2011 Topps USA Baseball Cases Sinking... Is Topps to Blame?

These cases were preselling at nearly $800/case but immediately plummeted after release. After the first week, cases were going in the low $600's. The lowest I have seen so far is around $510 and I personally think they have further to drop. I was very stand-offish since Topps has included the USA players in most every major release and, quite frankly, the production quality of the box set is poor. Better than last year, but that's not saying much. I have not bought a single hobby set so far. I used to save all year and drop major cash on cases of this product, but I'm not even going to pull the trigger this year until they hit <$450 (however, at the rate they're going that may happen in the next couple weeks).

Does anyone else feel that Topps usage of the USA Baseball players in most every product has turned the attention away from the box set? The poor quality and blah inserts in the box set? Or is it just the subpar prospect crop that is featured in the set? Probably all 3, but what's the biggest issue in everyone's opinion? Sorry to vent, but I feel Topps has taken away my major hobby focus...

I would much rather pull USA cards than WBC. Though I do agree that they are in too many products.

I don't understand the point of this product at all. As mentioned above, there are tons of USA autos in other products. Oversaturation at its finest.

Topps is to blame - used to be this set was the predominant way to get nicer cards of particular amateur players - now the USA teams are in every Bowman set or used as some sort of redemption gimmick.

For those who really just care about the USA team, retail sets seem to be much better buys at $10 each.

Ty Hope said:

I don't understand the point of this product at all. As mentioned above, there are tons of USA autos in other products. Oversaturation at its finest.

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My thoughts exactly. I'm not a prospector, but I buy some product in a retail setting when I'm getting close to checking out at a wal mart or a target. Anyway, in the 5 or 6 rack packs I've ripped through, my prospect chrome cards in EVERY single one were USA players.

THANKS TOPPS!!!

sigma_chi said:

I would much rather pull USA cards than WBC.

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Why? The WBC is something with actual MLBers.

thefatguy said:

sigma_chi said:

I would much rather pull USA cards than WBC.

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Why? The WBC is something with actual MLBers.

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Not if you're not an MLBerrrrrrrr

Lars said:

Topps is to blame - used to be this set was the predominant way to get nicer cards of particular amateur players - now the USA teams are in every Bowman set or used as some sort of redemption gimmick.

For those who really just care about the USA team, retail sets seem to be much better buys at $10 each.

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One of the "conditions" USAB placed on Topps when they acquired the license was the continuation of the annual box set. Topps is fulfilling their obligation, but it's obvious not much work went into the sets.

The retail version are the only sets I've bought so far. Pretty good value IMHO. You get the entire base set and an auto (last year's retail sets were the same price but no autos). I'm going to keep collecting USA cards no matter how bad the quality and this is a great alternative to the overpriced hobby sets (until they hit bottom)...

This year's set has become more of an afterthought than anything. The only difference between the relic variations is the serial number and unnoticeable foil color. And patches are only available on 1/1s. And with Topps and Bowman Chrome autos of most USA players available, I don't think many care.

WBC was a disappointment at the time but it's been fun for me to go through my 09 breaks and pulling out all the yoennis cespedis and yu darvish cards. Where they failed was making almost half the 09 bowman draft boxes have only WBC and Rookie chromes with no prospect chrome cards. But look how old bowman products have held value with these garbage Signs Of The Future autos.

Of course Topps is too blame.

Thanks Topps!

On a more serious note, I don't at all care to pull 14, 15, and 16 year old's in any product I bust.

Boylen33 said:

Of course Topps is too blame.

Thanks Topps!

On a more serious note, I don't at all care to pull 14, 15, and 16 year old's in any product I bust.

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Exactly! How long before they start putting the 14U Kids in there ::facepalm::

Most of the issue is thta there is no big name in the usa sets.


The other issue is that unlike the USA sets where the patch auto is the best USA card of each given player, topps has the chrome parallels that people chase even over a nice patch auto

wolfmanalfredo said:

thefatguy said:

sigma_chi said:

I would much rather pull USA cards than WBC.

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Why? The WBC is something with actual MLBers.

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Not if you're not an MLBerrrrrrrr

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David Byrne says : "Stop Making Sense"

cgilmo said:

Most of the issue is thta there is no big name in the usa sets.


The other issue is that unlike the USA sets where the patch auto is the best USA card of each given player, topps has the chrome parallels that people chase even over a nice patch auto

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Chris, didn't Topps limit the patch autographs to 1/1 cards this year? I think that was a huge mistake. As you noted, the patch autos were the big chase cards in past years. This year, there really isn't a chase card in the hobby sets which means there is nothing for people opening boxes to get all that excited about.

I am a fan of this year's on-card gold autos /25. I do think that the patch cards, auto jersey cards look worse than last year's.

I think there are big enough names in the set. There's a good chance that they'll have 2 or 3 of the top 5 picks in the set. Additionally, in the 16u, there are a couple guys that aren't big names yet, but will be quite soon. To me, there is always value in the set if you sell it the right way. Doing research on where the players play collegiately or where they are committed to opens up the market to more than just prospectors. Even many passionate fans of top college baseball teams aren't aware that their players have cards, and are normally quite happy to buy them when they find out. But as a pure prospecting set, I agree this one is pretty crummy.

I always thought the entire USA theme has been propped up by a very small percentage of this hobby's universe, but the same could be said about Bowman Chrome and BDP until about 2005 or 2006 when everyone started labeling themselves as "Chromies" and buying cases at a time. The problem is, the same isn't happening to USA products.

Topps is partially at fault for assuming the USA brand could carry itself and the collecting public is at fault for being hot and cold about something so quickly.

I think the USA cards can be a great supplement to the Bowman brands but at the rate Topps has used these poor kids cheap (cost-wise) signatures as hits in their products is laughable. I'm not surprised anymore when cases get this low.

I think topps is to blame. The following is a little bit of an exageration but it sums up how I feel about the usa cards and its:

"Why should I buy this product when they are going to produce a card of these guys in Bowman with Chrome / Bowman Chrome / Bowman DPP / Bowman Platnum / Bowman Sterling, Topps Chrome etc. These kids have 9 or 10 different cards before they are even drafted. Then their best card is going to be the their chrome auto in a pro jersey anyway. Plus they are 15 or 16 and most of them are still in high school."

It's total dilution, same thing that always kills cards.

mmier118 said:

I think topps is to blame. The following is a little bit of an exageration but it sums up how I feel about the usa cards and its:

"Why should I buy this product when they are going to produce a card of these guys in Bowman with Chrome / Bowman Chrome / Bowman DPP / Bowman Platnum / Bowman Sterling, Topps Chrome etc. These kids have 9 or 10 different cards before they are even drafted. Then their best card is going to be the their chrome auto in a pro jersey anyway. Plus they are 15 or 16 and most of them are still in high school."

It's total dilution, same thing that always kills cards.

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Don't forget with Leaf and Elite in the mix there are more prospect based draft sets out there in addition to Topps products.

I think USA products sometimes can generate an early auto card of player who may slip through the cracks (IE low draft pick) and not have any mainstream cards until after he hits it big in the MLB but with so many sets out there right now it will be tough.

I think this is why people are not really into busting it, they know that all the studs will have plenty of more valuable cards later and the rest of the players are not worth the gamble.