If a Card Collecting Community Falls
(will Topps hear it?)
In the not-so-distant past, it seemed as though the card producing companies knew who their target market was. It seemed as though that those companies were built around, comprised of, and run by their target market. They listened to collectors, they were collectors, and they knew what we wanted. Of course, just like any other company, they had to maintain their bottom line, but that never kept them from giving the collector what they wanted. Clean, crisp designs. Sharp, interesting photography. Manageable, fun-to-chase sets. Reasonable quantities of meaningful and desirable sub-products. As Archie and Edith once sang, those were the days.
At some point, collectors must have gotten tired of the same old product year after year. Along the way, new and exciting gimmicks were added to enhance the collecting hobby, entice old collectors to return, and attract new customers. I am personally glad that the decision to include some of these gimmicks was made. Without them, I can guarantee that I would not have returned to the hobby. Somewhere down the road, though, the gimmicks got out of hand. In 2008, they’ve gotten so bad that game-used swatches have become a boring staple of retail blaster boxes. It’s no longer fun to come across a tiny square of fabric embedded in a card. I’m not sure many people care to own a small bit of Jason Tyner’s pants.
It doesn’t stop with just the gimmicks. It’s the shear quantity of sub-products that completely overwhelmed the market in 2008. There couldn’t be a clearer sign that these card companies which once seemed to be completely connected to the collectors have stopped listening to us altogether. It seems quite evident and obvious to me that their one and only worry is their bottom line. No longer are they concerned with market appeal. No longer are they concerned with the quality of their products.
We may tend to make fun of the looks of past sets, but those sets looked great during their time. That is something that has been sorely missing from most of the products as of late. These products need to look good right now. Card companies have gone too far in the past decade in their attempt at interesting designs. Most of these 2008 products are not clean, nor sharp, nor aesthetically pleasing. Most of these sets were overdone, dull, and, quite frankly, very ugly. Sets like X, Spectrum, and A Piece of History fit this category. Sets like Documentary and Topps flagship set seemed like they were simply phoned in. Other sets like Allen & Ginter, Masterpieces, and even with its flaws, Stadium Club took me back to the reason I collected in the first place. They were simple, clean, sharp, interesting, and collectible. Yes, they have their gimmicks, but they have what I would consider an almost reasonable amount of gimmicks per set.
There is a lesson in this for you baseball card companies out there. It’s a lesson that applies to most everything in life. It’s a lesson that perhaps may not only win back the collectors you’re losing on a daily basis, but may also strengthen up that bottom line. Just three simple words.
LESS IS MORE
This goes for everything. Less clutter in the designs. Fewer gimmicks. Fewer subsets and inserts. Fewer short prints. Fewer products. Believe me, I understand that you want to reach as many collectors as you can, but there has to be a happy medium somewhere. Let’s examine a list of products you card companies have made available in 2008 alone.
- Bowman
- Bowman Chrome
- Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects
- Bowman Sterling
- Donruss Elite Extra Edition
- Donruss Threads
- Playoff Contenders
- Playoff Prime Cuts IV
- Topps Series 1
- Topps Series 2
- Topps Updates & Highlights
- Topps Allen & Ginter
- Topps Chrome
- Topps Co-Signers
- Topps Finest
- Topps Heritage
- Topps Heritage High Number
- Topps Moments and Milestones
- Topps Opening Day
- Topps Stadium Club
- Topps Sterling
- Topps Triple Threads
- Tristar
- Upper Deck Series 1
- Upper Deck Series 2
- Upper Deck USA
- Upper Deck A Piece of History
- Upper Deck Ballpark Collection
- Upper Deck Documentary
- Upper Deck First Edition
- Upper Deck First Edition Update
- Upper Deck Goudy
- Upper Deck Heroes
- Upper Deck Masterpieces
- Upper Deck Premier
- Upper Deck SP Authentic
- Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts
- Upper Deck SPx
- Upper Deck Spectrum
- Upper Deck Sweet Spot
- Upper Deck Timeline
- Upper Deck Ultimate Collection
- Upper Deck X
- Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy
How is this necessary? How are you companies not losing money on this? This is an overwhelming list as it is, now try to think about the ridiculous amounts of sub-sets, parallels, and gimmicks overpopulating each set. Now think about how uninteresting most of those sub-sets, parallels, and gimmicks are. Doing so makes me rethink my decision to return to the hobby.
What I’d Like To See In 2009
The first thing I’d like to see is the product list cut directly in half. You card companies are already doing that, and I applaud you for doing at least that. What I don’t necessarily agree with are the sets you’re doing away with and which sets you’re allowing to weigh down the shelves. The next thing I’d like to see is a complete overhaul of sub-sets, inserts, and gimmicks. They would serve both you and the collectors best if they had a meaningful purpose. Inserting every blaster box with an only-worn-once cut-out one inch swatch of uniform from a player that no one but the locals have ever heard of before is a slap in the face of those who remember the excitement of actually pulling something special. Giving us a swatch of uniform for the sake of giving us a swatch of uniform is disrespectful and tasteless. I would also like to see base sets designed with interest and care. Make the base set something a collector can be proud to show off. Make collecting the full base set an attainable goal without having to buy three hobby boxes stuffed full of inserts from 15 different sub-sets. Give us something to chase, not something impossible to catch. Keep us interested and excited, not bored and overwhelmed. Please pull the reigns back a bit, get in touch with your inner-collector, produce only products that you yourself would collect. Make wise decisions for not only the business, but also the consumer. To succinctly summarize my list of requests, I submit to you a phrase that I live by in my trade which I believe applies to every aspect of your business–one which I know will improve the state of the hobby…
Keep It Simple, Stupid!
