How to UNDERSTAND current Topps cards
 

I am completely out of the loop with Topps current production. I understand Topps is the ONLY company to produce bb cards now? Topps has more than one set of cards each year obviously.
I want a 2015 Bryce Harper but when I type that in ebay I get an ungodly amount of cards! How do you find just the REGULAR current production Topps? Is there such a thing?
Thanks.

If base Topps is strictly what you are looking for he is #207. Add that to your search input and it should clear it out for you.

thanks! Exactly what i needed to know

just incidentally the topps "chrome" and bowman "chrome" cards typically look better in my opinion. the topps "paper" and topps "chrome" will have the same pic, the chrome is just on a bit nicer stock. same story with bowman, but the pic is different than the topps product.

IMHO, the nicest looking cards out this year is the topps stadium club set. it has a nice candid portrait of harper. not an action shot, but full bleed photo with nice stock. unobtrusive lettering, etc.

Topps is also not the only company to produce baseball cards. There is a new reincarnation of Leaf, and Panini also makes multiple sets. Those companies just don't have the MLB license to show players in uniforms with logos or use team logos on the cards. But some people will also call the Topps set the base set or paper set or flagship set.

http://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/2015/...&size=original
2015 Topps #207.1 - Bryce Harper (Base)
Courtesy of COMC.com

I'll second this. In hand a chrome (and in particular a chrome refractor) looks fantastic. Base refractors will run you barely more than a base will.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-TOPPS-C...QAAOSwHnFV1pis

Was happy to read this and see I'm not the only one who has no idea how to find a regular baseball card anymore.

Last year I got to thinking just maybe I should have at least one Jeter, Kershaw, deGrom, and a few other guys. Then I took a look on eBay and was like, I don't even know where I am! It was like being in a Starbucks and just wanting a plain old coffee. [emoji1]

That's why in today's new card world -- you almost need an Beckett OPG subscription.,

Understanding Current Cards
 

I retain a card whisperer

Are card whisperers expensive and has it worked for you?:)

Buy a few packs and study what you get

What I want to know is when and how they lost creativity for set designs.

Topps ran out all the other card companies from MLB so now they don't have to make cool looking sets or have creative designs on cards. In fact, they don't even have to number them correctly or put refractor designations on any cards. They keep adding to the number of sets and parallels of each so they can make all the money in the baseball card market, and you know why? Because they CAN and everyone still buys them anyway.

TradingCardDB.com and CardBoardConnection.com will break down each brand in detail, then you can head over to JunkBay for what you need...

The baseball card market reminds me of the Hammock District from the Simpsons.

Topps
Topps Heritage
Topps Chrome
Topps Redundant 1
Topps Redundant 2
Topps Redundant 3
Topps Redundant High End
Topps Redundant High End 2
Topps Redundant High End 2.1 (not quite 3)
Topps Redundant High End 3

Etc. etc. etc.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsbad8GEW78

Topps
 

Such negativity. Lighten up some.

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/.../Darwin014.jpg

Haha

Actually, this is a very good thread and summarizes (so far) what I have been thinking for years about modern baseball cards. I collected from wax packs from 1975-79 and then bought complete sets from 1980-84...and then that was it. Choices at the time, post 1980, were three different card companies, so I always went with what appealed to me the most from a design standpoint, which was often Fleer (loved the team logos on the fronts of the cards) or Donruss. Have tried to get back into modern card collecting several times since about 1994, but it has not lasted long at all; mostly because of the sheer number of product available. Now that Topps has the "license," it really does not help matters, as there is still (seemingly) a TON of product, and that includes Panini's foray into the game. Do you buy Topps "regular," chome, Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Panini specials, Donruss ???

At least my local hobby shop owner is always very nice and patient with me when I visit, as I ask him:
1. What's the best product for you currently (what's moving)?
2. What's not moving?
3. What's the nicest looking product currently?

Evidently Panini's products, even without the full license, do VERY well. The hobby shop owner told me he has a customer that buys 60-80 boxes of a particular product every year. WOW.

I always end up gravitating to whatever modern card set features older players (or players I grew up with), so maybe the current game look and feel has left me behind? ;)

Topps is a great investment. I just got a 2015 Topps BB Set for Christmas at Target for around $ 50, I bought a 1988, 1989 and 1990 set for $ 5.00 each.

Topps And Fleer
 

I have a full Fleer run 1959 to 2007. That includes a bunch of logo, patch, cloth and other weird sets from the 60s and 70s, as documented on the Fleer Sticker Blog.

For Topps I have kept buying the base sets and any traded sets to keep the full run, 48 forward, going

For a diversion I have also done all the Heritage sets and updates. Up to 2011 I also did the Heritage variations like I did with the older Topps base sets, but then the planned scarcity just got too crazy. I think the Heritage sets are fun, especially if you collected their older counterparts

I collected the initial Donruss, Upper Deck and Sportflics sets, but did not continue with them

I highly recommend the Heritage sets...perfect for vintage collectors to get old designs with new players. Of course i am biased as i sell exclusively heritage.

I have always said Heritage is always my favorite brand of the year and in he 15 or so years of Heritage, Topps has one a good job keeping the brand going.

Could there be improvements? Of course, but overall -- Heritage brings back the memories of the original with today's players and a few inserts and autographs featuring the older player -- including in many cases, those retired players who never signed before

RIch