WH: 2009 Topps Unique

[WaxHeaven]

And when it gets released these cards shown will never be seen.
We will get all jumbo white "patches"!

All of these, except the Chipper, are marked 1/1.

After Mario's comment about the "low price point", I am no longer excited by this product.

Not defending the product itself since I know so little about it right now but what is wrong with low price points?

What did you do before 2000 when not every product guaranteed a big hit or 3? Did you not bust 1996 SPx because the odds of pulling one of the autographs was 1:2000 packs?

SPx was just an example but you get my point. Maybe the quality of "hits" has turned to **** because we expect everything instead of hope for it. I think if the base design and parallels are done well and the price point is similar to A & G this could be a very successful product.

Not saying there is anything wrong with low price points. This just seems like another case
where they release this "sneak peek" to get everyone excited about a new product, and then
a bit later we find out that these mock-ups will probably be 1 every 10th case hits.

I have yet to see either of the big two release anything but the best in their previews. When UD releases images of 2009 Ballpark it was nothing but "hits" and great ones.

I asked for base cards and it took them like a month to post them. ::facepalm::

 

[nyyankeesfan.13722]

What is so unique about it?

You tell me the last product that bat barrells, logos, and laundry tags in it.

 

[muskiesfan]

Honestly, if big hits would end up being every 2-3 cases or more, maybe that would help them maintain their value. As Mario mentioned, people don't hope for hits anymore, they expect them. It has truly hurt the hobby that almost ever box/case has so many guarantees. Obviously that's good for us as collectors for the fact that we can pick up cards of our players cheap, including things like 1/1s. If the companies went back to making hits hard to come by, maybe that would be a step that could help move the hobby back in the right direction.

 

[G $MONEY$]

Looks like Topps finally named a set after me after spending so much on their cards.



Just kidding.

ya know, that was actually one of the first things i thought

The first thing i thought of was when BG was asking for a name for his high end set on the Razor boards. I know some people mentioned Razor "Unique" was a good name. I guess Topps liked it as well. I guess we will see if Topps can do high end yet.

 

[rico08]

Yawn. To me, a bat barrel or laundry tag of a modern player is not that exciting. We are moving towards the point that these type of "high-end" items are becoming more and more common. It has been done before and will be done again.....the supply of these types of items for modern players is endless.

Five years from now the market could very well be flooded with "prime" game-used cards of (insert star player) and these cards will be viewed no differently that the common game-use jersey card is today.

For my money, I want something new and innovative or vintage and limited. However, this product doesn't really appear that fresh or exciting across the board. Sure a player collector might sport some wood if their player is included in the release....but to the average collector this old news.

I don't see these tags and bat barrels coming close to the current commonality of GU jersey cards--ever. Companies simply can't turn a full bat barrel or full laundry tag into more than one card. Even buttons/patches are scarce as far as jerseys are concerned. Plain jerseys swatches are cut into thumbnail-sized pieces and scattered across every product.

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

 

[ChasHawk]

What is so unique about it?

You tell me the last product that bat barrells, logos, and laundry tags in it.

2008 UD Ballpark - and soon, 2009 UD Ballpark
2008 Topps Sterling
2008 Topps Triple Threads

 

[Gellman]

The design is terrible.

Agreed.

One of the commenters on Mario's post used the word "uninspired," which I think could not be a better word to describe this crap.

Why name it "Unique" if it looks completely boring? That Chipper card makes me fall asleep mid gaze. So bland. Yeah, they use the best parts of the jersey, but honestly, who cares? Its like they took a stock powerpoint background that they use on the slides at my job, spliced some tiny ass player pics, and tried to dress it up with the nice swatches.

Could actually be worse than Triple Threads, and that takes some effort.

 

[Brett Keith]

I like the design, plus it almost always seems that cards look better in hand. Anyway, I just saw the preview for this over on the Beckett blog and I'm excited and scared. If there's a lot of Upton stuff, this is gonna cost me a lot.

 

[predatorkj]

frankly, i'm not impressed by the design...also, the chipper is just a rip off of their career best patches

I have to agree.While the barrels and the patches are sick beyond belief...the design is kinda Razorish/Tristarish.

 

[predatorkj]

I don't have the product details yet but from what I read somewhere this will not be a super high-end product. It was brought up at the Hawaii Trade Conference earlier this year.

OK, then that answers a lot of my questions.......we are just seeing the cream of the crop of a set that is going to probably be a lot like Sterling, Triple Threads, etc.

I think it would be cool if Topps could do something super high end where you get a LOGO, BAT BARREL, JUMBO Patch or something like that per pack.

It would cost too much per pack.At least the singles would be cheap for some players but the retail on one pack alone would make or break the product.I mean...we are talking about a price point that will likely be higher than Exquisite or Premier and at $300 a pack...those were not worth the money.

 

[predatorkj]

Yawn. To me, a bat barrel or laundry tag of a modern player is not that exciting. We are moving towards the point that these type of "high-end" items are becoming more and more common. It has been done before and will be done again.....the supply of these types of items for modern players is endless.

Five years from now the market could very well be flooded with "prime" game-used cards of (insert star player) and these cards will be viewed no differently that the common game-use jersey card is today.

For my money, I want something new and innovative or vintage and limited. However, this product doesn't really appear that fresh or exciting across the board. Sure a player collector might sport some wood if their player is included in the release....but to the average collector this old news.

Understood but lets be honest for a moment...would you really be all that upset if these things became watered down a bit?I know patches already are.Hell...I can go into any shop or on ebay or any show and find pretty nice patches of all kinds of players for $40 or less.Hell...I just picked up some really sick football patches of star players for around $3 and $4 a piece at my shop.Granted they cut me a hell of a deal versus what they book but the point still stands that they can be had for cheap.So in essence they kind of already are that way.Same thing can be said about autos.

So would you really be all that dissapointed?It does help us out.In fact...people who collect for collecting's sake are the only people it helps out because its getting hard to flip things for a substantial profit unless you are doing the bowman rookie stuff.So the hobby is actually gearing more for the collector.Can't go wrong with that.

 

[predatorkj]

Honestly, if big hits would end up being every 2-3 cases or more, maybe that would help them maintain their value. As Mario mentioned, people don't hope for hits anymore, they expect them. It has truly hurt the hobby that almost ever box/case has so many guarantees. Obviously that's good for us as collectors for the fact that we can pick up cards of our players cheap, including things like 1/1s. If the companies went back to making hits hard to come by, maybe that would be a step that could help move the hobby back in the right direction.

They can't.Not at the cost of a box or a pack these days.Back in the day they could because you could get a pack from 50 cents on up to $3.Now you start out at $3 and work your way up and the $3 packs are mostly the cheesy base oriented products.They had to give a little to get to that price point, hence all the hits.Who the hell would buy boxes at $100 plus just for base and cheesy inserts with little if any guarantee of an auto or GU at the very least?And even that is pushing it these days since there are products that can be had much cheaper than $100 that guarantee one or the other (or both)of those things in every box.

 

[markakis8]

well said mario. i think we are so spoiled in this hobby.

And when it gets released these cards shown will never be seen.
We will get all jumbo white "patches"!

All of these, except the Chipper, are marked 1/1.

After Mario's comment about the "low price point", I am no longer excited by this product.

Not defending the product itself since I know so little about it right now but what is wrong with low price points?

What did you do before 2000 when not every product guaranteed a big hit or 3? Did you not bust 1996 SPx because the odds of pulling one of the autographs was 1:2000 packs?

SPx was just an example but you get my point. Maybe the quality of "hits" has turned to shat because we expect everything instead of hope for it. I think if the base design and parallels are done well and the price point is similar to A & G this could be a very successful product.

 

[hofautos]

1. Bring back Fan Favorites and archives for players they missed from the 80s and 90s!
2. Bring back buy-back (topps originals) rookies like UD did with Jeter and Griffey for players like Frank Thomas and other stars
3. Milestone on-card autos and cuts like sterling but only where numbers mean something

 

[moxacaine]

i was really digging the photos until i saw they had to add a stupid presidential set to it. ::facepalm::

 

[justinmandawg]

I'd open a box or two.

 

[tonsofcommons]

eh,not a fan of the design but as a player collector I will buy it.

You are assuming that Beltran is good enough to make the set!

 

[thenumberonemetfan]

eh,not a fan of the design but as a player collector I will buy it.

You are assuming that Beltran is good enough to make the set!

:evil:
Hes good enough,but is Topps smart enough to put him in the set?

 

[mikekarlovec]

i was really digging the photos until i saw they had to add a stupid presidential set to it. ::facepalm::

+1

 

[Adamsince1981]

I just opened up a savings account for the Tulo barells, logomen, and knob cards :lol: