AT THE NATIONAL: Topps redemptions a hit
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
BALTIMORE — The doors couldn’t open soon enough for many collectors heading for the Topps booth at the 2012 National Sports Collectors Convention. They just had to get their hands on some of the wrapper redemptions.
This year, Topps is giving out several different type of redemptions with the focus on Bowman Platinum Baseball.
By opening one box of Platinum at the Topps booth, collectors would get a 25-card blue parallel set, which included maybe of today’s young baseball stars such as Gerrit Cole and Yu Darvish.
“Last year there was a lot of hype for the product and collectors were disappointed for a number of reasons,” said Topps’ Director of Hobby Sales David Reel. “This year we know the product was going to do well and really wanted to draw attention to that.”
The 25-card redemption has been one of the hottest of the show so far. But Topps is only giving out 100 packs per day and collectors are only allowed one pack per day. The company has turned people away who have tried to get more and tell them to come back tomorrow.
But that hasn’t stopped the packs from running out in a little less than an hour each day, especially considering there is a chance for autographs.
However, collectors still have a chance to grab Gypsy Queen mini redemptions, which includes Bryce Harper and Yoenis Cespedes in baseball and players such as Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck in football.
Collectors can only grab one of these subjects at a time.
Jesse Ferko, 22, got the baseball players he wanted pretty early on Thursday.
“I mostly collect baseball. Anything, really,” said Ferko, a Pittsburgh resident. “I like the show. You have everything all in one place.
Topps didn’t number the Gypsy Queen minis, although they are giving just 100 a day of each subject as well. Reel said Topps didn’t want to create the same type of environment from the 2010 National when the Stephen Strasburg Heritage redemption was a huge hit, but so many collectors were left out.
“There were a lot of people who were disappointed,” Reel said. “We want to include collectors in the redemptions, but still want the cards to have value.”
Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Becket magazines. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.
Yeah. I was there with my boys general admission today. About 50th in line. Went to buy box of Platinum and then right to Topps booth. No running or pushing! I was 110th in line. It couldn’t have been 10:05am! I know the VIPs pay for that extra half hour early, but it was disappointing to run out of the Bowman Platinum sets so early in the morning. It was like the general admission folks had no shot at the Bowman Platinum set. Also bought two boxes of the new Topps Minis thinking I would get two of the 5-card promo sets that went with them, only to realize later (and hear confirmed from others) that it was only 1 promo set per person. I guess I could’ve sent my boys over and had them “buy” one. Panini was better overall except for a general sense of confusion as to the schedule and when box wars was ocurring.
Actually, it wasn’t just the VIPs getting in 30 minutes early…it was the dealers getting in line about an hour before that! I had a VIP pass and raced to the Topps booth on Friday right at 9:30 only to find a long line already in place. Suffice to say I got a set but the person behind me was the 100th in line and got the last one of the day!
I have to say though, I was there in 2010 for the Strasburg promo and it was an unorganized mob. I’ve never been in a mosh pit but I think I know what it must feel like to move with a wave of people. This year was MUCH better. Kudos to all of the companies for running nifty promotions. Especially Historic Autographs where you got 2 Hall of Famer autos for $85!!!
Ack! I’m a photorapher who does HDR photos. I have to say these are some of the most overprocessed HDR photos I’ve ever seen. Oh man, someone please tell the person who created the photos on these cards to ease up on the HDR throttle.
Matt Maldre, Gypsy Queen isn’t straight pictures- If you get an actual card, you’ll see that’s just it’s style- Looks kind of drawn