A Vote of No Confidence

They're not a sponsor of this website, nor are they paying me to mention this, and no I'm not getting a cut of the sales.

But right now, you can buy a Hobby box of 2012 Topps Heritage for $46.95 (plus shipping, handling, and appropriate sales taxes) at Dave & Adams.  That's less than two bucks per pack.

Let that sink in for a moment.  

I can never, ever, recall Hobby boxes of Heritage selling for less than $50 -- and keep in mind, this was a product that was released less than four months ago.


Of course, there is a good reason for this.  With all the variations, gimmicks, retailer-exclusive parallels, and meaningless "value added" content, Heritage has become a uncollectible bloated mess -- yet another "marathon" product that most collectors know they'll never be able to fully collect.  So why even bother starting?

The $46.95 Heritage Hobby box is an indictment against the current product development regime at Topps.  The Hobby has spoken with their wallets.  But are they listening?

UPDATE:  Blowout has matched D&A's $46.95 price.  Not surprising if you ask me.

Topps Diamond Dig Prize Fail.

Congratulations! You just dug up 45 unique rings in the 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway. You've just won...



... SOMETHING YOU ALREADY HAVE!!! (cue "The Price is Right Failhorn.")

(h/t The Mojo Beard)

How I've spent my Memorial Day weekend (so far).

So yeah, thanks to my totally awesome MySQL Skillz, I completely fucked up the entire Baseball Card Pedia database; and in the process completely screwed-up Chris Thomas' weekend. According to BCP, Prince Fielder is now listed on 99 44/100% of all baseball cards ever printed.

But I don't blame myself for this error. Oh no. I blame Topps for putting out such a complicated card set. If not for Moments & Milestones, today's tragedy would have been avoided.

Hopefully we have the dbase backed up, and will get everything back in order soon.

Game 1 of the ALCS summed up in about five seconds.

At one time, this was a $100 card.

Fast forward ten years, and now it's just dollar-box fodder.

More Opening Day Photoshop Fail.

By now, you've seen this...



Now there's this...



Did The Topps Ministry of Truth forget about this...?

Card-Ola: 2010 Topps Opening Day

One box of 2010 Topps Opening Day (provided by Topps)
36 packs per box, 7 cards per pack

Part One




Part Two


The Pulls

Base Set: 168 of 220 (76.36%)
36 doubles
3 triples

Parallels

9 Opening Day Edition Parallel (1:5, numbered to 2010): Ichiro, R. Dempster, J. Upton, N. Feliz, J. Willingham (X2), C. Carpenter, C. Hart, R. Howard

Inserts

9 Mascots (26 cards, 1:4): Homer the Brave, Slider, Paws, Sluggerrr, Mr. Met, Stomper, Pirate Parrot, Swinging Friar, Rangers Captain
12 ToppsTown Stars (25 cars, 1:3): C. Jones, D. Ortiz, A. Soriano, J. Bruce, T. Tulowitzki, M. Cabrera, HanRam, H. Pence, Z. Greinke, ManRam, A. Pujols, A. Gonzalez
7 Opening Day Topps Attax Foil (25 cards, 1:6): Ichiro, M. Cabrera, E. Longoria, J. Mauer, M. Kemp, G. Sizemore, D. Wright
4 Superstar Celebration (10 cards, 1:9): R. Braun, Ichiro, R. Zimmerman, A. Ramirez
3 Where'd You Go, Bazooka Joe (10 cards, 1:9): M. Cabrera, E. Longoria, C. Jones

Autogamers

1 Opening Day Autograph (10 cards, 1:746): D. Span

The Review

What can I say about a product that has no reason to exist other than to fill MLB's 99-cent-pack product quota? The sole reason for Opening Day's return was that Topps increased the packs of Topps Attax to $1.99.

About the only thing cool is that the Phillie Phanatic has a card in this set.

Product Rating: 1 1/2 Gumsticks (out of five)

The Worst Designed Card I've Ever Seen.

Words can not describe this... this... thing.

Topps Gimmick Fail

Even if you're ambivalent to gimmicks you have to admit, this is pretty stupid.



(h/t bdj610)

Guess what cards AREN'T in 2010 Bowman?

Take a wild guess.

According to the checklist posted on The Beckett Blog, Andrew Cashner, Aroldis Chapman, and Stephen Strasburg DO NOT appear in the Bowman Prospects insert set.

All three are listed in the "Top 100 Prospects" inserts and Cashner and Strasburg in the "Bowman Expectations" inserts. But, barring a last minute change, the Andrew Cashner, Aroldis Chapman, and Stephen Strasburg cards you see above WILL NOT APPEAR IN 2010 BOWMAN.

More FAIL from National Chicle.

No, this is not a last-minute entry in the National Chicle Parody Card Contest.



Lou Gehrig with a soul patch. Need I say more.

National Chicle Baseball has "FAIL" written all over it.

As much as I like retro-themed sets, Topps may have pushed it a little too far with 2010 National Chicle Baseball.

Seriously, do we really need... this?

That's supposed to be Babe Ruth (although it looks more like a bloated Chipper Jones) depicted in the uniform of a team that did not exist until 18 years after his death.

But wait there's more...



Yes it's Ichiro, but in a Seattle Pilots uniform.

Why? Why not just airbrush a Brewers uni on the guy and be done with it?

And then there's this crime against cardboard...



So, is NCB supposed to be based on a 75-year-old football card set, or a 20-year-old baseball one? And who is this even supposed to be? Obviously it's not Frank Thomas, but it can't be Gordon Beckham either because he doesn't play first base. Paul Konerko?

What the fuck is this? What was Topps thinking?

(h/t Beckett Blog)

UD's MJ Fail.

Directly from the press release...

“Michael Jackson was a unique entertainer whose performances routinely exceeded expectations as he continually tested the boundaries with his music and dance,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “After witnessing the outpouring of love at his memorial, we knew the public would appreciate this commemorative collection to celebrate his larger-than-life persona. Both sport and music fans alike will no doubt reminisce about the memorable halftime performance.”

So naturally, the death of Michael Jackson calls for a set of gimmicked inserts in a baseball card set no one cares about; stamped with the logo of another baseball card set no one cares about; commemorating an event that happened at a football game; and to add a little extra to the creep factor, it's in a product marketed to "The youth baseball fan."

Look at that last clause again: Michael "Jesus Juice" Jackson is in a baseball card set MADE FOR KIDS!

Great job Upper Deck!

Play Upper Deck off, Keyboard Cat!

Yes, this was the reason why Algore invented the internets.

The $250 EPIC FAIL.

First, go watch Beckett's break of two pack/boxes of Topps Sterling. (I'd post it here for your convince, they won't let me embed the video to this site.)

Go on, watch it.

While you watch, I'll keep myself entertained with this Tom the Ripper mash-up video.



Now, if you're a long-time Stale Gum reader, you've probably figured out that Topps Sterling is a product that isn't exactly geared toward my demographic. But if I paid $250 for a "pox" of Sterling, and my "big hit" is a framed multi-swatch jersey card of Tom Seaver numbered to ten copies, and the '69 on the frame WAS MOUNTED UPSIDE DOWN, I would not be a happy collector.

That is all.