Stale Gum

Oh how I hope they go with the Bryuzo Harpuzki car...

2012-04-28T09:22:43.231-04:00

Oh how I hope they go with the Bryuzo Harpuzki card... it'd make an excellent addition to my Japan PC.

Added my own caption and called for more from the ...

2012-04-11T01:50:12.013-04:00

Added my own caption and called for more from the bloggers...

Captioning Jefferson Burdick

The Hobby is dead?

2012-04-05T23:21:52.684-04:00

The Hobby is dead?

"pack searching is bad MmmKay?"

2012-04-05T23:06:56.489-04:00

"pack searching is bad MmmKay?"

This story is like saying beacuse amazon.com is th...

2012-03-30T19:22:39.614-04:00

This story is like saying beacuse amazon.com is the leading seller of books in America, and people aren't buying at traditional bookstores, then the logical conclusion is that the majority of Americans are illiterate. That's just obscene. Worst. Story. EVER.

I watched the story online after reading the blog ...

2012-03-30T10:05:13.933-04:00

I watched the story online after reading the blog post and comment from David. With that in mind, David was right that it could have been anything tangible - stamps, cards, fishing lures, Beanie Babies, etc.
I think where the piece missed entirely was noting the hobby has gone online, which is where most of the commerce is done. Just like Best Buy and electronics, just like banks, just like post offices.
If you put the right product online (Strasburg in the summer in 2010, anyone?) the market is there. Online stores and eBay, Sportlots, etc. are where the hobby still thrives, and while the "thrill" is gone from the childhood boom, Mr. Mint and the VFW Hall which was convenient to slant the story toward its purpose, don't show well when Target and WalMart shelves fly when certain products sell out on a routine basis.
Ask Apple about market trends when it comes to hot and cold...not Mr. Mint.

Totally agree with this piece, hobby is dead, card...

2012-03-29T10:41:20.324-04:00

Totally agree with this piece, hobby is dead, cards are worthless, rather spend 600.00 on gold than a pack that yields nothing.

Hi, Is this Yankees 1/1 card for sale? If so how m...

2012-03-29T04:56:27.942-04:00

Hi, Is this Yankees 1/1 card for sale? If so how much? THanks for you time.

CHeng

The way that piece was done, they could have subst...

2012-03-28T07:29:56.243-04:00

The way that piece was done, they could have substituted ANY hobby in for the baseball cards, it would have been the same story. Things change, the hobby evolves (ANY hobby), the Internet helped change things. It could have been about trains, R/C cars, stamps, beer steins. Awful piece.

To be fair, I'm mostly Tweeting about p...

2012-03-16T11:24:39.174-04:00

To be fair, I'm mostly Tweeting about ponies.

I'd like to be the first to acknowledge a fant...

2012-02-24T20:19:40.782-05:00

I'd like to be the first to acknowledge a fantastic Big Lebowski reference. Well played, sir!

Is "You know" a wild card? Because I cou...

2012-02-12T22:05:33.675-05:00

Is "You know" a wild card? Because I could fill about 37 cards if it is.

I damn near chose Liverpool as my Premier league t...

2012-02-07T21:49:45.514-05:00

I damn near chose Liverpool as my Premier league team of choice simply because Pink Floyd put that clip of You'll Never Walk Alone into their song Fearless which is the best Pink Floyd song ever.

Instead I ended up picking Arsenal because of Colin Firth and that cool cannon logo.

What were we talking about again?

I think the only reason to collect 2012 flagship i...

2012-02-04T22:57:15.289-05:00

I think the only reason to collect 2012 flagship is the excellent photography. It's playful, it's not just pose A,B or C. Many of these photos, of not just star players, are highlights of why baseball is fun. In summation it is a documentary of sorts of some of baseball's grandest moments and traditions.

PS. The insert sets are decent as well, but have been done to death in other products.

You should collect 2012 Topps because it is gamech...

2012-02-04T11:52:01.586-05:00

You should collect 2012 Topps because it is gamechanging.

The Stalegum Anti-Topps Massacre Movement (with ap...

2012-02-03T18:34:05.120-05:00

The Stalegum Anti-Topps Massacre Movement (with apologies to Arlo Guthrie). I won't re-hash, but I agree, we need another choice. Start the petition to MLB and MLBPA, we want another manufacturer.

BTW, Chris, I see your card spending is in a downward spiral.

Preaching to the choir, man. After spending over $...

2012-02-02T21:19:38.410-05:00

Preaching to the choir, man. After spending over $400 trying to build base sets in '07 & '08, I decided to give up trying to put together base sets and just waited until the factory set came out in '09 and picked one up for $50.

I relapsed in '10 and spent another $400 putting together a set. I didn't buy any base at all in '11, but that didn't stop me from dropping $200 to put a Lineage set together. With that I decided that I was officially done with trying to build anymore sets.

There are no reasons to encourage anybody to try and build a base set from packs/boxes. In fact, I'll give you five reasons not to ever purchase a pack of Topps base cards again.

1. The inserts are garbage and that's one less card per pack you're getting towards building a set.

2. There are no true rookie cards in the base set. Yes, there are cards that have the RC logo, but as we all know, those are not really rookie cards.

3. I can go in my local Meijer and see boxes and boxes of 2-3 year old Topps selling for 40-60% off.

4. As I mentioned earlier, you can pick up the factory set in late summer for $50. If you wait a year you can find them at the bigger shows for as low as $30.

5. Topps sucks. End of story.

I'll continue to go to the local shows and cherry pick Tigers out of commons bins to build my team sets. I'll probably sucker myself into buying a few boxes of Heritage, but only because I've had pretty good success pulling autos and reselling them on ebay to recoup most of my $$$. Never mind that I've never completed a Heritage set either, but that's a story for some other time.

Keep fighting the good fight and don't buy anymore base packs. We're all in this together.

AIN'T NOBODY LAYIN A FINGER ON MY BABY! MaaaA...

2012-02-01T23:11:05.835-05:00

AIN'T NOBODY LAYIN A FINGER ON MY BABY!

MaaaAAAaaa!

What you'd come to expect when competition is ...

2012-02-01T22:58:31.333-05:00

What you'd come to expect when competition is removed from the market place.

Shame on Topps.

I bought two retail packs and wish I didn't. I...

2012-02-01T21:12:44.638-05:00

I bought two retail packs and wish I didn't. I really liked the photography from 2011 and 2010, but something is not quite right with 2012.

I'm not sure what it is... the player himself looks okay, but the rest of the card is ... airbrushed? grainy? pixelated? muted colors?

I have a card of Brett Morel making a play at 3B and the pitcher in the foreground is crouching so Morel can make the throw. But, what's this? The pitcher has eyes, but no visible mouth? Weird.

Conversely, everything in R.A. Dickey's card is crystal clear so that the collector can see the cool image of the groundscrew's NY Mets art on the back of the pitching mound.

2012-02-01T21:11:26.249-05:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

The only reason why I would ever consider collecti...

2012-02-01T20:01:47.191-05:00

The only reason why I would ever consider collecting this years set is the '87 minis, but then again I am part of the generation that began collecting around that time. I wouldn't allow some Topps BS spewing PR rep to talk you out of your ban. Any reason they attempt to give you will be either empty promises or schmoozing because he knows people read your blog. What they have spent their money and effort on producing IS reflected in what they truly are...a monopoly that really doesn't care all that much to innovate because, well, where else you gonna go?

It just means that there will be a sizable gap in ...

2012-01-31T22:48:12.619-05:00

It just means that there will be a sizable gap in your collection. Don't do this "five reasons" and I'll buy garbage. Either buy because you are a baseball fan and card collector or don't.

Frankly, while the Topps Company reads your work (they read mine...I think), they're not going to lose sleep because you won't buy the new stuff. Why should they answer to you? How did you become so special?

I can't wait until the product reaches IL. I'll buy when I can. It's just such a shame that you're taking this stand.

Oh well, more for me.

Sincerely

JayBee Anama
bdj610

P.S. Funny, the word verification thing reads "obbermon." I think blogger is trying to tell us something...jba

FORSAKE FLAGSHIP ACQUIRE PONIES

2012-01-31T22:15:34.241-05:00

FORSAKE FLAGSHIP

ACQUIRE PONIES

Seems like a good time for one of those animated v...

2012-01-31T21:44:14.455-05:00

Seems like a good time for one of those animated video behind-the-scenes things you make...