I stepped away from blogging a few years ago for a number of reasons. It was taxing to try to come up with content on a daily basis, a new job was (and still is) dominating my time, and kids were running rampant through my house. Now that the hobby has seeming been put on a trajectory similar to that of the mountain climber on the Price is Right, I wanted to make sure to use this platform once again to share some long form thoughts. As much as I would like to believe that this will be a return of sorts, it really isnt more than me getting tired of the character limit on Twitter.

The Backstory

I started writing here in 2006-2007, right when the super premium aspects of the hobby really started to hit top speed. Exquisite on the NBA side was hitting it’s stride like nothing I had ever seen before, branching out into the NFL en force, and dabbling in baseball as well. Donruss Leaf Playoff (DLP), the founding format behind Panini America, had just released National Treasures football in 2006 as an answer to Exquisite. Because there was no DLP basketball license in place, Upper Deck and Topps really ran the show. All of this is really important in the greater context of things, because as the velvet rope of the top end of the sales spectrum became more defined, Panini became the driver as league exclusives settled into place for all four major sports.

Additionally, where the major talk about the explosion of high prices present since March has all been derived from people that exist in that space. Although many products they are buying six figure cards from exist from the middle range of boxes, the people dont fit in the same spectrum as many of the collectors I engaged with during that original infancy of this new modern engagement with cards.

Over the next 10 years, the super premium space that Upper Deck pioneered and Panini exploited to build their brands, things changed dramatically. Even though products like base Topps and set collector focused products still existed, high cost products like National Treasures became a standard as Upper Deck’s legal troubles forced them out of all the spaces they had dominated prior.

Factor in that Topps locked down an exclusive license with MLB and Panini with the NFL, NCAA and most importantly the NBA, and the face of the industry side of collecting was almost 100% different than it was when I started following this closely.

As a result, certain legacy products that existed before this all went down created a focus group of investment worthy products. For those who dont have a good familiarity, here is my list:

Topps – All Bowman Chrome products, all Topps Chrome products, some Finest products from prior to 2002.

Upper Deck – All Exquisite products with pro licensing, SP Authentic with pro licensing, and all premium NBA products with pro licensing.

Panini – All National Treasures, NBA Prizm, NFL prizm post 2016, Contenders, some spin off chrome products like Select.

Basically, if it uses Topps’ chrome type formula, people loved it and continue to want it. There are surely exceptions to the rule, but its extremely rare to see a huge sale from a card that comes from outside this group of products.

The Beginning of the Boom

There is an oft uttered phrase that sports cards outperform the stock market when compared over a certain time frame. This is true to a degree, but the execution of that investment is different than the way 75% of the hobby really functions. Investing in already established high grade cards from very specific players and sets , then sitting on them is not the way most people collect. We buy wax, we buy singles of our favorite teams or players, and we stash them for enjoyment. If we pull something nice, we either sell it or sit on it, but that is all a byproduct of spending on generally unfavorable odds in wax.

All that being said, attention from certain high profile influencers and other investors has brought eyes to the investing in cards that hasnt happened in this way since the 90s. GaryV (nee Gary Vaynerchuk) is the name most twitter collectors associate as a face, but there are likely many others who are occupying the same space, just not as vocally. People like Nat Turner, had defintely taken a different approach for sure, sharing purchases on Instagram, very much in the range of six figures. Turner owned a company that was sold to google for a staggering amount, and being that he is a collector has taken his profile to the moon with the ability to spend in ways most of us can only dream of.

Most of this went down from late 2018 and 2019, prior to the pandemic, where cards like older Jordan, LeBron, and valuable rare NBA inserts from the late 90s started to climb the value charts in a way that seemed uncharacteristic of the previous types of spikes. When Tom Brady and the Patriots won a sixth superbowl, Patrick Mahomes won his first MVP and later a ring, things started to bleed over into other areas – most notably Mike Trout and the major names of current MLB.

In a more notable part of this, collectors seemed to loathe the presence of these new types of investors, mainly because it had already started to drive up the price of super premium wax products, but also cards that seemed to be well below the threshold most of these guys were buying in.

The Perfect Storm

In March of 2020, the world experienced the beginnings of what the Pandemic could do to the economy across the globe. For 50 million Americans, including myself, unemployment became a new way of life. Around the globe things went to shit almost within a two week period. For most countries, this period was something that included a lockdown shelter in place that lasted months. For Americans, a politicized atmosphere led to a host of other problems that persist to this day.

Regardless of that, travel became restricted, outlets of normal spending for things like meals out or bar tabs went away, and the course of disposable income all over the land became different. From what most reports we saying, the people who had lots of money prior to the pandemic did the same or better during this period of time. With no where to spend that money, and economic stimulus checks being provided to everyone else, there was a flood of money available and few options to spend it.

As we saw during the 2008 recession, Americans dont like to save money. As you can imagine, many hobbies started to see huge influxes of cash, with Sports Cards gaining national attention. If you were going to spend six figures on a card before the Pandemic, you now could spend that a few times over with no where else to spend that part of your budget.

The Future

This perfect storm led to a boom unlike anything anyone had seen, with only the collecting boom of the mid 90s being a fair comparison. From this new way of life in the hobby, many have immediately started to wonder about the most important question there is – what kind of sustainability exists?

This question isnt simple, and no economic question should be. In all honesty, I expect some research and many papers to be written about this time, with Sports Cards being among the most odd bump that exists within the study of economics during the pandemic.

Lets break this down, just to make sure everyone has a good understanding of what the possible outcomes could be.

First, everything continues up and we all wonder how high it can go. Second, the prices at the top end of the hobby stay, but other prices go back to a normal state. Lastly, everything crashes back down to where it was and continues on the slower growth path it was already on before the pandemic spike.

For the first outcome where everyone continues to feast, I have to believe that is just not something that happens in any real boom. Although sustained growth was present before, it was a small subset of the greater hobby. It wasnt like a box from a shitty filler set was going for 4x what it was the prior year. Even during the boom of the past few months, I havent seen a lot of new names on the boards buying into boxes of Score Football like its going to contain the next 52 Mantle. On the other hand, I have seen the real focus sets mentioned above continue to be the dominant force behind everything. If its chrome and you can grade it, its all of a sudden an investment piece. Ill get to that in a second though.

Im leaning more and more towards the second outcome, where those pieces on the top level of the hobby continue growing from where they are, but maybe dont hit the rapid growth we have seen since January. All the bottom 99% should start to come down on a steady trajectory as soon as people are able to spend more normally on things. Remember, the summer is a time where family vacations and heavy spending are very common, none of which was available this year. All of that seems to have been thrown into cards instead of savings for many collectors.

To support this, we have already seen a number of areas of product lines start to come down to what was more pre-pandemic situations. Additionally, some spending is going back to normal for many Americans, as bad as that might be for the control of the virus. The next true test will come for the holidays, as gift giving could super-charge things again. Product delays due to the pandemic also seem to have contributed to the boom in a lot of ways, and now that there is a more steady stream it has subsided.

The third bucket where everything crashes is still a very probable situation. Remember, Im not saying it crashes to nothing, Im saying that rapid growth goes back to where it was prior, and gets back on the regular value increase path. Some may come down harder than others, but the record sales we have been seeing may slow.

The Impact of Grading

Personally, I think grading is a scam. Go search the blog for my thoughts as to why a business that sets the market with no accountability, huge conflicts of interest and a never ending stream of value growth is a bad situation overall.

That being said, my opinion doesnt matter. In fact, it is so insignificant that it almost isnt worth discussing. Grading adds exponential value to cards, even though every circumstance shows that it should not.

Because grading has become the standard that qualifies investment, PSA and BGS have been overrun with delays and order quantities in the millions because everyone knows you cant sell your prized investment without some third party qualification on a hyper mint scale.

Many of the large sales are driven by two things – high grades, contrived scarcity in low serially numbered cards or a combo of both. Its gotten so crazy that there are a number of high population graded cards that are selling like they are rare, even when they are not. Its the “DeBeers Phenomenon” almost to a T, and its frightening that people are assigning such huge value to an asset that is readily available.

Regardless of how I feel about the situation, each player has become its own market, defined as much by the previous high sales or low sales of their cards more than the collective potential of their future.

Investing Now vs Not Investing

We all get to the point where FOMO is a big deal. “FUCK ME, EVERYONE IS MAKING BANK BUT ME!!!” something that some have lived as a reality for a few months now. The real situation we should all be cognizant of pertains more to the timeframe of getting in rather than the potential of getting out and running to the bank.

The boom has already happened, and most are now focused on whether it is a bubble or not. If we think back to the .com boom of the turn of the century, a similar situation with the stock market was happening, although with much different standards of value.

For most, buying high and hoping to sell higher is a stupid and insanely risky proposition. This wouldnt be the first time that investing in Amazon and Apple stock past the point where they are American institutions has paid off in spades, its just inherently more unlikely.

There is definitely more money to be made, but it goes back to that group of sets that really have always been the primary driver of value in any sport and any modern context. Buying boxes of products that fit into these situations is also a way to bankrupt your bankroll as well. Investing doesnt pertain to the gamble the same way ripping wax does. Buying singles also doesnt have the dopamine rush that opening an expensive box does. However, its the only way to roll. Period, end of story.

Playing the game smart and buying the right things, even when value is astronomical isnt always a bad thing. Its just not something most of us can afford and most of us would want to spend on even if we could.

My only advice is simple – have fun. If buying an expensive box made you happy before and you can still afford it, keep going. If you loved collecting your favorite team before, why stop now? If you were an original investor and have to come to a decision point in moving on or staying put, I dont envy your position. Just be smart and listen to the experts as much as possible.

This is still a hobby to most of us, hopefully that will remain the same for years to come.

I havent posted much on here lately for a lot of reasons. Mostly those reasons stem from the fact that my new job requires a ton of travel and a ton of work. I just dont have the free time any more, and what free time I do have is more focused on spending time with my kids than writing.

To be honest, I started writing this blog as an escape and because I loved writing. Much like professional wrestlers, I loved being a character. A character that many in the industry enjoyed for over 10 years. For the most part, that character was me, but with the volume turned up to 11. Over the last few years, I have found how taxing that portrayal can be, not only on here, but on Digital Card Central as well. For the better part of a decade, I was writing two to three posts a day on two different subjects and it was a ton of work.

As a result of that work, it definitely paid off. I met people and friends from all over the world, and that alone was worth it. I also got a lot of access behind the scenes at the card manufacturers that became a new perspective on how this industry works. Most importantly it was fun because I was passionate about cards. I had a hobby that I wanted to share with the world, even though most people saw it as something they did when they were kids.

Whenever I started a new job, we always did the ice breaker at orientation. Tell us something interesting about yourself. Most of the time I was proud to say that I ran one of the most popular blogs about sports cards and memorabilia around. That always led people coming up to me and asking for the address, and for information about the cards they had stashed in a book behind their family photo album. Cards have a way of connecting people, beyond what we do on Twitter every day.

Over the last few years, that passion for writing about cards has died down. Not because I didnt enjoy the hobby, but mainly because other parts of my life took up so much time. We had our third baby last December, and like his brothers, he was a handful. I started to recognize that spending so much time writing and so little time enjoying really wasnt the formula when its not a full time job.

Dont get me wrong, I explored a full time job a few times. I have had some good offers, but it was clear to me that my hobby would never be something I could do for a job. Jobs make things real, and when things get real, it can be really hard to keep them fun. Not saying it isnt possible, but it is highly probable a job becomes what it normally is.

Last month, with a major expense on the books, I decided it was time to move the majority of what I own and settle down on all buying when it comes to cards. I was always a person that loved super premium cards, and that got very expensive. With a new baby and this expense ahead of me, the disposable income disappeared pretty quickly to the point where my hobby participation needed to change drastically.

Ill tell you, pulling box after box after box out of my closet and taking them over to the shop felt very cathartic. Not just cathartic but a bit horrifying. I had so much stuff that never saw the light of day or a display shelf. I just had it stashed away. I always describe card collectors as a class of people obsessed with vanity and a little envy. Vanity in the fact that we all want to be seen as an authority or at least someone that has a “great collection.” Even if we are still building, its always a journey to acquire more pieces or more knowledge to show the world we are worthy of its acceptance.

A very generalizing statement I know, but if you see the way so many collectors engage with social media, its to show off the goods, no matter how insignificant they might be. I was a slave to this, addicted to the attention. I still am an addict in so many ways I couldnt sell every last card I have. I had to save some of them, and that’s a scary thought in its own right.

With all of this on the table, here is my challenge to the readers, as its important to understand how YOU remain happy in the hobby. For a long time, I portrayed a character that was pissed off with how things were. That anger and venom came from a place of love for this industry and experience I have had over the last 35 years. I wanted to make sure things were getting better for my own sake. I loved cards so much, I hated when card companies or collectors made dumb decisions that hurt what I saw as the eventual goal we all strive for.

Im still on twitter and Im still having fun, but if you find yourself wondering why you stick around, its time to pull those boxes out of the closet and appreciate your cards instead of letting them rot. If something has been sitting in there for 10-20 years, what joy or happiness does it really bring? Will anyone but you know that its gone if you sell those pieces of cardboard? I asked myself these questions recently, and came to appreciate the stuff I kept that much more. Im no less an important member of the community just because I sold most of my collection.

This isnt meant to be a goodbye or a confession, or even a cry for help. Its just a new direction. One that is likely going to be a more fun and fulfilling way to participate in a community that I have enjoyed since the internet revolution started.

I just wanted to take the time to say what I wanted to say, because that way – I know its still exactly what I had always hoped it would be: a good way to pass the time.

Before you automatically tune out, I hope you give this post a chance. I have never wrote about WWE cards on this site before, mainly because I never really was into the brand. When my 8 year old son got into Wrestling at the beginning of last year, I couldnt help but be drawn back into the storylines.

Like most American children who grew up during the 80s and 90s, I was enthralled by the titans I saw on TV every Monday night. I remember my dad even being a bit interested, as Minnesota was a huge territory during the beginnings of pro wrestling in the 60s and 70s. We went to a number of events, had every video tape, and may have caused some household damage when my brother and I did some flying elbows off my parent’s bed.

These days, things are much different – especially with moving away from all the scandalous experimentation of the Attitude Era of late 90s WWF insanity. No more blood, no more middle fingers, and no more T&A. All of this is probably for the better, as WWE has signed a network deal for the first time in a long time to begin broadcasting on FOX later in 2019.

So, where does that leave us with Topps and their long term deal to be the exclusive trading card partner of WWE? Right now, its about as niche an audience as you can find, but like many of their entertainment based properties, it has its hardcore fanbase that does have a lot of money to throw around. We have seen major success with their Star Wars brands, and I would say that their investment in stuff like UFC and WWE really does have a good enough following to check out if you are a fan of either.

Like Star Wars, Topps is about to release a WWE sister product to Transcendent Baseball, which has had quite a bit of success during the 3 years it has been released. Although not as expensive (thank god!), it should end up very close to the top of the list for any product of any sport released during 2019.

There is a reason why its so expensive, and like Baseball, the chase items are so unique to this release that it could whip up quite a feeding frenzy among the collectors who chase WWE cards around the world. Not surprisingly, the biggest names to sign for this product are from the Era we all grew up with, many of whom have never signed for a WWE product in the past.

Included with a ticket to Wrestlemania in April, and a VIP party invite at the event, there are 50+ autographs per box. For the first time, collectors are going to get on card autographs of current stars like Ronda Rousey and Paige, as well as two people who may be ripping people’s wallet to shreds over the next few months.

The first is Vince McMahon, who I had heard was on their radar for this set, and looks to have gotten done. Vince is basically the man responsible for everything wrestling is today, and the current Chairman of the WWE. Not only is he a tough auto in general, he is one that everyone will want for their collection. I was shocked to see him on the sell sheet, and by god, I was broken in half when I saw the next guy joining him.

To this day, Stone Cold Steve Austin is probably the most recognizable star associated with the heyday of professional wrestling. One could say Hulk Hogan is on that level as well, but recent events have hurt his legacy thanks to some awful and despicable racial comments leaked last year. That being said, Austin has only signed once for a WWF or WWE themed product, and that was during the 2000s, when Fleer was on the verge of bankruptcy. These cards are IMPOSSIBLE to find, and when they do come up, sell for a shit ton of money.

Austin is and was my favorite wrestler, and though he had a shorter career, the things he did for the business are undeniable. In an argument of who is the best ever, between him, the Rock and John Cena, the answer is yes. Unlike Rock and Cena, Stone Cold really never made the cross over into popular culture the same way. Injuries, persona, and lots of other reasons contributing, likely. Regardless of who had the most successful acting career, Austin and his “Austin 3:16” t-shirts forever dominated my childhood. Although Rock and Cena had more of a popular culture experience, their biggest exposure came outside of wrestling. Austin made the jump WITH his wrestling persona, and that is why many people still look to him as the biggest the industry has ever seen.

To see that Austin will be joining McMahon for this set as a hard signed subject makes me geek out like nothing I have ever done for a WWE product before. Both his and McMahon’s cards will travel well into a range that has been rarely seen before, and we havent even covered some of the cut autographs that are on the sheet as well.

The main issue with WWE legends has to do with a very very sad fact – many dont live that long. Whether its the hard life catching up with them, drugs or alcohol, many die very young in life. Andre the Giant was probably the biggest star of the business prior to Hogan, and during the years of Hogan’s meteoric rise, he was a major player. If you watched the recent HBO documentary, you know how his health issues related to his size factored into his early death, but his status as a legend remains one of the best in the history of the business. His cut signature could be one of the top cards in the product, and that’s saying a lot.

We also see that Rob Schamberger has done some exclusive art for the set, which is exciting in its own right. If you arent familiar with his work, he is basically the resident sports artist for the business and has had some beautiful pieces in a few places, including Topps WWE Slam – the digital app Topps has released for their license.

Overall, I dont think I have been this excited for a product since starting to collect wrestling cards, and I will likely be one of those collectors lining up for group breaks when they go down mid February.

Check out how awesome this looks, and post a comment if you have any feelings.

 

 

First off, apologies on the lack of posts lately, my life has changed so dramatically this year that my priorities have shifted away from blogging as a whole. New job, new baby, and new just about everything has changed the way I have been a participant in the hobby and a participant in the blogger community. Although I cant promise to be as engaged as I used to be, one of my goals for the coming year is to post more on here.

This blog has been going for over 10 years now, and I still value having this as an outlet to share my thoughts when needed. Hopefully you can be patient with my lack of posts here, or follow on social media, where I am much more active in bite sized pieces. My twitter handle is @SCUncensored and my Instagram handle is @skolgellman – check out both to keep up.

As for 2018, what a fucking crazy year. For just about every one of the major sports, a craze took hold that didnt really let up, even with set backs on the field. I absolutely love seeing people hop on bandwagons, as a rising tide usually floats all boats. Whether it was Ohtani or Mahomes, shit was going down, and it was fun to watch.

Baseball is a weird sport, because it doesnt take much to set off a nuclear weapon, especially if the player has an international market behind them. Honestly, I wasnt as enthralled with Ohtani or the MLB this year, unlike last year where the Judge and Bellinger race for Hobby ROY was historic. Although Ohtani did live up to some of the hype, injury and nightmare reflections of Masahiro Tanaka, Yu Darvish, and Kenta Maeda rung like bells in my ears.

Funny enough, that didnt stop the Superfractor from setting some records when it was sold, and a 180k plus sale does not happen regularly. Coming on the heels of a Trout Bowman RC parallel selling for more than double that, the growing gap between the extreme high end collector base and everyone else continues to get wider. 

Baseball is such a different beast because of this dual persona that exists within the population. There is a staunch but vocal minority of collectors who long for the 80s and 90s to make a comeback, collecting and collating sets, and really not liking the new direction. They are quite in contrast to the growing group of higher end MLB collectors, which for many years was always a market Topps struggled to communicate with.

With another exclusive now in place for Topps leading into the next decade and likely beyond, the experimental nature of the high end go to market strategy continues to be a huge focus for the company. We are now through another year of Transcendent, which brings the most expensive hobby box ever built back to the fold for a third year, selling out as quickly as it did in its previous iterations. Adding in a Japanese version for Ohtani collectors was a big deal, and similarly successful.

Being that these products can co-exist in within a collecting base of people that are so drastically different is refreshing to see. With their legacy firmly entrenched for another long run as the MLB exclusive trading card partner, this could end up being a defining moment for Topps’ long run in baseball cards. It takes a lot for a sport to be non-dependent on rookies to prosper in a bad year, and surprisingly baseball might be reaching that plateau. They arent there yet, but with Trout playing HOF level ball, and a growing crop of young players that are hugely valuable to collectors year after year, Topps picked the right exclusive to invest in.

If I had to guess, baseball cards will further showcase how crazy things can get, and hopefully Topps really goes and takes some risks. We have already seen club specific sets take hold, as well as a growing following for their online exclusive products. That’s no easy feat to get over with a crowd like collectors have shown to be, and I cannot wait to see what happens this coming year.

The only real disappointment I have with 2018 is how much of a drop in momentum we have seen with their digital brands. Something I once believed was the next big thing in sports cards turned into a bit of a dud this past year. The team went through MASSIVE turnover, and the apps felt that lack of stability like I have never seen before. Topps continues to focus on digital collectors as an extension of physical collectors, and that is such a terrible way to go about their business, that I cant even put it into words.

Right now, bringing new collectors to the market has been a direct correlation to attention siphoned from incredible performances on the respective fields of play. Digital offers a completely different access point, as well as a way to capture the long lost young crowd that people have looked to reclaim since the late 1990s.

If you have read this blog for any real length of time, you know my feelings of luring kids back to the hobby. I think they are not going to participate in any real way comparable to that previous timeframe, and will never and should never be the focus of any product calendar. With digital, its a much different perspective, mainly because digital shouldnt be about crossover traffic. Turning digital collectors into physical collectors should be a nice benefit, but never the point. The point should be using the apps to gain access to a gaming population and insane stream of revenue that cards would never have access to and likely WILL never have access to any other way.

The apps should be games first and collecting second, and any residual traffic to physical products should be a happy accident. Topps, and Panini for that matter, are card manufacturers first and game designers maybe 15th out of 16 things they do, so that should say something about how I feel about 2019 for Topps and Panini Digital.

As for Football Cards, this was the first year where I saw a real palpable excitement similar to what we would see in the NBA or MLB, when a hot rookie really gets going. Patrick Mahomes was already a top value rookie in the 2017 class coming out of last season, but when September hit and he blew up, he was white hot unlike anything in the NFL. In fact, he was so hot, he may have hurt the value spectrum for the 2018 rookie class, where 5 QBs hit the field for the first time in a long time.

Panini has made strides in their football production, but not enough to turn me loose the way it would be if UD or Topps were back in the fold. I spent a lot of money ripping wax this year, and I feel like things would be that much more insane if the products were as consistently good as they were back with Topps and UD in 2009 and 2014-2015.

Hopefully 2019 has big things in store, because unlike the offensive firepower of 2018, 2019 has almost none of that. It would be scary to think another 2013 NFL rookie class was coming through the pipes, but it could end up being that way with a huge crop of defense being the focus of the upper part of the draft. The big QB names all came out last year, and this year, the biggest names seem to be going back to school or are not eligible yet.

Panini will need to stave off bored NFL collectors who only care about one position, something I have railed on the hobby for perpetuating over the last few years. Bottom line, the NFL collection base is dwindling, with a league that seems to have issues promoting enough career longevity to perpetuate higher values for non-QBs. Mediocre NBA players can last decades in the league, where 75% of NFL draft picks never make an impact, and 95% dont make it to a second contract. QBs also used to be stable, but we see teams moving on in shorter periods of time due to the rookie wage scale.

Sales may be steady and respectable for my favorite sport, but I fear what happens when the weight of injuries in the league take their ultimate toll.

Hopefully magic happens this year, because I think fun things have been brewing for a while. We are starting to see some gradual momentum take energy to maintain, but slowly pick up, and that’s a very good thing. The advent of online tools like COMC and Group Breaks have shown to be a catalyst worth our notice. There will be more innovation on the peripheral support, but I have really yet to see that innovation where it so terribly needed in the manufacturing side itself. We still see a lot of same player, same auto, different design taking hold with over 40 products per sport per year. Many rookies can sign 20-30k autos a year, and even then there are still redemptions.

Im sincerely hoping that someone finds a fresh take on things and offers a new direction we havent seen before. I would absolutely revel at the opportunity to see what the ad wizards can come up with. Over the last 5-10 years, very little of that has happened, though. The only real innovation is direct consumer engagement, either through digital apps, or direct to consumer purchases like FOTL. I do enjoy these changes, but they arent what sustainability looks like.

Really, for me, its just about having fun now. Being the white knight I saw myself as prior isnt really my thing now. I hope to stay as passionate and involved as I was previously, all while finding new ways to enjoy the landscape. Ill be in Chicago this year for the National Convention, hopefully Ill get to reconnect with some of the readers as I always do.

Enjoy the year everyone!

 

A lot of people love Triple Threads, hence its yearly inclusion into the calendar for over a decade. I am not one of those people. To me, Triple Threads has always been a physical manifestation of everything I cannot stand about card design and card collectors. Sticker autographs, rainbow foil stock, needless parallel structure, and of course – a high box cost. 

That’s not the reason Im writing this post, because everyone who has been reading this blog should know how much I hate this fucking set. This post is my yearly decent into hell – a review of the stupid shit Topps always die cuts into the relic cards. Whether its non-sensical phrases, odd nicknames, or weird accomplishments, Triple Threads is known for the redundant absurdity that creates some unusually cringe-worthy cards. 

Case and point: 

Without further adieu, here is a deep dive into the best of the worst, with an odd focus of just slapping names of random stats onto cards of people who represent those stats? Who fucking knows. Thus is Triple Threads.

Manny Machado – Bronx Statline – Not really sure what this is all about without looking it up, and Im guessing it is referring to his games versus the Yankees?

Mookie Betts – No Whiffs – Clearly referencing his notoriously noxious dugout farts. Stay away or have your face melted. 

Anthony Rizzo – On Base In First – For a player that has beaten cancer, broken a 100 year old curse to win a WS, Topps really used their imagination on what to use here. If you want the stats to get weirder and more odd, keep reading.

Javier Baez – Thefts of Home – He does steal home, and it is cool. But this is how I would imagine some pretentious asshole to describe such a feat. I honestly have no fucking clue why people flock to this garbage each year.

Noah Syndergaard – SO2BB Ratio – As we saw with Rizzo, Topps has a game for us this year. For this set, they just match a stat to a player. No reason for this to be a game other than to just show that their die cut machine is capable of functioning this far into the run.

Adam Wainwright – Winning Waino – Any joke im going to make about this card makes light of alcoholism, which is only funny when its your uncle drunkenly calling out your 8 year old for being a jobless bum after having too much to drink at thanksgiving. #topical

Carlos Correa – Hit & Runs – Another chapter of the match a stat to a player game, only significantly more boring. Dont worry, it gets more boring.

Ian Kinsler – Quick Starter – Fun stat that didnt make it onto the card, Ian Kinsler was probably part of the first run of Triple Threads. He has had so many fucking cards in this set, that they literally ran out of descriptive superlatives. CONGRATS!

Marcus Strowman – Grounders – See, told you it got way more boring. Its like making a football die cut that says “dropbacks” or “passing attempts.”

Paul Goldschmidt – Bat & Glove – Someone owes him an apology for this card. This dude has done some awesome stuff over his career, and they literally just ran out of ways to say he is a good hitter and a good fielder. Either that, or they need to instruct collectors about needed baseball equipment.

Jim Thome – Hot In June – I dont think Thome has been in this set much, which means there is lots of crazy shit Topps can use. Spoiler alert: they didnt use any of it. I just want one card that is literally a player, an autograph, and the shit emoji three times. Its better than this.

Another year of Triple Threads, another heartwarming display of a set from 2006 that should have been axed in 2009. Im not sure what is more shocking, that this set is still around or that we still find ways to show that Rhonda Rousey card? Both are just too embarassing to forget.