I started working on the Baltimore Orioles roster for the 2016 Topps set, and noticed that Topps did something for apparently no reason at all. Last February, I did a post showing the first packs of 2016 Topps that I got. In one of those packs, I got a card of Steve Pearce (#303)
of the Orioles, who is one of my favorite players. Great. Now I have Pearce's 2016 card, and unless he gets traded in the 2016 season or selected to the All-Star team or does something worthy of a highlight card, I will have every Pearce card out of 2016 Topps that I need (unless you count all of the 1,000 freaking parallel cards).
Apparently, I was wrong. While researching the 2016 Topps Update set, I found another card of Pearce (#US51)
. It pictures him with the Orioles, which is ok. Pearce signed with the Rays for the 2016 season, but was traded back to the Orioles midseason. A weird situation, but I'm ok with him getting 2 cards picturing him with the same team in the same year. Then I scrolled down the page a little more, and found ANOTHER Steve Pearce Orioles card (#US64)
, featuring a photo taken either a second before or after the picture of his 2nd 2016 Topps card (US51). Why do you need a 3rd card of Pearce?? I'm probably one of the few Pearce player collectors out there, and I don't see the need for the 3rd one. If I was crazy and actually went after all of the parallels, that would be at least probably 15 extra Pearce cards I would have to get because of the 3rd unnecessary card. I'm not made of money Topps! I get maybe a few packs of Series 1, 2, Update, and maybe a few of Donruss, with a few random blasters sprinkled in there. I will probably get less this year now that I have a baby. I don't have extra money to spend on a extra Pearce card just because Topps decided to hire a guy to do the checklists who is just out of college, knows nothing about baseball, and has probably never collected cards a day in their life. I can make a checklist better than the one Topps is making, and this custom project for the '16 set is proof. I think Topps needs to hire a few people who actually collects cards. There are more collectors than they think who actually want cards of the entire roster of a team, not just the 5 most popular players (18 most popular for the Yankees, of course). There is just something about collecting the entire set and nothing else. Inserts are ok, but they take away from the actual base set. Sure, there are people who are flippers, and Topps can make their Topps Briefcase set for them. But come on! The people who collect the base set don't want extra cards of players who already got a card in the set earlier in the year! Put different guys in! Please! They just don't get it. I'll probably keep buying cards in the years to come, but Topps needs to get on a different plan because soon, all of the people who actually collect and don't flip cards will die out and nobody will be there to buy their base set, and eventaully the flippers will die out too. Maybe all of us collectors should stage a protest at the Topps HQ in Duryea, PA or wherever they are now. That is the popular thing to do now, right? Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the only one?
Apparently, I was wrong. While researching the 2016 Topps Update set, I found another card of Pearce (#US51)
You are not alone. I posted a little rant on my blog yesterday. And I think it really comes down to what you said earlier, "I think Topps needs to hire a few people who actually collects cards."
ReplyDeleteBut that will never happen because Topps doesn't have any true competition, because they have the sole rights to MLB logos and what not. They are comfortable making money by putting out an average product, which could be so much better.
Really? Three cards of Steve Pearce ALL in an Orioles uniform? I can kind of understand having one in the update series, but two? Wow.
Maybe Pierce has some juicy gossip held over the board members' heads @ Topps. That's the only possible way to explain his three base cards in last year's Topps set.
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