Will it ever be too much?

[bk400]

I'm not really into game worn anything stuck into my cards, but I read this and thought that the deliberate manufacturing of game worn memorabilia -- to be stuck into cards -- might be getting out of hand?

From the Athletic:

Major League Baseball, Topps, Fanatics and Nike are collaborating on a new way of celebrating individual award winners through the MLB logo patches on their jerseys.

Debuted by NL MVP Shohei Ohtani during Saturday’s exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo (pictured above), each of the league’s six individual award winners — also including AL MVP Aaron Judge, NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale, AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil — will have special gold embellished versions of the silhouetted MLB logo patches on the back of all their jerseys throughout the season. Those patches usually match the color scheme of each team’s jersey, so the gold patches will stand out from those worn by every other player in the league.

The gold MLB logo patches will be authenticated over the course of the season and 10 for each player will be removed from the jersey and put into Topps trading cards the following year. It is not yet known exactly which sets those cards will go into. Fanatics will also make retail versions of each player’s authentic Nike jerseys (home, away, alternate and City Connect) with the gold patches that will be sold...

[raulus]

As long as people will go nuts for it, I'm not sure that there are any limits.

Certainly in the current environment, when it comes to these players, there's no shortage of demand. And when it comes to something they wore on the field, this manufactured rarity as a chase card will certainly help to move a lot of merchandise and get people buying boxes.

[carlsonjok]

You could pretty much have predicted this the moment Fanatics took over the card/memorabilia licenses from MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBPA and NFLPA. You are going to see the proliferation of gimmicks like this, an increasing number of parallels of base cards, and high tier clubs for collectors willing to shell out the membership fee (Card-a-Lago?)

I just also noticed that Fanatics has a Sportsbook/casino. It is only a matter of time before we have a huge gambling scandal in one of the major sports.

I've never been so happy to be focusing solely on vintage. The modern collecting world is a monument of style over substance.

[steve B]

I'm much more ok with this sort of thing than cutting up old uniforms or bats or whatever.

[todeen]

It's the same gimmick as the MLB Debut patch. I'm sure it's not the last. Get color combos that match holidays, like July 4th. Sky is the limit.

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[packs]

I personally think it's cool. Most game used cards feature a blank piece of fabric and more often than not it is not actually game used but are noted as either being player worn or even more vague than that.

[KJA]

I kind of prefer the relic cards from the early 2000's, was a big fan of the Legendary Cuts release. I guess relic cards though are okay still, would prefer an auto though. I do prefer when relics are something other than a plain piece of fabric, like something that includes part of a name, number or team logo.