Topps Has Finally Broken Me.

I love being a player collector. It is incredibly challenging hunting down rare cards of one of my favorites but Topps has broken my spirit with one thing: online parallels.

I have never minded chasing crazy rare cards that had to be obtained through different means like mail-ins, being a member of some collector's club, or attending a national. All of those things are fine. But the number of online "short-prints" drove me a little crazy last year. Last year saw parallels of the base set that included a 5x7 regular set, a #/10 5X7 red set, the multiple mini-sets, and a handful of other weird little sets. This year has been insane. The 5x7, red 5x7, gold 5x7 all exist for multiple sets. Now there is the Blue Sapphire, Gold Sapphire, and Superfractor Sapphire. With Heritage High Number coming out, there is likely to be another run of these all available only online and for prices that are a little nutty.

So I'm done. I will still work on my player collection of Darryl Kile and Eric Bruntlett, but I am done with the active guys. So add me to the #ThanksTopps crowd.

The number one rule of player collecting:
You don't have to buy everything. It'll ruin the fun and cost you a fortune.

Why stop collecting active players? Just buy the cards you like instead of being stressed out by how many cards and variations there are.

This is my own personal theory but goes along the lines you are describing. I think we'll look back, in like 5-8 years, on this time of collecting and all of these parallels will be worthless similar to the late 80's-early 90's of massive print runs. Topps, and other companies, are artificially creating scarcity by just adding more parallels to sets.

Austin said:

The number one rule of player collecting:
You don't have to buy everything. It'll ruin the fun and cost you a fortune.

Why stop collecting active players? Just buy the cards you like instead of being stressed out by how many cards and variations there are.

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This is the best advice I've ever read on a message board!
Why do we as collectors feel the need to have everything? Why can't we just be happy and thankful that we have the extra income and time to devote to this hobby?
Please don't get caught up on having everything of your player and frustrated when you can't. There will always be someone else out there with more money, cards, time, ect than you. That's life.
Companies exist to make product, to make money, so of course they'll do everything in their power to separate you from your money. Be aware of this, be a smart consumer.
Collect what you can, enjoy what you're able to add to your collection and share that with the rest of us!

It's a hard lesson to swallow that you can't have everything

rebelpawn said:

This is the best advice I've ever read on a message board!
Why do we as collectors feel the need to have everything? Why can't we just be happy and thankful that we have the extra income and time to devote to this hobby?
Please don't get caught up on having everything of your player and frustrated when you can't. There will always be someone else out there with more money, cards, time, ect than you. That's life.
Companies exist to make product, to make money, so of course they'll do everything in their power to separate you from your money. Be aware of this, be a smart consumer.
Collect what you can, enjoy what you're able to add to your collection and share that with the rest of us!

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This should be a sticky quote. Thanks.

Therion said:

I love being a player collector. It is incredibly challenging hunting down rare cards of one of my favorites but Topps has broken my spirit with one thing: online parallels.

I have never minded chasing crazy rare cards that had to be obtained through different means like mail-ins, being a member of some collector's club, or attending a national. All of those things are fine. But the number of online "short-prints" drove me a little crazy last year. Last year saw parallels of the base set that included a 5x7 regular set, a #/10 5X7 red set, the multiple mini-sets, and a handful of other weird little sets. This year has been insane. The 5x7, red 5x7, gold 5x7 all exist for multiple sets. Now there is the Blue Sapphire, Gold Sapphire, and Superfractor Sapphire. With Heritage High Number coming out, there is likely to be another run of these all available only online and for prices that are a little nutty.

So I'm done. I will still work on my player collection of Darryl Kile and Eric Bruntlett, but I am done with the active guys. So add me to the #ThanksTopps crowd.

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I share your sentiments. If I had more restraint, I probably wouldn't be buying as much as I do. I don't like that they are printing so many low number stuff. I think this is a good excuse to not worry about the checklist as much as your have list. That is what I try to do, anyway. It is MEGA fun tracking down / having the gold, blue, green, orange, yellow, black, fucia, camo, plaid, etc. versions of a card, but if you just have half of these versions, it is still cool to have half.

A guy I know from twitter said it quite interestingly when someone bought a 1/1 and held it over his head. He said "I don't have to have everything; I just have to have most everything." LOL - I thought that was funny. BTW, this guy has over 1,000 1/1's of his PC guy.

In the end, I would agree with what everyone else is saying. Feel free to keep collecting your active guy(s) but limit it to what you like.

Best of luck whichever way you choose to go!

My Ripken collection in total has been around 1500+ but i've sold off large amounts when reality hits. Still counts if you had it in hand...no biggy. Just fun at times.

I just ran into this same exact thing the other day. I was checking the new releases and adding all of the new Denard Span cards to my checklist. So many 5x7 cards, along with parallels, with a decent amount of them only available as a team set. I was able to get one of them from a seller on eBay who bought a set and broke it up, but there is no way I will drop the money to buy them all direct from Topps, just too much money for a card that would sell for <$5. They will likely just stay on my wantlist as a card I never get, but it isn't like I would ever get them all anyway. Just sucks to see my % of total cards that I have dwindle by the week!

Well, I think a lot of folks are right and I think deep down we all know that. Doesn't make it much easier to swallow. It sucks. But there's not much to be done about it. IMO, at least the few guys you were collecting are sorta cheap. If I were you, just keep an active checklist, buy the things you know you can afford and might not see again, and let the rest trickle in as you can get it. I wouldn't let the online stuff bother you man.

Besides, if you literally try for everything, you're going to sit back one day and realize you've spent thousands and thousands of dollars to collect baseball cards. And this is meant as no disrespect to anyone, but if you do this and we aren't talking about Griffey or Ripken or Jeter, where you can flip them for the same amount of money you paid if not more, I don't care how much anyone says they do this just for the love of the hobby, it's gonna bother them a little bit. Because no matter how much fun something is, as an adult living in our society, no one likes to spend more on anything than it's worth. Occasionally maybe. But not on a consistent basis. It's changed my collecting. A lot.

Therion said:

I love being a player collector. It is incredibly challenging hunting down rare cards of one of my favorites but Topps has broken my spirit with one thing: online parallels.

I have never minded chasing crazy rare cards that had to be obtained through different means like mail-ins, being a member of some collector's club, or attending a national. All of those things are fine. But the number of online "short-prints" drove me a little crazy last year. Last year saw parallels of the base set that included a 5x7 regular set, a #/10 5X7 red set, the multiple mini-sets, and a handful of other weird little sets. This year has been insane. The 5x7, red 5x7, gold 5x7 all exist for multiple sets. Now there is the Blue Sapphire, Gold Sapphire, and Superfractor Sapphire. With Heritage High Number coming out, there is likely to be another run of these all available only online and for prices that are a little nutty.

So I'm done. I will still work on my player collection of Darryl Kile and Eric Bruntlett, but I am done with the active guys. So add me to the #ThanksTopps crowd.

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I can totally empathize with you on that. Even collecting a retired player can be daunting as they continue to pump out so many sets, versions, parallels, and so forth with no end in sight as they try to milk everything they can get (which is why I only focus my Maddux collection on his playing years). Part of the problem that modern cards face is that they are, what I like to call, 'manufactured memorabilia'. Compared to vintage cards of the past that I collected as a kid which served as a way to connect with the team and players that I idolized (and had gum), modern material is solely designed to keep (older) collectors (with deeper pockets) chasing the rainbow.

On the other hand oddball and regional material is nowhere near what it used to be. So at least your not having to chase tons of obscure regional issues and ice cream lids. Ultimately, when it starts getting overwhelming I would start narrowing your collections focus (i.e. 1/1's, autos, run of base cards, etc.).

I think Topps broke a lot of us over the past few years. But cant let it get us down. i got 2 Allen and Ginter boxes. The autos I got were a hot dog eating contest winner and a marlins man auto. Super lame but I wont let topps get me down.

It's all about how you want to scope your collection - it can be whatever you want and follow all sorts of crazy rules - whatever makes you happy.

My retired HOF player collections end at 2009 - it got too repetitive after that.
My active Phillies player collections end at 2011, and there are no base included, and even that being said I never collected ALL insert/parallel cards. I liked rainbows, so I did things like Chrome and Finest rainbows with some GU thrown in for good measure. If I actually wrote down my "mental" guard rails for those collections it would probably be 17 bullets.
I only have one player - Ryan Madson - where I still go after current releases, mainly because he's a small collection guy and only has a handful of cards per year. And even then, there is no way I'm buying 5x7 cards or whatever - it's more because it's just a hassle to store them and they don't fit in with the rest of the collection.

Edit - forgot one crazy rule. I love the all star game jerseys, so I'm allowed to pick up any all star game piece (like Topps Update All-Star Stitches) for any year in which my players appear in the ASG. For example, I have Hamels 2012 Update cards even though I told you above my collection stops at 2011. See - crazy and obscure, but it's fun to me.

Do what you want. Create crazy rules for how you collect. Have fun.

I have written of my moment of revelation when I realized I didn't have to have every Frank Thomas card after being a completist the first few years. I was about to spend hard-earned dollars, of which I had a lot fewer back then, on an ugly card. I was about to hand the money over when I stopped and actually looked at the card and said,"No." That freed me in a way I'm very thankful for. Sounds simple but the rule to "collect what you like" is sometimes so obviously broken. If you don't like all these new products Topps is putting out, don't chase them. Or at least wait for the card to come to you. Yes, all these super-low print runs may make it impossible but they also make it more gratifying when two or five years later they reappear and you pick them up, usually quite a bit cheaper.

smapdi said:

I have written of my moment of revelation when I realized I didn't have to have every Frank Thomas card after being a completist the first few years. I was about to spend hard-earned dollars, of which I had a lot fewer back then, on an ugly card. I was about to hand the money over when I stopped and actually looked at the card and said,"No." That freed me in a way I'm very thankful for. Sounds simple but the rule to "collect what you like" is sometimes so obviously broken. If you don't like all these new products Topps is putting out, don't chase them. Or at least wait for the card to come to you. Yes, all these super-low print runs may make it impossible but they also make it more gratifying when two or five years later they reappear and you pick them up, usually quite a bit cheaper.

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Well said.

Agreed

The thought of having every single card of a player should have left everyone's mind twenty years ago.

If someone has Bill Gates AND Trump's total back account, they STILL can't have every griffey card, or Jeter card.

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Haha

BBCgalaxee said:

The thought of having every single card of a player should have left everyone's mind twenty years ago.

If someone has Bill Gates AND Trump's total back account, they STILL can't have every griffey card, or Jeter card.

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I think the interesting thing with this is: is that seem ok to everyone? I agree it's 100% true. I just think that the companies are trying to use our competitive drive to assist with secondary market value so that wax breakers will continue to bust. And it's making collectors bristle and turn away. How long is that gonna last?

BBCgalaxee said:

The thought of having every single card of a player should have left everyone's mind twenty years ago.

If someone has Bill Gates AND Trump's total back account, they STILL can't have every griffey card, or Jeter card.

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

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I think I left out some important information. I don't collect Griffey or Thomas. I collect Marwin Gonzalez and Will Harris. Between them, they barely have 100 cards issued. Over 20% of them are the online exclusives and their parallels.


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