The baseball card industry's struggle for relevance

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p11s01-alsp.html

Taking sides: high prices, over-saturation and reliance on the currency of scarcity vs. "Game Boys and mp3s"?

― Daniel Cohen (dayan), Saturday, 6 August 2005 08:14 (twenty-one years ago)

v. NOT HAVING GUM IN PACKS ANYMORE

― The Original Jimmy Mod: A Negro (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 6 August 2005 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Seems like the industry needs some new graphics design inspiration. Cards are fricking ugly. It's the same with a lot of the branding with sports teams - they seem stuck between some vague notions of continuing to do something that's supposed to be modern (or just average/ugly in order to appeal to middle America) or going postmodern and retro.

If some pioneer could come up with a really cool set of cards, is it possible that it could actually be a fad and kids could get into them again?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 6 August 2005 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

baseball cards died the instant that the collector market overtook the "fun for kids!" market. I think the "shark jump" was that infamous incident (in Chicago anyway) when a girl (who couldn't read the store owner's pricing) accidentally sold a Nolan Ryan rookie card to a kid and his dad--both of whom knew better--for $1500. The kid and his dad refused to return it and eventually it was auctioned for charity. At least for me, that's when I got out. It was a pretty disgusting display of greed. and yeah the cards are ugly. The peak for me was the '71 and '73 topps designs.

― gear (gear), Saturday, 6 August 2005 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

'75 was probably the last really cool set. Topps was pretty stellar up until that time.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 6 August 2005 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry I should amend that to say she sold the card to the kid and his dad for $15, when the price read $1500.

― gear (gear), Saturday, 6 August 2005 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Best baseball card set ever: the '55 Bowman TV cards.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 6 August 2005 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

(Actually, the '52 and '53 Topps sets are better, but still.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 6 August 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Who DOESN'T have a complete set of Topps from 1987?

― The Original Jimmy Mod: A Negro (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 6 August 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.707sportscards.com/psa-cards/40290483.jpg

― gear (gear), Saturday, 6 August 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The other thing I don't like is the current trend of cutting shit up -- VALUABLE, IRREPLACEABLE shit (like Georges Vezina's goalie pads) and putting them in card packs.

― The Original Jimmy Mod: A Negro (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 6 August 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

beckett has a real scam going with that. When you send in a Cal Ripken card to be graded, you can pay them another $30 (more, but I dunno exactly) for them to include a piece of a Ripken jersey or game-used bat in the case.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 6 August 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Baseball cards are so so stupid.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 18 September 2005 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

WAR coming to Topps cards

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2013-07-26/topps-baseball-cards-war-advanced-stats-brian-kenny-mlb-network

― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 27 July 2013 14:19 (thirteen years ago)

That's hilarious. Not a knock on WAR, just...the baseball card industry's struggle for relevance! I think these guys would have a field day with this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a1/Great_American_Baseball_Card_Book.jpg/200px-Great_American_Baseball_Card_Book.jpg

― clemenza, Saturday, 27 July 2013 14:28 (thirteen years ago)

("Field day"--change that to "RngR Day.")

― clemenza, Saturday, 27 July 2013 14:34 (thirteen years ago)

Clarification that nobody asked for, so I don't come across like a philistine:

If the assumption is that kids are the ones buying cards, and they'll want these new stats, that's pretty funny--those stats are available a thousand other places, and on a daily basis. Maybe, ages ago, there was a time when kids used baseball cards for stats they couldn't get elsewhere, and were happy to wait until long after the season to get them. Not today.

That's all irrelevant anyway, because kids don't buy baseball cards anymore. They're bought by Comic Book Store Guys from The Simpsons. Will new stats be an attraction to that dwindling group of people? "Worst FIP ever..." The thread title says it all.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png/222px-The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png

― clemenza, Saturday, 27 July 2013 15:30 (thirteen years ago)

WAR coming to Topps cards

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2013-07-26/topps-baseball-cards-war-advanced-stats-brian-kenny-mlb-network

― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Saturday, July 27, 2013 2:19 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Took them long enough. Putting sabermetrics on the back of a baseball is such a no-bainer fresh idea for an industry that desperately needs that I can't believe Topps and Upper Deck don't have yearly "Sabermetric Series" sets by now.

― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 27 July 2013 16:27 (thirteen years ago)

three months pass...

If you can put up with Keith Olbermann, pretty interesting--didn't know about the trimming scandal.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8983686

― clemenza, Sunday, 10 November 2013 00:20 (twelve years ago)

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