More Silliness from Topps

[Mike D.]

"When Topps baseball cards hit the stores this week, about one in every 70 packs will include a picture of Giuliani, fist raised in victory, celebrating with the Sox on the field after their World Series win."

Link

Is it just me, or between their recent designs and these silly Photoshop gimics, does it seem like Topps is being run by a bunch of 12 year olds? :noidea

[bailiff]

You are right, but the sad fact is that Topps is still 100 times better than UD.

[Gary Dunaier]

Is it just me, or between their recent designs and these silly Photoshop gimics, does it seem like Topps is being run by a bunch of 12 year olds? :noidea

I'd be more concerned about the designs than the Photo Shop gimmicks, as long as they kept them to a minimum.

My biggest complaint about modern Topps cards is their glossiness. I don't like how they stick together and you have to pull 'em apart.

[Gary Dunaier]

the sad fact is that Topps is still 100 times better than UD.

Why is it a "sad" fact? Do you prefer Upper Deck over Topps? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

[bailiff]

I should have used a different word than sad. I am a topps man myself.

[Dalkowski110]

Well, yeah, it is really silly, but it sure beats the "Michael Buysner" and "Asterisk 756" cards Upper Deck put in its 2007 Sweet Spot Update set. Check eBay for pics.

[EricDavis]

Remember if baseball card companies don't market to kids, they lose out on a lot of collectors future collectors (consumers). So as long as we pursue baseball card collecting we can expect some child-like shenanigans and I don't really think that's a bad thing.

[dabigyankeeman]

I think last year the Derek Jeter card was neat, but this one is idiotic as Rudy is such a Yankee fan, it makes it totally moronic. If I get one in a pack, I will keep it as an oddity, but I wouldnt go out of my way to get one, and it sure wont have me buying extra packs to look for one.

As to Topps glossiness, I love it, great gloss makes cards look so good!

As to Topps over Upper Deck, to me, each year it depends on design and quality of photographs, and quality/quantity of great action shots. I can tell you this year I like the basic design of Upper Deck more, it looks like the old Stadium Club cards which were awesome. If the pictures are good like they usually are, I think I will be buying more Upper Deck than Topps this year. I will say I love Topps for making multiple-player cards, AllStar cards, etc., those are really nice to have.

[bailiff]

If you are buying cards for the photos, I guess upper deck is the way to go. But, try dealing with UD customer service in terms of redemptions. A group of monkeys could provide better service.

[Dalkowski110]

I disagree about UD redemptions with ONE qualifier...if you know a UD Representative-Certified Dealer (my boss is one), they're a million times better than Topps. They send out their redemptions within a month and are incredibly efficient. However, they've gotten lazy on two things that ultimately make them equally as bad as Topps...
1) UD's success with redemption cards in 2006 has made them add so many that in certain cases, half the given insert set will be redemptions.
2) Their customer service, if you're not a UD Representative-Certifed Dealer, is bad. Unlike Topps, they will NOT substitute cards of equal value if the redemption somehow becomes unavailable if you're not Certified, which is absolutely inexcusable (with that said, 99.9% of the time they already have the cards printed before going to redemptions).

"making multiple-player cards"

Agreed there. "Classic Combos" is probably my favorite recurring subset, especially the ones they have in U&H for the All-Star Game.

[Zito75]

How many of you guys actually pulled a Jeter card last year?

[Gary Dunaier]

I did... I pulled two or three.

[Ubiquitous]

Remember if baseball card companies don't market to kids, they lose out on a lot of collectors future collectors (consumers). So as long as we pursue baseball card collecting we can expect some child-like shenanigans and I don't really think that's a bad thing.

RudyG is not exactly marketing to kids. Besides I think charging 1.50 or more for 10 cards and then forcing kids to have to pay that all over again for series two just to complete a set pretty much guarantees that collecting by kids is kept to a minimum.

[Gary Dunaier]

I think charging 1.50 or more for 10 cards and then forcing kids to have to pay that all over again for series two just to complete a set pretty much guarantees that collecting by kids is kept to a minimum.

How does that differ from issuing all 792 cards in one series?

[Dalkowski110]

Also, to add to what Gary is saying, yes, baseball card packs cost a dime in 1957 (a penny a card), but adjust for inflation ($1.04 currently) and you're looking at something not too terribly different from 2007 Topps. And the sets of the 1950's-1970's had up to four or even five series. And you had fewer cards per pack. And there were no boxed sets that came coallated at the factory (which are very popular today). If it was working in even more complex fashion fifty years ago, how come it didn't stop working then and there?