[eplate2]

I don't know about any of you guys but one thing I loved about collecting baseball throughout the 1990's especially was having the choice of buying packs from 30-50 different sets whenever I went into the local hobby shop. I could go in and grab one pack of Fleer Ultra, one of Stadium Club, maybe an Upper Deck SP or just go with the basics and have this tremendous assortment of different baseball cards. Cards from Flair or Leaf were probably my all time favorite but when I discovered that Topps has bought a monopoly on baseball card production I almost broke down into a light sob. I have always collected all things Topps of course but at the same time, I hate not having the ability to see what Fleer 2012 would look like or how bout a new Upper Deck set? It's quite depressing for me to think about where baseball card collecting has ended up.

What do you guys think about all of this? What is the chance that we will ever see more companies make comebacks and compete with Topps? Will that ever happen? I really miss all those different sets that I used to collect and it kind of breaks my heart that they aren't around anymore. What wrong with a little bit of competition?

[Haze28]

Those other company haven't been managed very well. Fleer when bankrupt and Upper Deck I believe has a monster lawsuit going on against them for not paying players for their autographs. Topps has been carrying on business way better than the rest and that's why they are still going strong.

[eplate2]

and that's what all business ultimately comes down to but now that Topps has this epic monopoly on all things baseball related, will we ever seen competing companies again? Isn't anyone else going to miss those other sets like I do already? I was always a huge fan of Leaf, Flair, Fleer Ultra and even Donruss put out some fun sets and those are just to name a few

also, upper deck purchased fleer in a buyout and used their brand name for cards through 2007. regardless, i would love to see some other, maybe new companies come out and make an attempt of competing with topps but it doesn't seem likely does it?

[uvaspina]

There's still a lot of sets out there, only most of them are produced by topps. Here's a list of Topps' 2012 product off the top of my head: Opening Day, Topps (Series I, II, update), Topps Chrome, Bowman, Bowman Platinum, Bowman Chrome, Sterling, Heritage, Archive, Museum, Tier One, Triple Threads, Allen & Ginter, Gypsey Queen. Theres hardly a lack of product out there, IMO. But I hear your point. I wish UD were back in the game. I never really liked fleer or doruss.

[juda7]

I never really liked fleer or doruss.

I can see how someone could not like these cards from Fleer and Donruss.

[eplate2]

i mean everyone will always have their own liking for different sets but that's what makes baseball cards beautiful. so many different manufacturers that could release numerous amounts of different sets and everyone ends up being happy, especially the collectors who were looking for everything and anything

i am one of those collectors who likes everything and anything so to see fleer, upper deck, donruss amd co all be unable to produce cards anymore is such a shame. will this topps monopoly last and will we ever see a new company rise to succeed them? what do u guys think? and if u do, when?

[charleybrown]

I miss Upper Deck a lot. Ultimate Collection, SP Authentic, and other Hall of Fame based products were a highlight of my child hood. My best pulls were from UD products. There checklists were much more impressive and they were based on hype and speculation.

As for the future, I dont see many people getting into it. I think Panini made a huge mistake trying to get into the baseball market. We will see changes when the Topps and MLB contract expires. I have no idea when that will be or when it will be renegotiated/extended.

[eplate2]

We will see changes when the Topps and MLB contract expires. I have no idea when that will be or when it will be renegotiated/extended.

hopefully soon :-(

[dallas_collecter84]

I kinda miss the Upper Deck products because they always felt like a better quality to me when they came out in the 90's. I am glad to see that Topps stepped up their game because of it. I am really excited to see how Panini does though. I think that they have a chance to impress a lot of collectors.

[chevy man 22]

For me less sets means less cards flooding the market which IMO is a good thing in the long run. The whole reason why nothing from the 90's is worth crap is because there were 50 different brands producing Rookie cards of players which means people had a choice of which ones they wanted which was usually Upper Deck since they were considered to high end retail choice back then compared to Topps, Fleer, or Donruss.

Yes Topps still does overkill with 50 different color variations in the Bowman product but it's still less than what we had and seems this year the retail odds are really low of pulling anything good so when you do you know you've got something.