Bad Wax

I have always tried to adhere to one major policy when blogging.  Don’t write a post when you are pissed off.  Well, I guess you can scratch that from my list of things I haven’t done, because today is going to be ugly.  I woke up this morning with a migraine, I have a physical today (haven’t eaten since 6:30 last night), and I have more to do at work today than I can possibly finish.  For those of you who don’t understand the difference between a migraine and a head ache, let me try to explain it.  A migraine is just like a headache, but it comes with the added pleasures of nausea, light sensitivity, vertigo, and audio amplification.  Oh and the best part is that it lasts for 18-24 hours.  Basically it’s like sitting 2 feet from a fire while someone is screaming in your ear.

Enough about my problems, let’s get to the new Beckett’s problems.  This may seem petty, but one of the better new sections of Beckett, is the starter set of the month.  Where the powers that be determine what would be a good set to start with if you were coming back into the industry or just starting out.  This could be such a great section, especially for kids looking to figure out where to start their collections.  Instead it has become another advertisement in a sea of them.

First off, lately it seems that every recommendation is from this year’s product.  Usually it’s the current year’s Upper Deck base set.  Now I will tell you, if you are getting back into the hobby after a long break, it’s always good to start off with the base sets, just to see the current players and where the hobby stands as far as inserts.  What I think this section is for though, is to find those low valued products that although may not be worth a lot of money, they look great and are an inexpensive way to get started.  Instead what we end up getting is an advertisement for the newest sets that have come out.

What I don’t understand is that they have actually did it right with their 10 under 10 section.  Where they show you 10 cards of hot players you can get for under 10 dollars.  They don’t necessarily guide you to new product for that one.  To give you an example of what I expect from this set is, say 2000 Upper Deck Ionix.  Many people in the hobby today have no idea what I’m talking about.  But it was a fun set to collect, you can get a box of wax for under $20 and the set for even less.  You get rookies and stars, and even have chances to pull autographs.

Instead I am guided to 2008 Upper Deck, or 2008 Topps Heritage.  I know those sets, I can get them at Target if I wanted to.  Find me something that I’m going to have to go to my hobby shop to get.  Show me something I might have overlooked.  The best thing about blogs today is you get to see product, that you may never get to see.  For example, Ben over at the Baseball Card Blog did countdowns of the sets from the 80s and 90s.  Sets that I never got a chance to see because I was out of the world of collecting.

That’s what I want to see from this section of Beckett.  I want to hear about sets that I might have overlooked. Maybe some great designed cards that never took off (Ionix).  Pacific had some cool sets like the Crown Royale, Revolution and Invincible.  Tristar and Just had some great prospect sets, but they are never listed because people look down on them or in Pacific’s case, they don’t exist anymore.  I want to learn about the hobby, I want to know what I’ve missed these past 8 years. I don’t want advertisements and I don’t want someone telling me that this is a good “investment”.

There are no good investments in baseball cards.  If you want to invest go into real estate.  I’m sick of hearing about this investment and that investment when it comes to cards.  The only things I collect are autographs, game used, and Topps base sets. I don’t do it for the money because, there is little to no money to be made. I do it because I love collecting signatures or jerseys.  Someone telling me that a pack of $4 2008 Press Pass, which contain 6 cards and 5 are guaranteed to fail in the NFL is not a good investment. So stop selling it as an investment.  Also I’d love to see Beckett just slam a product that is being advertised in their magazine.  They would never do it, you can’t bite the hand that feeds you.  I’d be willing to pay for more if someone out there would put out a magazine, that actually reviews products and tells you if it sucks or not.  It seems that every review in Beckett is a fluff piece.

I should save that rant for another time though.  Instead, let’s get some feedback on how you feel about this section or any other section of the new Beckett.