MLB to Topps: Buh-bye

[Neutral Corner]

Yep - PSA is the main company to get your cards graded; however, it's super expensive and it can take up to a year before getting them back.

PSA also does valuations on Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering cards, which is part of why the lead time is so long. Some of those cards bring crazy prices now, not Honus Wagner crazy but up in the $25-60k range on the high end cards.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Fanatics in Talks to Acquire Topps Trading Card Unit for $500 Million

Michael Rubin @ Fantatics is a killer.

First, he secretly negotiated the MLB license and stole it out from under Topps. Now he is turning aroundand buying the Topps name for a song.

I thought this might work out for Topps better than this, but Topps was so heavily indebted that it was a lost cause. I don't know if the economics of it all will work out for Fanatics, but that guy is a stone cold business killer.

 

[wicked]

I was listening to a sports-biz podcast a few weeks ago. One of the hosts said if anyone will save the regional sports networks, it's Michael Rubin from Fanatics — especially because he has connections to all the leagues. I have no clue if this is accurate, but it sounds greatly exaggerated.

 

[User 149557]

Will Fanatics then use the Topps name on their cards?

 

[TigerVols]

I can never read the name Fanatics without hearing it in Kevin Harlan’s voice.

 

[Scout]

So in three years, will there still be trading cards? How will all of this change?

Honestly, I like the change because it cleans up this business, even though I think Topps was doing better, and it gives added value to my older cards.

 

[SixToe]

I guess ... big business has no room for sentiment.

This is true. Sentiment may make money in some instances, but not always.


Our son collected cards in the 2000s. He's married now and ambivalent about the boxes and notebooks of cards we have. Will be interesting to see what we have when we go through them. I also have an unopened box of Upper Deck NBA cards from, I think, 2006 or sometime in that timeframe.


My uncle was born in 1959 and collected cards in the 60s and early 70s. He didn't have a lot of them but I remember seeing NFL and MLB cards. He was a big Reds fan so he had the Machine era cards.

One day when he was at college I brought his shoebox of cards home. Somehow, sometime, they got tossed out in a "Let's clean up in your room" purge. He was rightly upset. I can't imagine what those might be worth today.

 

[playthrough]

This is true. Sentiment may make money in some instances, but not always.


Our son collected cards in the 2000s. He's married now and ambivalent about the boxes and notebooks of cards we have. Will be interesting to see what we have when we go through them. I also have an unopened box of Upper Deck NBA cards from, I think, 2006 or sometime in that timeframe.


My uncle was born in 1959 and collected cards in the 60s and early 70s. He didn't have a lot of them but I remember seeing NFL and MLB cards. He was a big Reds fan so he had the Machine era cards.

One day when he was at college I brought his shoebox of cards home. Somehow, sometime, they got tossed out in a "Let's clean up in your room" purge. He was rightly upset. I can't imagine what those might be worth today.

My dad had a similar story about his boyhood cards. To think of all those shoeboxes and how many college tuitions they could pay now ...

As for Fanatics, meh. I bought a pullover from their site a while back and it was a cheaply made piece of crap.

 

[User 149557]

If everybody who laments their lost card collection had that collection today, they wouldn’t be worth what they are.

 

[playthrough]

If everybody who laments their lost card collection had that collection today, they wouldn’t be worth what they are.

Ha, true, but the "gem mints" likely wouldn't go up in number. If everybody really had them in their bicycle spokes.

 

[User 149557]

Imagine trying to explain why you were keeping your cards in a pack unopened to other people in 1953. They might have considered institutionalizing you.

“These are going to be worth tens of thousands of dollars.”

“Is this some sort of communist conspiracy, son?”

 

[sgreenwell]

If everybody who laments their lost card collection had that collection today, they wouldn’t be worth what they are.

Speaking from experience, I've told this story before, but... As someone born in 1984, even my parents knew the value of baseball cards, and I think plenty of other parents knew by then too. As a result, I pretty much never threw away cards... but nobody else did either. I have some OK value stuff, like rookie cards from 1980s and 1990s players, but most of that stuff is in the $50 to $500 range, with a **** ton of commons. Most of it is still sitting in my parents' attic.

Meanwhile, my parents MADE me throw out the boxes for my Nintendo and SNES games, in order to save space. I kept some of the manuals loose. Everyone else's parents did that too... And now, even crappy games regularly sell for $20+, and I had some rarer RPGs that go for $500+. If you want to know what might be valuable in X years, always look at what people are throwing out now.

 

[playthrough]

Speaking from experience, I've told this story before, but... As someone born in 1984, even my parents knew the value of baseball cards, and I think plenty of other parents knew by then too. As a result, I pretty much never threw away cards... but nobody else did either. I have some OK value stuff, like rookie cards from 1980s and 1990s players, but most of that stuff is in the $50 to $500 range, with a **** ton of commons. Most of it is still sitting in my parents' attic.

Meanwhile, my parents MADE me throw out the boxes for my Nintendo and SNES games, in order to save space. I kept some of the manuals loose. Everyone else's parents did that too... And now, even crappy games regularly sell for $20+, and I had some rarer RPGs that go for $500+. If you want to know what might be valuable in X years, always look at what people are throwing out now.

Yeah, spend some time surfing eBay and it's the damn boxes that will haunt you just as much if not more than the actual games or toys.

 

[Scout]

I still have every cell phone I've ever owned prior to an Iphone.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Want some real fun? Go on eBay and check out what original Starter jackets and Sports Specialities script hats are being sold for.

 

[wicked]

I still have every cell phone I've ever owned prior to an Iphone.

I don’t have my first couple, but I have a Samsung flip phone from c. 2004. There are (poor quality) photos of a former SJ member’s ass — requested by someone here — on there, but I’d have no way of getting them online since the phone was “locked” by Verizon’s software.

 

[playthrough]

Want some real fun? Go on eBay and check out what original Starter jackets and Sports Specialities script hats are being sold for.

Damn, that was a pretty good rabbit hole. Serious money in those hats.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Damn, that was a pretty good rabbit hole. Serious money in those hats.

I could kick myself for dumping my hats. I had a blue Washington Bullets one that is now in the hundreds.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Speaking from experience, I've told this story before, but... As someone born in 1984, even my parents knew the value of baseball cards, and I think plenty of other parents knew by then too. As a result, I pretty much never threw away cards... but nobody else did either. I have some OK value stuff, like rookie cards from 1980s and 1990s players, but most of that stuff is in the $50 to $500 range, with a **** ton of commons. Most of it is still sitting in my parents' attic.

Meanwhile, my parents MADE me throw out the boxes for my Nintendo and SNES games, in order to save space. I kept some of the manuals loose. Everyone else's parents did that too... And now, even crappy games regularly sell for $20+, and I had some rarer RPGs that go for $500+. If you want to know what might be valuable in X years, always look at what people are throwing out now.

I swear I had this game. Atari Birthday Mania. I never opened it because it looked lame as hell. It sat in my messy room for a few years. A couple of times, my parents asked me if I wanted to keep it or give it away to someone and I said they could give it away. It took years, but I’m pretty sure they finally got rid of it sometime during the ‘90s. Apparently, it’s worth between $15,000-$35,000.

My Mom still does keep a bunch of stuff. I still kinda hope she forgot to give this game away.

Birthday Mania (found rare Atari 2600 game; 1984) - The Lost Media Wiki

 

[wicked]

I have an unopened 1990 (sigh, not 1989) Upper Deck set. It's probably worth what my aunt paid for it 30 years ago, if that.