Opinions

Everybody's been sharing their opinions on things they like, things they don't like, etc. Rather than come up with my own list, I decided to share my own opinions on the various things others have put on their lists. I guess I'm not creative enough to come up with my own list.

1952 Topps

I only have one card personally. The design is certainly solid, and the historical significance of the set makes it extra special to me.

1957 Topps

Beautiful set, the first Topps set to really utilize color photography as the main basis of card design. Sure 1953 Bowmans might be nicer but they're much harder to come by.

1967 Topps

The photography may not be up to '57's standards (Topps was cheaping out on photos at this time) but the design is clean and uncluttered. Plus I really like dark green backs on cards ('74 for example).

1968 Topps

I don't understand the problem people have with burlap. Did you all have traumatic experiences with the material when you were a kid? I think it's different, and visually interesting.

1986 Sportflics

I love old Sportflics. The first 3-4 years were the best, then they went downhill quickly. It's still fun to flick the picture back and forth.

1988 Topps

1988 was my second year collecting. After the beautiful '87 set, very classy-looking to a ten year old kid, this ho-hum design was kind of a disappointment. 

1989 Topps

This was a bit of an improvement over '88. I think the big block letters of the team name made that set look babyish. The smaller, lower-case script was a more "mature" look.

1991 Fleer

The hate for the color yellow is another thing I don't understand. I like it just fine. What I loved about these cards when they came out was that the photo was in a nice square box, very unusual at the time. '90 Donruss did it too but the photos in '91 Fleer were much nicer.

1995 Fleer

Alright, this is one for which I can understand the hate. '95 Fleer is an ugly baby, tough to love. But in my book there is no such thing as a bad baseball card.

1995 Topps

I like foil in theory, but in actual practice it's often hard to read, which dings some sets in my book. '94 Ultra is another one that comes to mind where the foil really becomes a hindrance.

2006 Topps

This is the first set I collected contemporaneously with it's release in over 20 years, so it has some nostalgia value for me. It's an OK design, but the only 21st-century design that really stands out to me (positively) is '08, and maybe '04.

Allen & Ginter

The non-baseball cards sprinkled in make it somewhat interesting. Aside from that and the "nostalgia" value of 19th-century card design, and these cards aren't all that interesting, painted headshots and minimal back info.

Art Cards

I find these completely pointless. They are all clearly painted or drawn copies of photographs. There is no creativity here.

Black-and-White Cards

A black-and-white photo with historical interest is great. Otherwise I'd prefer color.

Bobbleheads

I never felt the need to collect them. I have a couple I've gotten at Yankee games and that's it.

Bowman

The early years of Bowman were fine, but as it turned into a quasi-minor league set, minus the charm of actual minor league cards, I have found them uninteresting. In fact I often try to avoid receiving Bowman cards in trade packages. BP, BDP, BDPP, BCP, BCDP, etc etc. Who needs it?

Building big sets

Yes, lots of fun. I grew up a set collector and continue to enjoy collecting that way.

Busting packs

I find I have no interest in busting packs. I like getting as much variety as I can in card acquisitions.

Checklists

I marked checklists as a kid and continue to do so, though not for vintage (most of those come to me pre-checked anyway. Sometimes it feels like a chore, especially in recent Topps sets where they make it so hard to find the damn things in your set.

Chrome

Having a shiny version of a card is kind of nice, but I never understood the appeal of the textured outline of the player.

Double-Bagging Pages

Yes, the fronts are more interesting for display than the backs. I can take out the card if I want to see the back.

Facsimile Autographs

I never understood the point of these. It is funny to sometimes see people try to pass them off as real autographs when selling them.

Foreign cards

I have very few foreign cards. The variety is fun though. The problem with a Japanese card like this one is that I have no idea who it is. 

Actually when I got this card there was no such thing as the Trading Card Database. Thanks to that fantastic tool I quickly figured out who this is, and what this card is. 1989 Takara Yakult Swallows Kazushige Nagashima. His father Shigeo Nagashima was a Hall-of-Famer in Japan but Kazushige was a disappointment on and off the field (frequent run-ins with managers in a culture much less accepting of that than the US). He has since gone on to a career in acting and sports commentary.

Graded Cards

I guess I can understand wanting to make sure a card is not counterfeit, but graded cards have no appeal to me.

Gypsy Queen

This seems like one of the mos pointless of Topps's many "let's recycle an old card design concept" set. A&G, Archives, Heritage etc seem to have their fans, but I don't think I've seen anyone who really loves these. Somebody's buying them, though, or Topps wouldn't still be making them.

Kenner Starting Lineups

My favorite toys as a kid were Star Wars figures. When I got into baseball I thought it would really be cool to have baseball figures. Then Starting Lineup came out and I got a few of them - I think I have Mattingly, Winfield, Randolph and a couple of Mets (Strawberry? Gooden?). I think you could only get the NY teams in local stores. I found them disappointing though, and rarely played with them. They're long long gone now.

Logoless cards

Airbrushing the logo away is never a good look, but it's also not enough to turn me off from what might otherwise be a perfectly fine baseball card. That goes for modern sets too like Panini.

Lower condition

A card like this where you can't see the player's face, I would rather not get. Or a card that is excessively trimmed (like, 25% of the card is gone). Otherwise, vintage or modern, poor condition is just fine with me! 

Mini cards

I don't get the excitement over a card that is a little smaller than other cards. I really don't like "micro" cards (including vintage Topps stamps) that seem like they will get lost really easily.

Modern sets

No doubt there are too many sets with the same players over and over again. Even after the Topps monopoly we still seem to get a lot of sets each year, with minimal difference in the players. I definitely prefer the old style of fewer sets with larger player variety.

Non-sport cards

A little variety like this is OK. Sometimes I even learn something from the cards. They call them baseball cards for a reason though. Too much of this stuff can get in the way of a set.

Oddballs

Yes for sure. Lots of variety makes for lots of fun.

Online products

Maybe I'm just old and out-of-touch but I don't understand collecting something I can't physically touch and organize. If I wanted jpegs of ballplayers I can find a near-infinite amount for free online.

Pacific

The early- and mid-90s Pacific sets are woefully underrated. Some great photography and designs that really augmented the photos. Soon it became just another Fleer, Donruss, etc copycat though.

Pack stashes

If I get cards I want to get at them as soon as possible. Don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow might never come.

Panini Golden Age

Panini has put out some interesting cards of retired players. They have a lot more variety in their stable than Topps, who seem afraid of putting a player on a card whom a casual collector might not be familiar with. Going through my few cards from this set, the button on Berg's shirt caught my eye. I found a larger picture of this picture (an AP photo) online.

The button is from the 1976 Dow Jones Open at the Montclair Country Club. I don't know what the "Press 'A'" was for though. 

Price guides

I don't care about book value, and most bloggers don't either. The values are wildly inflated of course, but it can be useful sometimes to have an easily-agreed upon arbiter of value when doing a trade.

Prospecting/Investing

No use for it at all. This is a hobby for me, not a business.

Relic cards

They're hardly a priority for me, but it can be fun to pretend you really have a piece of an MLB player's uniform.

Repacks

They are a fun concept and I used to go for them quite a bit. I'm at a point now in my collection, though, where they're not worth the $5 or so for maybe five cards I'll need in the pack.

Reprints

I guess it's a nice way to feel like you can own a card that you can't really have, but personally I think they are pointless. This card is one that fooled me - I bought it at a flea market not noticing the Fleer Platinum logo on the bottom until after.
Shiny

I am the type of person who can stare at glittery wrapping paper for ten minutes without getting bored. Yes you bet shiny cards are right near the top of my all-time favorites. Maybe my favorite outside of vintage and Yankees.

Shortprints

A card like this mystifies me. It's just a regular card, how is it a "hit" worth $20 or more? For those of you complaining about collecting a set that has short prints, I personally would say the set is complete without them.

Social media trading

In theory I would like to do it. I haven't seemed to be able to "crack the code" with Twitter trading. I had one good trade there, a couple of weird experiences and that's it. Any other good places to trade?

Sorting cards

I like sorting cards. It's a part of the process, rarely do I find it tedious, unless it's a lot of the same cards over and over.

Storing sets in binders

I collect everything! That means I really have no choice to use boxes. Heck I barely have room for the boxes. I do keep smaller sets (anything where I have less than ten cards in the set) in binders. 

Team Photos on Cards

Yes I like them. Vintage especially but modern too, a good team photo has a lot of personality.

Topps Now

I have no desire to pay several bucks for any one card, especially not a gimmick like this. It's just a matter of time before I start to accumulate unwanted Topps Nows from others. Blogger trade? Street vendor? Garage sale? 

TTMs

There is something attractive about an autographed card, especially on-card autos. But mailing something to a player, asking them to go to the trouble of not just signing the card but sealing it back up, going to the post office and mailing them out, I really don't like. I've never sent out a TTM request. Email, social media - that's different, and only requires a quick response back (though some do go above and beyond).

Upper Deck

To me the photograph is the single most important part of a card. UD consistently had great photography throughout it's run, so UD cards are always a favorite of mine.

Variations/Parallels

Sure I like them, especially shiny ones. Variety is fun. Too much of any one variation is repetitive but having a few of each is nice.

Wax Stains 

Wow even this we are supposed to have opinions on? They don't bother me, nor do they have any particular charm. I remember trying the gum a few times as a kid and didn't care for it, but I was never a big gum chewer anyway.

Well there you go. Looking back at these I don't have the strongest opinions, especially when it comes to negative ones. I guess in general I am a person who tries to accentuate the positive, and this is my favorite hobby so I wouldn't expect to have too many negative opinions about it!