My 2 Cents: Beckett's Topps Tribute Break

[sanjosefuji]

A couple of weeks ago, Hockey Card Heaven posted about the "negativity" floating around our hobby. I enjoyed reading his article and agree with him when he says, "I'm in the hobby for fun".

So today I promise not to add any additional "negativity" to the blogworld. Instead, I'm just going to throw down the facts and of course my 2 cents, while trying to be as positive as I can.


Shall we begin?


Yesterday, Beckett posted their box break of 2 boxes of 2010 Topps Tribute Baseball. If you haven't watched it and want to, click here.


One box contained a 1/1 red parallel of Albert Pujols and the other box contained a redemption card for an autographed relic card of Stephen Strasburg.


These results have rekindled the fire against Beckett, who have pulled a number of insane pulls out of their boxes on video box breaks (Sports Card Uncensored posted a longer list last October in his blog if you want to check it out). Here are just a few of the highlights of their pulls:


A. 2007 Exquisite "1/1 Autographed Patch" of Adrian Peterson
B. 2007 Exquisite "1/1 Dual Legendary Cut" autographed card of Walter Payton & Brian Piccolo
C. 2007 Topps Sterling "Cut Signature/Jersey" of Joe Dimaggio


As mentioned earlier, I promise to try to make this as positive as possible. I've been collecting cards for 30 years and will continue collecting until it stops being fun. These crazy box breaks are frustrating to some extent, but I won't let it break me.


I know that the card companies and Beckett will never read my little blog, but I have several friends (like Charles @ Hoopography, G_Moses @ The Basketball Blog, and fellow bloggers over at Sports Card Radio) who I want to share my opinion with.


I think that card companies need to go back to handing out promotion cards, instead of boxes to promote their products. Collectors are spending their hard earned money on boxes in hopes of pulling decent cards. When Topps, Upper Deck, Panini, Razor, Press Pass, and all of the other card companies send boxes to Beckett, different trading card forums, and bloggers it might be in the collector's best interest, since they're usually given away as part of contests or as freebies. In fact, I've been on the receiving end of some of these contests. But after putting some thought into the topic, I'm starting to think this is wrong. Card companies should not be sending out boxes that have even a single "hit" in them for promotional reasons. These hits should be pulled by collectors who are paying for their boxes.


Every time Beckett or anyone else pulls a "hit", whether it's a common autograph or a 1/1 Pujols, it's taken out of the hands of a collector who's spending their hard earned money. And in my eyes, that's wrong.


So who's at fault? Is it Beckett's fault? Is it the card companies' fault? Is it my fault for accepting these cards as prizes in contests? Personally, I think all three have played a part in the drama.

But, the solution is simple. Card companies... quit sending out boxes (loaded or not loaded) to people. Go back to the days of sending out promotional cards to people. Beckett Media has enough money to purchase their own boxes. They don't need free boxes even if all/most of the cards get back into collector's collections. Bloggers and forums who don't have enough money might be out of luck, but at least you'd be preserving the integrity of the hobby.


I know that nothing is "that" simple. However, I think it's a start in the right direction. If any of you have a better idea or can improve on mine, I'd love to hear your feedback.


This hobby is ours and it's suppose to be fun. Thanks for taking the time to read my 2 cents.




More...

[ChadS333]

I could not agree with you more. This business/hobby is meant to be fun and exciting when opening up boxes/cases.

I will give you a great example. I recently opened up a case of 2010 Panini Classics Football in hopes of getting a Tim Tebow Auto. While I did pull a Bradford auto it was still a disappointment. I watch Beckett when they put the videos of the Box previews and if I ever saw a Tebow auto get pulled, I would be severely upset. I wouldn't spend 4 hours opening up 16 boxes of cards if I already knew a Tebow auto was gone.

Great entry overall though. Well put with all the thoughts. I am looking forward to the upcoming entries .

[rollandniles]

hate to rock the boat but i do not see an issue. I purchase boxes for the joy. If i compared my hits with others, i would always be dissapointed. Free items is a promotion technique no different than any other business.

Now if the companies were in collusion with Beckett or were sending intentionally packed guaranteed hits that would be different. Some people see the box breaks and their decision to purchase the product may be influenced by what they see in the video. Another issue would be if pricing or promotion from beckett was influence by free stuff.

In the end, I know it could be dissapointing to see the 1/1 or rare find go because it is no longer in the market but that is the risk we are all aware of.