OT: 2015 Topps Heritage Adds Gum Stains to New Cards

[z28jd]

Topps has a strange sense of nostalgia in their new packs. Here is an article on it with pictures and a quote from Topps today about the cards

http://www.cardboardconnection.com/i...topps-baseball

Remember the days when you got a stick of gum in a pack of baseball cards? The smell lingered on the pieces of cardboard and the sweet treat lasted for hours.
2015 Topps Heritage Baseball is bringing back some of those memories with special limited Gum Damage back cards. The cards mimic a stain left by a stick of gum and if you get close enough, you might even smell it.
There are three different patterns found throughout 2015 Topps Heritage Baseball, but the cards are rare pulls and appear on all 500 subjects in the base card set.
Heritage Baseball came out today with an homage to the 1966 Topps Baseball release using today’s stars and rookies. Look for 2015 Topps Heritage Baseball in local hobby shops and retail outlets....

Since most of us collected cards that came with gum in the packs, this is a little less off-topic than most posts about shiny new cards would be. Not only do they look like 1966 Topps cards, but the tried to replicate the feel without actually just putting gum in there.

Thoughts? The initial reactions I saw were all over the place. Some loved the idea, some really hated it and others were in the middle.

[almostdone]

Well, I guess at least it's an original idea. So now chase cards are the damaged ones?
Drew

[ullmandds]

seems kinda silly to me to "create" a gum stain?

[packs]

I don't think it's silly. These sets exist to connect the modern collector to the past collector. Modern collectors have no experience with gum in packs. And past collectors haven't had that experience in a long time. Short of putting gum into packs, this seems like a reasonable connection to the past and present. And collecting cards is supposed to be fun.

[bn2cardz]

Makes me wonder if they will purposefully do miscuts and wrong backs in the future.

[Section103]

If they're going to the trouble of putting gum stains on the cards, I'd just assume have the gum (awful as it always was).

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think it's silly. These sets exist to connect the modern collector to the past collector. Modern collectors have no experience with gum in packs. And past collectors haven't had that experience in a long time. Short of putting gum into packs, this seems like a reasonable connection to the past and present. And collecting cards is supposed to be fun.

If topps wants to recapture the older collectors like myself...how about pricing the cards more like they were priced back then!?

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

Makes me wonder if they will purposefully do miscuts and wrong backs in the future.

That's kinda my rationale...everything seems so contrived...created scarcities...created short prints...now created gum stains?

[quinnsryche]

Absolutely stupid. Who the hell wants stains on their cards? These should actually then be worth less than the regular ones just like it would be if you bought a vintage card with/without a stain. I get the concept, it's just dumb.

[Runscott]

I remember one year finally getting my Mantle, and it had a horrible gum stain on it. I was bummed, but it was still Mantle.

[Al C.risafulli]

As long as they keep making baseball cards, I don't care what they do.

I'd love to see them making wax packs of cards with actual gum and thick card stock again, and selling them at prices that kids can afford. But what do I know, most of the people I collect are already dead.

-Al

[judsonhamlin]

I feel like this puts Heritage one step closer to fully jumping the shark.

[Republicaninmass]

I wonder who stayed up all night coming up with the idea of ADDING gum stains to chase cards. What's next miscuts, blank back, multistrike reverse and names at top??

Wait I just gave them ideas for the next decade

[rats60]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think it's silly. These sets exist to connect the modern collector to the past collector. Modern collectors have no experience with gum in packs. And past collectors haven't had that experience in a long time. Short of putting gum into packs, this seems like a reasonable connection to the past and present. And collecting cards is supposed to be fun.

How does this connect to the past? I've never had a gum stain on a card except when opening a 1954 pack in 1988. I agree with those saying it's dumb. I used to love Heritage, but Topps has ruined the brand, in my opinion.

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

Makes me wonder if they will purposefully do miscuts and wrong backs in the future.

That would be sweet! Miscut inserts...I could go for that

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

I wonder who stayed up all night coming up with the idea of ADDING gum stains to chase cards. What's next miscuts, blank back, multistrike reverse and names at top??

Wait I just gave them ideas for the next decade

Yes...this is exactly what's next!

[insidethewrapper]

So if these cards get graded, will they be "mint" because they were suppose to have the gum stain or will they be graded down for staining ?

Whats next a relic card with a stale piece of gum from their past

[darwinbulldog]

Psa 10 (st)

[vthobby]

I was in my local shop today and started talking about the "gum stained" cards and lo and behold, folks started talking about the concept and then I saw them start to open the Heritage packs!

Huh, what a concept......try something different (its new), have those cards smell like gum on the back (they do), and maybe, just maybe get folks talking cards, shooting the bull, and opening packs. The guys thought it was a hoot and that's it. They did not think it was stupid or crazy. They just got a kick out of it.

Yah...I can see why most of you don't like the idea. It actually stimulates interest in the hobby....except on this thread obviously.

Some of you need to lighten up, stop agreeing with the crowd mentality (I know some of you can think on your own right?) and just let the hobby try to repair itself slowly.

This gum concept is not going to repair the hobby but it is funny, it is different, and hey look, it got a bunch of net54 dudes talking about how stupid it is. What more could Topps ask for?

I even think Sy Berger may he rest in peace might have gotten a grin out of it. Actually, he would have just added a real slab of gum but oh well.....

Peace, Mike

[bn2cardz]

I am beginning to think the dinged corners and chipped edges on my topps cards aren't problems, but rather just chase inserts.

[Orioles1954]

I used to LOVE the Topps Heritage brand, however, they just ruined it with dumb variations and a watered down auto/insert checklist. The brand really jumped the shark 5-6 years ago. Want to recapture my business? Have the guts to put next years product in actual wax packs and with gum. Game-used relics are essential worthless now anyway, so there should be no problem in achieving this. 24 packs, 10 cards per pack with a couple of game-used/autos per with gum, high numbers ever other pack and I'd gladly pay $60 a box. 2001 Topps Heritage was the perfect product....just flawless and they did what Topps does the best, ruin the idea.

[Eric72]

Fail.

[z28jd]

I'd like to get one just for the heck of it and I usually buy the Pirates team set anyway. I don't collect new cards, but sometimes I want to just open up packs, so I will get a few, just never a box of cards anymore.

Anyway, I just looked at Ebay sales and they are going $20+ for the stain cards. I think I'll wait

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Section103

If they're going to the trouble of putting gum stains on the cards, I'd just assume have the gum (awful as it always was).

....just what I was thinking.

[glenv]

Adding stains to cards isn't nearly as bad as when other companies do it:

stain.jpg

[Exhibitman]

Change one letter in the thread title and we make it very interesting

[EvilKing00]

why don't they just put the damn gum back in the packs - kids would love it - I know I loved that treat after checking to see what guys were in my pack!

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

why don't they just put the damn gum back in the packs - kids would love it - I know I loved that treat after checking to see what guys were in my pack!

At recent card show I bought some boxes of 1990 Topps cards for the kids to open up. They have enjoyed opening them, but haven't enjoyed me to constantly tell them they can't eat the gum. If there were new packs with gum in it they would be the first packs I would buy for my kids because I know they would enjoy that.

[packs]

There would be such a huge backlash if they put gum in packs. Kids getting their sugar fixes while big baseball reels in their money. Mothers would be on TV comparing it to cigarettes.

We don't live in a society geared towards fun anymore.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by packs

There would be such a huge backlash if they put gum in packs. Kids getting their sugar fixes while big baseball reels in their money. Mothers would be on TV comparing it to cigarettes.

We don't live in a society geared towards fun anymore.

Mom's had nothing to do with the absence of gum. They still sell cartoon character gum ball machines. This would be no different.

Here is an interesting article from Sept 1991 talking about the decision to remove gum from packs of cards.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1...-card-packages

``The collectors were complaining that the gum stained the cards,`` is the way that a Topps spokesman explained it.

Ironic to think they removed gum because collectors complained about the stains, yet the stains are returning without the gum.

[packs]

That was 1991. I'm talking about today. In NYC large sodas are outlawed. Last time I saw a working gum ball machine was 15 years ago.

[Bugsy]

I like it. It is a different idea and made me smile. Forget PSA, parallels, and price guides. Don't overthink or analyze it. Cards that smell like gum? That's fun

[ATP]

Disclaimer up front: I have not purchased a box of anything modern unopened for fun in many years, probably since the early 1990's.

When I heard about the gum stains in this release, it intrigued me enough to go down to the local Fred Meyer and buy some, out of curiosity...so their marketing worked on at least one buyer :-) The cards feel nice, I have handled a lot of modern cards and the emphasis on this set obviously being eclectic, is accurate. The cards feel like older cards did for the most part. They aren't glossy and the backs are similar (aside from just the style being similar). The smell is similar, the feel is similar. The base set appears to be a real challenge to collect, with the short printed base cards in a lot of situations being more desired than the lower level insert cards. My son and I (he's five, so he would have liked any kind of cards), opened the packs together, and we had a blast checking the cards for the different variations, comparing to the checklist, etc. Just from the 20 or so packs I opened I can see that it would be a real challenge to complete just the base set. While the whole gum stain thing is somewhat silly in and of itself, it's not a bad idea at all to get folks talking and intrigued (I did not get one in the 20ish packs I opened). Anything I think that gets people interested in buying modern for something other than cut signatures and jersey pieces is good in my opinion.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by packs

That was 1991. I'm talking about today. In NYC large sodas are outlawed. Last time I saw a working gum ball machine was 15 years ago.

That is NYC. I see gum ball machines all the time at malls and shopping centers . Either way though the machine I am talking about being sold to kids with the gum are ones like these which my child got one for Christmas:



Packs of gum are still sold, putting a stick with cards is not in danger by any laws any time soon any more than any other candy being advertised toward children.

[Jantz]

A few years ago Heritage did have gum in the packs. Each stick of gum was sealed in its own wrapper to prevent gum stains.

ATP Do you know how to spot the variations? Heritage made it quite easy this year to identify them.

J@ntz

[ATP]

Originally Posted by Jantz

A few years ago Heritage did have gum in the packs. Each stick of gum was sealed in its own wrapper to prevent gum stains.

ATP Do you know how to spot the variations? Heritage made it quite easy this year to identify them.

J@ntz

At first, no we didn't. I did soon after find a page that showed how you can look at the last digits of the code on reverse to tell. That saved a lot of time (not quite as much of a challenge though :-)

[Jantz]

Originally Posted by ATP

At first, no we didn't. I did soon after find a page that showed how you can look at the last digits of the code on reverse to tell. That saved a lot of time (not quite as much of a challenge though :-)

Glad to hear this.

If you didn't already know about the last two digits, I was going to help you out.

They are a nice looking card as always. I opened a few packs myself.