The hobby’s focus over the last few years has changed in most of the three major sports. Instead of the continued presence of packed out base cards and rookies, the major hit base products have taken over. My main focus has been football and  autographs over all else, and after a  long conversation at the local shop a few weeks ago, I have to believe that there are a few changes that should be considered to help facilitate new growth in my favorite sport.

Changes like relegating certain packed out structures and single swatch cards to retail could be very helpful in getting back to what works. Base cards and non-autographed jersey cards rarely carry their weight in a product’s alignment, and yet the will still dominate 2012. We will most likely see both companies release multiple products with a structure that favors them, especially Panini. In fact, they have already previewed four different sets that should have multiple jersey cards per box, and we still have 14 to go. This makes absolutely no sense, especially when single jersey cards have absolutely no value. Panini has used them as a crutch for years, which doesnt even take the weirdly included inserts into the conversation.

The most egregious use of jersey and base cards is a tie, with National Treasures, Absolute Memorabilia and Gold Standard all using a crap ton of the cards to fill out the box content. Bowman Sterling, Topps Triple Threads and Certified are close seconds, but not in the same ridiculous way. In Absolute, Panini has structured the packout so that a person could buy a 50 dollar pack and get a non-autograhed card that wont break 25 cents as the main hit. For god’s sake, the product’s structure hasnt changed for close to a decade, even though the theme was based on a card’s value that no longer has any.

Im not even focusing on the base card, which by observation, in most of the main sports has been a useless addition in most higher end products. Even with a serial number, they are left behind for scrap in most instances. I have to say that fewer packs and fewer base cards can cut cost and allow for more content, but I would much rather have more creative use of other parts of the set. SSP variations and more variety will provide more attention to the use of the base, but still not give value the non-rare cards.

My support falls on getting rid of them all together, as the growing stacks of leftover cards at the local shop grows by the moment. Even the kids dont want them any more, even though most LCS owners collect them for giveaways to younger customers. Maybe offering a segregated packed set and hit content would give more legs to buying a full box, but I am not sure if that could save the set builder’s function in higher end football products. The base cards have become protection so you cant see the hits on either end of the pack.

I just dont get why National Treasures, or even Five Star has base cards in the box, let alone single jersey cards. Why Panini thinks that the non relic version of the jersey and autograph cards are worthy of four to six inclusions in one high end box is beyond me, especially with the way they end up looking. A description of visual diarrhea is not even an adjective that comes close to my feelings. Then to think that 60% of a box of that cost is non-autographs should be making the buyers red with extreme anger. I remember a time when UD said they would not include single jerseys in Exquisite any longer. That was the right idea.

My biggest aversion is to products like Gold Standard and Absolute, but there are all time faves like Bowman Sterling and Triple Threads that still make me wretch just as much. I mean, I just cant fathom why people still think its okay to produce sets in the way these are produced. Both Triple Threads and Absolute have a huge following, but it is baffling to me, with the way the boxes can come back and bite you. Gold Standard had to have some of the worst looking cards of the year, surpassed only by Panini Elite, and yet I still see people trying to break the bank with it. That makes me cringe.

Smaller player checklists could be the solution for right now, and that goes double for Panini and their team. I have seen more players on high end checklists that result in me doing a double take, and that should come with wrath from the people that buy these products. Putting low end players on even a middle end checklist should be against the rules, especially in products that cost above 100 bucks a box. Topps has been much better with this, especially with a shortened checklist in the bigger products of the year. They struggle more with sticker dump autograph checklists, which is a completely different post all together.

As long as the sets are done the way they are, the companies are not going to see the full potential they could with their big splash releases. Because the rookie checklists are pre-determined before the year starts, Im not even talking about those at this point. Im just stating that the configuration of our boxes need to change. Once that happens, boxes will be worth more, even if they cost a bit more. Getting more will breed more value in the price, which is what every collector desires. Including me. ESPECIALLY ME.