UD random thought

[jas1214]

I've often wondered while watching Hockey and Basketball breaks why, it seems, that UD puts so much more effort into the design/details of those products vs. their Baseball products. Especially with the high end products - all on card autos, beautiful designs, some gorgeous patches, etc. For Baseball, it almost seemed like they took the 'it's going to sell whether we put the effort in or not' approach - they actually had to put in more effort for other sports cards because the collecting community was not as vast.

So now they've released Ultimate Collection, which from what I've seen is the absolute best baseball product they've put out in a good long time. On card autos, appealing designs, some of the best patches I've seen, etc. With the exception of the muli-player autos which appear to be stickers, and some may argue the auto checklist (bucky dent, really?) - this is an amazing product. I don't think I'm in the minority saying this, possibly product of the year.

I guess my question now is - is there a sense that UD will build on the momentum they've created with UC Baseball, or is this a one shot deal? I would hope it's the former, as anything else would come across (to me, at least) like 'This is what we could produce if we put even a little effort into it, but we really don't have to cause you're all going to buy it anyway'.

 

[ChasHawk]

Unless UD puts out more high-end products this year, Ultimate is the nicest you are going to see for a long time.

The extra effort needs to be justified by the price point. Ultimate is $100 for 1 card. There won't be too
many more baseball porducts like that this year.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Unless UD puts out more high-end products this year, Ultimate is the nicest you are going to see for a long time.

The extra effort needs to be justified by the price point. Ultimate is $100 for 1 card. There won't be too
many more baseball porducts like that this year.

Also, UD is by far the best at making high end products yet have a serious disadvantage in baseball. High end products, unless heavily focused around HOF players struggle without rookies. In Exquisite and Ultimate in basketball and football they can put the best rookies in each year. In baseball they are only able to put the players that MLB says are rookies in their products, which can be 2, 3 or 4 years after the player was drafted. Without rookies, they can't release multiple high end products that are as good as Ultimate without it really getting redundant.

 

[jas1214]

The extra effort needs to be justified by the price point. Ultimate is $100 for 1 card. quote]

I think this lends to the point - the recent UC is not the first UD product that has reached this price point, but it's certainly eclipsed most UD offerings in recent memory as far as the perceived extra effort.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Are Hockey and Basketball collectors more discriminating than Baseball collectors? I think Hockey collectors in particular may be more hard-core, especially with regard to set building.

I've often wondered while watching Hockey and Basketball breaks why, it seems, that UD puts so much more effort into the design/details of those products vs. their Baseball products. Especially with the high end products - all on card autos, beautiful designs, some gorgeous patches, etc. For Baseball, it almost seemed like they took the 'it's going to sell whether we put the effort in or not' approach - they actually had to put in more effort for other sports cards because the collecting community was not as vast.

So now they've released Ultimate Collection, which from what I've seen is the absolute best baseball product they've put out in a good long time. On card autos, appealing designs, some of the best patches I've seen, etc. With the exception of the muli-player autos which appear to be stickers, and some may argue the auto checklist (bucky dent, really?) - this is an amazing product. I don't think I'm in the minority saying this, possibly product of the year.

I guess my question now is - is there a sense that UD will build on the momentum they've created with UC Baseball, or is this a one shot deal? I would hope it's the former, as anything else would come across (to me, at least) like 'This is what we could produce if we put even a little effort into it, but we really don't have to cause you're all going to buy it anyway'.

 

[ChasHawk]

Pretty sure most Hockey and Football collectors are much more into high-end patches and autos than set building.

 

[brouthercard]

I'm not sure, but perhaps UD has different design/product development teams for the different sports?

 

[mredsox89]

All of UD's high end basketball/hockey/football products are based around rookies and the last years draft crop. Now that doesn't mean they couldn't use the same design, but those high end products are popular because they become the new draftees best cards.

 

[BluesBroSJ]

I've often wondered while watching Hockey and Basketball breaks why, it seems, that UD puts so much more effort into the design/details of those products vs. their Baseball products. Especially with the high end products - all on card autos, beautiful designs, some gorgeous patches, etc.

In all reality they didn't put that much effort into the baseball design of Ultimate, the card design looks nearly identical to 08/09 Ultimate Hockey. Most notably, the ultimate rookies set

 

[RL24]

I don't think I'm in the minority saying this, possibly product of the year.

Yes very impressive. It's like saying "I was valedictorian at Podunk High, the graduating class was 2 people."