Topps Has Finally Broken Me.

[Brewer Andy]

If they're not 2.5x3.5 or don't come out of a pack in random distribution then take them off your checklist

 

[David K.]

I'm in the same boat....I'm sticking to the boxes and packs....and way from this on line stuff. Best regards, David

 

[banjar]

Yes, I second that. And I would add that Austin's and rebelpawn's posts are also right on the money. I have a good PC of Robbie Alomar going, but it's just insane to chase the glut of releases that topps keeps putting out. I guess he signed a contract with them, so they have to put him in every damn release. Same with panini I presume.

This guy last played in 2004, so 2005 is really the last bona-fide year for card releases. Here are the total unique card counts since then:

2005: 258
2006: 0 - not one single card (!)
2007: 31
2008: 16
2009: 1 - upper deck 20th anniversary buyback (anyone who has this card must PM me or foresake his claim to eternal happiness)
2010: 69
2011: 163
2012: 129
2013: 33
2014: 215 - whaaat?
2015: 244 - WTF?
2016: 144 - and counting

What really gets me is that every single one of these 2014-2016 issues follows the EXACT SAME FORMULA. You have a base card, or an insert card, and every one has at least 5 different parallels. Some tired, lazy series like: Silver / 199, Foil / 99, Blue / 75, Green / 50, Black / 25, Red / 15, Purple / 10, Orange / 5, SuperTitaniumAmethyst / 1. Online parallels too - look a Gold / 10! But apparently the card buying public loves this strategy. Right??

So. For all these post-career releases by the topps syndicate - and panini too - I buy the highest print-run "base" card only. Then I have one example of what it looks like and I'm good. If I want to see what the orange calico parallel looks like, I just stare into the sun for a few seconds first....and save myself that $199.99 on ebay.

Well said.

 

[Austin]

Topps, I can't quit you.

 

[u2me57]

If they're not 2.5x3.5 or don't come out of a pack in random distribution then take them off your checklist

Exactly.

 

[IUjapander]

Some interesting posts in here. I thought I was alone in looking back and thinking that this is 1987-1992 all over again with current production.

What really broke (both literally and figuratively) me and card collecting is Kyle Schwarber, and Topps/Panini putting him in every single release. He has played in 71 games, yet has 1,632 cards produced of him. Its just overkill and I have no idea who is asking for all of this repetition. It's just gotten silly, and I had to take a step back from it. I hate to by a buzzkill, but in 20 years 99.99% of current cards are going to be kindling, just like 1987 Topps.

 

[banjar]

Also worth mentioning - of all the unique card designs (i.e. not including parallels) that I have from Topps since Alomar retired, only 56% of them have unique photos. The other 44% are recycled from previous post-career issues. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[BenG76]

I was chasing all I could for McGriff. I decided to focus on cards from the years he was active for now. I may chase some of the newer stuff later on.

Sent from my LG-UK495 using Tapatalk

 

[DragonWagon]

Not only all the stupid parallels released in the regular set but then to release another 50 different foil stamped sets: all star, anniversary, limited, World Series, team, dogs birthday... Come on enough already.

 

[tenballer]

Topps broke me when they came out with moments & milestones. The red 1/1s were popular until everyone gave up on chasing them all...ya know, about the time I decided to sell. Have focused my chipper collection to 90s only since then. Sold off all of my year 2000+ cards except for 1 auto.

 

[r2d2]

And while we discussed this, Topps releases another variation of their set. Wow

 

[Therion]

Didn't MLB kill multiple licenses for this exact thing?

 

[r2d2]

Didn't MLB kill multiple licenses for this exact thing?

And also reduced the number of releases per year. I think Topps has found a loophole.