The Perfect Trading Card: RESULTS

Survey Says…
(…I’ll take what’s behind Door #2, Pat…)

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for participating in this survey. My curiosity is satisfactorily satisfied for the time being. Naturally, tastes do change, but this gives us an interesting view of what card collectors are looking for in 2012. And, hey! It should also help me come up with a new design for the next season of Varsity Trading Cards!

So let’s get down to the itty bitty nitty gritty, kiddies. Here are the results, question by question.

1: Which items do you feel are necessary on the front of trading cards?
All but one person said that the Subject’s Name should be shown on the front of trading cards. There was a significant drop-off for the remainder of the answers. The second-most important item as judged by the survey participants was Team Name with 17.83% of the vote. In third with 16.56% was Player Position. Trading Card Company Logo came in 4th with 15.92% of the vote and Team Logo took 15.29% of the vote for 5th. 11 people voted for Rookie/First Year graphic for 6th Place, and only 1 person voted for Jersey Number and Recent Award(s) Graphic(s). This tells me that you absolutely have to have the Subject’s Name on the front of the card and could probably get away with including nothing else (other than the Subject’s photo, anyway). It also looks as if including a Jersey Number and a Recent Award Graphic would just be a waste of good space.

2: What type of photo do you prefer to see on the front of a trading card?
The answer to this question, at first blush, seems painfully obvious. All but three people believe that an Action Shot is the best type of photograph to use on the front of trading cards. Two of the remaining voters chose Posed Shot while one voter prefers a Head Shot.

3: In case we missed anything, please tell us some other things you like to see on the front of trading cards.
There were only a small handful of participants that gave answers for this section, but most of those that did leave a response seemed to be touching on the same subject.

A solid design that displays a nice action shot.

I like a card which focuses on the photo, and it may not have anything other than the player’s name or just the trading card company logo (like 1998 Zenith, I think). A card that focuses on the design should have player, team logo, and the company logo.

The key to a great looking card is a good, sharp photo of the player. Preferably action, but at least showing player in full uniform. The card front shouldn’t be cluttered, but does need to be clear with names of team and player, position, team’s logo or mascot, card company logo and if applicable a rookie cup or RC destinction…

I like a mix of photos. Action are the best, but if they’re ALL action they’re kind of watered down.

I prefer designs that focus on quality images (photography or artwork), so unique action shots are best, but a great posed shot that represents that player or team is good.

This tells me that, while action shots are the preferred photographic style of choice, it’s a good idea to mix in different styles of photos to keep the set as a whole more interesting.

4: Which items do you feel are necessary on the back of trading cards?
This topic seems to reveal three different classes of card collectors; those who like bare-bones simplicity, those who like to have as much information as absolutely possible, and those that may have found a nice Goldilocks zone. Absolutely every single last participant says that both Player Name and Player Statistics are a must-have on the back of trading cards. All but six voters say that the Team Name should be included, and all but seven say that Player Position is important. Then there is a bit of a drop-off in statistics, although not quite as severe as in the first question. Birth Date, Right/Left Handed, Height, Weight, Year Drafted/Signed, Birth Place and Biographical Write-Up all earned 5%-7% of the vote. This area of the vote up to this point is what seems to be the Goldilocks zone, and there is another significant drop-off in votes beyond this point. The next-best answer, College, only got 19 votes with Jersey Number right behind with 18 votes. Current Home took 11 votes, Team Logo got 10, and Player Photo rounds out the category with 9. This tells me that most collectors want to know a good amount about the Subject, but don’t care to be inundated with potentially useless information and needless clutter.

5: If you chose “Player Statistics” in the previous question, please tell us which statistics you prefer to see on the back of trading cards.
You participating voters spoke loud and clear on this one. Since everyone that voted chose Player Statistics in the previous question, I received an answer from each voter here. Nearly every person that voted said they’d prefer to see the Subject’s Entire Career Statistics. Two voters were okay with seeing only the five most recent years, while 0 voters were interested in seeing only the last season’s Stats.

6: In case we missed anything, please tell us some other things you like to see on the back of trading cards.
Again, there were only a small handful of voters that chose to respond to this portion of the survey. A few participants did make some good points about how the back of trading cards should look.

Trivia and fantasy sports data if applicable

“Fun facts” – either about the specific player, or baseball in general.

General baseball or baseball card trivia.

Cartoon trivia about the player (not general trivia)

fun facts, unique trivia, etc are fun – something other than “Johnny was named MVP for the Fort Bronx Waves three years in a row.” How about, “Johnny signed with the Cubs because his favorite team as a kid was the Cubs. He enjoys sewing bunny costumes for his family’s costume shop in the offseason.”

You might also want a card number on there. It should be on the top left corner and be big enough and with enough contrast to the background so that people without perfect eyesight can read it.

Title of the set, or subset. Card #. So many times I cannot identify which parallel set the card is from. “2011 Topps, Heavy Hitters, Wal-Mart edition” might be nice, rather than just a black border, especially when the parallels include, blue, blue-green, green.

Card number in easy to read format!

I would like for all of them to have printed the year and set the card is from. So I don’t have to try to figure it out 20 years down the road.

This tells me that there are things that we as collectors notice, not because they are there, but because they may not be. I do wonder, however, could we as collectors be so used to seeing trivia on the backs of cards that we now see it as a necessity, or is it something that we have grown fond of and truly do appreciate?

SO! There you have it! If there is anything you’d like to add, or if you’d simply like to discuss these findings, please feel free to do so here.

Thank you once again for your time and participation!

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