Was more better?

[BoomerSooner]

Was in the card shop this weekend, and again was disappointed at what was available for baseball product. One can only buy so many boxes of Topps Update, IMO, and there really wasn't anything else in stock. (I don't really care for the logo-less type products).
It got me thinking about the debate a few years back about how many products that were released was hurting the hobby, strangling the collectors budget and causing confusion. Looking back, I miss the year round releases, sometimes 3 different products in a week, that gave you a buying option- if you didn't like the way one looked, you had other choices. Today, I don't have that choice and as I walked away not buying a baseball box, I thought this HAS to hurt the hobby in some form. Whether it be less purchases due to boredom, or generally fewer trips to the shop because nothing new comes out.
I know many couldn't stand the glut of releases, but I miss that ability to choose and still participate in our hobby.

 

[Jeffo65]

I don't miss the glut of products at all. I am a set builder and I only buy Topps base and Bowman baseball products and Topps base in football. This puts more money in my pocket for other things.

 

[six43dpnc]

I've wondered why they didn't limit the number of sets the manufacturers could make instead of dropping the licenses for everyone except topps? I remember in the 2001-2002-2003 timeframe, fleer would come out with 10-15 sets and that was insane, topps and upper deck would try the same thing. Five or so per maker would have kept it more interesting for me. I look at some of the topps products and they're even the same photo. Pretty boring sometimes.

Guess we'll see where topps wants the hobby to go!


John

 

[BoomerSooner]

Exactly- it IS boring for me also. I also agree that at one point, there were WAY too many products put out, some with very little thought put into them. But I understand that the manufacturers back then were trying to hit every aspect of the collector market, from high end to low end, to set collectors, to hit fanatics. Think it's impossible to please everyone with 1 product.
As a set collector, jeffo, you wouldn't have been afffected by the glut regardless, right? If you do base sets, those releases are coming out no matter what, at a fairly realistic price point- and with plenty of people doing the same, it's better for trading. I see that, but have you ever veered from that and considered doing something else than base Topps, maybe because you didn't like the look?
I remember shredding Pinnacle- I hated the base look but those Museum Collection parallels were cool to me. But I had the choice that year, from Topps, Upper Deck, Score, Fleer, etc. Was fun to hit the shop and compare the products- now I get a lone product on the baseball shelf as 'newest release".

 

[JJLevitsky]

As a Topps collector from way back, I am happy that Topps still has its license. However, I am not sure a monopoly is the right thing in this case for the hobby as a whole. I never worried about the glut of product because I only do certain ones anyway. But for the hobby as a whole I think the variety provided by multiple companies was good. I dont think I want to see it go back to the days of 4 companies and 15 products each with multiple parallels in each set. I believe it would be good to have at least 2 companies with some sort of limit on the number of sets would work well.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[David K.]

Bowman sterling should be coming in a few or so for December. Local Hobby store still waiting for their second case this week. Best regards, David

 

[sgbt4]

Predominantly a Topps set collector, but I do miss the Diamond Kings and Donruss Classics sets. Also liked Fleer Brilliants, the Crown Royale products and a few others.

A little competition is always a good thing. Great thread topic!

Scott

 

[BoomerSooner]

Predominantly a Topps set collector, but I do miss the Diamond Kings and Donruss Classics sets. Also liked Fleer Brilliants, the Crown Royale products and a few others.

A little competition is always a good thing. Great thread topic!

Scott

Panini did their version of Crown Royale in football & hockey the past 2 years, very similar to the Pacific product back in the day. I loved that die-cut design!!
And I think the sentiment about more than one company producing sets but tightly limited to the amount per year is a good idea.
Bowman Sterling is a good product, but very expensive for the average collector, with not-so-much bang for the buck, IMO. Topps Five Star was $400 a box in my shop, too risky for my wallet. But I like having that option to buy or pass on it.
I also think that team collectors might prefer fewer releases overall, as chasing down every card of every issue from your team was a nightmare, much easier now, for me at least.

 

[thedarkbrown]

I miss the Donruss stuff. Diamond Kings in particular. I also miss some of the older Topps stuff, like Gallery & Gallery HOF. Overall, I thought Donruss had the best products, set wise and option wise.

 

[theplasticman]

We need at least one more company involved, even at a lesser # of releases. Topps is... meh now for me. I used to buy 5-10 cases a year and have bought only 1 case in last 3 years.