When Strasburg went down for the year, and possibly all of 2011, Topps had some problems. They had centered so much of their 2010 product line around him, that they now had products coming out that were focusing all of their energy on a player who is a big question mark. Topps Chrome, like every other Topps product was supposed to be the Strasmas dinner on Strasmas eve. It was supposed to whet your appetite for Bowman Chrome coming out later in the year, the presents on Strasmas day, if you will. Instead people are pissed off, because the odds are all messed up, the autos arent falling right, and Stras’ base auto is no where to be found.

Just how far has Strasburg’s stuff fallen? I could say through the floor, but that would be like calling Saw 3D a “sequel.” Remember those Bowman autos that were selling at close to 700? Yeah, they arent even close anymore. Same thing with the A&G minis, the Triple Threads autos, everything. Its all down. Like many of the people out there, I warned people about buying into a flamethrower, as power pitchers are so likely to burn out. Although Stras is far from done in his career, reaching the heights he was supposed to reach are that much more unlikely to happen. With 2011 being Harpreaster to this year’s Strasmas, it may just start all over again. That’s what you get for putting all of your Harpreaster eggs in one basket, I guess.

Enough with the bad holiday puns. My apologies.

Bottom line is that people can ask the moon for Stras’ cards all they want these days, they just arent going to get it anymore. I mean check out this auction for his red refractor auto out of Topps Chrome. This one too, it’s the same without any interest. When was the last time you saw a Strasburg card numbered this low fail to even get a bite. Its unfortunate, because as we saw, what Strasburg brought to the hobby was a welcome attention it rarely gets. The loss of the attention isnt the worst of it though, as a lot of the local stores and distributors who bought big into late Topps products are going to be in a bad way, a bad enough way that they may have to take a huge loss on their buys. With the recession still affecting disposable income, Im going to say that taking a loss is a lot harder on them than it ever could be.

I mentioned before that Baseball has become a prospector’s sport, something that isnt necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely has potential to cause some major situations like this. When you think about everything that goes into product planning, a player’s injury probably never has even close to the effect that something like Stras’ caused. Topps has some serious issues to work through with their customers after Chrome, and it leaves you to consider how much damage may have been done. Would the same amount of damage have happened if there werent a baseball exclusive? Who knows, but at least there would be variety in the products that people could choose from. In the end, collectors will probably be one of many people hurt in this situation. Its just a matter of whether or not someone else, like the shop owners, will take a bigger hit.