Modern Card Manufacturers and Pre-War Themed Sets

[Orioles1954]

Hello everyone,

Next week Tri-Star will release their version of the T212 Obak set. In subsuquent weeks, Upper Deck will release a multi/non-sport Goodwin's Champions set and Topps will release another T206 themed set in October. Here is a sampling of what has been released over the the past couple of years.

Baseball:

1.) 2005-2008 Topps Turkey Red
2.) 2006-2009 Topps Allen & Ginter
3.) 2007-2009 Upper Deck Goudey

Also Topps released an insert set last year which featured cards in a variety of designs, including 1933 DeLong, 1941 Goudey and others.

Football:

1.) 2008 Topp's Mayo Cut Plug

Basketball:

1.) 2008/09 Topps T51 Murad

I have noticed that pre-war collectors (who tend to have a lot more money) often scoff "shiny" card releases. However, those "shiny" card enthusiasts seem to be very interested in such vintage themed sets. Questions for N54.

1.) Would you ever collect a vintage/pre-war-themed set from a modern manufacturer? Why? Why Not?

2.) What do you think of these efforts from the card manufacturers?

3.) Why do you think major card manufacturers are producing such sets?

Here is a sale sheet for the Obak product being released next week.....

James

[Rich Klein]

Ever since Topps Heritage hit and hit BIG in 2001; companies realized that going back to the future made sense not only as part of their product mix but also tended to be very profitable.

IIRC; Topps did T205; T206 in about 2002-03 and Cracker Jack sets in like 2004-05 amongst others usages of vintage sets. If the years are slightly off I'm sorry; I don't feel like checking a Beckett magazine or the OPG for those details.

In Football; Pacific was way ahead of the game and created Pacific Goudey in 1997. There are tons more -- these are things I can think of off the top of my head.

Collectors loved them -- because they brought back cards they were aware of and were faithful to the idea but featured the modern players from which the manufacturers made their money!

Off Track a little -- and I love the heritage set -- but I was next to John Rumeriez (sic) at the National and we agreed that Topps could, just by being a tad more faithful to the original; have plenty of their "quirks" without needing to create even more. Obviously, in some years, the creation of a quirk or 2 makes sense. But here are some examples of things that should have been done in Heritage.

the 2001 Set -- was brilliantly set up like the original with cards #48 and 49 featuring a braves and a yankees pitcher. However; no one thought of putting the wrong bios on the new set.

And where were the white and grey backs the last couple of years. Why not just mimic the original on that -- you get all the collectors to do master sets; why not add that twist.

There's more but I'm tired And I want to go back and read more about other more explosive threads

Regards

[Peter_Spaeth]

The base sets are fine if you want to collect modern players but the bewildering number and variety of insert cards are annoying.

[Rich Klein]

Why the number of products in baseball (and the number of manufacturers) have been shrinking in recent years as per the dictum of MLB and MLBPA.

My numbers may be a bit off here; but in 2004 we had approximately 90 different products (or one issued ever 4 days) by 4 manufacturers. If MLB gets their way with Topps (*N.B.* -- I Don't know all these details so this is a guess as a number); there will be between 15-20 products issued in 2010; all by Topps. Of course; Upper Deck still wants to produce cards in 2010; and we'll see what the final decision is. I suspect there will be many twists and turns over the next few months. (Or read that article Bruce posted and see the comments about UD in 2009)

90+ products in 2004 was way to many; especially with the inserts -- and at this point of time; we'll see how many products really should be issued in 2010 and going further.

Rich

[fkw]

Topps has been copying older sets for over 60 years now

1948 Magic Photo = 1930 Ray-O-Print & 1938 Foto Fun
1951 Team Cards = T200 Fatima
1951 Redback/Blueback & 1968 Game = 1913 WG5, WG6 & 1936 Goudey
1951 Connie Mack AS & 1964 Standups = 1934 R318 Batter Up & 1937 V300
1955 Doubleheaders = T201 Mecca Double Folder
1956 Pins = 1910 P2
1961 Stamps = T332
1967 Discs = E254 Colgans
1970 Candy Lids = 1937 Dixie Lids
etc.

[Steve D]

I really like some of the "retro" sets. The only sets I've collected/completed from the past 10 years are the 2001 Topps Heritage (1952 Topps Design), Topps-T205, Upper Deck 1941 Playball, and the Fleer set that looks like 1954 Topps. These are also pretty-much the only complete sets I even have at this point.

I loved the idea of bringing back the T3 design, but it just lost everything to me, by being the small size. If they'd been bigger, even maybe 4" x 6", it would've worked much better, at least in my opinion.

I just like the older, simpler designs. I've been turned-off by the fancy-schmancy, chrome, refractor, psychodelic, computer-generated, SFX garbage of the past ~15-20 years. I want a simple, basic card that shows the player in-uniform, and has their stats (or maybe a writeup similar to 1950 Bowman or T205) on the back. The companies should go back to simple, great photography, like 1953 Bowman color, or 1950 Bowman (especially the Tank Younger FB card!). To me, they kind of ruined the Goudey remakes and Topps-T206, by using what looks like computer-generated photos, instead of real photography or artwork.

I guess it's just like the retro wave in ballpark design in the 1990s. It just took a little bit longer to hit the card market.

Steve

[David W]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The base sets are fine if you want to collect modern players but the bewildering number and variety of insert cards are annoying.

I agree completely.

I'll pick up the stars from the sets if they are cheap (which they always seem to be - Book Value $20, sale price $1 all the time).

It does provide a neat link to the past that may spark interest in the kids of today.