What does the hobby "need"?

What do you think the Hobby needs?

I think it needs "real world" national media advertising .

We've seen what happens when the "outside world" latches onto a card or player (jeter/bush, espn E:60, etc). Excitement & demand blows up & new collectors are born.

Sure, the commercials topps makes for its base & bownan are welcomed, but like always, fall short.

The days of getting excited over base cards are done. So why does topps showcase these cards yet don't mention autos & gu?

As a store owner I see it first hand when a non collector comes in & is shocked when they see gu & autos.

They are even more floored when they find out how much new cards are worth.

Hobby also needs more than one licensed company as well as less retro products & more modern products.

The hobby certainly doesn't need more $50-$500 packs, thats for sure.

The above two have been talked about a ton here, so I ask you, what do you think the hobby needs?

Little stuff like glue in the dark and Scratch and sniff cards...imagine bgs adding grading categories for those

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I think it needs more creativity from outside sources. I frequent sites like Imgur, theChive, etc. and I never see cards. Ever.
People will create art about every subject imaginable. Still, I never see cards. Think about the creative collective that is the internet.
When none of them mention cards then there is a problem. Topps could do a million different creative designs, but they always seem to do certain things over and over.
Personally I would like to see some high-quality stock cards with HD pictures. I don't care about GU anymore.
Take away the autographs too.
How about a set that features designs made by graphic designers and fans?
An endless torrent of great looking, HD cards. Dozens of different designs by collectors and artists all in one set.
To reduce costs you take away the patches, autographs, etc.
For me the creativity is dead. There is still plenty of value and profit to be made though. Maybe if more people knew about this way to make money they would care more.

The hobby needs new blood and needs to attract the kids. I asked my 11 yr old if any of the other (10) kids on his little league team collect cards, and sadly they do not.

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We had 2000 plus kids from schools at stadium recently first grade thru eight and maybe had 100 that collected .

Competition

Needs innovation. First there were inserts, then GU, then autos. We need the next thing already.

policing!

CLARITY!

What the hell is a "relic?" The vague terms that have been introduced have taken a lot away from the hobby.

Random, only half-related thoughts:

A) How much does the "always connected" world we live in impact cards? When I was a kid all I had were picture cards and maybe once a week I'd get to see a visual highlight on TV.
B) What if Topps stopped selling factory sets? I know this will never happen, but what if the only way to get your Topps set was to buy packs and trade? No other "collectable" product I can think of sells a full set outright. You gotta earn it. Why buy and trade when you can just drop into Walmart in the fall and get a set other than the chance for hits? Which leads to rip and toss

More Broads

BBCgalaxee said:

The days of getting excited over base cards are done.

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Cards in general.

For topps to have new ownership. For all the hate that leaf gets he is out there (and here) trying to make the hobby more interesting. Topps does less than the minimum for their customers. This would not be tolerated in any other industry.

Fun fact, I read an sec report from the last year topps was public, and did you know that topps makes more money on their candy sales then they do in cards?

More hot boxes.

tramers said:

We had 2000 plus kids from schools at stadium recently first grade thru eight and maybe had 100 that collected .

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Summed up in one word: Xbox...

Topps, [MENTION=1948]Leaf[/MENTION], Upper Deck or whomever is never going to be able to compete with the video game market, ever.
The kids are out. We are going to have to live with that.
I'd be willing to bet 1950 of those kids had some sort of video game system at home!!

I totally disagree with the base cards being irrelevant and 'non-exciting' are all on the collector's / card companies backs. They should be made the focal point again, for the base sets, where kids would have fun putting it together and thus get them hooked on collecting cards. Add 'a few' SP variations for the seasoned collectors, so that they aren't doing what folks did w/the '92 Fleer Cello packs and just looking for the blue border, thus notifying them they hit a Rookie Sensation card.

I wish inserts would be creatively made and would be 'inserted' to make them feel special when pulled. A 1:288 pulled insert is always a great feeling to get and not only of the late '90's stuff. If more companies did this, showed genuine creativity, not just a simple die-cut, it would catch on.

Card companies need to get more people involved. I know I've seen others on here post this before, whenever this type of topic comes about, but I wanna see more "You Crash the Game" or "Predictor" cards that can be redeemed, not only on the internet, but through the MAIL so that all collector's, potential ones or folks that have been around for decades, have the exact same enthusiasm for these chase cards. Make these redemption sets different though, according to the player on the card or his position or team (the Stadium Club cards that I'm drawing a blank on. Super Team may've been the set). Make them individual to EACH redemption, so it isn't just a hodge podge of the same generic card, generic photo ...

Which leads me to switching up the photo's on cards. I'm sure Topps or Panini or UD doesn't send ONE photographer to ONE game featuring the players they're looking for in their sets and they are limited to one shot of each player. I've seen the SAME Josh Johnson photo's for years now. Is there nothing else he does but wind up or look into home plate ? How about coming off the field after a great performance ? How about him crossing home plate after hitting a 3 run HR vs. Milwaukee in '09 or '10 ? How about just talking with a coach during a tense moment during the game ? ANYTHING different. Is there NO creativity, photographically, with the representatives from the major card companies. Even if they don't have a license ...

Panini / Leaf, have innovative sets that'll draw folks in. Or, again, photography. I am a fan of Leaf and what they've done without a license, but with Panini and their Limited series, I thought the photos were terrible, the poses were awful and reminded NOT A ONE collector of the old Studio stuff, that I and other collectors are such big fans of, to this day. Even the first release of Topps Stadium Club had awesome, non in-game photos. How hard is it to get the athlete, who's already signed with you and is going to be in a photo shoot, to get them in an interesting pose, perhaps doing their favorite off the field activity (i.e. reading, camping, fishing, cooking).

Game used NEED to be verified as GAME USED. No 'event-worn' garbage. This goes for the Rookie Photo Shoot too. Don't pump out sooooooo many un-numbered generic relics that are better off used as a napkin that's been sewn together. Make auto's / game worn stuff actually difficult to get and that'll boost the value and the secondary market will see a benefit as well, as the demand will outweigh the supply.

I certainly hope I'm not the only person who thinks this way, as, if I am, this hobby is in trouble.

Kids don't matter, this is a high end/high profit hobby. The card companies don't care about kids, they don't have the funds to make them money. They are fine loading up 100 dollar packs with 20 dollars in product and selling that to adults. Period.

I wish that when players retire, their card contracts retire too. At least thats what I thought was going to happen, except for the occasional insert set, regional, or SGA. Man was I wrong.

IUjapander said:

Fun fact, I read an sec report from the last year topps was public, and did you know that topps makes more money on their candy sales then they do in cards?

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That has always been true except during the boom of the 1990s. Topps is, and has always been, a candy company. For most of their existence, their name was "Topps Chewing Gum, Inc."

On card patch autographs with etched foil. I want exquisite and ultimate collection back...