General Forum

Bought my first cards as a kid in the late 60's, and stopped in 72. Unfortunately don't have those cards.

Started collecting Ripken and McGwire (yeah I know) while I was in the Army. Married a Charly (Charlotte) Hough and started collecting his cards. Stopped collecting around 2002. No reason.

A couple of weeks ago was shown this database and now that I'm retired, decided to see if I could finish what I started. I cataloged my cards and discovered I was missing quite a lot of cards for each player.

BUT what really floored me is the number of individual unique cards for each of those three guys that have been issued since they all three retired! See chart below. I don't understand the huge variety of card types nowadays. Is it just me? Not a rant or complaint, just an observation. Your thoughts Hobson (80's reference).

First of all, welcome to the site. If it's holes to fill then we can certainly help.

Secondly, as a collector with tons of wants from the 60s and 70s, I am appreciative of a lot of the post-retirement days product. I'm a big Willie Mays fan and have found several sets that include him in their tributes. Some are simply reprints, but others have unique designs or are a chronology of his life on and off the field. So, basically I'm okay with the product because I'm able to trade for those rather easily, while most of his vintage cards from his playing days are out of my league.

Was at a card show yesterday admiring many of these old school greats and many of their prices made you look twice.. maybe even a third time. Ouch 

Welcome! Part of the reason why there are so many post retirement is because of all the parallels in modern sets. So a Cal Ripken Jr. 1989 Topps insert from 2024 might have a blue, black, red parallel (I don’t know exactly what parallels there are so just throwing some colors out there), and there would also be the hobby silver pack 1989 Chrome exclusives which also have parallels - for example red, green, orange, maybe purple or blue. So if Ripken has multiple inserts in a release, and each of those inserts have multiple parallels, and 2024 Topps is just ONE major release in 2024….you can see how the numbers add up! 

Welcome!

RE: your question about variations, it's been one of my favorite (somewhat) recent additions to the hobby. Like yourself, I stepped away from the hobby for almost 30 years and only recently dug back into it. The spectrum of colors, rarities, SPs, SSPs, etc., really allows for a collector to pick from a huge selection of product and, along those lines, you can pick and choose to pursue a parallel or insert set that is within your budget, speaks to your taste, and aligns to your interest level in a particular set. It's not as pure as it was in the days when Topps and Bowman issued one set apiece, but there are some fun upsides in my opinion.

Also, I think Cal is an outlier as far as post-career card production. He is a rock star and was completely indefatigable, despite playing in an era where he was surrounded by dudes who were juiced out of their minds.

Welcome! The current sets reside in what I call Rainbow Chaos. Every card has multiple colored parallels that one needs a PhD to decipher. Is it Purple Lava, Galaxy, Shimmer, Wave, etc? Is that Orange or Yellow?

Folks, great comments. Thanks. It is the sheer variety that has thrown me a little. Luckily, I'm not a hardcore OCD collector who must have every card of my player, especially with the serial number or "1 of 10" stuff coming out. I still have plenty to find before they retired. I love the hunt, so only go to eBay or others to get a feel for pricing.

HordeOfHain, you made me look up a word .

Hi Boomer. :) Hey, you said it yourself.

Anyway, as someone who has been active in the hobby (in many different aspects) pretty much continuously throughout the past 45+ years, I can see where the explosion of cards can be quite the culture shock. Going from 1- maybe 5 cards in a year of the most popular players (to maybe 20 if you start counting food and regional issues) to literally hundreds of a single player is mind-blowing.

Here is my personal take on what is going on in the hobby. Whereas we had the boom in production in the mid- to late-80s (a time that some call the "junk wax era" or as many of here prefer the "over-production era"), what we're seeing now is the same level of production of cards, except now they are chaging border/background colors during the production and adding serial numbers in some cases. So instead of say 10,000 of the same card, we now have 5,000 of the "base" type, 2,000 of the Golds, 1,000 Reds, 500 Blues, 400 Yellow, etc until you've reached the same 10,000 total cards, but with 15 different colors - as supergajit said - the rainbow era - making that look like 15 different cards, and that's per set - each release having sometimes 20 to 50 different insert sets - all also with these parallels. Every set these days has that - some have 5 parallels, some have 50 - but very few sets these days do not have a parallel. So we're still getting the same amount of total 2.5"x3.5" cards printed, just now, they're varying the colors, production of each color, and increasing the inserts. For those of us who collect players from certain bygone days, who are still being included in today's sets, we can certainly be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cards that can be on a player's checklist these days.

You already said something that speaks to me - "I'm not a hardcore OCD collector who must have every card of my player" - good! It's a great way to be. Please stay that way. But, feel free to add whatever you like to your want lists so that you might get it in trades here. The beauty of this hobby is you can set your own rules, your own boundaries. Want the base cards from the active period of a player's career, set that as your rule, add those to the want list, and carry on. You want post-career cards, cool - add them. But, for a budget's sake, I would recommend setting boundaries and sticking to them. (Same with conditions and price thresholds. Basically, and point within the hobby.)

Welcome to TCDb, a place that many of us call home away from home. We have some knowledgable and generous people here. Enjoy your time here.

vroomed (Dan), very wise words. If I do go after a player's post-retirement cards, I'll stick to the base cards for now. There are some beautiful cards coming out these days. The Allen and Gitner line is quite nostalgic.

Thanks to all for your comments. Back to collecting!

Love what Vrooomed & supergajit said...

"Rainbow Chaos"

"the rainbow era - making that look like 15 different cards, and that's per set - each release having sometimes 20 to 50 different insert sets - all also with these parallels. "

vrooomed wrote:

Hi Boomer. :) Hey, you said it yourself.

Anyway, as someone who has been active in the hobby (in many different aspects) pretty much continuously throughout the past 45+ years, I can see where the explosion of cards can be quite the culture shock. Going from 1- maybe 5 cards in a year of the most popular players (to maybe 20 if you start counting food and regional issues) to literally hundreds of a single player is mind-blowing.

Here is my personal take on what is going on in the hobby. Whereas we had the boom in production in the mid- to late-80s (a time that some call the "junk wax era" or as many of here prefer the "over-production era"), what we're seeing now is the same level of production of cards, except now they are chaging border/background colors during the production and adding serial numbers in some cases. So instead of say 10,000 of the same card, we now have 5,000 of the "base" type, 2,000 of the Golds, 1,000 Reds, 500 Blues, 400 Yellow, etc until you've reached the same 10,000 total cards, but with 15 different colors - as supergajit said - the rainbow era - making that look like 15 different cards, and that's per set - each release having sometimes 20 to 50 different insert sets - all also with these parallels. Every set these days has that - some have 5 parallels, some have 50 - but very few sets these days do not have a parallel. So we're still getting the same amount of total 2.5"x3.5" cards printed, just now, they're varying the colors, production of each color, and increasing the inserts. For those of us who collect players from certain bygone days, who are still being included in today's sets, we can certainly be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cards that can be on a player's checklist these days.

You already said something that speaks to me - "I'm not a hardcore OCD collector who must have every card of my player" - good! It's a great way to be. Please stay that way. But, feel free to add whatever you like to your want lists so that you might get it in trades here. The beauty of this hobby is you can set your own rules, your own boundaries. Want the base cards from the active period of a player's career, set that as your rule, add those to the want list, and carry on. You want post-career cards, cool - add them. But, for a budget's sake, I would recommend setting boundaries and sticking to them. (Same with conditions and price thresholds. Basically, and point within the hobby.)

Welcome to TCDb, a place that many of us call home away from home. We have some knowledgable and generous people here. Enjoy your time here.