OT: Topps out of baseball cards in 2026? Looks like it.

They getting into the spicy world of NFT?!

Edit: Nevermind, I now see this is MLB and the players making the change.

I just recently learned about NFTs as a form of proof that something of value(?) has been destroyed and all that remains is....the NFT of proof...ok I'm going round and round here but.  You can't make this shit up.

I still have my sports card collection from when I was a kid. I loved spending hours sorting them and going to get the latest Beckett to look up the values. The simple things in life…

I suppose part of growing old is watching the things of your youth fade away.  Its fun watching my kids go through my old collection though and get some enjoyment out of it. 

And get into NFTs

In Soviet Russia, cards collect you!

Years ago as an undergrad, I interned in Target's Assets Protection Dept., mainly looking at reports for possible fraud instances.  One day I was walking the floor with a loss prevention guy, and came upon a middle aged man sitting in front of the sportscard area with what appeared to be a marijuana scale.  Asked the loss prevention guy what that was all about, and he told me the really rare (thus valuable) cards often weigh a tiny bit more than regular cards, so packs of cards that were a little heavier than most others might have those cards in them.  That's when I knew that hobby was done for; no more 50¢ for 15 Topps cards and a stick of gum; just a business for adults.

I still believe the baseball card industry is part of baseballs downfall in ratings. In the 70’s and 80’s, we bought a 25 cent pack of cards with 15 cards and over a typical summer had over a hundred cards to trade and collect. Learned player names and stats and teams and positions and who were “all-stars” etc. Then I’d watch the Saturday game of the week and Monday night baseball and no matter the team playing, I knew Nolan Ryan and George Brett and Fernando Valenzuela as well as the role players on most teams simply from the baseball cards. Once it became big business in the late 80’s, kids got priced out of it. Even adults got priced out of it. I now hear about a baseball mvp candidate and ask “who the hell is that?” My kids now spend $4 for a pack of 10 Pokémon cards and watch all the shows and play the game. But it’s not the same as baseball cards was at one time. 

This sucks.

Topps was part of the game. I’ve been enjoying getting my son into collecting. Topps always did a good job having a series of insert cards that looked like the cards I collected when I was his age. Once the license transfers to Fanatics (wtf??!) they won’t be able to do that. Absolutely blows. 

Someday, certain and especially genuine authentic Topps cards with a gum stain on the back will be worth more, such as the Jose Canseco or Dwight Gooden rookie ones.

It's funny how the a Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie mint condition card can still be worth $50, same price back in '86.

WTF is a baseball card?!

Lets talk about Pokémon cards

This sucks, though I haven’t collected cards in years, I still have the Tigers Topps team sets for every year from 1968 through about 1988.  Maybe Topps can sign a deal with the Alliance (B1G, ACC, Pac-12), the SEC and the players and make college football cards.

I don’t understand. The reason I stopped collecting years ago was because there were so many different cards companies and series it was hard to keep up. Is there still 20 companies making baseball cards? Why can’t Topps make cards?