one reason I am attracted to Panini and their Donruss 2014 Product and their Cooperstown product…. Thoughts?
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  #2  
Old 04-28-2014, 04:34 PM
steve B steve B is offline
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Production is nowhere near what it was in the early-mid 90's.

Maybe more sets from Topps, but they're not overproduced, and a few of them are very niche products.

I haven't looked at the Donruss stuff this year, but from the photos that are online with the reviews it's just rehashing the 80's designs just like archives and heritage. (I seldom buy those but they are popular)

Panini wasn't that far behind last year, they had nine sets just in baseball. And about that many for basketball football and hockey too.
And somehow they've got Beckett the company pushing "unlicensed stuff is fake and worthless" to give them a glowing review with only a MLBPA license. That's less than wild card had with the NFL when a licensing dispute put them out of Beckett and out of business.

I've bought a few packs, and somehow their stuff just does nothing for me. The inserts are nice, but the rest just seem cheap.

And I don't like that they avidly promote the jersey/bat/whatever cards here but don't make them for any of their other worldwide markets.

I was a fan of a lot of Donruss products, but just can't get excited about them as a Panini brand

Steve B
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  #3  
Old 04-28-2014, 05:14 PM
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Al Richter
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Default Topps

Up until 1994 I collected anything listed for Topps in SCD. After 1994, when the great proliferation started, I bought only the regular set and any update, just to keep the run going. But while all my sets to 94 are in binders, the 94-2013 sets are still in factory boxes. Starting in 2001 I started the run of Topps Heritage sets, and have then all in binders with any updates. I do like the Heritage sets
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  #4  
Old 04-29-2014, 01:59 AM
Rich Klein Rich Klein is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve B View Post
Production is nowhere near what it was in the early-mid 90's.

Maybe more sets from Topps, but they're not overproduced, and a few of them are very niche products.

I haven't looked at the Donruss stuff this year, but from the photos that are online with the reviews it's just rehashing the 80's designs just like archives and heritage. (I seldom buy those but they are popular)

Panini wasn't that far behind last year, they had nine sets just in baseball. And about that many for basketball football and hockey too.
And somehow they've got Beckett the company pushing "unlicensed stuff is fake and worthless" to give them a glowing review with only a MLBPA license. That's less than wild card had with the NFL when a licensing dispute put them out of Beckett and out of business.

I've bought a few packs, and somehow their stuff just does nothing for me. The inserts are nice, but the rest just seem cheap.

And I don't like that they avidly promote the jersey/bat/whatever cards here but don't make them for any of their other worldwide markets.

I was a fan of a lot of Donruss products, but just can't get excited about them as a Panini brand

Steve B
Seve -- Wild Card is still listed in the Beckett on-line price guide. I searched for 1991 wild card Favre and found this link.

http://www.beckett.com/search/?term=...1&tmm=extended

There were many reasons Wild Card lost their license but all their 91-93 cards are still listed in the On-Line Price Guide. And if Wild Card is no longer in a print Beckett publication, I would wager that is because the product is too thinly traded and/or almost no one cares. Remember there was a proliferation of over produced issues at that time. I was there at Beckett for the Wild Card problems -- and let me tell you, I'd rather we'd have pulled those cards in 1993 from our listings and just left them in our annual guides then.

And as for the MLBPA deisgnation. Since Panini does have that, you can't really say the cards are not licensed. They are not licensed by MLB but the MLBPA designation counts for quite a bit, especially if there are signed cards in the product. Thus why shouldn't Beckett price and review those cards.

When Beckett says unlicensed that refers more towards the Broder type issues of the 1980's or other issues with NO proper licensing.

Beckett may do (and have done) plenty of things wrong over the years but these two cases are not them. Both of these issues you bring up were done correctly by Beckett.

Regards
Rich
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  #5  
Old 04-29-2014, 09:15 AM
steve B steve B is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Klein View Post
Seve -- Wild Card is still listed in the Beckett on-line price guide. I searched for 1991 wild card Favre and found this link.

http://www.beckett.com/search/?term=...1&tmm=extended

There were many reasons Wild Card lost their license but all their 91-93 cards are still listed in the On-Line Price Guide. And if Wild Card is no longer in a print Beckett publication, I would wager that is because the product is too thinly traded and/or almost no one cares. Remember there was a proliferation of over produced issues at that time. I was there at Beckett for the Wild Card problems -- and let me tell you, I'd rather we'd have pulled those cards in 1993 from our listings and just left them in our annual guides then.

And as for the MLBPA deisgnation. Since Panini does have that, you can't really say the cards are not licensed. They are not licensed by MLB but the MLBPA designation counts for quite a bit, especially if there are signed cards in the product. Thus why shouldn't Beckett price and review those cards.

When Beckett says unlicensed that refers more towards the Broder type issues of the 1980's or other issues with NO proper licensing.

Beckett may do (and have done) plenty of things wrong over the years but these two cases are not them. Both of these issues you bring up were done correctly by Beckett.

Regards
Rich
Interesting that they're in the online guide. I haven't seen the online stuff at all.
They had a deal where if you signed up for the website you got a free month of online price guide. I joined, looked at the web site for a couple months, emailed a couple times about the free month trial, --Nothing. Not even a response saying I'd missed a code or something and it had expired.

If I remember correctly it was the superchrome rookies that caused the whole licensing issue for Wild Card? And that the set was licensed in a way but the dispute was that they were limited to a certain number of sets and superchrome rookies was in a gray area. WC thought it was ok because since it included High series cards it was an extension of that set. NFL considered it new because of how it was marketed. (And was probably right)

I thought that set had been dropped, while the others which were ok remained. I'd have to check the old issues I have around.
You probably recall it better having been there, so I'll consider myself corrected.

I totally understand them being dropped currently. With all the new stuff there's limited space and a thinly traded set that's from more than a decade ago really doesn't rate the space.


We'll have to disagree about the broders. But that's a topic for another thread.

Steve B
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  #6  
Old 04-29-2014, 09:47 AM
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Steve:
You do bring up good points, especially concerning your statement that current cards are not overproduced in the same numbers like the 1990s. I do agree with that whole-heartedly.

I guess my "complaint" is that there still is TOO many products out there, and yes, I do realize that some of it is a very specialized market.

I was speaking with the local card shop owner recently, and he has friends and good ties with Panini, and he stated that as of now, Panini has no interest in pursuing a MLB license and are fine with just the MLBPA license. Shame, as I'd like to see some real competition to Topps. I thought the Fleer sets of 1983, 1984 and the Donruss sets of 1983-84-85 to be so much better than the Topps designs of those same years, and I thought competition was wonderful (of course, prior to the mass produced years, and now the glut of product and autograph/uniform Pulls era)

Topps seems to have a pretty loyal following still with their "base" cards (I think the designs are too similar in the past 3-4 years and thus boring), and especially the Heritage sets. I actually have purchased a few packs of the Archives sets of the past two years, mostly because:
1. They depict older players and those players I grew up with in the 1970s and early 1980s
2. The card designs are from eras that I actually collected modern baseball cards, so I can wax nostalgic with them

Since there are some "loose" regulations out there, such as Rookie designated cards now, as well as how many different products a company can produce (really I see no difference in this), I would love to see something like:

– Each company can produce only four sets: base (affordable), mid-tier, and high end, as well as a "wild card" set (think Topps Heritage)
– Prices would be more relevant to attract younger kids to our hobby. My goodness, outside of the Topps Opening Day at 99 cents, packs are generally $2.99 and up for 6-8 cards. That's expensive, even for set builders, in my book
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:41 AM
Rich Klein Rich Klein is offline
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Jay -- I love this conversation, this will make for one/two really cool Rich's Ramblings on the Sports Collectors Daily * a valued Net 54 advertiser* site. Of course, my editor wants to me wait a while as he has plenty of my ramblings in the hopper. But I love the wild card memories and will opine on your comments as well.

Rich
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  #8  
Old 04-29-2014, 12:02 PM
steve B steve B is offline
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I liked the competition too. Donruss was my favorite in 81. (Which might say a bunch about my collecting tastes)

Topps regular set has been very ordinary the last few years, And while I like them, so have Gypsy Queen and A+G . They change up just enough stuff to keep it interesting.

I think it's partly the uniform and other cards that drive the number of sets. And partly the size of the sets and Topps own ability or lack of ability at collation.
I buy almost entirely at retail now. The kids make getting to the card shop a bit of an adventure. Especially since they sell other stuff. It's hard looking at cards when you've got to chase the 3 year old who's emptying the boxes of rubber dinosaurs , pokemon keychains, and whatever else onto the floor then running to the next display.

I bought Topps base stuff in 2011 for the anniversary stuff. less in 2012, and very little in 13 and this year.
I have bought a bunch of GQ and A+G, and Bowman Platinum, a chrome ish product that's more like two small sets sold together. And Chipz and Cubi (Platinum and Cubi are an addition to the list, making an even 20)

I don't expect Chipz and cubi to be back, so maybe only 18 this year.

What happens is that I reach a point where I can buy a couple blaster boxes and only get one or two cards I need. And just about then some new product is on the shelves. If I start with the base set, it runs Base, GQ, Base serII, A+G, Platinum. Retail is only 7 main products and usually a one or two one-offs like Chipz.
That cycle runs from January/feb through late fall, and runs out just about in time for football, with some choice - If someone isn't into archives, there's another very different product available.
This year I waited for GQ, and spent more on that. Proabbly will for A+G as well.

The rest of the sets listed are the niche ones. Turkey red is online only ? I didn't know they still did stadium club, and most of the others I think are the very expensive ones with like 3 card packs that are essentially all inserts?
There's a place for those, and the stuff is nice, but they probably aren't known much outside of the hobby and probably have different customers.

I like opening day, but never see anyone buying it at retail. Not even the kids.

The days of kids spending their own money on stuff like cards are likely mostly over. And If a kid is basically just getting the folks to spring for a few packs the more expensive ones are probably more interesting. I bought my first pack in 69, none in 70. I probably wanted some other sort of candy more. same for 72. By the time competition happened I was spending my own money and had to choose which one to buy. Or since I was going to a card store- whether to buy a few packs or an old card or two. I should have bought more old stuff........

I'm bit surprised MLB hasn't leaned on Panini to get their license as well. Or does Topps have an exclusive deal? I think they used to require both. Plus player approval, and maybe the teams too?

Steve B
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  #9  
Old 04-29-2014, 12:43 PM
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"The days of kids spending their own money on stuff like cards are likely mostly over. And If a kid is basically just getting the folks to spring for a few packs the more expensive ones are probably more interesting. I bought my first pack in 69, none in 70. I probably wanted some other sort of candy more. same for 72. By the time competition happened I was spending my own money and had to choose which one to buy. Or since I was going to a card store- whether to buy a few packs or an old card or two. I should have bought more old stuff........

I'm bit surprised MLB hasn't leaned on Panini to get their license as well. Or does Topps have an exclusive deal? I think they used to require both. Plus player approval, and maybe the teams too?

Steve B"

Steve - I like your quote concerning kids spending their own money. When I was really into collecting the modern stuff, I did spend my own money. Of course, going to the neighborhood 7-11 in 1977 and paying 25 cents a pack for 10 cards (and that bad stick of gum) was very affordable. I would save up and purchase 4-5 packs at a time (big deal back then). The same money today will not even buy ONE pack, and I think that is one big problem for getting kids involved in modern day cards. If you look at all the niche card areas, most are geared for adults that are either vintage collectors of tobacco or early gum cards or the like and like the novelty of opening new packs or specialty collectors who only go for the big "hits" such as the autograph cards or jersey swatches.

Personally, since I got back into collecting in the early 2000s and educated myself on the current state of baseball cards and the like, the jersey cards have never appealed to me (I trade or sell them if I get them). The signed cards have some appeal to me, as I am also an autograph collector (going on 30+ years now). Still, the pricing is so outrageous. Why spend $80+ on a new box of cards to maybe get one vintage hit (think Topps T206 or Upper Deck Goudey) when you can use that same $80 and actually purchase, in lower condition, several vintage cards?

From what I understand, there are two licenses that card companies spend big dollars on; the MLB license, which allows companies to depict team logos, etc., and the MLBPA license, which allows companies to produce cards of players. Panini/Donuss has the MLBPA license, and Topps has both.

Oh, and I bought all three sets in 1981 when they came out, more of a "that's cool, someone else besides Topps" kind of mentality. For 1982-1983, I only bought Donruss and Topps, and in 1984, I only bought the Donruss set, and then quit collecting until the early 2000s. I thought Donruss had a good product, especially with the painted Perez cards and the clean fronts. That's what attracted me back to the 2014 Donruss….

Last edited by Jayworld; 04-29-2014 at 12:46 PM.
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Old 04-29-2014, 09:00 PM
steve B steve B is offline
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Yes, the price of a pack has gone up a lot even compared to other stuff.

Gas - .62/gallon
Stamp - .13
gallon of milk - 1.68
Pack of cards -.15

Now, Gas 3.55 =5.72x
stamp .49 = 3.76x
Milk $3-4 = @2x
Pack of cards (Topps base wax pack only) 2.00 = 13.3x

Of course I've heard my nephews and friends kids talk about the payoff from the tooth fairy- I thought I did well at .50 for the first one, which had to be pulled. Now I think they say it's around $5!

I'm on the fence about the memorabilia cards. I like the occasional signed ones, but don't collect many autographs. I was really into signature rookies, and sort of still pursue them. Any I find in the dollar box are usually bought.
Yes, Wildcard, Signature rookies, Edge .............I'm a harbinger of doom for a card company. I'm surprised Topps is still around.

Some uniform cards are ok. I don't like the ones with old stuff on them, but current players it doesn't bother me. I figure the uniforms are worn once and then sold. I got a Mark Cuban "suit card" from A+G last year. Pretty cool since I'm a fan of shark tank.

If I buy something like Topps 206 or Goudey, it's for the set itself. Any old card I'd get would be just a bonus. (And a dilemma, which set would I put it with??)

I liked the design of some of the 80's Donruss too. 81, and 84 especially. I tend more towards good design even if it's not as clean and modern. And I'm a total sucker for over the top ornate stuff. If I had the bucks I'd collect Ramlys. As it is I have to settle for modern crazy stuff - Make a die cut refracting signed set that's been aged over a Fenway sausage vendors cart flame and has bits of fenway green lead paint embedded and I'm there. Unless it's crazy expensive or just plain ugly - Over the top stuff is hard to do well.

Maybe I'll give the Donruss a try. I've spent on sillier things.

Steve B
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Old 04-30-2014, 05:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayworld View Post
1. "Regular" Topps baseball card series
2. Topps Heritage
3. Topps Archive
4. Topps Opening Day
5. Topps Gypsy Queen
6. Topps Museum
7. Topps Pro Debut
8. Topps MLB Chipz
9. Topps Stadium Club
10. Topps Top Tier
11. Topps Triple Thread
12. Topps Turkey Red
13. Topps Tribute
14. Topps Heritage Minor League
15. Bowman
16. Bowman Chrome
17. Topps Chrome
18. Topps Allen & Ginter
You forgot
19.Topps mini
20.Topps stickers
21.Topps cubes
22.Topps Finest
23.Bowman sterling
24.Bowman inception
25.Bowman Platinum
26.BowmanBowman Draft Picks and Prospects
27. Topps Five Star
Hmm what else. There also in the past 3 years been
Topps lineage
Topps marquee



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  #12  
Old 04-30-2014, 08:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JBird View Post
You forgot
19.Topps mini
20.Topps stickers
21.Topps cubes
22.Topps Finest
23.Bowman sterling
24.Bowman inception
25.Bowman Platinum
26.BowmanBowman Draft Picks and Prospects
27. Topps Five Star
Hmm what else. There also in the past 3 years been
Topps lineage
Topps marquee



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Goodnight, Jesse! Thanks for updating the list. That's WAY too much product. Will post scans of the new Donruss cards in my other post tonight (have been asked to do so).
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Old 04-30-2014, 08:33 AM
Rich Klein Rich Klein is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayworld View Post
"The days of kids spending their own money on stuff like cards are likely mostly over. And If a kid is basically just getting the folks to spring for a few packs the more expensive ones are probably more interesting. I bought my first pack in 69, none in 70. I probably wanted some other sort of candy more. same for 72. By the time competition happened I was spending my own money and had to choose which one to buy. Or since I was going to a card store- whether to buy a few packs or an old card or two. I should have bought more old stuff........

I'm bit surprised MLB hasn't leaned on Panini to get their license as well. Or does Topps have an exclusive deal? I think they used to require both. Plus player approval, and maybe the teams too?

Steve B"

Steve - I like your quote concerning kids spending their own money. When I was really into collecting the modern stuff, I did spend my own money. Of course, going to the neighborhood 7-11 in 1977 and paying 25 cents a pack for 10 cards (and that bad stick of gum) was very affordable. I would save up and purchase 4-5 packs at a time (big deal back then). The same money today will not even buy ONE pack, and I think that is one big problem for getting kids involved in modern day cards. If you look at all the niche card areas, most are geared for adults that are either vintage collectors of tobacco or early gum cards or the like and like the novelty of opening new packs or specialty collectors who only go for the big "hits" such as the autograph cards or jersey swatches.

Personally, since I got back into collecting in the early 2000s and educated myself on the current state of baseball cards and the like, the jersey cards have never appealed to me (I trade or sell them if I get them). The signed cards have some appeal to me, as I am also an autograph collector (going on 30+ years now). Still, the pricing is so outrageous. Why spend $80+ on a new box of cards to maybe get one vintage hit (think Topps T206 or Upper Deck Goudey) when you can use that same $80 and actually purchase, in lower condition, several vintage cards?

From what I understand, there are two licenses that card companies spend big dollars on; the MLB license, which allows companies to depict team logos, etc., and the MLBPA license, which allows companies to produce cards of players. Panini/Donuss has the MLBPA license, and Topps has both.

Oh, and I bought all three sets in 1981 when they came out, more of a "that's cool, someone else besides Topps" kind of mentality. For 1982-1983, I only bought Donruss and Topps, and in 1984, I only bought the Donruss set, and then quit collecting until the early 2000s. I thought Donruss had a good product, especially with the painted Perez cards and the clean fronts. That's what attracted me back to the 2014 Donruss….
I'll respond in more detail later since I am at work but Topps has the MLB exclusive until 2020. Both Panini and Upper Deck do hve MLBPA license and Panini also has a Hall of Fame license. At the moment, everyone is satisifed with this arrangement.

And in 2004, before Fleer went out of business and the Panini was forced aside after 2005, there were about 90+ releases that year. One of the reasons MLB and MLBPA came up with their agreement at that time was to give products more time to breathe.

Topps got an exclusive beginning in 2010 and I'd wager they are working with MLB and MLBPA on a measured growth policy which enables them to print but not flood. Compared to 90, 25 is fine. AND Jay S. as an FYI, there are dealers such as Al at Triple Cards who believe it or not would rather go back to 90 a year in baseball as his customers love to churn product.

RIch
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Old 04-30-2014, 09:57 AM
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Rich:
Yes, I agree that 25-30 products a year doesn't touch the 90 products in the over-saturated 90s, but I still think 25 products a years is WAY to much, especially since it seems (perception, perhaps not reality) that Topps still puts out quantity over quality…. Also, the 90+ releases were by all companies in the business at that time, correct (Topps, FLeer, Donruss, Upper Deck, and their subsidiaries Leaf, etc.)? With Topps churning 25 products this year, and Panini doing 5-10, and a few others out there, we still are at 40-50 different products…

The designs on Topps cards have not been really good in several years, and competition can improve that. Topps put out some great, clean designs in the late 1960s, early-to-mid 1970s, and started to slip some prior to Donruss and Fleer entering the market, and things picked up for a while (design wise). As a collector (and a designer for over 25 years), I thought that Fleer produced some nice, clean, well-designed cards in the 1983-86 period, with the team logo on the front rather than the team name. Topps overdid it in 1985 with both the logo and name. Several would disagree with me, I think, but the Topps set from 1976 is very clean and graphically interesting with the position of the ball player graphic on each card. You just don't see that anymore. Lots of embossing and metallic coats and inks that are often times hard to read.

You are right; Al at Triple Cards thinks that the "slowdown" in products has hurt his business, but then he told me he has a few customers that come in and drop over $5 grand a pop on new product (mostly Bowman Chrome). WOW.

So you think today's average modern collector collects for the "hits" (jersey, autograph, limited printing, etc.) in order to flip and make a profit (investment - which I have no problem with) or are more collectors right now into building sets?

I was a set collector, that's what got me into baseball cards and spurred my interest, and I think that set building has all-but-vanished is why I rarely collect or buy modern product. Heck, even at $1.99 a pack, that's too expensive for me to try to build a set…. and I know I'm probably in the minority on that.

Last edited by Jayworld; 04-30-2014 at 10:02 AM.
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Old 04-30-2014, 10:45 AM
Rich Klein Rich Klein is offline
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Jay -- I'm at work so don't have a lot of time -- but I referernced this conversation in my Gypsy QUeen review and then will have more to say later.

Let's just say, there is a mix but we have a slient majority of people like you and a noisy bunch of peoiple who want hits;

And I know there is not a great deal of "value" but Opening Day provided a nice mix of minor hits and a collectible set at about $1 per pack. I got more value out of my box of that then I do from some boxes which sell for a significant multiple of that.

Rich
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Old 04-30-2014, 11:09 AM
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Thanks, Rich. Guess Opening Day could be an alternative for modern set building….will do some research on that.
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Old 04-30-2014, 11:38 AM
steve B steve B is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JBird View Post
You forgot
19.Topps mini
20.Topps stickers
21.Topps cubes
22.Topps Finest
23.Bowman sterling
24.Bowman inception
25.Bowman Platinum
26.BowmanBowman Draft Picks and Prospects
27. Topps Five Star
Hmm what else. There also in the past 3 years been
Topps lineage
Topps marquee



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And we all forgot the team sets. Not sure If they should count as one set or several.

And the redemption sets you get for saving points or whatever from the code cards in the regular set. Are they inserts or a different set?

I do have a hard time expanding the list by including every one-off from the last few years. Lineage was a one time only. Qubi and chipz probably are too.

So I checked online for sets in general. The list at cardboard connection seems inclusive enough for 2013

Topps
------------------------ 30! more than I'd thought. 26 if you leave out the non-card and non-us issues.
Bowman
Bowman chrome
Bowman chrome mini
Bowman draft picks
Bowman inception
Bowman platinum
Bowman sterling
A+G
Archives
Big leagues minis - figures
Chrome
Finest
five star
Gypsy Queen
Heritage
heritage minors
Mini
Chipz
stickers
Museum
opening day
Pro debut
Qubi - rubber stamps
Topps
Supreme - Asia only
Tribute
Tribute WBC
triple threads
Turkey red

Team sets - Not listed, but I'd count them as a different set.

Panini
------------ 12
Americas pastime
Cooperstown
Elite extra edition
Golden age
Hometown heroes
Prizm
Prizm perennial draft picks
Usa baseball box set
Usa baseball champions
Pinnacle
Select
Triple play

Unknown or independent.
--------------------------- 15 - Most are buyback repackagings, but it's not clear if they include any cards other than buybacks, leaf seems to.

Leaf best ofbaseball
Leaf cut signature pride of the pinstripes
Leaf Ichiro immortals collection
Leaf Just vault
Leaf Memories
Leaf Metal draft
Leaf Perfect game
Leaf power showcase
Leaf trinity


Onyx authenticated platinum prospects 1
Onyx authenticated platinum prospects 2

Pastime collection enshrined
Pastime collection milestones

Superbox rookies and phenoms
Superbox series 2

So maybe as many as 57 sets.

The big difference is that many of them are actually quite limited. some of the Topps sets are online only and as far as I know sell out almost right away.

My perception is that the overall market for cards is smaller than it was in 1990, and that the high end stuff gets absorbed very quickly.
At the retail level, I suspect that order quantities are down. I mostly buy the bigger packs or blaster boxes, and the insert ratios stated seem inaccurate. Especially for packs bought late in the sell through. The last batch Of GQ I got had one red and two black minis out of 14 packs compared to stated odds of 1:9 and 1:12 That seems typical for later packs, but it's still early. I'd think the odds are based on the expected orders and they use up the inserts on what the actual orders are without changing the odds.

Steve B
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  #18  
Old 04-30-2014, 09:29 PM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
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Well, talk about a thread for being wrong!

I tried a couple packs of Donruss today.

Actually a nice looking set. The preview made it look more "archives" with a mix of different designs, but it's very consistent. Fronts sort of like 87, but white borders and square frames. Backs like 88. The inserts were also slight changes to older issues, One was like 88, another like the 85 action all-stars.

And to top it off right next to them on the shelf was..............2014 chipz.

I thought for sure those wouldn't be back. Not that I mind, I like them and they've made the set more complicated.

Steve B
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