In this episode, Dan G. and I rant about Topps Now
and Topps Bunt
. If you’re not already aware of either of these, here’s the deal:
Topps Now is a physical baseball card set. Individual cards can be ordered direct from Topps or purchased on the secondary market. The set is extensive and each card features a moment in annual baseball history. Each moment is intended to be significant but some of them are less than impressive. Dan and I discuss this.
Topps Bunt is a digital baseball card set. While this concept presents a cost savings for Topps, it strips collectability from the consumer. Interesting concept but Dan and I both agree that one of the key attractions to collecting baseball cards is the tangibility of the cards themselves. Recently, Topps has offered these cards in physical format. The question then becomes, do we take this as a signal that the digital format is being phased out? This and other thoughts are covered in this video.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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I agree that Topps Now content was really watered down. Making cards of triple plays, significant milestones and records, or unusual plays is what this product should be, but it ended up being another saturation of the big market teams and popular players instead. Looking over the list, there are several more cards for Red Sox, Mets, and most of the playoff teams, or the requisite rookies. The biggest flaw is that the events are mostly like you mention, game winning plays. This happens every day of the season, several times a day. If they limit it to just the SIGNIFICANT events, it would be a much better product. Reminds me of Upper Deck Documentary. That was supposed to be a chronicle of every game, but they were lazy and repeated pictures, and used irrelevant pictures to the game depicted.
There is one NOW card that I want, but I avoid buying from Topps directly since most of the stuff is so expensive. I’ll look for it on the secondary market for less than ten bucks.
I did buy some BUNT and am trying to finish the set. I do not own a smart phone, so I have no interest in the app. (I can take screenshots too and design my own virtual cards now and then. If I could print them out cleanly, I would).
I do like the cards and welcome a low end set-builder-friendly product that lacks short prints, parallels, and rookies. I say Topps better watch out when this sells better than their regular stuff that is stuffed with all the above.
Amazing feedback on both products. Thank you!
Regarding Now, I completely agree with you in that excellent noteworthy happen in every single game and like you said, it would be nice to see Topps be more selective in their premiered events since there are so many. Like collecting, the companies too must have a focus. I hope you’re able to grab the cards you want on the secondary market.
As for Bunt, I honestly believe that if Topps made this a simple low-end set for the frugal set builder, this release would hold more relevance and perhaps even outperform its digital counterpart.