Upper Deck bids on Topps.

[wickedwritah]

Checked the first couple pages of this and Anything Goes, and I didn't see anything.

NEW YORK -- The Upper Deck Co. has made a pitch to buy The Topps Co., a bid that would join two iconic baseball card makers that have sold sports memorabilia to generations of fans young and old.

The offer price of $10.75 a share trumps a bid earlier this year from a group of investors led by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Topps, maker of baseball cards and Bazooka bubble gum, said Thursday it was not sure Upper Deck's bid is a superior offer.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2881402

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

The fact that Upper Deck is called 'iconic' and said to have sold sports memorabilia to 'generations' of fans makes me chuckle...

Upper Deck's first set was in 1989, correct?

 

[wickedwritah]

Yes, and Card No. 1 was Junior Griffey.

I just found a whole stash of baseball cards while doing some cleaning last night. I have to figure out if they're worth anything.

 

[DougDascenzo]

Yes, and Card No. 1 was Junior Griffey.

I just found a whole stash of baseball cards while doing some cleaning last night. I have to figure out if they're worth anything.

Let me save you the trouble — they're not.

 

[zeke12]

What's the Upper Deck Griffey go for these days?

I collected those fervently.

 

[wickedwritah]

Yes, and Card No. 1 was Junior Griffey.

I just found a whole stash of baseball cards while doing some cleaning last night. I have to figure out if they're worth anything.

Let me save you the trouble — they're not.

Actually, newbie, some of them are, including a bunch of sealed Upper Deck sets.

Grab me a cold Yuengling, please.

 

[DougDascenzo]

Yes, and Card No. 1 was Junior Griffey.

I just found a whole stash of baseball cards while doing some cleaning last night. I have to figure out if they're worth anything.

Let me save you the trouble — they're not.

Actually, newbie, some of them are, including a bunch of sealed Upper Deck sets.

Grab me a cold Yuengling, please.

OK — a sealed set of the highest-quality brand might be worth something. I'll give you that, subscriber.

But my guess is, wicked's collection is a dusty dumping ground of bent-cornered Kevin Maas rookie cards and Skybox tins. In other words, kindling.

 

[BYH]

Hey Kevin Maas is gonna make Mattingly expendable! YOU WATCH!!!!

 

[steveu]

Holy ****. I think a generation of card collectors would turn over in their graves if they knew about this.

 

[buckweaver]

Holy ****. I think a generation of card collectors would turn over in their graves if they knew about this.

I would ... if I hadn't turned off already in 1994.

Card collecting for me died after the strike. The Big Three/Four became the Big Forty-Three -- too many "special sets" and inserts and crap ruined the hobby. It was much more fun when there was one Topps set, one Donruss set, one Upper Deck set, one Bowman/Fleer set, and a kid could afford to buy a box and rip open a dozen packs trying to find #692 to complete his set.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Inserts ruined the hobby. I watch kids all the time open a pack, scan it for inserts and toss the rest in the trash, which is disgraceful...

I remember after little league games buying packs for 30 cents a pop (****, I'm old...) and looking for Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, George Brett, Rod Carew, I'd go home and put the commons in a box to be scanned through later and would immediately put all of the stars into those plastic sheets.

 

[Tom Petty]

Inserts ruined the hobby. I watch kids all the time open a pack, scan it for inserts and toss the rest in the trash, which is disgraceful...

I remember after little league games buying packs for 30 cents a pop (****, I'm old...) and looking for Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, George Brett, Rod Carew, I'd go home and put the commons in a box to be scanned through later and would immediately put all of the stars into those plastic sheets.

plastic sleeves. yeah, you're real old.

 

[93Devil]

Holy ****. I think a generation of card collectors would turn over in their graves if they knew about this.

I would ... if I hadn't turned off already in 1994.

Card collecting for me died after the strike. The Big Three/Four became the Big Forty-Three -- too many "special sets" and inserts and crap ruined the hobby. It was much more fun when there was one Topps set, one Donruss set, one Upper Deck set, one Bowman/Fleer set, and a kid could afford to buy a box and rip open a dozen packs trying to find #692 to complete his set.

You are 100 percent correct.

I plan to start collecting again though.

I want to get a team checklist from the 1979 Pirates and one of the Steelers Super Bowl teams then see what I have and get the remainder on ebay.

Once I have the complete set, I will mount and frame it.

I tried doing one player, but did you know Hines Ward has like 86 different Upper Deck cards alone? It's sickening to try and collect this.


All that said, I have a friend who is trying to recreate the Babe Ruth collage in the ESPN Zone in Manhattan. He is about 80 percent complete. He knows it will be a lifetime quest.

 

[cranberry]

Holy ****. I think a generation of card collectors would turn over in their graves if they knew about this.

I would ... if I hadn't turned off already in 1994.

Card collecting for me died after the strike. The Big Three/Four became the Big Forty-Three -- too many "special sets" and inserts and crap ruined the hobby. It was much more fun when there was one Topps set, one Donruss set, one Upper Deck set, one Bowman/Fleer set, and a kid could afford to buy a box and rip open a dozen packs trying to find #692 to complete his set.

Upper Deck's emergence was the beginning of the end. UD was good for the industry because it forced quality into the equation in contrast to Topps' ****-poor product. The photography and the paper (bleached white stock on which the pictures popped) were far superior and consumers reacted positively. Even Topps, which had dominated market share over Fleer, Donruss and Score through strong distribution and the inherent edge it had to manufacture "rookie" cards, had to compete by introducing a premium brand to go with its 99 cent wax packs. Upper Deck sought to find another edge through the issuance of random inserts, which suggested collectibility to consumers who had now been conditioned that "rare" cards could become valuable. Of course, the other manufacturers followed suit. For example, Score launched its upscale Pinnacle brand. The products all improved in quality but at the same time the manufacturers all realized they could bring price points up and realize huge profit margins. The first big blow to the industry came when Upper Deck had a scandal about back-dooring product (former Baseball Weekly writer Pete Williams wrote a book about it that I think was called Card Sharks). That revelation first brought into serious question whether any of the crap that consumers were purchasing was actually going to hold any longterm value. Consumer began to realize that they're mass-produced cards, as pretty as they were, weren't going to carry the value of the old Tobacco cards and Mickey Mantle cards that people found in their attics.

The market slowed down and Pinnacle, which had recently been purchased by a Texas holding company in a highly leveraged deal, got desperate and turned its strategy to grabbing market share rather than trying to sell volume at retail. It publicly announced it would begin numbering the boxes and limiting products to 3,000 cases, which in turn forced all of the companies to follow suit. To make up for the lack of volume the companies all began developing multiple sub-brands that were barely distinguishable from one another and all driven by various levels of inserts.

Soon, all but the hard-core enthusiasts began to loose interest, however, and the companies, which had all expanded (employees, debt, machinery) during the boom years, began experiencing financial problems. The market consolidation continues to today.

 

[wickedwritah]

When I started collecting, there were three brands: Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Then Score came along in 1988. And Upper Deck in 1989. And Bowman was revived somewhere along the line. You also had your Topps Traded, your Donruss Update, whatever.

Then they reverted to the old-school series schemes. I couldn't keep up with who was in what. And I was a kid. I totally lost interest.

I was so into it back in the day that I bought one of the first Fleer or Donruss packs (can't remember which) -- the ones with gum in them, before Topps sued -- just to see how quickly a 9-year-old stick of gum would shatter when I smacked it off a hard surface. Seriously, I had no life when I was 12.

Now there seem to be so many companies, so much product. Time for me to go dig up my Pro Set Barry Sanders rookie card. Maybe I'll find that NBA Hoops Detroit Pistons card, too. And, of course, the Billy Ripken "**** face" card.

 

[expendable]

When I started collecting, there were three brands: Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Then Score came along in 1988. And Upper Deck in 1989. And Bowman was revived somewhere along the line. You also had your Topps Traded, your Donruss Update, whatever.

Then they reverted to the old-school series schemes. I couldn't keep up with who was in what. And I was a kid. I totally lost interest.

I was so into it back in the day that I bought one of the first Fleer or Donruss packs (can't remember which) -- the ones with gum in them, before Topps sued -- just to see how quickly a 9-year-old stick of gum would shatter when I smacked it off a hard surface. Seriously, I had no life when I was 12.

Now there seem to be so many companies, so much product. Time for me to go dig up my Pro Set Barry Sanders rookie card. Maybe I'll find that NBA Hoops Detroit Pistons card, too. And, of course, the Billy Ripken "**** face" card.

The whole thing got too confusing for me, around the time I discovered Budweiser. Strange, but when Budweiser introduced several new brands, I didn't let that confusion bother me.

 

[wickedwritah]

The whole thing got too confusing for me, around the time I discovered Budweiser. Strange, but when Budweiser introduced several new brands, I didn't let that confusion bother me.

Well, since they all taste the same ...

Speaking of collectible, I'd think a bottle of Bud Dry would be worth something nowadays.

 

[kingcreole]

**** Upper Deck. I blame them for ruining the hobby. I was so into baseball cards in the 80s, even early 90s. You name it, I bought it - Topps, Fleer, Donruss, SportFlicks, Score, Bowman, all of it. But I never liked Upper Deck, them and their flashy, expensive cards. **** hasn't been the same since that 1989 set came out.

Gawd, what I wouldn't give to walk down to the grocery store and plunk down 50 cents for a wax pack of 15 cards with a stick of cardboard-tasting gum.

 

[wickedwritah]

I go into the grocery store down the street from the newsroom a couple times each week. I saw a pack of Topps while in line a week or so ago going for $2.99. That's definitely keeping the audience that they should be targeting -- kids -- out of the hobby.

 

[chazp]

**** Upper Deck. I blame them for ruining the hobby. I was so into baseball cards in the 80s, even early 90s. You name it, I bought it - Topps, Fleer, Donruss, SportFlicks, Score, Bowman, all of it. But I never liked Upper Deck, them and their flashy, expensive cards. **** hasn't been the same since that 1989 set came out.

Gawd, what I wouldn't give to walk down to the grocery store and plunk down 50 cents for a wax pack of 15 cards with a stick of cardboard-tasting gum.

Man you bring back lots of memories. I owned a card shop from 1988-94. By the mid 90s there was so much competition, I could no longer make any profit.
Did you ever collect the "Triple Play," set? I loved them. It was a throw back to a simpler set when everything was getting glitzy.