To date, I own exactly one Phillies card from the red-bordered, Target-only parallel set, but I like this version more than the regular white-bordered cards. What if Topps had gone with blue borders for the Royals cards and green borders for the A's cards and purple borders for the Rockies cards? I'd argue that the set would have been universally more embraced than it has been to date.
The cards have been out for all of 8 days, and there have been at least 900 posts throughout the blogoverse on the set. Most of the reviews I've read are either negative or ambivalent. So how would you fix the set? Is the surf board too big? Are color borders the answer? Does everyone (except Topps) agree that League Leader cards should be grouped together and Active Leaders cards are unnecessary? What say you?
I've always thought doing something with the borders -- other than making them white -- makes the set instantly more interesting, and collectible.
ReplyDeleteOther than that I would:
Return the cards to pre-1992 card stock, ditch the foil, lose the active leaders cards and the practice of rookie cup players having more than one card. That would allow more players to get a card.
You know, all stuff that Topps wouldn't do because it's too old school,
I completely agree with everything you said. It's the reason why I'm going to try and collect all the black bordered parallels this year for the Pirates. They just look so much nicer. The same can be sed for red parallels of the Phils, Reds, Cardinals, etc and blue parallels look nice for the Royals.
ReplyDeleteI agree, but you also have to remember that three of the uglier Topps sets (1998, 1999, 2000) ever came during the colored border phase of 1998-2003 and 2002 was no prize either.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I am thrilled that the Toys R Us exclusive parallel is purple for my team. Rockies fans are probably the only ones happy that there is another parallel to track down but it works for me.
Giving players with rookie cups two separate cards is absurd.
ReplyDeleteHiflew - But during the years you listed Topps didn't coordinate the border color with the team color. I think each of those sets would have been instantly better if there was some color coordination going on. And that's awesome about the purple border cards - I hadn't heard about that yet!
Those purple TRU cards seem to be unadvertised bonus cards. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere on the packaging, and they are in addition to the pack that is sealed onto the card that hangs on the shelf. A nice bonus. I hate when they parallel cards are _in lieu_ of the regular cards in the pack; _in addition_ is much better!
ReplyDelete