Confusion Reigns

I was pretty pleased with my recent trade with Ted at Crinkly Wrappers. I got the last cards I needed to finish the Topps Lineage and Update base sets. Here are a few highlights:






There was more, but they included either non-descript players or Red Sox. Can't be showin' them.

Then something strange happened. As I paged through the appropriate binder to put the cards Ted sent in their rightful place, I found other holes in both sets. More specifically, there was 3 empty Update pockets and 4 for Lineage. I am usually pretty good about keeping my want lists up to date, so I am not sure exactly how that happened. My best guess is that I traded for them in the past, put them on the shelf in my card closet so they could be scanned first before being filed away, and they got lost in the shuffle. I have gone through my duplicates boxes and haven't found them. I can only surmise that they have fallen behind the shelving unit and are lying in the floor.

Unfortunately, I don't really have time right now to look for them and probably won't until after my job interview on the 27th. So, in the mean time, I've thrown a want list back up on the sidebar for those two sets.


But that is not the extent of what Ted sent. Oh no, my friends, it wasn't. He helped me some on my 1976 set and gave my a huge leg up on starting 1973. But more of that later.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 11

As I mentioned yesterday, this is the only 2011 card in my year-end countdown. It is also the only autographed card I pulled from a retail pack this year.


2011 Topps Lineage 1952 Reprint Chuck Diering Auto

I bought a lot of retail this year. Indeed, with the exception of Heritage Minor League, I bought all of my 2011 cards retail. As such, I didn't get many hits. Not that I live for the hits, but they are nice to get every once in a while. Oh, I did manage to pull some relic cards this year, most of which I traded or sold on Ebay. As I have stated elsewhere, relics don't much interest me. But, I do like the autographs.

Indeed, as I evaluate my goals for next year, my intent is to limit the number of sets I do collect to Heritage only and stick with buying hobby instead of retail so I have a better chance of pulling some cool autographs.

Coming Tomorrow: A card from 1973 that should have ranked higher.

Mail Call - Night Owl Edition

So, I am a about a week and a half into not buying cards because of my uncertain unemployment situation. I am still having withdrawal symptoms. Luckily, I found a fix in my mailbox today. I had helped Night Owl out with some Lineage 75 minis, so when he had some interesting cards available, he gave me first crack at them. Here they are:



One of my favorite of the 2011 Yankees. Still hoping they sign him for 2012. Since rumor has it that Toronto is the odds-on favorite to win the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish, maybe they will.



I really, really hate all the damn parallels and inserts that Topps puts into their flagship product. I'd calculate out how many cards are needed to build a 2011 master set, but I am too lazy. Just on the base set you have 990 times 6 (base, Walmart blue border, Target red border, gold border, diamond parallel, cognac parallel). When you are up to 5940 cards before you even get to the inserts...well...suffice it to say it is too damn many. But, I do like the fact that they put these legacy players in the set. I've gotten several over the course of the year and I like them real well. One day, maybe I'll do a post on them, but for now let me say that this Maris is definitely the cream of the crop. Even if it does look like his one leg was amputated at the knee.

Being the guy he is, though, Night Owl didn't leave it at that. He included three cards I needed to complete 2011 Update. I am down to only needing 7 cards now.




He also included 3 of the Lineage base cards from my want list. I only need one card (I'm looking at you Adam Wainwright!) to complete that set.




So, big thanks to Night Owl.

For those that may wonder, my employment situation is uncertain, but not dire. I have already gotten one call regarding a job inside my current employer. I also have solid leads on two external jobs that are right in my wheelhouse. So, I am actually pretty excited about a change in environment. Of course, who could feel bad when iTunes random play brings this up while you are composing a post:

Mail Call - November 16th Edition

A couple of packages arrived in the mail today. One was expected. One wasn't.


2011 Topps Lineage 1952 Reprint Autograph - This was the one I was expecting. I snagged it off of EBay for my Johnny Antonelli PC. This next one was unexpected:


1993 MCI Ambassadors of Baseball Paul Blair Autograph. I had won this in an EBay back in September, but it never arrived. I ended up getting a refund a couple weeks ago. So, it finally showed up today. The postage clearly shows the seller shipped on time, so I resurrected the Paypal transaction and repaid them. No point in punishing them for the post office's screw up.

Nachos Grande's Autograph Survey

What is the best autograph you own?

I got this at the Diamond Giveaway site:

What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?

That is probably a tie between these three:




Notice a theme?

What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?

2004 Upper Deck Yankee Classics Kevin Maas.

Do you try to get autographs through the mail? If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?

No, I do not.

Addendum: I did send some cards off through the mail to be autographed at a live signing, but I don't do any TTM direct to players. I wrote about that signing here.

Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?

I can't remember who it was, only the situation. I got to go to a few Rochester Red Wing games growing up (in the old Silver Stadium) and we used to line up by the dugout to get our gloves signed. The glove, a Wilson Paul Blair model, is long since gone. And even if I had it, I am sure that the autographs would have worn off through use.

Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?

Not at this time, although it might be fun to try to collect more autograph cards from the 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game set. Not sure how I would go about it other than buying them individually. Over the course, of a few boxes, I have managed to pull 2 Vida Blue autos. I'd hate to buy boxes and get more duplicates.

Which is better: Autographs or Relics?

Autographs. Unless you are talking some classic player, I think relics are overdone and, consequently, have little intrinsic or extrinsic value. For example, I pulled a Johnny Bench relic out of a Topps Lineage blaster this year that I threw up on EBay as part of my quest to accumulate funds to buy a Greats of the Game box. I managed to only get $10 out of it. Had I known it would go for so little I would have traded it to Nachos Grande (Sorry, guy.)

What do you think of cut autos?

Overall, I don't really care. I am more about card design than whether auto is on card, sticker or cut. For example, this is a lousy cut auto:


This is a nice cut auto:

What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?

Having only been back in the hobby a year, I probably am not the right person to answer, but I do like the 1952 style autos that came out in Lineage this year:

If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?

1. Abraham Lincoln - I think he is the greatest President ever, and a fascinating individual. Read "Team of Rivals" some time to get a sense of the man.


2. James Madison - One of the primary authors of "The Federalist"


3. Alexander Hamilton - The other primary author of "The Federalist"


4. Roberto Clemente - A great ballplayer and an even better human being


5. Lou Gehrig - One of the greatest ever

So, there you have my contribution.

The Platypus of Trading Cards

There is an old joke that says the platypus is a duck designed by a committee. That is what came to mind as I sorted through some blasters of Topps Lineage. There were a lot of good ideas in the set, but were thrown together and executed poorly. Let me share my thoughts on both the base set and the inserts/parallels.

Base


The Lineage base set is a 200 card set mixing modern players and greats from the past, with a 10 card All-Rookie card subset. It is similar to Topps flagship product in terms of the type of card stock used and design. The main differentiation I see is that the card back is text only where flagship is text and statistics.

And that is exactly what I see as the main weakness of Lineage is that it isn't differentiated enough from the flagship product. It could very well be a design for flagship. If Topps had posted that design as what will be used for 2012 flagship, it wouldn't surprise anyone.

The use of a All-RC subset was a nice idea, except it led to some oddities in the checklist. For example:


Andruw Jones has been a solid major league player during his career and has acquitted himself well this year as a fourth outfielder and platoon DH for the Yankees. But, with a limited set size, I am not sure he should have two cards. The All-RC card should have been enough. Similarly, with only 200 cards, I am not sure I would have done this either:




Inserts/Parallels
Lineage has a number of different parallel inserts. There are refractor, Diamond Platinum (recycled from flagship), and 1975 style mini cards for all 200 base cards.




There are also shorter insert set rookie cards, Spanish language, cloth stickers, 3D, and standup cards:






I think there is really too much going on here. There is really no reason each product they produce needs rookie subsets, particularly given that Bowman focuses on rookies and prospects. Other than that, each of these insert sets have merit. The stand up cards would make a nice insert set in the flagship product. The Spanish language, 3D, and cloth stickers have the potential to be excellent stand-alone products. Indeed, if I was Topps, I would think that the "Venezuelan" cards would be an excellent product targetted at a growing market that has strong ties to MLB.

But, having them all thrown into the mix with Lineage really shows a loss of focus. Topps just threw a bunch of stuff at the wall, hoping something will stick.

Relics/Autos

I don't really have alot to say about the relics and autographs in Lineage as I have not got very many. Indeed, I only got one autograph.



I will say that the 1975 mini-relics are underwhelming. They certainly don't do anything for me, but that could just be me and my collecting priorities. I looked on EBay and they aren't selling at very high prices. I would have to believe that this may mean that I am not necessarily alone in my ambivalence towards these cards.

Summary

In my opinion, the Lineage concept is a clunker of a set. It tries to do too much and fails to do any of it well. If I was in Topps product management, I would have probably done the following:

1. Skipped putting contemporary players in the set since they are in just about every other set anyways, and focused solely on the greats from the past. Perhaps, making it a set of the Hall of Famers.


2. Make the base set 300-400 cards in size.


3. Spun the Spanish language product off into it's own product. Probably also would make the cloth stickers a stand-alone product.


4. Not included any insert sets that had already been done in another product (I'm looking at you, Diamond Platinum!)


5. Limit the set to one or two inserts. The 3D cards and standups would be the best candidates.


6. Completely skip the rookie cards and, if you absolutely had to have them, not use a card design from the junk wax era.


7. Skip the 1975 mini relics.

So that is all I have to say about that.