Topps Has Finally Broken Me.

If they're not 2.5x3.5 or don't come out of a pack in random distribution then take them off your checklist

I'm in the same boat....I'm sticking to the boxes and packs....and way from this on line stuff. Best regards, David

Yes, I second that. And I would add that Austin's and rebelpawn's posts are also right on the money. I have a good PC of Robbie Alomar going, but it's just insane to chase the glut of releases that topps keeps putting out. I guess he signed a contract with them, so they have to put him in every damn release. Same with panini I presume.

This guy last played in 2004, so 2005 is really the last bona-fide year for card releases. Here are the total unique card counts since then:

2005: 258
2006: 0 - not one single card (!)
2007: 31
2008: 16
2009: 1 - upper deck 20th anniversary buyback (anyone who has this card must PM me or foresake his claim to eternal happiness)
2010: 69
2011: 163
2012: 129
2013: 33
2014: 215 - whaaat?
2015: 244 - WTF?
2016: 144 - and counting

What really gets me is that every single one of these 2014-2016 issues follows the EXACT SAME FORMULA. You have a base card, or an insert card, and every one has at least 5 different parallels. Some tired, lazy series like: Silver / 199, Foil / 99, Blue / 75, Green / 50, Black / 25, Red / 15, Purple / 10, Orange / 5, SuperTitaniumAmethyst / 1. Online parallels too - look a Gold / 10! But apparently the card buying public loves this strategy. Right??

So. For all these post-career releases by the topps syndicate - and panini too - I buy the highest print-run "base" card only. Then I have one example of what it looks like and I'm good. If I want to see what the orange calico parallel looks like, I just stare into the sun for a few seconds first....and save myself that $199.99 on ebay.

brian26 said:

Well said.

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Topps, I can't quit you.

Brewer Andy said:

If they're not 2.5x3.5 or don't come out of a pack in random distribution then take them off your checklist

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Exactly.

Some interesting posts in here. I thought I was alone in looking back and thinking that this is 1987-1992 all over again with current production.

What really broke (both literally and figuratively) me and card collecting is Kyle Schwarber, and Topps/Panini putting him in every single release. He has played in 71 games, yet has 1,632 cards produced of him. Its just overkill and I have no idea who is asking for all of this repetition. It's just gotten silly, and I had to take a step back from it. I hate to by a buzzkill, but in 20 years 99.99% of current cards are going to be kindling, just like 1987 Topps.

Also worth mentioning - of all the unique card designs (i.e. not including parallels) that I have from Topps since Alomar retired, only 56% of them have unique photos. The other 44% are recycled from previous post-career issues. Has anyone else noticed this?

I was chasing all I could for McGriff. I decided to focus on cards from the years he was active for now. I may chase some of the newer stuff later on.

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Not only all the stupid parallels released in the regular set but then to release another 50 different foil stamped sets: all star, anniversary, limited, World Series, team, dogs birthday... Come on enough already.

Topps broke me when they came out with moments & milestones. The red 1/1s were popular until everyone gave up on chasing them all...ya know, about the time I decided to sell. Have focused my chipper collection to 90s only since then. Sold off all of my year 2000+ cards except for 1 auto.

And while we discussed this, Topps releases another variation of their set. Wow

Didn't MLB kill multiple licenses for this exact thing?

Therion said:

Didn't MLB kill multiple licenses for this exact thing?

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And also reduced the number of releases per year. I think Topps has found a loophole.