Friday, August 1, 2008

Message To Manufacturers: STOP WITH THE HUGE ASS SETS

Ok, this is getting fucking ridiculous. First Topps does Moments and Milestones, which could possibly be the worst set ever created. Then the Yankee love fest starts and UD does a card for every single goddamn game in Yankee stadium. Now this:

2008 MLB Documentary

Product From Opening Day, Jon Lester's no-hitter, Ken Griffey's historic 600th homerun, to the last game of the season, Documentary baseball chronicles the entire 2008 Major League Baseball season with one card for every game. The most extraordinary set ever to be completed, this 4,980-card base set is the only one of its kind and unites the rare and unique opportunity to collect a full base set as well as complete sets for each individual team.

CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:

o One (1) Seasonal Signature in every box, on average!
o Twenty Four (24) Gold Parallels per box, on average!
o Collect the complete 4,980 card set which includes 166 cards for each of MLB's 30 teams!

PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:

Regular Cards
o Base Set- 4,980 Cards
Inserts and Parallel Cards
o Regular Card Gold Parallel
o All-Star Game Insert (1:4)
Autograph Cards (1 per box, on average)
o Seasonal Signatures

Release Date: 12/15/2008
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Can we stop with this shit? No one needs this crap. Fill these slots with cooler ideas like a throw back to the SP Holoviews. Now that would be cool.

6 comments:

  1. I hope it sits on the shelves and rots!

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  2. What are you kidding?? This is fucking GENIUS. A monster set in the middle of winter when there's nothing good out anyway, where card addicts can buy box after box and not pull a bunch of doubles. No one's going to collect the whole damn thing, but you can bet your ass that team collectors will build the very reasonable 166 card set for their team. I know I will.

    The parallels suck, and they should have made the pack size larger or the pack price cheaper but one card for every game is a team collector's wet dream.

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  3. Cards are not even player specific. Plus who wants to pull a card depicting their 18-5 loss to the yankees? Not me. BOOOOORRRRIIINNG. I am patient.

    Will it make money? Of course. People buy fugly cards and sets with dumb ideas. See Triple Threads XXIV cards. Bleeeecccchhh.

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  4. The cards aren't player specific, but they do have a player on them. This set isn't about the 5k complete set or individual cards, it's about completing a team set of all 162 games, putting it in a binder and pulling it out every so often to check out the team from 2008. Shit, UD should just sell the team sets for the price of a box and be done with it.

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  5. I sent this to all of the card companies (although I had to send to the webadmins of Topps and Donruss, since they have no publically-available contact information via email.

    To whom it may concern at each of the named companies.

    I quit.
    It's as simple as that, really. I hereby quit collecting. I hereby quit buying your product. I hereby quit caring that you're destroying the industry with the sheer amount of crap that you're dropping into retail and hobby stores.

    To be honest, you're killing us with what you're doing to the hobby, between overpriced product that only people with a lot of money can really afford (Topps Triple Threads, Upper Deck Exquisite, Playoff National Treasures, and any other product where a 'pack' is nearly $100), an overabundance of 'relic' cards, generally single white swatches, which are almost always nearly worthless to anyone other than player collectors, products that no one really wants and that are crappy to begin with (Upper Deck NFL Draft Edition, Topps Rookie Progression, Topps Moments & Milestones, Upper Deck MLB Documentary), 'guaranteed' autographs of people hardly anyone cards about, and the sheer amount of crap that Beckett has pulled /with your willing help/.
    Seriously. What's the point of guaranteeing four hits a box, when we already know that three if not four of them will be nearly worthless? What's the point of dozens of parallels which do nothing but water the set down? What's the point of using pictures of players from two or three years ago, instead of keeping updated? For Donruss and Press Pass, what's the point of having us mail in redemptions? What's the point of sticker autographs, which usually look crappy?
    What's the point of offering retail versions of products that are completely gimped (Donruss, SA-GE and Press Pass, I'm looking at you here, and I'm waiting to see if Upper Deck screws up their base football, or if they follow the trend set by their baseball product)? What's the point of offering product that people can't possibly build the sets without buying huge amounts of cards that they don't really want?

    I mean, we all know you're making money. That's not the problem. The problem is, you're pissing all over your loyal customer base in the process, and all but killing any chance at building a customer base from future generations. I miss the magic when I was growing up, when I could go and buy a pack of cards, and it was about the /cards/ and the players, not some crappy piece of white cloth that may or may not have been worn by a player at some point or another (Rookie Premiere crap, anyone?), or some autograph of some guy who won't ever make an impact for a team, much less on the national scene?
    Where's the oddball sets? Where's the food inserts? Where's the stuff you can get at convenience stores? Why is it the only place I can find cards anymore is at a hobby shop, over the internet, or at Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart? Seriously, the only baseball sets this year that were any good were base Topps and Upper Deck, and /maybe/ Topps Chrome. Football? Eh. Nothing's even remotely interested me, and I'd love to be surprised. Topps Moments & Milestones? Crap. Allen & Ginter? Love those collation problems. Upper Deck NFL Draft and Football Heroes? They made me throw up in my mouth.
    Listen to the collecting bloggers out there. Listen to the people on message boards NOT owned by Beckett (The Bench and Sports Cards Forum are both good ones). Look at Ebay and see how low the prices are in general over a few months' time. Look at the fact that Topps no longer guarantees the value of a box of Bowman like they did 10 years ago.
    Look at the fact that I'm writing this letter.

    Please. Please give me a reason to collect again. Because right now? With gas nearly $4 a gallon? I can't see a reason to buy your crappy little pieces of cardboard. And I used to love collecting.

    Sincerely,

    Jason Ballew
    An Ex-Houston Collector.

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  6. That is pretty much how we all feel right now. Thanks for posting, hopefully you get some awesome responses.

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