As we all know Topps is going to be the only MLB licensed products next year. So here is my question, what kinds of products would you like to see from them next season. I believe that there are only supposed to be 12 sets made. So if Topps was to reinvent themselves and try to lure in more people to the hobby, what products would you like to see from them? What I did was break it down into price levels:
Low ($35 – $50 a box)
They need something cheap, go back to cardboard, forget the glossy. Something fun to collect. $1.50 per pack gets you 15 cards. You can put in the rookies, put in the inserts, but forget the autographs and game used cards. Make the set big again, 792 cards. Forget abot the series one and series two crap, go back to basics. Let this be the Topps flagship brand.
Now make the Bowman all about the rookie card. Forget about the parallels and inserts and just make a nice clean set of 300 cards, at the end of the season you can create update sets.
The focus of this price level is to bring in the kids and make the hobby about collecting again.
Medium ($75 – $125 a box)
Here is where the chome sets sit, now you can make the parallels and autogamer cards. I envision Topps Chrome, Finest, Bowman Chrome, Allen and Ginter, and possibly Stadium Club. Maybe bring back Gallery and put it in this price level. This is where experieced collectors should be focused on. Not too expensive that you can’t finish a set and lot’s of autogamer hits.
High ($150 – $225 a box )
This is where Sterling should go. Price it so that it’s about $20 a hit since that is what most people seem to be willing to pay. This is where the Hall of Fame autogamers would be. Also today’s best players should be in this set. There shouldn’t be any rookies in this set or if there are it’s the ones that are over hyped.
Luxury ($250+ a box)
Topps has never done well at this level, but I am hoping they can put something out there very special for the uber collector. Something like UD does with it’s Ultimate and Black editions. Cards that you just look at and go wow. This level is meant only for the blog group breaks and for very well off collectors.
That’s my opinion as to where Topps should go, I’m sure many of you will disagree with me but, if you do give us your opinion. Personally I am very exited about this upcoming season. It’s going to be very interesting as far as the sets and configurations we see next year.
If they had 12 products for next year, these are my picks:
1: Topps Flagship (obviously)
I like the idea of 792 cards in the set, they could be like Upper Deck today and try to get a card of every player. Lowering the price sounds great, $1.50 is a definite bargain, and I would buy a lot. If they include 15 cards per pack it would be a great bonus, especially if most of them are back up catchers and middle relievers. I wouldn’t buy it if it was $2.00 a pack.
2: Topps Chrome
Autographs belong in this set. I think 3 or 4 sounds good, and if they are rookie autos, most likely you won’t get your money back. With 3 or 4 you have a better chance. Also they should use different pictures than the base set, make it different, change it up a bit. More colored refractors please! And they definitely need to keep up the on card autos.
3: Bowman
Forget about DPP or Chrome, you can include all of it in a cheap product mid to late season of the card collecting year. I’ve never been a prospect guy but many people are so I won’t make that end. It is the “Home of the Rookie Card” right?
4: Finest
This set has to get cheaper, and more fun. They did a good job this year with it, but it was way too expensive so I didn’t get a single card. This set needs a little more creativity though.
5: Heritage
The best collector set out there. They should keep it up, but $80 a box is ridiculous and you definitely won’t get your money back. Lower the price and add 2 or 3 more hits and I’ll buy it.
6: Allen & Ginter
My favorite, but it needs a little change. Every year it was the same until this year, and it changed and looked great. Something new!
7: Triple Threads
Always has been a very nice set, but way too expensive. It can fit in the Medium range and still would be overpriced. There is always a chance at a nice pull but I wouldn’t risk spending my money on it.
8: Sterling
Those high end guys can have this set. I have enjoyed watching breaks of it on youtube in the past, but the chances of me holding a box of that stuff is equal to me dating a supermodel, not gonna happen!
9: Ticket to Stardom
Haven’t seen it yet, but if it’s good I’ll take it. Maybe as a case hit you could get like tickets from legendary games autographed. How about an Aaron Boone autographed ticket from Game 7 vs Boston in 2003? I’d like that
10: Attax
Trying to fill up slots, this set is pretty ugly but keep it. Maybe don’t use toilet paper to make these cards and move some things around and you could have a decent set.
11: Unique
Gotta hurry, a nice set (hopefully) and if it’s cheap like its rumored to be I’ll buy it. Bat knobs, count me in!
12: Co-Signers
Bring it back and make it look nice.
Just my opinion
I have had more fun with Topps Flagship and Topps Chrome than any other set. I liked the inserts in the flagship set, so if it were just base cards and inserts I would be okay with that. The relics and the autos were nothing too amazing, plus there was only one per box anyways.
if I were Topps, I would try to accomplish the following overall:
- Keep the flagship base pack price $1.99 for 10 cards retail *and* hobby to attract the casual fan / impulse buyer, and in-line with kids’ budgets. I actually do see kids come in with their moms to our local hobby shop, and they often have a budget of about $10 or less per visit. Give the kid an excuse to buy more product (i.e. more packs) from Topps, rather than focusing on a chance to miss out on a hit in his single $9.99 lottery attempt from a competitor.
- Make jumbo packs of other products (Allen & Ginter jumbo? zOMG!), and get some of those jumbo packs into retail. If concerned about pack security / creepy pack feelers, the cereal boxes were a *great* idea. Blasters and loose packs may be lingering around at Target or Wal-Mart (or a Sports Authority for years), but those cereal boxes were, without fail, gone within a week at every store I checked out. Keep them under $10 (preferably $8), and you have a sweet stocking-stuffer-sized impulse buy. A&G or Chrome cereal boxes (under $15) would be phenomenal.
- Try to increase sales volume for the low- and mid-end products by eliminating some of the ho-hum high-end, and generating more lower-end product overall. I find Finest and Triple Threads amongst the most underwhelming products, year after year. Include the same or better quality cards, seeded into low- and mid-range brands and sets, and you’ll have consolidated interest in the overall Topps brand.
- Let low-end commons be the only commons you make all year. It just bothers me year after year that there are shiny base cards of star players in high-end sets that are considered less than birdcage liner. that only lowers the perceived value of the flagship product, and in turn, the overall Topps brand.
- Figure out how to best leverage eTopps. For example, use some of the existing eTopps card population as “eRedemption” cards, seeded in packs of regular cardboard cards. The beauty is that since the cards already physically exist, they can create an eTopps account to redeem the card, and they would own it right away!
As for specific brands, here’s what they should keep, and specific details where appropriate:
- Topps Flagship
- Topps Rookies and Update
- Topps Attax (Please refine–this has promise. Make the cards out of more durable playable stock (not exactly like Magic: The Gathering, but that’s a good template). Also number the cards! If I’d like to put together a full set, I’d like to know how close I am. Topps Attax is probably the best shot at an MLB Collectible Card Game (CCG) I’ve seen in the market yet. Keep it cheap, and feed the design better, and there’s hope at the low end yet)
- Topps Heritage (Use chrome as an insert parallel set only)
- Mainline Bowman (Use chrome as an insert parallel set only)
- Allen & Ginter
- Topps Chrome (too much hobby expectation to not have some Chrome in case / box form).
- Sterling and Unique (keep some high-end, especially since you don’t want to abort Unique and give it a chance to live in the hobby. Focus on committing only one or two high-end price point sets, letting you concentrate on raising their quality so that critical collectors will compare yours more favorably to competitor products).
Get rid of (or keep away):
- Triple Threads
- Finest
- Co-Signers
- Ticket to Stardom
That is a total of nine sets or brands of baseball cards to continue to make. I can see the desire to make 12, but this hobby is going to stay just as confused as ever with that many from Topps, coupled with the license work-around sets coming from Paninruss and UD.
Make more cards at the low- and mid-end, and seeded with former high-end grade product might be as lucrative as just making 12 sets. The bonus is that you don’t have to incur the costs of ramping up 3 additional sets per year, and concentrate on quality for the rest of the year’s offerings.
Personally I think that Topps has started to forget about the kids who can only afford those low end products. They don’t want to drop $75 on a box of cards, they get joy from going to a local hobby shop or Walmart/Target and picking up a few packs of cards. In my opinion, Topps should focus more on the base cards, less on inserts and GUs or Autos. That could bring the price of cards down to a spot where kids could bust more packs and focus more on set building then getting a small white piece of someone’s jersey. They could actually get a substantial amount of cards for a low price. All in all, I just think they should make the flagship brands just cheap and simple,with a large enough set that kids stay engaged and really want to complete the set.