Saturday, September 22, 2007

2007 Upper Deck Goudey and the Topps Buyout


I have to admit, I LOVE this set. Upper Deck did a great job of capturing the look of the 1933/1938 Goudey/Big League cards. The backgrounds look like they were stolen outright. If they weren't, then the artists did a super job of emulating them. The images on the front are cool, modern interpretations of those found in the classic originals. The backs feature either red text or green text, and there are game-used versions of many players plus the "Heads Up" versions which feature a cartoon-like drawing of the player (If there are Tribers that are featured in either of the chase sets, and I get them, I'll post pics).


Michael Eisner and a group of his friends bought Topps, and in the process will give $9.75 a share to the shareholders. There have been several other folks that have blogged a bit about it: Stale Gum, The Cardboard Junkie, and others you can search for if you're so inclined. I bring up the subject because I am hoping that at least some of the people involved with the group purchase are (or were at some time in their lives) card collectors. Maybe this seems a too simple, but I would think that card collectors would have some of the best understanding as to what other collectors actually WANT in their sets and brands. The worst thing Eisner and his group could do is to leave things as they are. As mentioned on other sites, Bowman is so broken, the brand itself should just about disappear. I think the only thing saving the name is the nostalgia that we older, long-time collectors feel. Allen and Ginter is working, though I think it will need serious tweaking if it is supposed to remain competitive and cutting edge. As for the Topps Regular set, I actually like the current design (and I know a lot of collectors do not). There are enough retro-based sets out there that the base set needs to reflect modern trends and designs. Look at the cards of the 80's - cheesy at times? Sure, but so were the 80's...

The group (or the designated chairs) should sit with the leaders of the current Topps brands, lay all the card designs and brands on the table, and cut what sucks, improve what works. I think they also need some new sets. I like the idea of having a Negro League set and/or a Women's Pro League set. How about an all HOFer set?

Please, for the love of Pete, stay away from making every chase card chrome or silver... Man, can't we come up with something more original? Heck, even the "mini parallels" are being done to death... I do like the prismatic parallels, though... :-)

I wish the "new" Topps well, and I hope someone figures out how to make the hobby cool again, without resorting to stupid gimmicks... Although, my son would collect if they some kind of Yu-Gi-Oh/Baseball combo set... Please, heaven help us, do NOT let that happen!

No comments:

Post a Comment