Great Article

[jogesc2]

I totally agree

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...os-and-relics/

[xpucksx]

Yep....

and I am that guy...looking in the base boxes to complete sets; I have some relic/gu/auto etc cards in my player collections, but they are by happenstance.

We all collect for different reasons, so it doesn't bother me that much. But I also don't like the off-putting sense I get sometimes form LCS guys or "high-end" collectors when I say I am just looking for base to complete sets. Like I shouldn't be there, or I don't know what I am doing.

I would love to see the focus off of the memorabilia cards and back on quality set building, and making things rare by less print runs etc. Maybee have 1 or 2 autos, or even better: up the value of real autographs! Most of my auto cards were from me actually having to talk to the player at a game or practice, or just catching them on the street. These have way more value b/c I got to interact directly with the player.

[RGM81]

I think that the genie is out of the bottle and there's no going back at this point.

I've had it in mind for many years that there's just too much of everything out there. Guys who have a cup of coffee in the NHL get 22 RC's plus innumerable parallels, photoshoot memorabilia, and autographs. That's too much. Couple that with the fact that the kids don't learn how to sign their names or write in cursive anymore, and it's a recipe for some of the insidious autographs you see in the article from OP.

But, and this is only speaking for hockey...we've got an influx of new collectors in 2015-16 thanks to Connor McDavid. As a result, it's not overly surprising that UD is upping the number of releases this year. With so many new faces it's an opportunity to try new things (Contours) and revive old things (Black) and inject life into existing things (Black Diamond) to see what works. And these new collectors have varying levels of income and interests, as do the existing collector base. So throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks. I suspect that 2016-17 may be a quieter year on the release calendar, so we may not get everything this year, next year. Maybe. LOL

It would be mildly amusing if part of the Rookie Showcase involves a cursive writing section. Might come in handy for the kids to improve signature quality, because they're going to be doing it for years.+

[frankiefives]

I think this is way overdue. It's no secret that the most "profitable" breaks are the products that aren't driven by the hits. O-Pee-Chee and Upper Deck series 1 and 2 are probably the best bang for your buck breaks. The Cup is by far the worst overall.

I agree that no matter what the card companies decide, people will continue to collect. And the hard core guys will still pay hundreds and thousands of dollars for hard to find chase cards

[Rraincock]

I agree. I think that 90% of the jersey cards out there aren't worth the cardboard they are printed on. Superstar players deserve multiple jersey cards... and bottom of the league players deserve 1 (at most). That said, do we need 27 different Ovechkin memorabilia cards? How many different McDavid jersey cards are there this year? 97?

Autographs and memorabilia pieces were best when they were rare. Remember the Brett Hull Heroes autograph from 1991/92 Upper Deck? I am still looking for one. Remember the very first set of jerseys from UD? They still sell well into the $50+ range because they are as rare as hen's teeth (outselling 1/1 versions of modern issues).

We all know that there is too much of a good thing... but we keep on buying box after box. I can't remember the last time I broke wax - I just wait for someone to pull a card of a Rebels player and list it on ebay. You can have my $12... saves me buying the box in the first place.

[xpucksx]

I only buy "wax". I usually do one hobby box as a set comes out, and then fill in with trades etc. I do use this forum and the bay to get parallels and other inserts, but I am still of the mindset where the inserts were "throw-away" cards. Like, "why is this in here, this is not part of the regular set?" Now, inserts and parallels become trade bait for the same of the teams I specifically collect. In my PC/team/ and set collections, the "manufactured rarity" cards are the last things I pursue, mainly b/c of the reasons many have listed above