Future of Ichiro cards..

[Lancemountain]

And this is good for the hobby how? When 10 year old little Jimmy gets his parents to buy him a few packs of cards, or a blaster, or a box, and is unable to get his favorite player, Ichiro, how is this a good thing?

Who said it was or wasn't? Trolling is unbecoming; this thread has nothing to do with any of that. It is what it is and jimmy can go buy leaf if ichiro is his favorite player.


Japanese buyback on card autos is an incredible idea. I'd love to have one in my collection. Oh and other Japanese legends would be great too, if feasible.

 

[mgar26]

not a card, but how about redemption cards good for autographed bat or glove or jersey or hat.............

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Who said it was or wasn't? Trolling is unbecoming; this thread has nothing to do with any of that. It is what it is and jimmy can go buy leaf if ichiro is his favorite player.


Japanese buyback on card autos is an incredible idea. I'd love to have one in my collection. Oh and other Japanese legends would be great too, if feasible.

This isn't trolling. It's criticism. Brian Gray's mantra has been, "save the hobby", and "I'm doing this for the hobby". Basically, he's putting himself out there as Cardcop with a printing press.

Exclusive contracts, as we discovered 5 years ago with RAzor, suck. Now, we have an exclusive contract with Ichiro. Same thing.

 

[Lancemountain]

Dude I agree 100% with the sentiment of that. We all do. Obviously multiple MLB licenses are what we all want.

But he's just asking what kind of ichiro cards we'd buy. Shrug

 

[Leaf]

Notice that Panini can still make cards.... They have an MLBPA license...... There are still choices...

I personally think Ichiro wasnt happy getting $500/year from his unlimited image rights (from which Topps produced massive amounts of cards including high end game used)... BG

 

[Leaf]

HUH? Anyone that knows or has met me knows I do not avoid confrontation (one of my faults), I live to debate/discuss/resolve... As I tell my wife, pick up the phone and get it all out... Grudges are for the weak..
214-519-1078... My personal celll phone.. call anytime... BG

No call yet.... Im surprised, but still waiting!
BG

 

[PoseyBuster]

No call yet.... Im surprised, but still waiting!
BG

haha :thumbsup:

 

[predatorkj]

I agree on getting an auto of ichiro. But what happened in the Rose set could happen here to. Pete is a signing wizard. Bob feller was the signing king but rose is close. I know BG wouldn't have it happen again and I have loved most of leaf new products. I think Ichiro is a huge property and BG will do well by him.

Ok, to be honest, Rose and Feller's autos aren't worth much because they signed all the time. Hell, Rose will sign anything you want as long as he gets a little money in his pocket. Don't know about you guys but I fully support what he did with the Pete Rose product. I think you guys are too worried about "value". And in my mind, that's the major issue. It's all about "oh, I need to be able to open a pack and have $1,000 fall into my lap.". Not gonna happen. I was able to walk into target, pay $29, get a Pete Rose autograph and a complete 50 card base set with some doubles. If someone can gripe about that, they'll gripe about anything. I as a collector would love it if they did something similar with Ichiro. You guys can be worried about the fact they aren't worth much and it might drive the price down and I'll worry about the fact I paid peanuts to get an auto of one of the greatest hitters spanning two continents. The way I see, I'll always find something to be happy about while most of the people here will gripe up a storm about it. Works for me.

 

[Leaf]

Trust me, with what I pay Ichiro currently, his autographs are at the bottom already... BG

 

[Topnotchsy]

This isn't trolling. It's criticism. Brian Gray's mantra has been, "save the hobby", and "I'm doing this for the hobby". Basically, he's putting himself out there as Cardcop with a printing press.

Exclusive contracts, as we discovered 5 years ago with RAzor, suck. Now, we have an exclusive contract with Ichiro. Same thing.

I don't the you can extrapolate that from Razor. I think we learned there that exclusives of prospects (which are dependent on what people consider its potential value is, not how much collectors actually like the card) that have a weak design, are made by someone who does not yet have a track record, are at a price point that makes them too easy to pull from a pack to warrant a high market price, have a "chrome" version that comes out soon after etc. do not do well. I don't see how you can reasonably extrapolate beyond that. A better (though not perfect) comparison IMO was UD having exclusives on autos of players for years. When done nicely it is a competitive advantage that the market has no issue with. And while I just ripped quite nicely on the original Razor product I think Brian has done great things with Valiant (that Ichiro auto specifically is an absolutely beautiful card) as as with some of the more recent sets. I also believe that the value that Puig Leaf autos have brought has been both a cause and effect of Leaf's growing acceptance and place in the hobby.

Finally, For everything else Leaf is a company. It is run by someone who clearly enjoys collecting but that does not mean his enjoyment is reflective of every collector. As we see in this thread alone, some love the idea of a player like Ichiro being available at a price point everyone can afford. Others want difficult chase cards at high price points. To judge the legitimacy of a person's approach by a dissenting subset of collectors would render it impossible for anyone to so anything good. This does not mean there are no absolutes (anything illegal, underhanded etc is certainly not ok) buy making a profit or making certain kinda of sets does not make someone bad for the hobby. (This does not mean that some of the previous moves like the aforementioned Razor Chrome were all good either...)

(Posted from my phone so please excuse any inadvertent autocorrects)

 

[notjomommasclint]

A fair comparison would be the pete rose product. Well executed, fun, and a player with a great fan base.

I know how the companies handling of rose autos swayed my opinion on both the product and the manufacturer.

My main issues with taking players from major licensed sets to player specific sets is the price point for base cards increasing as a bidding war opens for top names.

While feeding players their "value" on the card market is great for building a stable it's not great for the hobby and the collector long term!

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

A fair comparison would be the pete rose product. Well executed, fun, and a player with a great fan base.

I know how the companies handling of rose autos swayed my opinion on both the product and the manufacturer.

My main issues with taking players from major licensed sets to player specific sets is the price point for base cards increasing as a bidding war opens for top names.

While feeding players their "value" on the card market is great for building a stable it's not great for the hobby and the collector long term!

Short-termism is already the mantra for a large, disproportionate number of ebay sellers to begin with. Why should some manufacturers not be able to engage in similar short-termism... especially given the Bowman line? (Rhetorical question not directed at you per se)

 

[Leaf]

In case some gave forgotten, Harper and Darvish are Topps exclusives.... Why don't they share?
BG

P.s. - I have nothing to do with Ichiro leaving Topps.... It was all Ichiro...

 

[Austin]

I as a collector would love it if they did something similar to Rose with Ichiro. You guys can be worried about the fact they aren't worth much and it might drive the price down and I'll worry about the fact I paid peanuts to get an auto of one of the greatest hitters spanning two continents.

Well said.
I'd rather have cheap autographs of great players. I don't give a crap about the lowering of Ichiro prices because more autographs are on the market. I care about the player, not the price.
Bring on more Ichiro autographs so every collector has a shot to buy one at a decent price.
(Of course, that's dependant on if Ichiro is willing to lower his autograph contract price, which probably won't happen.)

 

[Krom]

Its pretty impressive that Ichiro has the 2nd highest batting avg. on the team and is behind Cano by .007
With his slow start it is also impressine that he is batting > .280

Edit 3 for 4 tonight. Cano is just .005 higher

 

[hive17]

Topps can still sneak Ichiro into its releases by getting him to cameo the hell out of other player's cards. Remember, they claim they are a information.news service...

 

[notjomommasclint]

You also have the right to do a sketch card that's protected by your constitutional rights.