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bballcardkid
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We all like to complain on this board from time to time about how awful trading cards have become nowadays, but outside of improving quality control, checklists, or customer service, there aren't many suggestions for improvment to the design of the cards offered by the community. Here is your chance to tell the manufacturers, specifically Topps, since they are the only one's that matter nowadays, what you want to see revamped. Is there a popular insert set that you want to see make a return? What about a design, or even an suggestion for improving an existing product?
Here are a few of mine:
1. I'd like to see something like the 1994 Bowman's Best design overtake the normal Chrome design. It's basically Chrome with an added flair. Just seems crazy after 16-17 years of chrome-like cards, we are working our way backwards from the most beautifully designed set to the least.
2. The first Bowman Sterling design was kind of getting back to that point, but has since gone down hill. One thing I'd like to see improved with Sterling would be the return of the white ink vertical autographs for the black refractors. These cards are insanely gorgeous IMO. If Topps wants to use bandaids, use a clear sticker with white ink on a black surface background. Blue ink just gets old after a while.
3. With the regular Bowman brand, bring back the Bowman Autograph insert set, similar to the 1997 set. This set is not, nor should it be named Signs of the Future. Just name it "Autographs," and it should consist of highly touted prospects or big leaguers with 4-5 years of experience or less. Autographs should fall once every one to two boxes. Most importantly, there needs to be an ink variation like a GOLD INK autograph parallel that is SP'd, i.e. not numbered. The 1997 Gold Ink Autos are some of the most collected autos over the past 15 years. Red ink could work, but I prefer Gold as it's rarely used.
(those old school designs just destroy what they have today)
4. While on the subject of Bowman, I want to see the return of a few insert sets that were popular in Bowman's Best that Chrome hasn't adopted (autographed versions would be a plus
). It seems as though Bowman / Chrome is all base set, prospects, and the subsequent parallels that follow. Topps did a great job adding the Topps 100 insert set this year which was a great idea. Why stop there. Add one or two additional insert sets to make the break more fun and add value at the same time. And please, bring back the original atomic refractor.
-"Bowman's Best Picks" could highlight the top 10-15 prospects included in the previous MLB Draft. This would fit in better with a Bowman Draft release. Again, autographed versions with varying 2 or 3 parallels would be a huge plus.
-"Mirror Images," which Head of the Class was kind of modeled from, could highlight top prospects and young MLB stars with a mirrored HOFer. This set could be featured in any Bowman product.
A modern version of the set could look more like this, which was recently won by a board member, and is one of the most attractive Bowman cards ever created. Autographed or not, this would be wildly popular:
-"What Should Have Been" or some other catchy phrase could describe an insert set devoted exclusively to big leaguers who do NOT have a Bowman Chrome autograph. This insert set would feature an autographed version of the players bowman chrome rookie design in a different shade of chrome, or with a different border as well as the insert names designation on the card (including card number in the insert set). Subjects could include Roy Halladay, Ichiro, Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Alfonso Soriano, Adam Dunn, Roy Oswalt, BJ Upton, Ryan Howard, Corey Hart, Cole Hamels...the list goes on. This set would not be a buyback autograph set! It would be a modified autographed remake of the original Bowman Chrome card. These would be extremely limited. No less than 25 and no more than 100.
-"10 year anniversary," just thought of this one while typing out the other. Bowman SHOULD do this set as it would go NUTS. This set will highlight a slightly modified remake, an extrememly limited remake at that, of the most popular Bowman Chrome cards produced 10 years ago. Due up in 2011 Bowman? A remake of the Albert Pujols 2001 Bowman Chrome Auto. The set would have to be extremely limited, no more than 50 and no less than 25. On second thought, if these are too expensive to produce (I can't imagine they would be), why not make a non autographed version of a modern day parallel? Doing this would significantly decrease the wow factor, but would add value and be an immediate novelty set, althouth the auto would be a greater novelty set.
5. I wouldn't mind seeing the return of certain surface technologies. Someone more knowledgable about this stuff would know the precise names. These types of insert returns would probably be more popular in basketball since baseball is driven by it's paper cardstock heritage, but none the less, it would make me happy:
6. Topps Finest needs to be completely revamped back into it's old form with a mixture of the autographs and game used items that it uses today, with a focus on quality over quantity. Bring back the following:
common
uncommon (silver)
rare (gold)
refractor parallels of each including an embossed / die cut refractor.
Autographed variations of all of these parallels would be undeniably popular, especially over those crappy manufactured letterman autos which I'm sure cost a fortune to produce.
7. Speaking of which, bring back more die cuts! I'm not talking about weak Panini die cuts from Donruss Elite, I'm talking crazy die cuts. But they can't be incredibly common like they were in the 90's. In order for an insert to be popularand become an industry staple in today's age, it has to be rare. Serial number these things to at most 100, but preferably 50 or less.
8. I'd also like to see a return of the SP. Topps has done a fantastic job with it's intro level Topps release with all of the chase cards involved, but why stop there. I was a big fan of 2008 Playoffs Contenders and all of the short prints associated with that product. I don't see any reason why Topps couldn't incorporate that same chase element in some way to their Bowman lineup. It doesn't necessarily have to be Chrome, but probably a stand alone product. Bowman Heritage would be a great example if they brought it back and "did it right" (the thought of a Bowman Heritage Chrome with SP'd autographs screams success. The idea of trying to figure out which autographed prospects are limited to 149, 98, or even 39 copies ( ) sounds like a helluva lot of fun to me.
If not Bowman Heritage, which I don't see Topps making any time soon, how about base Bowman. As a matter of fact, I hope this years Bowman offering with the paper Strasburg autos just proves to everyone that a Bowman autograph can coexist with a corresponding Bowman Chrome Autograph (after all the Bowman issue is outselling the Chrome issue). This should really be a seperate number, but I'd like to see Bowman w/ Chrome completely revert back to "Bowman." All of the prospects, and all of the autographs in Bowman will have a corresponding Chrome card in Bowman Chrome later in the fall. The Bowman cards would include the SP chase element, while Chrome would just be Chrome, minus all the dud prospects Topps uses to waterdown the product between 3 different Chrome releases. But, instead of simply having just a Bowman autograph with SP's, the product would also have 4 parallels similar to 2006 (with the possibility of the base SP being more rare than a few of the parallels ). The parallels would be blue bodered /500, white bordered (or something else that everyone prefers. White may not work if the base border is white so...) /150, gold /50, and red /1. Again, by doing this, we completely eliminate the junk filler prospects and concentrate all of the resources on just 1 check list split between 2 products, one being Bowman, and the other being Chrome.
I don't buy the argument that because it works for football, it won't work in other sports. National Treasures sure worked well for basketball. Playoff Contenders sure worked well for baseball. Most industry themes are universally liked by all sports. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't have autographs and memorabilia cards predominating all 4 sports as the most collectable items.
9. Lastly, this probably isn't cost effective, neither is any of the other garble I just spit out above either, but I would love to see Topps do another HOF oriented set like Topps Retired Signatures. Reliving the wildy popular vintage designs is a novelty and all, but Topps can only do this so many times before they exhaust the lure for these remakes. Why not make a modern, HOF vintage product with a new catchy design?
I have a lot of other requests that would improve numerous products, but this is a pretty good start to a wish list, or bucket list, whichever one you prefer.
Here are a few of mine:
1. I'd like to see something like the 1994 Bowman's Best design overtake the normal Chrome design. It's basically Chrome with an added flair. Just seems crazy after 16-17 years of chrome-like cards, we are working our way backwards from the most beautifully designed set to the least.
2. The first Bowman Sterling design was kind of getting back to that point, but has since gone down hill. One thing I'd like to see improved with Sterling would be the return of the white ink vertical autographs for the black refractors. These cards are insanely gorgeous IMO. If Topps wants to use bandaids, use a clear sticker with white ink on a black surface background. Blue ink just gets old after a while.
3. With the regular Bowman brand, bring back the Bowman Autograph insert set, similar to the 1997 set. This set is not, nor should it be named Signs of the Future. Just name it "Autographs," and it should consist of highly touted prospects or big leaguers with 4-5 years of experience or less. Autographs should fall once every one to two boxes. Most importantly, there needs to be an ink variation like a GOLD INK autograph parallel that is SP'd, i.e. not numbered. The 1997 Gold Ink Autos are some of the most collected autos over the past 15 years. Red ink could work, but I prefer Gold as it's rarely used.
(those old school designs just destroy what they have today)
4. While on the subject of Bowman, I want to see the return of a few insert sets that were popular in Bowman's Best that Chrome hasn't adopted (autographed versions would be a plus
). It seems as though Bowman / Chrome is all base set, prospects, and the subsequent parallels that follow. Topps did a great job adding the Topps 100 insert set this year which was a great idea. Why stop there. Add one or two additional insert sets to make the break more fun and add value at the same time. And please, bring back the original atomic refractor. -"Bowman's Best Picks" could highlight the top 10-15 prospects included in the previous MLB Draft. This would fit in better with a Bowman Draft release. Again, autographed versions with varying 2 or 3 parallels would be a huge plus.
-"Mirror Images," which Head of the Class was kind of modeled from, could highlight top prospects and young MLB stars with a mirrored HOFer. This set could be featured in any Bowman product.
A modern version of the set could look more like this, which was recently won by a board member, and is one of the most attractive Bowman cards ever created. Autographed or not, this would be wildly popular:
-"What Should Have Been" or some other catchy phrase could describe an insert set devoted exclusively to big leaguers who do NOT have a Bowman Chrome autograph. This insert set would feature an autographed version of the players bowman chrome rookie design in a different shade of chrome, or with a different border as well as the insert names designation on the card (including card number in the insert set). Subjects could include Roy Halladay, Ichiro, Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Alfonso Soriano, Adam Dunn, Roy Oswalt, BJ Upton, Ryan Howard, Corey Hart, Cole Hamels...the list goes on. This set would not be a buyback autograph set! It would be a modified autographed remake of the original Bowman Chrome card. These would be extremely limited. No less than 25 and no more than 100.
-"10 year anniversary," just thought of this one while typing out the other. Bowman SHOULD do this set as it would go NUTS. This set will highlight a slightly modified remake, an extrememly limited remake at that, of the most popular Bowman Chrome cards produced 10 years ago. Due up in 2011 Bowman? A remake of the Albert Pujols 2001 Bowman Chrome Auto. The set would have to be extremely limited, no more than 50 and no less than 25. On second thought, if these are too expensive to produce (I can't imagine they would be), why not make a non autographed version of a modern day parallel? Doing this would significantly decrease the wow factor, but would add value and be an immediate novelty set, althouth the auto would be a greater novelty set.
5. I wouldn't mind seeing the return of certain surface technologies. Someone more knowledgable about this stuff would know the precise names. These types of insert returns would probably be more popular in basketball since baseball is driven by it's paper cardstock heritage, but none the less, it would make me happy:
6. Topps Finest needs to be completely revamped back into it's old form with a mixture of the autographs and game used items that it uses today, with a focus on quality over quantity. Bring back the following:
common
uncommon (silver)
rare (gold)
refractor parallels of each including an embossed / die cut refractor.
Autographed variations of all of these parallels would be undeniably popular, especially over those crappy manufactured letterman autos which I'm sure cost a fortune to produce.
7. Speaking of which, bring back more die cuts! I'm not talking about weak Panini die cuts from Donruss Elite, I'm talking crazy die cuts. But they can't be incredibly common like they were in the 90's. In order for an insert to be popularand become an industry staple in today's age, it has to be rare. Serial number these things to at most 100, but preferably 50 or less.
8. I'd also like to see a return of the SP. Topps has done a fantastic job with it's intro level Topps release with all of the chase cards involved, but why stop there. I was a big fan of 2008 Playoffs Contenders and all of the short prints associated with that product. I don't see any reason why Topps couldn't incorporate that same chase element in some way to their Bowman lineup. It doesn't necessarily have to be Chrome, but probably a stand alone product. Bowman Heritage would be a great example if they brought it back and "did it right" (the thought of a Bowman Heritage Chrome with SP'd autographs screams success. The idea of trying to figure out which autographed prospects are limited to 149, 98, or even 39 copies (
) sounds like a helluva lot of fun to me. If not Bowman Heritage, which I don't see Topps making any time soon, how about base Bowman. As a matter of fact, I hope this years Bowman offering with the paper Strasburg autos just proves to everyone that a Bowman autograph can coexist with a corresponding Bowman Chrome Autograph (after all the Bowman issue is outselling the Chrome issue). This should really be a seperate number, but I'd like to see Bowman w/ Chrome completely revert back to "Bowman." All of the prospects, and all of the autographs in Bowman will have a corresponding Chrome card in Bowman Chrome later in the fall. The Bowman cards would include the SP chase element, while Chrome would just be Chrome, minus all the dud prospects Topps uses to waterdown the product between 3 different Chrome releases. But, instead of simply having just a Bowman autograph with SP's, the product would also have 4 parallels similar to 2006 (with the possibility of the base SP being more rare than a few of the parallels
). The parallels would be blue bodered /500, white bordered (or something else that everyone prefers. White may not work if the base border is white so...) /150, gold /50, and red /1. Again, by doing this, we completely eliminate the junk filler prospects and concentrate all of the resources on just 1 check list split between 2 products, one being Bowman, and the other being Chrome.I don't buy the argument that because it works for football, it won't work in other sports. National Treasures sure worked well for basketball. Playoff Contenders sure worked well for baseball. Most industry themes are universally liked by all sports. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't have autographs and memorabilia cards predominating all 4 sports as the most collectable items.
9. Lastly, this probably isn't cost effective, neither is any of the other garble I just spit out above either, but I would love to see Topps do another HOF oriented set like Topps Retired Signatures. Reliving the wildy popular vintage designs is a novelty and all, but Topps can only do this so many times before they exhaust the lure for these remakes. Why not make a modern, HOF vintage product with a new catchy design?
I have a lot of other requests that would improve numerous products, but this is a pretty good start to a wish list, or bucket list, whichever one you prefer.
