Topps Million Car......NOOO It's Infected The Wasteland, Too!!!

I haven't posted about the Million Card Giveaway yet, but since it's a requirement for every card blog in the Blogalaxy to post at about it at least once I figure I'll detail my first Topps virtual trade.

The first two cards I unlocked weren't too exciting, a 1987 Tom Seaver and a 1993 Mark Gardner, but my next code unlocked a little retro action. A 1975 Jose Cardenal resplendent in 70's colors and afro-haired greatness.

I no longer own that card because I turned this:



into this:




A 1962 Tom Morgan.

I'm not a huge Tom Morgan fan. I did not know that he played for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, and Los Angeles Angels. Nor did I know his nickname was "Plowboy". What I do know is that when I finally redeem this card it will be the third oldest in my collection and for me that was reason enough to pick it up.

Now if only someone will trade me a 1983 Floyd Rayford for the 1987 Tom Seaver!

Oh and by the way - U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! One-two-three-four - IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

Topps Hockey Cards....errr Collectable Playable Cardboard Piece Things

As I’ve spent the last few days flipping through my hockey collection in order to eliminate as much of it as possible, I’ve come to realize how much I miss Topps hockey cards. That’s not to say I think Upper Deck does a bad job, but it was nice to have some variation in designs and photos. Hockey Stadium Club is simply outstanding. Perhaps in the future, when the single license fad has passed, we might see it again.

For now there is only one product on the shelves that combines hockey players and Topps historic logo - Topps Puck Attax. Modeled after the popular Match Attax football (soccer to us colonists) and the Topps Baseball Attax that was released this year to little fanfare, it has small photos of the players and offense and defense ratings.

Oh and they’re round. Like a hockey puck.

I’m assuming they skirt UD’s NHL exclusivity contract by touting these as game pieces instead of trading cards, but hey they’re made out of cardboard and have photos of hockey players on ‘em so I took a shot.

Here are the results:




As usual no Vincent Lecavalier cards, but I did get a Mattias Ohlund. The veteran blue liner is nursing an ankle injury, but hopes to return soon. He was also recently named one of Tampa Bay’s “Hot 20 Under 40” So he’s….ummm….yeah got that going for him.

Sixteen “cards” in total including a couple of shiny chrome versions and one gold chome. As you can see it’s not going to set the world on fire with action photos, but they’re not too bad. I might send some out to be signed, it’s nice to send something slightly oddball out. The starter pack was only about 5 bucks.

Will I go for the whole set? I don’t know. With booster boxes at about $35.00 on Dave and Adams I might throw in a box just to see if I can pull some more Lighting players.

Is this the end of baseball cards as we know it? Probably not

As I was enjoying my morning bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and starting on my daily internet surfing my life was flipped around and turned upside down. Did I finally get a job offer - alas no. Instead I stumbled accross an article on google news.

Upper Deck, after losing it’s NBA license a few months ago, also has lost it’s MLB license. Major League Baseball and Topps have come to a five year agreement that makes Topps the exclusive rights holder for trading cards. Wow. For the first time since 1989 there won’t be an Upper Deck base set to look forward to.

Well that might not be entirely true. Upper Deck does still have an agreement with the players’ association so they can release cards with their images on it. They just won’t be able to have the major league logo or the team logo’s on the cards. How this will be received by the collecting universe won’t be known until the new releases come out next year.

Upper Deck has definitely stumbled this year. Their base set lacked imagination, Goudey was a step back from last year and their decision to cut Masterpieces from the rotation was met with almost universal scorn by the collecting blog-o-sphere. Their one last hope to salvage 2009 lies in their new Goodwin Champions release that should be coming out shortly.

Goodwin Champions, check Mario’s page for a preview, is Upper Deck’s shot at an Allen & Ginter artist inspired set with oddball inserts. If it’s successful it should be an easy set to keep rolling out. Airbrushing off the logos in a “painted” set would look more natural than it would on a photo based set.

Hopefully this is a wakeup call for Upper Deck. Lack of imagination and worthless sets have plagued them over the last few years. UD Documentary (a good idea poorly executed), UD X (just a poor concept) and A Piece of History have all failed. Perhaps losing their license will force them to blow up their products and start from scratch.

In 1989 they were the new kids on the scene. Stunning photography and superior card stock made the competition seem like a minor league product. Unfortunately for UD the rest of the companies, at least the one’s that survived, improved their product to the point that there was a level playing field again.

Topps’ 2009 base set marked the first year where I thought their photography was better than UD’s. The pressure will be on Topps to keep their product from growing stagnant now that they have a monopoly on the MLB licensing. Some are referring to this as a new glory age, like the ’70’s, when Topps last held an exclusive contract.

Today’s high end, $150-a-pack card universe is a lot different then it was four decades ago. How will card shops / on-line retailers react if Topps releases a high end set that bombs with the collecting public? They might not have another brand to turn to in order to help recoup lost sales.

Michael Eisner, Topps Owner, is playing this as a chance for Topps to bring the industry back to the kids. An interesting position, but how is that going to go over with the collectors? Kids aren’t dropping $80-$100 for a box of Allen & Ginter. It’s going to be interesting to see if they can balance an appeal to kids and still satisfy the higher end / older collector out there. Who knows maybe we’ll see a decent product for less than a buck a pack next year.

Is this the beginning of the end for baseball card collecting? No. It’s an upheaval that needs to happen every few decades to freshen things up. Five years will go by pretty quickly, in that time Upper Deck could be back and better than ever. Panini might show that it can do cards as well as stickers. Without competition Topps might have the freedom to try some truly innovative designs without having to worry about the bottom line.

Will they be able to rebound and offer a competitive product in 2010? Will they scrap baseball and focus on hockey - the sport they have an exclusive contract with? Only time will tell.