Remember the Blue Road Uniforms

At the time I wasn't a big fan of them, but looking back, I really like the blue road uniforms some teams had.

This Paul Molitor, '84 Topps card has Paul in his blues. I like the Brewers blue, the Blue Jays blue and the Phillies blue . . . the grays that teams wear now, just seem a little boring compared to these.

We Can't Have Bullets and Colt .45s, but Redskins are OK?

One of my Topps Million Card give-away is this 1962 Joe Amalfitano card of the Houston Colt .45s. After looking at the wiki page and some of their cool logos the story of the .45s seems really interesting to me.

In today's politically correct world, we could never have another Colt .45s team, just as we can't have a Washington Bullets team name. I get it, I'm not here to argue the name change, but I don't understand what appears to be a double-standard.

We can't have:
- Colt .45s
- Washington Bullets
- Eastern Michigan Hurons
- Miami (OH) Redskins

Why can we have the Washington Redskins and Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians? Why are these images and stereotypes OK?

One of One Million from Topps - Pete Rose 1986

I ordered a few of the cards I received from the Topps Million Card Giveaway. This is the 1986 Pete Rose card that I previously blogged about.

Once I placed the order, it took less than a week to get here, the order process was easy, and the card is in very good condition. I'm pretty happy with this one, the giveaway and the service Topps provided.

Now I'm really looking forward to Saturday, 9/11, Reds game. They are honoring the 25th anniversary of hit #4192.

Topps Tribute 2010 - Cards from Cardboard Connection

I'm sucker for the old school cards and modern cards that reflect and old design and showcase players from a previous era.

Unfortunately, Topps Tribute 2010 didn't do it for me. I received some cards from Cardboard Connection for their "Three I'd Like to See" promotion. I didn't win the contest, but it was really cool of them to throw some cards my way.

The 2010 Topps Tribute cards I received:
- Rogers Hornsby 50/51
- Walter Johnson
- Johnny Bench

I'm all for the sepia background, but in my opinion, the card is a little bland, it's hard to read the script font they use on the shiny front. I like the thickness of the card and having the player stand-out, but it's just missing something for me.

Let me know if you're collecting the set and are interested in the cards.

Thanks again to Cardboard Connection for the schwag.

2010 Topps Tribute - Three I'd Like to See

Our friends at Cardboard Connection have a cool contest going on. They are giving away a box of 2010 Topps Tribute baseball. Send them an email with the top 3 moments/events in baseball history that you'd like to see on a card.

For my Top 3, I'm going with a series of two autographs and a stadium piece on the card.

1. Branch Rickey/Jackie Robinson Autograph card with a piece of Ebbets Field.
2. Fred Merkle/Johnny Evers Autograph card with a piece of the Polo Grounds
3. Babe Ruth/Harry Frazee card with a piece of Yankee Stadium or playbill from "No, No, Nanette"

Entries are due to the Cardboard Connect by Aug. 13.

Something is Missing on my Cowboys Card

Where's the star! You can't have a Dallas Cowboys football card without the star can you? What's going on here?

This is a 1980 Topps football card of Butch Johnson. Is there a reason Topps didn't include the star?

Topps Returns to the National Sports Collectors Convention

Topps will be at the 2010 National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore, MD.

Confirmed via Twitter.com/Toppscards - they will be at the National this year.

Their quote: "@JamesRyanJ @VOTC Yes, we'll be at the National this year. I will be there personally. Feel free to come introduce yourself."

Will Topps Attend the 2010 National?

I can't remember the last time Topps attended the National Sports Collectors Convention, but could they make a return this year?

Considering their leadership changes and customer outreach via social media, it seems now would be the perfect time to make a big splash at the 2010 National in Baltimore, MD.

I posted the discussion on the Facebook National group page.

Billy Martin - The "Perky" Yankee

How would you describe Billy Martin? Aggressive? Competitor? Hot-tempered? Winner?

This Topps 1962 card describes Billy Martin as "perky." In the fourth line on the back of the card Topps writes, " . . . the perky second baseman set a World Series record . . ."

I don't know about you, but when I think "perky" I'm not thinking of Billy Martin!

Did Topps Inspire Legos?

Is the Lego brand taking a page out of a baseball card manufacturers playbook? It's not quite the same, but it looks pretty similar.

Last year, Topps introduced the Topps 3D cards. I had a blog post about them on March 9.

This year, Lego is introducing a similar feature.



Can a box top like this be far behind for Topps?

Sure it's a little gimmicky, but how cool would it be if a box of cards you purchased had a similar feature?
- Could it be a preview of what the cards look like?
- Will audio be next?

The technology already seems to be there with the Topps 3D. Maybe this is the next step?

My Favorite Virtual Card

I've been submitting the Topps Million Giveaway codes and some virtual cards have been OK. This 1975 Pete Rose card is my favorite though.

Thank you Mr. Easter Bunny for bringing my boys some baseball cards this year!

What Would Casey Stengel Say?

I added to my '62 Topps Mets team set last week at the CSA Show. I picked up this Casey Stengel card for a couple of dollars.

I'm a huge Mets fan, but I'm not looking forward to this season - I think they could easily land in last place of the NL East with this team.

After getting this card, I began thinking, "What would Casey say" about this current Mets team.

Here are some great "Stengelese" quotes - the last one is my favorite:
- All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
- I've been in this game a 100 years, but I see new ways to lose I never knew existed before.
- Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.
- I don't know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits on the ball.
- I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice.
- Managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits.
- Most people are dead at my age. You could look it up.
- Mr., that boy couldn't hit the ground if he fell out of an airplane.
- Son, we'd like to keep you around this season but we're going to try and win a pennant.
- The only thing worse than a Mets game is a Mets doubleheader.

Dear Topps and Upper Deck: You Need More than a Fan Page

You need a Facebook Application.

It's great that Topps, UpperDeck and other card manufacturers have joined the Facebook tribes. Their fan pages are OK - they aren't at the level of Red Bull or Dunkin' Donuts. Both of them have been recognized for having killer facebook fan pages.

However, the Upper Deck page has more than 800 fans and there seems to be a lot of interaction. The Topps fan page is new and has around 100.

But we need more.

The fan page is great for getting the message out and talking to your customers, but let's interact some. I want a facebook application!

The card companies need to look beyond the fan page and navigation ads.

How about an interactive application that allows you to put any photo you have on your facebook page into your own trading card? This would be similar to the Topps My Trading Card page. You could:
- create your own set
- add it to your profile
- make it your avatar and
- order it directly from the facebook application.

Why not add yourself to the background of the photo like Topps did with the George W. Bush and Derek Jeter card?

Facebook fan pages were great in 2009. In 2010, we need to step it up and see some facebook applications.

Pete Rose 1969 Topps Deckle

I added a new Pete Rose card to my collection this weekend. My local card store had a 1969 Topps Deckle edge card.

The "deckle" is the rough edge part that isn't easy to see on this scanned image. The autograph is printed on there by Topps - this isn't an on-card Pete Rose autograph.

I've wanted to get a Rose deckle for some time, but my card store actually had a cheap one. From what I understand, the 1974 Deckle edge is pretty expensive. I'm happy with this 1969 version.

Topps Million Card Giveaway Updates

I'm hooked. I think it's cool to see old cards that I never had and my kids think it's cool to see players they've never heard of.

They are the "code cards" as they call it. Recently, we've picked up a few more after a trip to the card store.

I doubt we'll win any of the contests, but I give Topps credit for the gimmick.

The contest is what you make out of it. If you use it as a lottery system for the Mantle rookie, then you're going to be disappointed. If you use it for a chance to see older cards that never owned, then it can be kind of cool.

This weekend we picked up the ones pictured here: Tommy John, Felix Milan, and Ed Keegan.

More Topps Million Card Giveaway - Livan?

My second Topps Million Card giveaway is Livan Hernandez. Are these cards you wish your mom threw away or glad she did?

To be honest, this marketing gimmick is working on me. I want to go buy more for another chance. . . for the kids of course!

Topps Colts .45s Work Every Time

After several delays and attempts, I finally was able to enter my Topps million card giveaway code today. My result: '62 Topps Joe Amalfitano.

I like the '62 set and anything Colts .45s, so I was pretty happy with this one.

Great Moments in Mets History - Really?

We settled on the Topps 2010 product to collect our Mets team set. Valentine's Day gifts for the boys were packs of cards - is there a better gift for the new collectors in the family?

The Target rack-pack had some Mets including this "Franchise History" moment. I put "franchise history" in quotes because it's the name of the card and I'm questioning if this is the best Topps could do for Mets history? The scanned card is Tom Seaver throwing out the last pitch of Shea Stadium.

Is the last unofficial pitch in the stadium part of Mets history? It's not even a great looking card. The background looks terrible and Seaver has this look as if the ball won't make it near the catcher. The Mets have had their share of horrible team history, but there were plenty of moments to use:
- 1969 World Series: Swoboda's catch
- 1986 World Series: Bill Buckner/Mookie Wilson play
- 1996 Todd Hundley breaking the catcher single-season home run record
- 2001 Mike Piazza's home run on 9/21... first baseball game in NY after 9/11

And if Topps wanted this to be a moment in Mets history, couldn't they have used a picture that included Mike Piazza catching this unofficial pitch from Tom Seaver?

Topps Million Card Giveaway - waiting... waiting...

I bought a few packs of Topps 2010 yesterday as we try to decide which set to collect our Mets in this year. On Friday I blogged about our inability to make a decision.

In one of our packs we received a redemption code for the Topps Million Card Giveaway. Great news . . . until I went to the Topps web site to enter the code. They aren't accepting codes yet.

What?

Why release a product, include codes and a URL to accept them, but not accept them for another week or two? What sense does that make?

This is a failure of the Topps Marketing Department. It's simple - you need your infrastructure and support to be ready by the time you launch a product. It's hard enough to launch a new product that your customers will want - there is so much research and development cost that goes into that. The easy part should be making sure your back-office is prepared for the product.

I (and others who are buying Topps 2010) have a redemption code card that I can't do anything with for more than a week. It's bad enough that customers have to wait 4-6 week after they enter the code to see what they will receive, but now we have to wait another week before entering the code?

Come on Topps - do better. Fail.

Help Needed: Topps 2010 or UD Goudey

I need help decided which product to use for doing our 2010 Mets team set. Suggestions?

Last year my boys dipped their little 5-year old toes into the baseball card collecting pool. It was a lot of fun to see them get started and get excited to find our favorite teams in packs. I blogged about our fun with the 2009 Topps set.

I picked Topps because the design was nice, it didn't empty our wallets and I could find them at Target and Walmart.

Should I go with 2010 Topps this year? Paul's Random Stuff has already provided a great checklist for the Mets. I'm also interested in the Upper Deck Goudey collection since Pete Rose is in there.

What's your take?