Topps Support Failure

I feel like there’s far too much complaining that goes on in the hobby these days and I hate to pile on, but I feel like this is a story that needs to be told. When I opened my case of 2011 Topps Update, I was shorted a hit in one of the boxes. On top of that, it seemed to me that I was missing what should have been the case hit. I scanned my UPCs and receipt and mailed them off to Topps; following the directions given by them to make things easier when shorted a hit. Some time went by before I got an email from Topps Support asking me to call them. I called and spent time on hold before being told that my attached image didn’t go through and I would have to send it again. Why they couldn’t tell me this via email I couldn’t understand.

I ended up resending the email with the attachment time and time again with a smaller and smaller file size. Something is wrong with the Topps Support email because they should be able to get the tiny attachments that I was sending. Each time, the only response that I would get was if I Tweeted @toppssupport about the issue. Again, no clue why the email account isn’t being staffed properly. After months of back and forth (or more like back, pester Topps and then reluctant forth), I finally emailed them again with a link to the images hosted on Google. I got an email telling me that I had to send them the UPCs, receipt, etc in order to get my missing hit. That just goes to show that the people manning the Topps Support email really aren’t reading the messages that come in.

I finally got my image in the hands of Topps and waited a little while. The other day this card came in the mail:

At first glance, this looks like a great card to get from Topps. It’s a dual relic numbered to 50 copies with the real NL MVP on it. It’s only upon further inspection that things get a little shady. First off, there’s the fact that the Kemp jersey swatch has a pull and is unraveling. Second, the bottom right corner is smashed and feathered. Honestly, this looks like a card that someone else sent back for replacement that they then sent to me. Thanks, but no thanks Topps. I can’t even be bothered to contact them again about this. My time is more valuable to me. I see what awesome customer service looks like on a daily basis. If this is what Topps currently thinks of it’s customers then I’m not sure if I want to continue to be one.

Collectors Want Upper Deck Back?

I can understand any collector wanting the cards that Upper Deck released to still exist because they did make some nice looking cards, but any company can do that with the right graphic designers and attitude towards cards. I’m wondering how many people who rave about Upper Deck have actually dealt with the company itself?

Back when it was a new product, I opened a box of 2008 Timelines. Unhappy with the ridiculous cards with the huge roller marks down the middle, I sent them in to be replaced. I didn’t get the replacement cards back until June 2009 after contacting them 5 or 6 times about the delay.

In May 2009, I opened two ridiculous boxes of Upper Deck. My basketball box shorted me a hit and the baseball box shorted me two hits and 4 of the packs only contained 10 cards instead of the 20 that are supposed to come in a pack. I sent emails that went unanswered. I got the attention of Chris Carlin via the Upper Deck Facebook page and finally got sent the basketball card that I was shorted. I continued contacting Upper Deck and then finally in January of 2010, I got some packs of series 1 and series 2 as replacements.

I submitted 7 “in stock” redemption cards from my Basketball Draft Edition case on New Year’s Eve. It is now March 2nd and the cards haven’t even been shipped yet. From what I’ve read online, in stock redemption cards are taking around 3 months to be redeemed.

I pulled a redemption card for a Michael Johnson autographed card that was never produced about 18 months after the release of the product. Even though it had been that long and the card still didn’t exist, I still had to wait 45 days before I could file a claim to have that card replaced with something else. Once I filed that claim, I was told that it would be 6-8 weeks until the card was shipped out. So, sometime in June I will most likely get some ugly card with no picture and a sticker auto from World of Sports that doesn’t come close to what the Michael Johnson auto should have been.

Last, but certainly not least, is my current experience in regards to the expired Ken Griffey Jr autographed box topper which is a case hit. I also pulled three other expired redemption cards for Stroke of Genius cards, but those don’t really bother me. I sent an email to Upper Deck about the expired redemptions stating that they were from 2007 Masterpieces and got the following reply:

Dear Valued Customer,

Please send us the following info so we can create a case for you to send in your expired redemption card:

Full Name:
Full Address:
Phone Number:
Redemption Code:
Expiration Date:

***Please note that all expired redemptions are handled on a case by case basis. Not all expired redemptions will be accepted***

Sincerely,

Upper Deck Customer Care

Silly me thought that this meant that they were considering doing something for my expired redemption cards. Today, I got this email:

Dear Valued Customer,

I am sorry to hear you have pulled an expired redemption from our product. Unfortunately, we are unable to redeem your card because it is expired. For more information regarding our redemption card policy please contact customer service at 1-800-873-7332. I am sorry for any inconvenience. I hope you have a great day!

Sincerely,

Upper Deck Customer Care

Have you ever read a smarmier less sincere email in your life? I don’t think that I have. Valued? You sure aren’t showing me that I’m valued. Why make me wait before sending this email? Did you not know the redemption dates for your own products? “I hope you have a great day!” Well, possibly if UD knew the first thing about customer service. I work for a company consistently rated as one of the best in customer service in any field and have worked in the customer service field even prior to that. The things that my current company does to make the customer happy is ridiculous sometimes, but it is worth it because you end up with loyal customers. I’m not quite sure what Upper Deck is trying to do here. I’m so glad that I didn’t purchase a single pack of 2010 baseball.

Then there’s the replies from Upper Deck on Twitter to I Am Joe Collector:

just got the run around from @upperdecksports on the phone regarding the redemption.  Their story keeps changing.

UpperDeckSports: We've shared before that expired cards cannot be honored: http://bit.ly/i6EtN7 MLB is very tough to help with now. Sorry!

That isn't true, the rep on the phone told me that UD will honor them if the haven't been expired for more than 1 year

UpperDeckSports: Again, MLB is difficult. We don't have a license, no new products & collectors who redeemed on time get priority.

[Note that one hand doesn’t seem to know what the other is doing.]

So which is it?

UpperDeckSports: You can work with the reps, but don't expect that Jeter. That ship has most likely sailed. One of the dangers of older wax.

I tried, but the rep flat out told I get nothing willy wonka style.

[Again, no one seems to know the policies that other people are quoting.]

UpperDeckSports: Then that would be your final answer. Sorry again, but you've got to be careful in busting older product.

so what you are saying is that the process is arbitrary? Great.

UpperDeckSports: More that havent had a MLB license for two years, the cupboard is bare. If you buy MLB product, you do so at your own risk.

[Remember, this is a valued customer being told to buy UD products, even 2010 Baseball, at their own risk.]

So, don’t mind me if I don’t get all nostalgic for Upper Deck and starting throwing pennies into wishing wells hoping that they get their licenses back. Right now, Razor seems like a more reputable company than Upper Deck. I won’t shed a single tear once Upper Deck closes their doors for the last time and is gone from the hobby forever.

Next up for a shiny, happy post: For those of you complaining about a Topps monopoly in baseball, be glad that it’s not Panini. Things could be a lot worse.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

There's far too much waiting involved in this hobby at the moment. I mistakenly bid on and won an eBay auction from Hong Kong which is estimated to arrive a month after the auction ended. That's a mistake that I'll never make again.

I'm still waiting for my two packs of Bowman Chrome wrapper redemption packs which were supposedly sent out by Topps last Friday. If they don't arrive tomorrow then I'll be sending an e-mail to Topps requesting replacements. There's no way anything should take a week to get from Duryea to Massachusetts.

On the Panini front, I'm waiting for a replacement of a Chris Kaman autograph card from Studio and redemption autographs of Pat Summitt and Cheryl Miller. It's been almost 4 months on the Summitt and 2 on the Miller.

Then there's Upper Deck which just might be the most frustrating of all. On 12/30 and 12/31, I submitted seven codes for redemption cards from my Draft Basketball case. The website stated that they were "in stock, item will be shipped soon."  Apparently, Upper Deck and I have differing ideas on the definition of the word soon. It is now the middle of February and these cards haven't even shipped from Upper Deck. Redemption cards are frustrating enough when they're for cards that don't yet exist, but there's no excuse for this kind of wait when the cards are supposedly sitting there in their warehouse.

There's also the issue of the Michael Johnson autographed redemption for a card that doesn't exist and never will. The first frustrating this is that they still made me wait 45 days to request a replacement from a set that's been out for a year and a half. There's no way that this card is ever going to be made. If anything, they would have tried to acquire Johnson autographs to include in the recent World of Horrible Pictureless Sticker Autograph Cards release.

So, I entered the code on January 3rd. 45 days after that is February 17th if I'm figuring things out correctly. I got an e-mail from them on the 2nd saying that "a replacement of comparable value will be sent out in 6-8 weeks." Here's the list of players that I sent to them. Who do you think that I'm going to get?

1. Larry Bird
2. Tom Brady
3. Bill Russell
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Multi-auto Celtics card
6. Mike Piazza
7. Ray Allen
8. Rajon Rondo

Looks like I'll have to wait two months to find out what they're going to send me. It's a shame that this isn't Panini or else I'd be looking forward to getting a nice 1/1 card in the mail.

I've never been more down on the hobby and it sucks. I don't want to be. I want this to be fun, but at times it can be tough to have fun when every major company out there currently producing sports trading cards is pulling ridiculous bullshit. Maybe I'll start busting cases of Rittenhouse Archives non-sports stuff instead. Sketch cards do pretty well on eBay.

I guess that's why other than the case break, I really haven't opened much of anything and have instead purchased a bunch of singles from eBay. I really hope things change because these companies have made me really good at waiting and I can wait a while before opening up my wallet to support them.

Who Are You Trying to Kid, Panini?

I feel like a crotchety old man, but there’s just too much about the hobby that’s no fun these days.  Topps’ whole 2010 release schedule ended up being a huge disaster because one guy got injured.  Well, that’s how they’ll try and spin it, but the real problem is the poor level of quality control which is amplified by the lackluster customer service.  I’m sick of the empty promises and PR prattle being spewed forth from sports card companies.  Don’t even get me started on all of the illegal shenanigans that Upper Deck tried to hide from collectors.

On January 7th, Panini posted on their blog about “The State of Redemption Cards.”  Long story short, it was more PR fluff from Panini’s VP of Operations stating that they’re going to try and improve the process for fulfilling redemption cards and ultimately eliminating them completely.

Panini recently released their high end product 2010/11 Timeless Treasures.  There are five cards per tin and most tins contain 2 jersey cards and one sticker autograph.  Check out this case break on the Blowout Forums.  There are 15 boxes per case.  In 30 boxes this person pulled 20 redemption cards.  Amongst those redemption cards is one for Kobe Bryant.  That would be Panini spokesman Kobe Bryant.  If Panini can’t get their spokesman to sign then what the hell are they doing?  All I know is that card had better be on-card and not a sticker.  His third case had 7 redemption cards in 15 boxes which is better than his first two cases.  Ouch.  Why would anyone go anywhere near this stuff?  Yes, there are some beautiful looking cards, but you’re better off ponying up the cash for the singles if you really want them.

Maybe releasing this set in this state was the straw that broke the camels back and led to that posting on the blog, but this release as one of your top products is embarrassing.  38 autographs in 30 boxes in the first two cases and 20 of those autographs are redemptions.  17 autographs in 15 boxes in the second case and 7 of those are redemptions.  So, 10 out of 45 boxes had two autographs while 35 only had one.  These are terrible percentages all over the board.  Around 20% of the time you’re only going to get one auto and 50% of the time that auto is going to be a redemption card.  That’s after paying $80 - $100 for a tin of 5 cards.

So, it looks like I’m going to go another year buying minimal Panini basketball product.  They overvalue the jersey cards that they put into products and it overinflates the prices of their products.  I’d love for Panini to prove me wrong, but right now their products just aren’t worth it.

 

Technorati Tags: Panini,Timeless Treasures,redemption cards,basketball cards

What Do Card Companies Owe You?

My disastrous 2010 Topps Chrome box break got me thinking.  What are you actually buying when you slap your hard earned cash down on the counter to purchase a box of trading cards?

I’m not a prospector.  I don’t purchase cases of product to bust and then flip on eBay.  I’ve got a limited budget and therefore have to be selective when it comes to what I buy.  I have fun opening oddball sets just as much as I do anything else.  So, what happens when you open a box of cards and it becomes a chore instead of a pleasure?  Does the manufacturer owe you anything more than a replacement for all of the damaged cards?

No, the card companies don’t owe a collector anything more than the cards promised to come in the box.  That being said, it would be nice for them to acknowledge that this is a hobby, one that can be pretty expensive, and people collect cards as a way to relax and enjoy themselves.  If people give up on this hobby then that’s it for these companies, but often times it doesn’t seem like card manufacturers think that way.

When I sent back over half of a box of Topps Chrome to Topps for replacement, I included a note explaining that this is supposed to be a fun hobby for me, I was robbed of the fun of opening packs and asked if there was any way that they could make that up to me.  I didn’t care what it would have been.  It could have been half of a hobby box, a blaster, a handful of random Topps packs or a single redemption pack.  I just would have liked for them to do something.

What did I get back? Replacement cards for all of the damaged cards that I sent.  They’re all still as curved as the ones that I sent back so apparently Topps doesn’t deem that as a defect.  It must be a feature of 2010 Topps Chrome.  I also got the typical bullshit form letter from Topps explaining what the procedure is that I just went through to get these cards replaced.  No acknowledgement of the letter that I sent to them and nothing from them to say, “Sorry you had such a bad experience with a Topps product. Please let us make it up to you.”  So much for their renewed commitment to customer service.  It’s all just PR smoke screen to cover their asses on some cheaply made sets and burned collectors who paid way too much money on pre-sells amidst the Strasburg hype.

The only thing that made this whole process slightly better than just tossing all of the cards in dumpster was the fact that Topps is out of base versions of the Strasburg card that I sent back and so I got a refractor instead.  They also sent me a purple Tyler Colvin.  If I had gotten a purple Strasburg then this might have been worth my time, money and frustration.

Since this set is so ridiculously cheap these days, I purchased a complete set on eBay.  I now have a ton of extras for this set so if anyone is looking to complete it, drop me a line and I can help you out.  Also, if you won my last contest and don’t have this year’s Chrome cards of your favorite team/player then let me know and I’ll throw what I’ve got into your prize pile.

 

Technorati Tags: 2010 Topps Chrome,Stephen Strasburg

Playoff BS

I know that you’re supposed to keep your cool no matter what the situation, but I hate how it always seems to happen in NBA playoff series that a team will have a scrub instigate something with a star player on the other team.  Even if Quentin Richardson had been suspended along with Garnett for Game 2 of the Celtics/Heat series, the Heat would have the advantage.

It actually seemed more like Richardson was trying to instigate something with Pierce who led the Celtics comeback in Game 1, but Garnett stepped in and instead he’s the one who ended up getting suspended.  With 40 seconds remaining in the game, there’s no doubt that this is the tactic that Richardson had in mind when he was standing over Pierce after he had been knocked down on the sideline.

Luckily for the Celtics it was Garnett and not Pierce who ended up being suspended.  The Celtics still stand a chance in Game 2 without Garnett, but they wouldn’t have a shot without Pierce.  Richardson may have done something very stupid though.  The Celtics were a team struggling at the end of the regular season.  They haven’t played up to expectations even though they won 50 games.  The last thing that you want to do is give them something to rally around and wake them up.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see huge games from Pierce and Allen in Game 2 and then a big game from Garnett when he returns in Game 3 to take that game in Miami.

I really wish that David Stern would do something about these kinds of antics, but improving the level of officiating and fairness of calls during games hasn’t been high on his list of things to do.  A team can win a game with 6 players on the court and have that win stand without the referees even reviewing the video.  Stern is all about the image of the league and has put more emphasis on things like players dressing well.  Unfortunately, you can easily conceal guns under dress clothing.  When all is said and done, I wonder if Stern’s legacy will have more to do with the decisions that he made or the fact that the most popular player in the history of the league was drafted the same year that he became commissioner and joined Magic and Bird who saved the league.  The popularity of the league under Stern sometimes overshadows the bad things that have gone on such as the weapons charges, the fights in the stands, the crooked referees, allegations of fixing the NBA Draft and Bill Simmons’ favorite rumor of the super secret suspension of Michael Jordan for gambling that led to his time playing minor league baseball.  Meanwhile, Stern has made sure that players don’t commit such serious transgressions such as Tweeting during a game.

Technorati Tags: David Stern,Quentin Richardson,Kevin Garnett

Topps redemptions are a fucking joke

From this point on, I’m selling each and every Topps redemption card that I get my hands on.  The ridiculousness that I’ve endured regarding 2009 Finest redemptions is beyond asinine.

I purchased my box of 2009 Finest 2 addresses ago which is very relevant to this story.  That was the address that I entered when I redeemed these cards.  I waited and waited and waited and nothing arrived.

Eventually, two of the six total redemptions that I was waiting for from Topps arrived.  One was a Finest redemption and one was a 2009 Red Hot Rookie.  Why would just one Finest card show up when all but the Hanson auto were sent out at the same time?  I’ve got no clue so I went back to waiting and waiting.

Getting sick of waiting, I contacted Topps Customer Support who I normally have good luck with.  They researched and found out that the other cards were shipped to a different address.  Why would some of the cards be sent to one address and others to a different address?  Again, I’ve got no clue.

So, one card trickled in with one of those “Please notify sender of your new address” stickers on it and another was re-sent from Topps.  I was still one card short and am still trying to have Topps send that card to me again.  That card is not the reason why I am writing this post though.

I’ve been obsessively following the progress of my Tommy Hanson autographed redemption ever since Topps tweeted about Hanson coming in to sign stuff.  It was marked shipped with a tracking number and so I checked it on an almost daily basis and waited and waited and waited.  Three weeks later, some tracking information finally arrived and… the card was sent to the wrong address.  Are you kidding me?  At this point my new address has been on file with Topps/Tristar Fulfillment for 6 months.  There’s no excuse for this.

Since the cards are now out in the wild, I decide to take a quick look on eBay so I’ll at least have an idea of what might someday magically appear in my mailbox.  So, I stumbled across this eBay auction.  A sticker auto!  A STICKER AUTO!  Are you fucking kidding me?  I’ve been waiting close to a year for this card and it’s a sticker auto.  What a joke that is.  There’s on-card autos in 2009 Topps Chrome, but this redemption card that was produced after that card is a sticker.

Not only is it a sticker, but it is a sticker stuck on an ugly card.  The area on the card is too small for the sticker and it ends up looking horrible.  Take a look at the completed auctions for this card and you’ll see some piss poor sticker placement.  There are crooked stickers.  Stickers that are partially covering the Finest logo on the card.  Stickers with off-center stickers.  I think I would have gotten better results if I had my four year old daughter put the stickers on these things.  So disappointed.

The only saving grace of this whole thing is that the card is selling for a decent price on eBay.  So, once the card comes in it is going to go right up on eBay and get the heck out of my collection.  I’ve got no tolerance for abominations such as this.  I’m also open to trade offers.  Anyone out there have a 1992 Fleer Update set or a really nice card of someone that I collect that you’d like to transform into this card?  Drop me a line and let me know.  I’d love to salvage something out of this fiasco.

Topps, if by any chance you end up reading this.  Please, for the love of god, cut way down on the number of redemption cards that you use.  The rookie redemptions rarely add any value to a set because by the time the cards are redeemed these rookies have a bunch of other cards that people are looking for instead.  I can see issuing a redemption card if it is for something like a dual signed card that you got signed by one player, but couldn’t hook up with the second player in time for the release, but issuing redemption cards for cards you don’t know if you’ll be able to get signed or for cards that you don’t plan on producing for another 6 months isn’t any good.  Just focus on giving those players great cards in an upcoming card instead.  Most importantly, redemption cards lead to frustration and wasted space in packs when you go and open older boxes.  It’s not the fault of the purchaser that you couldn’t get your cards done in time, but they have to suffer by getting useless, expired redemption cards in their boxes.  Hopefully you can keep redemptions out of Chicle and Ginter or else I think I’m done with Topps products for the year.

On a related note, these same Finest cards led to a terrible eBay experience as well.  Since these cards sell for next to nothing these days, I decided that I’d try and put together the set.  So, I found one sell on eBay that had three of the cards listed.  I asked if he combined shipping and he replied that he did.  I won three of the cards for .99¢ and one other card for $1.29.  The seller didn’t seem happy about that since no matter how many times I contacted him, he wouldn’t send me an invoice with the combined shipping.  I waited two weeks before leaving him negative feedback as directed by eBay.  I find it strange that they have non-paying bidder strikes, but not non-selling strikes.  That’s eBay for you.  I’ll end this tangent before it takes on a life of its own.

Sorry for the bitch session.  I plan to follow this up tonight with some much better content.  Who knows, maybe someone will benefit from this by adding a Tommy Hanson card to their collection.

When are shipped cards not shipped?

I’m starting to grow more and more tiresome of redemption cards.  Even when things go smoothly, there’s usually a long period of waiting if you are purchasing new product.  I’m not sure why card companies can’t just plan autograph inserts a year in advance.  Give yourselves plenty of lead time to get the cards signed on card.  Non-autographed redemption cards are even more frustrating.  Between the time that you pull the redemption and it arrives, there are a bunch of other rookies of the same players that you’re waiting for and people quickly forget about the redemption cards.

I ended up with 4 redemption cards from 2009 Topps Finest, 1 from 2009 Topps and 1 from 2008 Topps.  They were all marked as shipped around the same time towards the end of December.  I saw some of the Finest cards and Red Hot Rookies show up on other people’s blogs.  A Colby Rasmus Finest card arrived in my mailbox.  I figured that the rest would arrive in the next day or two.  I waited and waited and over a week later there was no sign of the other cards.

I sent an e-mail to Topps asking what was going on and if I had any recourse if the cards didn’t arrive.  What I got as a response was kind of surprising:

The products you are expecting may take up to 4-6 weeks to reach their final destination from the processing date. The date the order was processed was December 23rd. We apologize for any inconvenience, as we experienced a delay in the processing.

So, these cards were marked as shipped before they were actually shipped.  That’s my biggest complaint in all of this.  I get absolutely no information regarding the status of these cards.  Upper Deck a little better, but they aren’t all that great either.  There’s no shipping information on these so if they never arrive how am I to prove that?  Is it even worth the hassle?  What’s to stop people from falsely claiming that their cards didn’t arrive?

So, I have to wait another 2-4 weeks from the time that the redemptions were processed by Topps after waiting since May when I first redeemed these just to see if these ever arrive.  Who knows what happens from there.  I’ve sung the praises of Topps’ Customer Service in the past, but their redemption department really needs a lot of work and they need to cut down the number of redemption cards inserted in products.

In other news, I ordered a box of 2009-10 Topps Basketball jumbos and took the hit on shipping.  It’s almost impossible to find and I can see it easily jumping in price again.  I can wait to break that box open.  Topps jumbos are always a lot of fun and these boxes are loaded.  Of course, I’ve probably just jinxed myself and will get nothing.

Technorati Tags: redemption cards suck

So frustrating

Instead of getting a cheaper box here and a cheaper box there, I should have practiced discipline and just saved up for the box that I really wanted. Now it is next to impossible to find a box of 2009/10 Topps Basketball jumbos for a decent price. It is in stock at a couple of online retailers, but they don’t offer free shipping until you reach $150 which means saving up a little longer.

I can’t complain because I enjoyed opening everything that I picked up with the exception of the base Panini Basketball. I just wish that I had picked up a box of this stuff back when it was $80 a box. Now I need to hurry up and get a box of 2009 Updates and Highlights before that dries up. That stuff doesn’t seem to be as loaded as basketball or even series 1 and 2 of baseball.

Technorati Tags: Me complaining

Which would you rather have?

I’m sure that many of you reading this also follow the Upper Deck Blog.  One of the things that they love to do on that blog is post pictures of stuff that they are going to cut up and insert into their various products.  Today, they posted an entry about a Michael Jackson photo that they can’t wait to cut up and put into 2009 Prominent Cuts.  They’re going to take an autographed picture from the coolest music video ever and chop it up so that they can put the signature in an upcoming set and capitalize on the death of a celebrity.

Once they’re done with it, the Frankenstein card will probably look something like this.  I’m sure that the design will be a little fancier, but you get the gist.  You get the autograph, Jackson’s shoulder and a zombie’s mouth.  Would you rather own that or the complete picture?  Imagine if the Upper Deck redemption got you a nice, framed Upper Deck Authenticated piece that this were to be put into.  It could still be a 1/1 and say Upper Deck on it, but it wouldn’t require the destruction of a nice piece of memorabilia in order for it to be made.

I decided to share my thoughts on the Upper Deck blog comments, but I guess that they didn’t care for them since I wasn’t singing their praises.  I didn’t see anything about comments not showing up until they are approved so I can only guess that they decided to delete my comment:

This is the reason why I think cut signature cards are the worst idea to come into the hobby in a long time. It’s fine when the documents that are being destroyed are things like cancelled checks. Cutting those up betters the way that they look, but when it comes to stuff like this autographed picture or historical documents it’s a shame to have those destroyed for a silly trading card.

Have you ever thought about doing redemption cards in products where the person is sent an autographed picture or historical document intact? I know that it won’t say “UPPER DECK” all over it, but maybe you can transform it into an UDA piece and then send that off to the person.

I really can’t believe you’re bragging about cutting this up. It’s really not anything to be proud of.

I guess my criticism wasn’t welcome.  There goes my shot at ever writing a guest column in the Upper Deck blog.  IS it just me thinking this way?  Which item would you rather have?  Does hacking up this card and slapping a 1/1 on it make it more desirable?

Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson,2009 Prominent Cuts,Upper Deck,Thriller

Juicing the Fun Out of the Game

You may have noticed a lack of updates on the site ever since the “story” broke regarding David Ortiz’s alleged steroid use.  The reaction that I saw everywhere after the story broke was disgusting.  It seems like a lot of people were chomping at the bit to take shots at the Boston Red Sox and their most popular player.  Now the World Series victories are supposedly tainted and of course all of the critics knew all along that Ortiz had to have been using steroids.  The only problem is that nothing about Ortiz’s past screamed steroids unless you’ve got your witch hunt blinders on.

The first piece of evidence that people always point to is Ortiz’s stats with the Twins.  They cite the low home run totals, but for some reason never mention the injuries or low number of games played.  Ortiz’s 16.8 AB/HR in 2001 is very respectable.  To put it into perspective, this year Jason Bay’s AB/HR is 15.60, Justin Morneau is 15,75 Ian Kinsler is 16.08 and Ryan Braun is 17.42.  Albert Pujols leads the league with 10.84.

The only numbers that jump out at you are 2005 and 2006.  Ortiz led the American League in 2006 (Ryan Howard just edged him with 10.017) and that tied for the 26th best of all time with Kevin Mitchell’s 1994 season.  Bagwell had a season at 10.256, Frank Thomas had a season at 10.500 and Ken Griffey Jr had a season at 10.825 and they are all players considered to be clean.  I don’t see how these numbers implicate Ortiz.

A lot of people like to think that Ortiz came out of nowhere, but that’s not the case.  Ortiz hit 31 HR in 1997 for three teams between high A, AA and AAA before getting a cup of coffee with the Twins at the end of the season.  He hit 30 HR in 1999 in AAA after a rough start to his major league career.  He was a player that I always picked up as a sleeper in my fantasy leagues so it was frustrated along with the Twins when Ortiz succumbed to injuries and couldn’t translate his minor league success to the big league level.  Ortiz was a solid fielder, but never spectacular (and much better than he ever gets credit for).  When Doug Mientkiewicz showed up with a slick glove and lofty batting average, it led to the Twins deciding to let Ortiz walk.

The biggest factor in the jump in Ortiz’s statistics once coming to Boston was health.  Until the 2008 season, Ortiz was able to remain relatively healthy which he was never able to do in Minnesota.  He fractured his wrist in 2001 which cut short what probably would have been his breakthrough season.  2002 saw Ortiz plagued by knee problems which led to him getting the knee scoped.  Ortiz did what everyone expected him to do when healthy until injuries sidelined him again in 2008.

The other huge factor in Ortiz’s improvement was the help of hitting coach Ron “Papa Jack” Jackson.  Ortiz sang his praises highly and he seemed to straighten out the problems that Ortiz was having by getting him to open up his stance allowing him to get his bat on more pitches and use more of the field.  Ortiz got off to a slow start at the beginning of the 2007 season which was the first after the Red Sox let Papa Jack go.  Reportedly, he made a couple of phone calls to Jackson and found out what he was doing wrong.  He went on to have the highest batting average of his career that season.

Many people pointed to Ortiz’s slow start in 2009 and said that it must be due to Ortiz coming off of steroids.  Of course there’s no way that the injury could be a factor.  Some local pundits said that it looked like Ortiz was having trouble seeing the ball especially since he was swinging late on a lot of pitches.  Whether the new eye drops he started using were the reason or not, Ortiz caught fire after that.  His average is still pretty low, but since June 6th he’s leading the American League in home runs with 19 and as you can see from the chart above, his AB/HR is right where it usually is.

Ortiz maintained his innocence all along, but few believed him.  He held a press conference where the Major League Baseball Players Association stated that he was on the list, but didn’t test positive for steroids.  They haven’t spoken up on behalf of any other player.  It was interesting to hear Peter Gammons touch on this because after hearing all of the details released by the MLBPA about that list, he believes that there’s only around 60 – 70 different names on the list which tested positive for steroids.  Gammons also believe that Ortiz hasn’t ever taken steroids.  That hasn’t kept large numbers of people from continuing to insist that Ortiz took steroids.

What bothers me is that you won’t see one retraction.  For some reason, people would rather believe two “anonymous lawyers” who are breaking the law for a pay day over a ballplayer who hasn’t done anything to cause people not to believe him.  I guess it’s not suspect that the only names leaked this time were a couple of Red Sox by a New York newspaper about a week before a huge Red Sox/Yankees series.

If you don’t believe Ortiz then you can’t believe any player.  Whether it be Pujols, Griffey Jr, Vlad Guerrero or Frank Thomas.  There’s no way that anyone that’s clean is outhitting all of these players who have supposedly taken steroids.  With the Players Union not allowing blood tests for HGH, anyone could take it without fear of being caught.

I never understood the fun in tearing down other teams and/or players.  Hearing “Yankees suck” chants at Red Sox games, Celtics games and concerts makes me cringe.  It makes fans sound petty and sad.  If a team with 26 championships sucks then I wish the Sox would suck a little more.

Nothing good can come of outing these players from the 2003 tests.  If the Players Union allowed for HGH testing and we could definitely know who was clean, I’d be of the mindset that the list should be released, but since we don’t know if people who aren’t on the list are actually clean then there’s no use.  The list definitely shouldn’t be leaked a name at a time and Bud Selig should be doing all that he can to prosecute those two lawyers which leaked these latest two names to the full extent of the law.

Major League Baseball just gave Topps an exclusive license to produce baseball cards citing a need to bring kids back into the hobby as a reason for doing so.  Making kids suffer through their favorite players being called cheats and liars could alienate the kids that are already interested.  I know it has affected my enjoyment of the game and I’m 33 years old.  I can only imagine how little kids have reacted.  I feel badly for young fans of Ortiz, A-Rod, etc. who have to see their heroes torn down by a bunch of adults under the pretense of “the sanctity of the game.”  I don’t even want to imagine how badly I would have taken it if Dwight Evans had been labeled a cheater when I was a kid.

Who knows how fans will look back upon this era in ten, twenty or even fifty years from now.  Right now, it seems like too many fans are of the mindset that every player has used PEDs at some point in their career and don’t believe any of the denials.  There have to be some players out there not using due to the health risks or other reasons and that mindset isn’t fair to them.  A lot of players used before it was against the rules.  Are their accomplishments tainted?  It’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out.  I have a feeling that baseball’s already hurting reputation isn’t going to get any better.

Technorati Tags: David Ortiz,steroids

Topps and Major League Baseball going steady.

The big news today is that Topps has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball to exclusively produce baseball cards in 2010 and beyond.  Upper Deck had previously reached a deal with the MLB Players Association which probably meant that they knew the writing was on the wall.

While I’m not too disappointed with Upper Deck losing their license, I was kind of hoping that Donruss would be allowed back into the hobby.  I don’t know if an exclusive deal is a good thing for collectors.  Exclusivity has reared its head in the sports video game world and it seems to have annoyed more people than it made happy.  The people that are happy are the video game company though so nothing changes.  Electronic Arts got the exclusive rights to produce NFL games for their Madden franchise, but then lost the ability to make MLB games when an exclusive deal was signed with Take-Two Interactive.

In a way, the same thing happened here.  Upper Deck negotiated the first exclusive deal when they got the right to be the only licensed NHL card manufacturer.  They first lost the ability to make basketball cards when Panini was given an exclusive deal and they’ve now lost the ability to make baseball cards.  Well, baseball cards with team names and logos on them.  It remains to be seen how popular cards without MLB uniforms and logos will be.   For some, if you throw enough autographs and relics in there it probably won’t matter, but personally I don’t see myself buying cards of players in street clothes, generic uniforms or on highly air-brushed cards.

In all honesty, I’m not too distraught over Upper Deck losing their license.  They were in a downward spiral over the past few years and didn’t seem to want to fix their problems.  The biggest problems are the collation and quality issues in their products.  Upper Deck must have used the dullest blades on the planet to cut their cards because the corners always seemed to be soft right out of the packs.  Roller marks have been an enormous issue as well with the worst problem being in 2008 Timelines where every card from one of the subsets had a pair of roller marks through it.  High-end, one-per-pack cards come with dinged corners.  Watch enough box breaks online and you’ll see plenty of damaged cards.

Collation is the second huge issue.  I opened a box of this year’s baseball that had 4 packs containing only 10 cards (and only 1 of the 3 “average” hits).  I’ve written Upper Deck numerous times and sent in my UPC along with the hologram from the box and haven’t gotten anything in return.  Numerous attempts to follow up have been ignored.  Mine wasn’t an isolated incident as the blogosphere was full of stories about how people were missing hits or cards from their boxes.  Upper Deck is careful to word that the expected hits are only an average so if you don’t get anything then they don’t have to make it up to you unlike other companies who guarantee the number of hits contained in a box.

Customer support also became a big issue as of late.  Upper Deck made sure to pimp all of their new releases on their Facebook page, but you’d never see anything on there such as the changes to O-Pee-Chee baseball.  It wasn’t uncommon for e-mails to customer support to go unanswered.

The final thing to me, is that Upper Deck really seems to cater to the high-end collector while not putting a lot of effort or creativity into their lower end releases.  Since I don’t ever plan on buying boxes that contain 2 cards for $200, Upper Deck doesn’t see me as their target demographic.  I don’t even like paying $8 for 4 cards that look like postage stamps.  I tend to buy Upper Deck products a year or so after release once the price drops drastically.  2007 Elements, 2007 Masterpieces, etc.  Of course, you can no longer get damaged cards replaced at that point, but many times you are paying around half of what the boxes used to sell for.

So, it’ll be interesting to see what Topps does with the exclusive contract.  All of the naysayers think that Topps will stop being creative the second they are the only game in town.  I see no reason to believe this.  Topps not only had the better looking baseball releases in 2009, but they also gave you the best value for your money with the best of the bunch being the flagship HTA jumbo boxes.  I pulled cards from those boxes that put many Upper Deck high-end hits to shame.

I think the biggest reason for this exclusive deal is Michael Eisner.  Right or wrong, many people credit him for saving Disney.  If he surrounds himself at Topps with a strong team such as the one he had at Disney then he could take Topps far.  Major League Baseball is at its least popular with kids and they see this deal as a way to get back into the lives of kids.  Will it be successful?  Who knows.  Baseball cards didn’t get me interested in the sport.  I was interested in the sport from playing it and bought the cards to collect the players that I watched.  With less kids playing sports and tickets to sporting events being so expensive, it’s not a surprise that fewer kids are interested in baseball.  When I was a kid, my friends and I could walk up to Fenway on any day that Clemens wasn’t pitching and buy $9 bleacher seats on the day of the game.  These days if you don’t get tickets the day that they go on sale then you’re out of luck for the whole season unless you pay outrageous secondary prices.  Between that and steroids, I think baseball has problems that cheaper baseball cards aren’t going to fix.

Good or bad, it’s going to be an interesting year in the hobby.  Panini will be releasing their first basketball sets and Upper Deck will be releasing unlicensed basketball and baseball sets.  It’ll be interesting to see if their strategy in baseball will mirror that of basketball where they try to sign a bunch of big name players to exclusive deals to keep their autographs out of Topps products.  They’re going to need something to draw people to their unlicensed products.  Improving the issues that they’ve got now will be a huge step in the right direction.

Customer service times three

I recently placed an order with Dave and Adam’s Card World that present four different opportunities for customer service from three different companies.  What went wrong and how did things get resolved?  Keep reading and find out.  I know this isn’t a post specifically about cards, but in this day and age when a lot of people have limited budgets for collecting, it’s good to know that if something goes wrong, someone is going to have your back and make things right.

The first problem that I came across was being shipped the wrong type of card holder from D&A.  Things started off a little wobbly and I’m pretty sure that the problem was compounded by the fact that I have the most inept UPS driver in the world delivering to my house.  The main problem to me in this situation to start things off was I wasn’t given a lot of information and that led me to feel that effort wasn’t being put into correcting the situation.

At one point, I got pretty fed up and sent an e-mail stating so and that’s when David from the premier account department contacted me and things got straightened out right away.  David went above and beyond and changed my mindset from being wary of placing another order there to eagerly awaiting the moment that I’m able to afford placing another order and giving them another chance.

Customer Service Grade: A

The next two customer service opportunities presented themselves when I opened two of the Upper Deck boxes from my order.  My 2008-09 Basketball box didn’t come with an autograph (on average).  My 2009 Series 1 Baseball had four packs that only contained 10 cards and was missing an autograph and a dual patch memorabilia card (on average).

I had opened the baseball box first and sent an e-mail right after opening it.  I sent another e-mail after opening the basketball box.  I was given a case number, which I thought was for the baseball box, and was told what I had to send in to Upper Deck.  I included the required items from both boxes along with a letter explaining the situation.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Upper Deck which included a Udonis Haslim autograph from 2005-06 SP Authentic and a pack of 2007-08 First Edition.  It’s a nice, on-card autograph that Haslim signed with his jersey number.  This was a perfect way to handle my getting shorted in the basketball box.  The only problem is that there was no sign of replacement baseball cards.  To me, that was the bigger issue since I was missing 40 cards including 2 out of the 3 hits that you’re supposed to get in a box.  I sent an e-mail to Upper Deck’s customer service asking if the baseball cards were coming in a later shipment or not, but I haven’t heard anything from them.

Customer Service Grade: Inc (B+ for basketball portion)

The final customer service opportunity involved the Dwayne Wade autographed mini that I’ve written about here previously.  I would have loved to add the card to my collection, but you couldn’t even really call it a Dwayne Wade autograph due to the shape that the autograph was in.

I started my correspondence with Topps via e-mail and wanted to see what the exchange process would entail since I was wary about sending this card away.  As far as I know, most of my communication was with Danny and he was great.

First, I found out that Topps did not have an exact replacement for this card.  I had a feeling that would be the case and so I wanted to find out what would happen if I sent the card in.  My worst fear was that I would be sent a Dwayne Wade autograph from this year’s Topps Signature and that wouldn’t be acceptable at all.

Through continued communication, I found out that Topps has a department where they determine what a card is valued at and send appropriate substitutions.  I wondered if I could talk to this department and was told to call Topps.  I got Danny on the phone and he went over what he thought some of the options might be if I were sent unopened wax as a replacement.  I had to stress that I didn’t want to be sent Triple Threads which seemed to surprise Danny because “most people ask for that.”

The package arrived on Wednesday via UPS, but I wasn’t around to receive it and so I didn’t get it until yesterday.  As a replacement for my Dwayne Wade autographed mini, I was sent a 2005-06 Topps Style ‘52 Dwayne Wade autographed Comic Card that was numbered to 49.  I was also sent a box of 2007-08 Bowman Sterling.

There’s no telling exactly how much the Wade card that was damaged would have been worth.  Topps goes by book value, but the card was too scarce to be listed in Beckett.  Since it was a tough pull out of a one-per-case rip card, Topps seemed to agree with me that the card was potentially very valuable.

I can easily say that Topps went above and beyond on this replacement.  The autographed card recently sold for $20 on eBay, but I just wanted to come out of this with a Wade auto and Topps granted that request.  The Bowman Sterling box blew me away.  This box sells for around $175 - $200 and if the rookie class that year had been better, it would be a $300 box.

Customer Service Grade: A+

Technorati Tags: Customer service,Topps,Upper Deck

Is older wax worth the risk?

Lately I had been drawn to 2007 Bowman Best.  I watched a bunch of box breaks online and looked at the checklist and it looked like a great product.  The checklist is small and since you get a veteran, rookie and prospect autograph in each mini box, you’ve got a good chance of pulling something good.  If you buy a full box of three mini boxes then you should get some great cards.

My card shop had a couple of mini boxes sitting around and I had sold some stuff on eBay and decided to take a chance on one of the mini boxes.  2007 had a good rookie crop that has held up pretty well over the years and more and more prospects are being sought after.

I started opening the first of five packs and right in the middle (where all of the hits are located) is a Joba Chamberlain autographed rookie.  Yay!  Wait, the card looks like it was bitten by a snake.  Boo!  Since this card was in the middle of a pack of pretty thick cards, the only way that damage such at this could have happened is either during production or packaging of the product.

I know that Topps will only offer replacements for cards produced in the current year, but I figured that I would e-mail them to see if they would do anything since this card was clearly damaged by them.  I’ve got my receipt, wrappers, DNA sample, etc. that Topps requires for people to get cards replaced.  I’ve also got a witness to the card coming out of the pack in this condition since I opened the box right at the card shop where I purchased it.

Topps wrote back stating that they only replace cards in the first year after being manufactured and that after that first year the product is considered memorabilia.  So, if you purchase a product on the day it comes out, you’ve got just under 365 days of a “warranty” on your cards.  If you purchase a product a year after it comes out, you’ve got no “warranty.”  Imagine if everything worked like that?  Buying a previous year’s car and having it come with no warranty when you buy it.  Buying a year old TV, trying to turn it on unsuccessfully and being told that you can’t return in.  Those comparisons might be extreme, but I don’t see why sports card manufacturers should be held to different standards.  Of course, they can’t be expected to replace cards if someone decides to open a box of 52 Topps or even something more than 10 years old, but something less than 2 years old?

I understand them not having the exact card on hand to do a one-to-one exchange, but even when you pull a damaged card from a current year’s product, there’s no guarantee that they’ll have an exact replacement on hand.  (As I found out the hard way.)  I just wanted Topps to make some sort of effort to make this right.  I might be spoiled because I work for a company that is considered to be one of the tops in customer service in any industry, but I don’t think that I’m expecting too much.  They have to send me replacement product for my damaged Dwayne Wade auto; why can’t they send me replacement product for this Joba?  (Out of curiosity, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau to see if that could get me anywhere.)

The risk factor gets even worse when you consider expired redemption cards.  Look at what redemption cards have done to prior years of Finest Basketball which become a rookie-less product with expired redemptions.  For a little while, I toyed with the idea of picking up a box of 2006 52 Rookie Edition, but there are way too many redemption autos in that product that are now expired.  It’s bad enough to pull an autograph of a player that you can’t sell for a dollar, but with my luck I’d pull a redemption card for a big hit that I now can’t get.

So, if you’re going to buy “vintage” (and by vintage I mean more than a year old) wax you’ve got to face far too many risks.  First off, you have to hope that you don’t get any damaged products.  Anyone reading this knows that damaged cards happen way too frequently these days.  Even when you can get replacements, having to pay to send the cards back and then wait for their return (which usually takes around 2 months) is ridiculous.  Next you have to dodge expired redemption cards.  Upper Deck has made things a little easier to bear by extending the time frame for a lot of their redemptions, but that’s usually the amount of time it takes to get your redemption fulfilled anyway.

(Now is probably not a good time to look for a card company to sponsor this blog.)

I’m getting sick of redemption cards in general and I think that card companies should start some sort of expired redemption card amnesty program.  You should get something for these cards.  It isn’t the fault of the collector that these cards weren’t ready when the product was produced.  It should be something along the lines of what is left over from unredeemed redemptions.  It might not be from the same sport as your redemption card.  It might not be from the same year, but you should get something.  I’d rather have an autographed scout card than a redemption card full of legal copy telling me why I just got screwed.

To me, it seems like card companies should be doing whatever they can, within reason, to keep collectors happy before even more people give up on the hobby.  I’ve got a whole series of posts about the level of customer service I’ve experienced from different card companies and after I move at the end of the month, I hope that get that series started.

Technorati Tags: customer service,joba chamberlain

Talking with Topps

The eBay auction for the Dwayne Wade card isn’t drawing a lot of attention.  I was honest in the description of the card and I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.  This card has a smudged autograph and lots of chipping on the back.  It’s great to pull such a rare card, but that excitement quickly fades when a card is in this bad of shape.

So, I was toying with the idea of sending the card back to Topps for replacement if there continued to be no interest on eBay.  Before sending it back, I wanted to make sure that I’d get the same card back and so I e-mailed Topps.  What follows reads like one of chemgod’s Craigslist Idiot posts.

Hello,

I pulled a Dwayne Wade autographed mini card out of a rip card and it is in pretty rough shape. The autograph is smudged and there is a lot of chipping on the back. Can I send this card in to be replaced? I have all of the required items (box, receipt, etc), but am wondering if there are extras on hand of a card this rare.

Thanks

Thank you for contacting the Consumer Relations department for Topps.

We are sorry to hear that your recent purchase of a Topps product contained damaged cards. Please note that the policy of the Topps Company regarding the request for replacement product items requires that the consumer include the following items with their submission:

1) A letter of explanation
2) A copy of sales receipt
3) All pack wrappers & or mini boxes from the product
4) The UPC code (bar code) from the Main box
5) All Damaged items

This should be sent to:

The Topps Company, Inc.
ATTN: Consumer Relations
401 York Ave.
Duryea, PA 18642
ATTN: Consumer Relations

We will then review your issue and begin taking steps toward rectifying it, please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. We hope this information is helpful to you. As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to assist you between the hours of 9:00am - 4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write. We appreciate your interest in Topps and hope you continue to enjoy our products.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

This is the standard copy and paste that Topps sends out if you contact them about damaged cards.  You’d better have everything that they request or else they’ll just send your card back.  No Joke.  Since this reply didn’t really answer my question, I decided to write again.

Hello,

Thank you for the reply. Does this mean that you have replacements of this card on hand? I just want to be assured that I will get back the card that I sent (I can even send the ripped card it came in for further verification) because I have had issues with a redemption card due to Topps losing its basketball license. Can I please get a non-copy and paste answer assuring that I will be able to get the same card in return.

Thanks!

Hello,

Please be advised there is no guarantee as to what you will receive, The only guarantee is that you will receive something of equal book value. Thank you for your interest in Topps.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By Phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to answer your questions between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

This answer got me wondering because when I checked Beckett this card was not listed due to scarcity.  So, how do they determine book value for such a card.  Here goes another e-mail.

Hello,

The thing is that a card such as this one isn't listed in any book due to rarity and I can't find any previous sales on eBay. How do you determine the book value then?

Hello,

The book value is determined by our team of experts, it is your choice as to if you would like to take a chance regarding your exchange or to hold on to the Wade card.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By Phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to answer your questions between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Topps Customer Service team

Team of experts?  That kind of intrigues me.  I think that I’ve got to follow up on this further.  I’m really not comfortable with the answer “take a chance regarding your exchange or to hold on to the Wade card.”  I feel kind of like I’m dealing with Monty Hall and I’m going to get Zonked if I trade in what I have for curtain #3.

What would you do in my shoes?  Click on the picture of the Wade card and look at the full size scan.  The card is in rough shape, but is that bad enough to discourage someone from buying it?  If it was a card of your favorite player, would you want a card looking like this in your collection?  Would you send it back to Topps and hope that they send some loaded Echelon (is there such a thing) in its place?

Technorati Tags: Dwayne Wade,Topps customer service

Where’s the creativity?

It seems like ever since the first border-less cards showed up, card designs have been getting  less and less creative with many sets looking similar year after year.  I've always been drawn to the weirder designs and product that attempts to be innovative.  I love both years of Upper Deck Fun Packs that were produced and opened multiple boxes of each.  If I had been collecting at the time, I know that I would have been all over Topps Tek.  It’s a shame that the boxes are so tough to find and expensive these days or I would bust some now.  I've got tons of Action Packed and SportFlix cards.  I've got 3-D basketball cards and baseball bookmarks.

Statistical Standouts from 1995 Leaf pre-date Ovation, whose 2000 set had a very similar design.  The Leaf cards are much cooler with a leather feel to them and embossed stitches.  The full image of the player looks much better than a partial image inside of a box.  The cards were even numbered out of 5,000 which was pretty rare back in those days.  These days the only cards numbered that high come in Topps Signature Basketball.

The 90s were full of innovation.  Pinnacle had Dufex which many people still love to this day.  Unfortunately you’ll only see it on things like souvenir post cards now (and In The Game hockey cards).  Donruss had another great innovation with the first cards printed on wood in 1995 Leaf Limited’s Lumberjacks.  That’s another beautiful set that was ahead of its time.  If you get the chance, pick up a Lumberjack or Statistical Standout from 1995 because they’re beautiful cards.  There were even cards printed on real silver, gold and platinum in Donruss Preferred.  Not every idea was great, but at least chances were being  taken.

These days it seems to be the same things over and over.  The 00's certainly seem to be a decade of repetition and we're all going to come out of it with collections full of common card parallels along with autograph and relic cards of nobodies.  It was much better when you had a slim chance at an autograph, but if you did get one it was going to be a major star such as Ted Williams, Nolan Ryan or Reggie Jackson.  These days a player inscription is the most innovation that you’ll get.

This is why I'm excited about both the confirmed and rumored changes coming in the future.  Let's see what Panini/Donruss can do to make basketball exciting again.  After the excellent Murad release, it's disappointing to see Topps lose their NBA license, but they had fallen into a rut.  Murad was just basketball's version of the very popular Allen & Ginter so it's not even like they were breaking new ground with that.

Years ago, I never thought that I would say it, but Upper Deck needs to lose their MLB license.  Their designs have been the most repetitive of anyone's with the letter X popping up everywhere.  Their sets feel like afterthoughts just for getting more autographs and relic cards out there.  While the blog and Facebook page have increased their visibility, Upper Deck's customer service has been horrible.  They rarely answer e-mails anymore and a two month turnaround time for damaged cards is ridiculous.  Someone needs to give them a wake-up call and I think that the Razor shenanigans may have been the last straw to provoke Major League Baseball to do just that.

What is Upper Deck really selling you?

Anyone who bought a pack of Upper Deck Baseball in 2008 was very familiar with the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards that were included in almost all of the sets.  It even continued into 2009 with updated cards in the 2009 UD Flagship product.  While Yankees fans, especially those dying for a chance to meet Derek Jeter, ate this up many other fans couldn’t care less about the cards.  Being a Red Sox fan, I think I had more fun during my recent root canal than I did pulling Yankee after Yankee in packs of cards.  Truth be told, I don’t even think that I would enjoy this set if the subject matter were Fenway Park and the Red Sox.

Things got really ridiculous with 2009 Upper Deck Baseball.  Along with the additional Yankee Stadium cards there is also an update to 2008 Documentary featuring all of the playoff games from 2008.  Then there are Historic Firsts and Historic First Predictors.  Last but not least is the 20th Anniversary set.  Yes, you may get 20 cards in a pack of Upper Deck, but most times you’ll get two junk cards from these insert sets in the pack.  The nice OPC and Stars of the Game inserts are a lot rarer.

If you’re looking to build the set then it looks like retail packs are the way to go.  For a hobby pack you’re going to pay $4 - $5 for 20 cards, two of which are probably non-base inserts along with the chance at the two jersey cards and one auto per box which aren’t all that great unless you are extremely lucky.  For the most part, those cards are non-factors unless you pull your favorite team or player.  The odds of that aren’t very great.  Retail packs contain 19 cards and sell for $3.  That dollar or more difference adds up quickly and you can use that extra scratch on eBay to purchase any of the OPC, Stars of the Game, Jersey or 20th Anniversary cards that you may want.  That way you get your set and insert cards that you want instead of a pile of trade bait.

Retail pack, price per base card: $3/18 = $0.166
Hobby pack, price per base card: $4/18 = $0.222

Right there you’ve got a six cent difference and it can be even more depending on what hobby packs are going for.

Things have gotten extremely ridiculous with the release of 2008-09 UD Lineage.  When I first heard about this set, I was pretty excited.  I love the design of 1991-92 Upper Deck and was excited to see current players framed by that classic design.  Once I saw that it was selling for around $100 a box, I got a little less excited.  You get two autographs per box, but the majority of the autographs will cost you a buck on eBay to acquire.  There’s a buyback redemption card, but the possible cards you can get from that are horrible as well.

Each pack has 8 cards in it and will cost you around four or five dollars.  If you’re a Michael Jordan fan then you’ll love these packs because you’re going to get one or two Jordan cards in every single pack.  There’s a Mr. June 23 card set that is only in Lineage and then a Michael Jordan Legacy set with a card for every game that he played in which will be spread out over 4 UD Basketball releases.

Since you average 2 insert cards a pack, that brings you down to 6 base cards per pack.  6 x 24 = 144 out of 200 cards.  There’s no way that you should be this far from completing a set like this after busting open a box.  That’s with perfect collation which is a rarity for Upper Deck.  If all 8 cards were base cards you’d have 8 x 24 = 192 which is a lot closer to a complete set.  Subtract a few cards for your autographs and the Rookie Standouts and you’re still close to a set.  Instead you get more insert cards that are all over eBay and are close to worthless.

Again, retail packs are the way to go if you want to put together the set of Lineage.  Hobby packs have 8 cards, but in almost every pack two of those cards are Jordan or Rookie Standout inserts.  You average 6 base cards per pack.  Retail packs are 6 cards with a lot less of the Jordan and Rookie Standouts.  So few, that you average just under 6 base cards per pack.

Retail pack, price of base card: $3/6 = $0.50
Hobby pack, price of base card: $5/6 = $0.833

Again, the difference in price adds up quickly and that extra money can buy you the insert cards that you want.  You won’t have a chance to pull any of the Jordan or LeBron autographs, but most people buying boxes won’t be pulling those either.  There are a lot of clunker autographs in this set.

Upper Deck’s hobby packs tend to be sports versions of lottery tickets.  The only problem with that is you’ve probably got better chances with the lottery tickets.  When you aren’t making it easy for set collectors and the “hits” end up being misses, who exactly are you trying to sell your product to?  It is no wonder that so much Upper Deck product can be purchased for a big discount a year after it is released.