Thursday, January 21, 2010

2010 Topps Gimmicks


Just when you thought Topps had gotten over gimmicks, and started to take The Hobby seriously again...

Card #94 in the 2010 Topps Baseball set (on the checklist distributed by Topps) is supposed to be Ivan Rodriguez. Imagine my surprise to have pulled this card #94....



Unlike last year, there were no mentions of base-card variations on the sell-sheets; nor is there any mention of such cards on the wrappers.

WAY TO START OFF THE NEW DECADE AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE LICENSE TOPPS!

Oh sure, in the next few days Topps will issue the now-familiar ropey-dopey press release explaining away this gimmick. Until then, I'm going to go bang my head against the wall.

18 comments:

NMCLax24 said...

Yet another reason why I am boycotting their flagship set this year.

I thought topps won the exclusive license because major league baseball thought they were best suited to make collecting relevant to kids. How is any 7 or 8 year old supposed to keep track of all of the inserts and parallels and variations that exist in their sets? Forget trying to collect the cards with $5 a week allowance.

Matthew Glidden said...

HAHAHAHA, "Pudge" joke. We see what you did there, Topps, and are on to you.

Further shenanigans will start the disciplinary process.

sruchris said...

I found another SP variation, #175 Roger Maris.

Offy said...

I don't see the big deal with cards such as this one. It's not needed for the set and if you're lucky enough to pull one and don't want it, they go for a decent amount of money on eBay. This is far from photoshopping pictures or "accidentally" letting pulled cards find their way into packs.

JD's Daddy said...

I actually enjoy the fact that Topps makes it possible to receive surprises like this in each pack.

Most products, once you have found the "Hits" the fun is pretty much over. With Topps, you never know if they snuck in something extra.

Besides, how is it a gimmick if it is not advertised to try to sell the product? Of course, you just did that for them, so I guess it is a gimmick after all!

Grand Cards said...

Boo. I don't mind the card or it's inclusion in the set--it's just the lack of transparency that kills me. For the love of God, just let us know what cards are in the goddamn release.

That said, these don't seem to be stupid gimmicks like the past, with logo-switching and photoshop and the like and don't seem to be crazy-short printed, given that you just pulled one and sruchris has another.

cynicalbuddha said...

Come on are we really surprised by this. This will be the 3rd year in a row for variations and I guess we should come to expect it as the new norm for the Topps flagship. Plus it's no harm. I agree that the lack of info is annoying but this is on par for topps anyways. Their website is always months behind it seems almost like Upper Deck.
The varations don't take away from the set building unless you intend on including them, which I don't. And I do like the extra surprise of not knowing what you get. Gold and black parallels, variations, and those aren't even hits.

Steve Gierman said...

I'm happy for another Fisk to chase, but not so happy about it not being included on the sell sheet.

Sharpe said...

Are there still parallels? I wish they'd go away.

I do enjoy SPs though. It's the fun of buying packs. Otherwise if there's nothing to randomly happen upon, what's the point?

The Drizz said...

what's with everyones obsession with "sell sheets" and unannounced cards?

with every card blogger on the planet trying to get exclusive info and be the first to post the exclusive info, it's kinda cool of topps to get away with this. anyone find it funny how "hush hush" they keep these?

stop looking through your parents closets for your christmas gifts and be suprised! i'd love to pull a 2010 kaline or greenberg or trammell (they did wear out cobb in '09...).

i will concede that the u&h sp's were crap.

The Drizz said...

ps - my folks hid my presents in the attic.

The Drizz said...

holy crap i just noticed it's a throwback logo!!! dude please let there be a tiger sp! i'll even settle for another cobb, especially if they use the logo from 1908 or something!

John Bateman said...

It is collectable and old fashion fun. Just don't hurt your self because we need those box breaks. They are funnier than listening to Jay or Conan or Dick Cheney

Joe S. said...

I dont really mind the SPs... they're better than the photoshop shenanigans from a few years ago, and like someone else said, they have a lot of secondary market value if that's your thing. Besides, it's a fairly cheap product that should be about fun. I'll be buying it.

Drop The Gloves! said...

I have to admit, it's a pretty bitchin' looking card, shenanigans or not. I just wish they'd of used him in a Red Sox uni. Or maybe there is even ANOTHER version of it. SUPER DUPER SHORT PRINT. ZOMG!

fightstrap.com
My hockey card blog

GCA said...

After the Topps press release will come the Beckett report of some kid in Podunk, MS getting an entire blaster box of them from his local Wal-Mei-get store, thereby destroying any chance that they will actually be evenly distributed...

matt. said...

All right, you'll have to explain the problem again. To my mind:

1. It's a great looking card.
2. It's replacing a single base card that, if you're a set collector, you could go get for a dime at a card shop.

Who would have a problem pulling a Fisk instead of AJ Pierzynski or whomever?

sruchris said...

These have been identified:

50 Cy Young
80 Christy Matthewson
94 Carlton Fisk
116 Robin Yount
175 Roger Maris
??? Jackie Robinson