[jacobystealshome]

What about the notion that no one else is allowed to make baseball cards and Topps can do whatever it wants? If they were competing with other companies, do you still think there would be $500 boxes out there?

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yes, because upper deck never made a high end box ever

[stera8]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. A lot of this made me feel better.

Let me clarify a few more things. Stera8- I'm a journalism major. Close enough! Sorta...

nice writing. Goodluck in college and make sure you stay with journalism. I'm a certified teacher but in NJ it is impossible for a job right now so I am actually back in school for a Instructional Technology masters.

In other news, here is my memory of cards. I would get $5 a week for an allowance and we would go to the LCS. The old man and his son (40s) Jeff would talk to my mom, dad, brother, and I for a bit. We bought 2 packs each and I became happy when I pulled a griffey. I always liked him but I also knew that I got a 'hit' because that griffey was $3 in Beckett!

[hongkongfooey]

I'm all for $500 a pack cards if its worthwhile but here's the thing; 99% of the people that can/will buy it, won't care if they get a bunch of crap because its pennies on the dollar of what their income is. So instead of marketing it to the people that would love to save up and buy something high end, they missed the mark on purpose because they want people to buy who don't care that the biggest hit is a redemption that they may never see, or that the single color patch of Jose Bautista that cost triple to manufacture compared to what its worth to collectors, or that THE CARDS AREN'T PROTECTED AT ALL. Put out a $500 product of ELITE players and I'm there. Who is Karim Garcia?

[jacobystealshome]

. Who is Karim Garcia?

that might be the best subtle joke ive ever seen on beckett.

for folks that dont know





Who's Karim Garcia?
I have no respect for that guy.
I don't have anything to prove to that guy.
He needs to be forcing himself to come up to
where I am -- "to my level".

[jrod7290]

$500 for 1 pack is insane, I can't imagine paying that much ever, and I actually have some disposible income. Just this week I spent $300 and got a box 12 Bowman Chrome, 11 Finest, 12 Finest, 11 Panini limited and 30 70pt holders for relic cards.

[yankeeman5002]

I'm actually off to the ol' Walmart right now.

Wanna know how I got a few extra bucks? By cashing in all my spare change at Coinstar. $40. Maybe I'll get a blaster. Maybe I'll skip a meal tomorrow as well. LOL.

[jdberia]

Do what I did when I came back after a 12 year break: I started player collection. Enjoy college and maybe think about starting a player collection and pick up base and stuff for cheap. I still enjoy receiving a trade in the mail even though it might have a bunch of base and unnumbered refractors as long as it is for somebody I am collecting!

[nyyankeesfan28]

I agree with ceocards. I would never buy a product like Five Star because if it doesn't deliver, there's $500 gone. I stick to products that are $85-$150. Then I allow myself a "high-end" box every year, but that is less than $225. I buy lots of singles, though. I enjoy buying the boxes I do and buying singles I like. The hobby is about collecting what you like. When you stop having fun, it's not a hobby anymore because the point of having a hobby is to have something you can turn to for enjoyment.

[uvaspina]

Welcome back to the Boards! I, too, (fairly) recently came back to the hobby after a long hiatus. I understand your sentiment (and appreciate the fact that you've started a popular thread that's gotten people talking), but I don't totally agree with some of your points.

First, as to your point that $500 boxes are devaluing the hobby, I don't think that's the case. Does it devalue my wallet? Sure. Does it bum me out that so much is priced out of my range? Of course. But it doesn't necessarily devalue the cards I can afford and do collect. Sure, I'm never going to be able to buy a case of ultra high-end products, but there are plenty of affordable products out there that give you a chance to pull something pretty nice. -Take a look through the "box break" archives and you'll see people who have pulled some big time cards (Ruth bat, Harper SP autos, Darvish autos...) from blasters and value boxes.

Second, the fact that there's nice stuff out there doesn't actually "devalue" base cards. -Technically speaking, today's "base" cards probably have as high of a BV as they did in any other era (accounting for inflation). Sure, a pack of "base" cards costs $1-3. But even the commons typically book at $.30-50. Semistars are usually $.50-75, stars $1.00 and superstars $2.00. Base RCs are 2x-10x that amount. So, from a dollars and cents standpoint, it's not like "base" cards are any more valuable (or worthless, depending on your perspective) than they ever were.

Third, I think as you get back into the hobby, you'll find there are ways to enjoy yourself while staying within your means. -It looks like you're already on that track, picking up a card of e-bay when you can afford it and whatnot. Pretty soon you'll be done with school and will hopefully have a little more disposable income to spend on your hobbies. I'm 7 years out of school and am finally able to spend a little dough on things like cards. I'm still having fun even though I'm not busting cases.

Four, I do see your point in the sense that, the little cards that used to seem special (A Kirby Puckett All-Star card!) don't hold the same allure that they used to. For me though, a lot of that simply had to do with being a kid and being happy with what I had access to. Although part of me misses those simple times, I'm glad to see the hobby has evolved and innovated. Honestly, as an adult, I can't imagine it would be fun to go back to the collecting market of the late 80s/early 90s. There are only so many 1990 Frank Thomases and '91 Donruss Dave Justices one person can collect. I think it's kind of cool that I have about 400 different Verlander cards and have barely collected 10% of what's out there.

In any event, thanks for sharing your opinion. I do see where you're coming from. Like I said though, I hope you find what you're looking for in the hobby and stick around.

[JRMdawg311]

Yeah, 5 star is like a Maserati. Sure I would love to have one and drive it around like a rockstar but I'm content with my Toyota Pick-up. Get's the job done.
There will always be expensive products for those with the money to spend it on. Topps is capitalizing on that demographic. Who can blame them? Better than some rich guy buying 10 cases of some standard Topps product, pulling out only the hits and dumping the base sets on ebay. And people wonder what happened to the value of complete sets?