Current state of the hobby-Modern cards

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

I'm personally amazed how well things are holding up for ultra-modern releases considering the cost of the buy-in.

It's been gambling for a long time. Hell, you can't economically put together a base set from packs for at least 10-15 years.

You mean it's been 10-15 years since it made economic sense to put together a base set by buying packs?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

in the old sets we all loved every card in a set...now its just certain subsets...the level of love is much thinner.

The card manufacturers themselves are to blame for that. Pre-1980 a baseball fan and card collector needed only to complete one (admittedly huge) set per year and he had basically from April to September to do it which wasn't really difficult because the cards were on every convenience store counter at basically affordable prices. And perhaps a food issue or two (e.g. Post Cereal, Salada Coins, Hostess, Kellogg's) which still wasn't that tough because a kid needs something other than bubble gum at times.

But since 1990 or so anyway the amount of product has exploded with several releases per year. And with all the manufactured scarcities, building a master set is generally impossible. In fact even defining a master set is difficult. Is a Jersey card with a red fabric an altogether different card than one with a white fabric? And Patch cards are all completely different of course. Moreover since when is every autograph exactly the same?

Therefore concentrating on certain specific subsets ends up being the viable fallback option for many/most collectors. Other fans resort to collecting only certain players although that to me seems bizarre for an adult anyway. It strikes me as hero worship.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

The card manufacturers themselves are to blame for that. Pre-1980 a baseball fan and card collector needed only to complete one (admittedly huge) set per year and he had basically from April to September to do it which wasn't really difficult because the cards were on every convenience store counter at basically affordable prices. And perhaps a food issue or two (e.g. Post Cereal, Salada Coins, Hostess, Kellogg's) which still wasn't that tough because a kid needs something other than bubble gum at times.

But since 1990 or so anyway the amount of product has exploded with several releases per year. And with all the manufactured scarcities, building a master set is generally impossible. In fact even defining a master set is difficult. Is a Jersey card with a red fabric an altogether different card than one with a white fabric? And Patch cards are all completely different of course. Moreover since when is every autograph exactly the same?

Therefore concentrating on certain specific subsets ends up being the viable fallback option for many/most collectors. Other fans resort to collecting only certain players although that to me seems bizarre for an adult anyway. It strikes me as hero worship.

yeah i agree with you..its odd putting a sub set together in thats not numbered...heck even some of the numbered cards have several poses variations beyond the color borders etc..

i collect the 35th annivesary autos /25 for most years not but it sucks there are no stats on on the back..the /25 not autos do have the pictures on the back..

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

In fact even defining a master set is difficult. Is a Jersey card with a red fabric an altogether different card than one with a white fabric? And Patch cards are all completely different of course. Moreover since when is every autograph exactly the same?

My own take is that every Signature card is the same, but every card with a Jersey swath that's visibly unique is a different card. I've therefore built up several binders of the 2003-04 Pacific Titanium Hockey cards. Here are some sample sheets:









Since the two sergei Samsonov cards are relatively similar, I'll be open to trading one off if and when I get a couple more!