What would you like to see return to baseball cards

Mighty Bombjack · Oct 31, 2013

I think all of these ideas are good, and mine is similar to those many others posted here.

I think that Topps should reassess their cost/pricing structure and stop producing so damn many GU and auto cards. Make these cards well-designed and VERY hard to pull. Bring back cool inserts for a box by box chase, and make these other "hits" true chase cards. They are afraid that too many collectors have become addicted to x number of hits per box, and they may be right, but I think that they could bring costs WAY down if they only purchased a few GU pieces a year and signed only a few big name players each year to auto contracts.

I think it could be a winning strategy if done right, and with no competitor in the licensed market, they wouldn't have to worry about an arms race.

Of course, it could also be the siver bullet that destroys the company.

Mighty Bombjack · Oct 31, 2013

I'd also like to see Super Teams come back (the 2002 Topps product that focused on ten different championship winning teams).

rsmath · Oct 31, 2013

definitely would like to see Topps Total return (or else take the base series 1, 2 and update, remove all the additional "rookie debut", "all-star", "league leaders" and other award cards in favor of a special foil stamp on that player's normal card), and use those freed up card numbers to feature more of the guys that are pinch-hitters, late game defensive replacements, middle relievers, and setup men that have important roles for each team.

and while watching someone rip a box of update the other day, it also made me think of something I think Topps did once but I don't recall it happening since. The box of topps update features 6 athletes and that same photo is also used on the foil packs. Why not, in a 36-count hobby box, feature 6 packs with only one of the athletes on the pack wrapper (say just harper), 6 packs with one of the other athletes (say just machado), 6 more with just matt harvey on the wrapper, etc. so you have foil pack packaging variety in the box.

joey12508 · Oct 31, 2013

Bring back Pacific lot of fun inserts.

TwinsWin · Oct 31, 2013

#7 in topps base set

TwinsWin · Oct 31, 2013

Oh and honesty.....honesty would be nice

BBCgalaxee · Oct 31, 2013

The cool looking die cuts topps has been making is a start, but they need to make those much harder.

They look awesome but when they are super easy to get, the value is little regardless of the look.

Many many of those super cool looking inserts from the 90s were very hard to get, hence the big values.

That's what topps should do, make them very hard to find and don't number them.

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bigunitcards · Oct 31, 2013

2018 Topps Tek 20th Anniversary Edition. Instead of 90 different background designs, create a true rainbow with 6 or 9 different colors, 9 or 10 shades for each color. Imagine a binder with 9 shades of blue on page 1, 9 shades of red on the next. Throw in some diffractors & superdiffractors. Let the release be pooped on in 2018, be revered by set/players collectors in the 2020s, and the first complete set be done by 2032. Boom.

Austin · Oct 31, 2013

Get little kids involved in cards.
This can be done several ways:

1. Basic card sets with no rare inserts in 15-card packs for 50 cents/pack, like in the '80s.
Sell them with the toys and at cash register counters so parents will buy them on impulse.
Topps should market them on commercials on the Disney, Nickelodian and Cartoon Network channels, emphasing how fun they are to trade, like Pokemon cards.

2. Cards in cereal boxes! I loved trading these with friends to make sets, like the Kellogg's, Post and General Mills cereal sets of the '80s and '90s.

3. Cards in other products, like when they used to be in packages of Big League Chew, sunflower seeds, granola bars, macaroni and cheese, etc.

Kids get the collecting bug when cards are freebies in products they eat and use. They'll want to get all the players and trade with friends.
Just like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, kids will want to collect them all.
But Topps needs to produce a creative cool-looking base set that's cheap.
Topps Total was always dull and boring looking and kids didn't like it.

Lars · Oct 31, 2013

Maybe Topps should cater to kids by introducing a $2 pack where they can pull several shiny inserts of stars along with the typical base cards - they should make these packs available at places like Target or Walmart.

Ashburn Alley · Oct 31, 2013

Crash the game and award predictors! Also redemptions for special insert sets and not cards that they may or may not produce.

autocut · Oct 31, 2013

I still like the SPx

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predatorkj · Oct 31, 2013

Anything Pacific. As far as the diecuts topps has done lately, I love em. But as someone pointed out, they are easy to pull. IMO, that's not horrible but it's not going to be good for value. But one thing I think we all should remember is if anything is liked or well received, it will be done to death. It just will. There is no getting around that. If they really cut back on autos and GU and inserts, people will stop buying as much wax. Some will still do it. But nowhere near the amount that does it now. And I highly doubt topps wants that. They'll do whatever the need to in order to keep people buying. Whether or not it's good for the hobby is a different matter altogether.

matfanofold · Oct 31, 2013

I see a lot of people asking for something to get the kids back involved, and I completely agree.

The only problem is that it needs to be something completely worthless or the 'business' side of our hobby will swarm in like hornets and try to make a profit off of them like everything else. The only way I see to achieve this is through cheap mass production. Like someone mentioned above, $0.50 packs scattered everywhere, on every counter. All base, and nothing in the way of a 'hit'. Would that even work given the amount of change between now and the early 1980's? Who knows, but the only way to get kids involved is to give them something they can enjoy without the hassle of business.

henderson939 · Oct 31, 2013

I would also like to see Pacific back.

Will Style 13 · Oct 31, 2013

A couple of things I loved as a kid was complete career stats on the back of cards. I also liked that Donruss used to put how the player was acquired. I used to study transactions. I still occasionally play a game where I go to baseballreference.com and read transactions and surf from player to player kind of like 6 degress of Kevin Bacon. I realize how nerdy this makes me sound but I don't care. I collect baseball history not just cards.

Lars · Oct 31, 2013

Kids of today aren't ones of 25 or 30 years ago who have no choices - they want some bells and whistles, not just crap that is cheap and plenty.

Casebusters · Oct 31, 2013

matfanofold said:
I see a lot of people asking for something to get the kids back involved, and I completely agree.

The only problem is that it needs to be something completely worthless or the 'business' side of our hobby will swarm in like hornets and try to make a profit off of them like everything else. The only way I see to achieve this is through cheap mass production. Like someone mentioned above, $0.50 packs scattered everywhere, on every counter. All base, and nothing in the way of a 'hit'. Would that even work given the amount of change between now and the early 1980's? Who knows, but the only way to get kids involved is to give them something they can enjoy without the hassle of business.

The way to get kids involved is by letting them go through boxes of cards at a show or card store. I do card shows with 20 " five thousand " ct boxes sorted by teams and thats how you get them involved. This way they pick the cards they want. And they dont have to spend $20 at walmart to get cards.

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matfanofold · Oct 31, 2013

Lars said:
Kids of today aren't ones of 25 or 30 years ago who have no choices - they want some bells and whistles, not just crap that is cheap and plenty.

I respectfully disagree.

Kids inherently want something that gives them a connection with what they love. With regards to sports cards they learn that the value and rarity = collectability and heightened desire (IE: "Bells and Whistles") after the fact because it is what the 'adults' want so they displace that 'want' on kids too. Give a kid a ordinary pack of cards and he will more times than not simply appreciate the player, stats, and connection he gets to his favorite team/player. Kids are no different than kids of a few decades ago, we are the different ones wanting more and more so we assume the kids want/need that too.

matfanofold · Oct 31, 2013

Casebusters said:
The way to get kids involved is by letting them go through boxes of cards at a show or card store. I do card shows with 20 " five thousand " ct boxes sorted by teams and thats how you get them involved. This way they pick the cards they want. And they dont have to spend $20 at walmart to get cards.

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No argument from me...

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