Am I the only one who absolutely DESPISES non-liscensed baseball cards?

[predatorkj]

And bankrupt manufacturers when we (inevitably) don't see some fantastic cards... or when fickle collectors (again, inevitably) decide to not purchase a particular manufacturer's cards because of some silly grudge.

The margins for error are too small here for manufacturers, partially because the hobby isn't big enough to support too many (MLB-licensed or otherwise) manufacturers. Licenses aren't free.

Remember all the old manufacturers went bankrupt... or as in UD's case just about bankrupt.

Not that too many people here are concerned about any of this... it would interfere with their instant gratification

I'd need to know why these companies went bankrupt before I'd agree with your comment. Has any of that really been made public? What shows on court documents and what really goes down are two different things.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I'd need to know why these companies went bankrupt before I'd agree with your comment. Has any of that really been made public? What shows on court documents and what really goes down are two different things.

Without researching this, it seems fair to say the reasons for their bankruptcies probably don't make a big difference as in any case they were either unwilling or unable to resume production themselves.

 

[predatorkj]

Without researching this, it seems fair to say the reasons for their bankruptcies probably don't make a big difference as in any case they were either unwilling or unable to resume production themselves.

I get that. But people running a company foolishly or using money to write yourself a fat paycheck instead of furthering the company has brought many companies down. That's why I say I'd need to know more before I'd agree that the hobby can't support a few manufacturers.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I get that. But people running a company foolishly or using money to write yourself a fat paycheck instead of furthering the company has brought many companies down. That's why I say I'd need to know more before I'd agree that the hobby can't support a few manufacturers.

Sure. But it also seems fair to say that for these other manufacturers it was more profitable for whomever was involved in business operations to no longer be in business then to be in business at all. New start ups haven't had the same impact even with the lack of MLB licensing taken into account.

We'll continue to see how this all plays out, maybe the economy will drastically improve and/or more people will become interested in collecting cards.