In my best post championship Sports Illustrated commercial announcer’s voice: “CONGRATULATIONS Royals Fans! Your Team is World Champs!” All those years of waiting for your prospects to come through are over.

After a great game 5, and another come from behind victory, the Royals showed how their hitters can manufacture runs better than any team in the league. They went up against the Mets best pitchers and came out with a convincing Series win in five games. Not too shabby. Lucky for us, many of their players are not hobby superstars, but are definitely hobby vets in signing cards and appearing in sets. Because the Royals were terrible for so long, they had lots of high profile draft picks that were featured in card sets for a long time. Yesterday we finally saw the culmination.

Salvador Perez

Although he won Series MVP, the award could have really gone to any number of players. Perez just happened to be the guy that got the honor. His single started the rally in the 12th, and he batted over .360 for the five games. He is the one guy that doesnt get much fanfare in the hobby compared to his teammates, and he definitely deserves more.

2012 Gypsy Queen Salvador Perez On Card Auto

2015 Topps High Tek Salvador Perez Auto 4/5

2015 Immaculate Salvador Perez Auto Patch Logo 3/5

Lorenzo Cain

As the face of the Royals, give or take, Cain was on the hook to have another whirlwind playoffs, much like he did in 2014. He didnt disappoint, and his four WS RBI helped the Royals come away with key wins. Cain was a relative nobody coming into last year, and he still doesnt have much to choose from in the hobby. That will likely change.

2011 Topps Lorenzo Cain 60th Anniversary Auto SP

2006 Bowman Chrome Lorenzo Cain RC BGS 9.5

2015 Topps Update Lorenzo Cain All Star Game Relic

Eric Hosmer

Hosmer didnt exactly have the best series overall, hitting .190 with an error in the field, but he had some memorable plays that people will remember for a long time. His sac fly to win game 1 was awesome, and it doesnt stop there. In the deciding game, he knocked in a run in the top of the 9th and scored on a base-running play that was incredibly heads up. Those two runs sent it to extras, where the Royals won on a big 12th inning. His Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome rookie autos have already started to come up in value, and that will likely continue for a few weeks.

2011 Bowman Chrome Eric Hosmer Gold Refractor Auto BGS 9.5

2011 Topps Chrome Eric Hosmer Auto RC

2012 Topps Tier One Eric Hosmer Auto

Alcides Escobar

The ALCS MVP came down to earth a bit in the World Series, but was still a big factor in the win with an RBI in game five that continued the huge rally. His cards were already spiking after his MVP win, and he has signed enough over the last few years that his cards arent hugely expensive.

2011 Triple Threads Alcides Escobar Auto Triple Relic

2012 Gypsy Queen Alcides Escobar On Card Auto

Mike Moustakas

When Moose was drafted and his rookies hit in 2007, we thought he would be an anchor in the Royals lineup. He never really had the career that people thought and struggled for a while. This year was his first year playing like an All Star, and he played quite well in the WS as well. Maybe his cards will finally rebound.

2011 Bowman Sterling Mike Moustakas Gold Refractor Auto

2008 Bowman Chrome Mike Moustakas Auto RC

Alex Gordon

Remember back when Alex Gordon was the hottest thing in the hobby? Seems like the Royals have had a few rookies like that. Like Moustakas, Gordon took his time getting up to form, but over the last few years, he has been great. His home run in the bottom of the ninth in game 1 was pretty memorable, and gave some nice lift to his value. That will likely continue much like his teammates now that they are champs.

2015 Topps High Tek Alex Gordon Auto 4/25

2006 Bowman Chrome Alex Gordon Auto Xfractor RC

The playoffs in any sport always lead to nice spikes, more so in the championship deciding games. Going to be interesting how the Royals’ cards do, considering they are coming back for a second WS in a row, and really have no one that can be considered a hobby superstar by any stretch. Hopefully we can see some nice movement.

Valor has had a past that isnt without its bumps. In 2012, the product was a late release with a lot of experimental elements, from the box to the format. Due to a number of things, including a high box price, the product was a relative failure. It was revamped for 2014, where it was released around the middle of the season, with a much better performance overall.

Here are some of the 2015 cards up so far:

2015 Topps Valor Jameis Winston Auto Patch /50

2015 Topps Valor Terry Bradshaw / Jerome Bettis / Antonio Brown Triple Auto

2015 Topps Valor Amari Cooper Patch Auto Green /25

2015 Topps Valor Odell Beckham Patch Auto Green /25

For 2015, the set is back in relatively the same format as last year, with four hits per box and a price tag under 90 bucks. The design is similar to what we saw for 2014, with sticker patch autos and a sticker auto base per box. I think the cards actually look really nice in person, as the player is glossy against a matte background, making everything stand out. The battle of the gridiron theme, akin to the 300 movie from a few years back, still rings as relatively out there, but the set works.

The only problem is that this set still doesnt have the following or loyalty of the collector base, and will likely never have that chance because of the exclusive. Im starting to wonder how many of these mid year products the population of collectors will latch onto, as the four hits for 100 bucks is just getting really boring, no matter how cool the cards look. The original Valor had on card autos and a unique format, whereas the last two years have just been another product with sticker autos and a cool design. Not much to write home about, especially if you are a casual collector who doesnt really buy many boxes unless its Chrome or Contenders.

Two cool elements to the set look to have been done at the 2015 Rookie Premiere, with eye black inscription cards and battle anthem cards. Although they are rare hits, they do offer some on card type of autographs that stand out among the stickers. I really like the design of the eye black ones, especially if the inscriptions are interesting.

With Finest out next week, I would enthusiastically say to wait before opening this, as those cards will be much more buzz worthy and hold value over the course of the season. Although the design and concept is cool and the cards are nice, its just not going to hold up over the season.

Ill be the first to admit that I am completely bitter about the fact that Panini got the NFL all to themselves starting next year, and I dont think I am far from alone in that sense. Based on the Beckett report that they will need to produce at least 30 products next year, all by themselves, I think its worth offering some feedback instead of just complaining. They have more to fix than I could ever hope to write down in any way, here are the main things I want to see them fix first.

Get Rid of Studio and Posed Photos

Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me want to run away from a product than Panini choosing those goofy fucking runway model posed pictures. Football is known for non-stop action and some of the most iconic game photography in the history of sports. Considering that Panini will now be able to run the NFLPA rookie premiere the way they want, especially with Topps out of the picture, there is no more excuses not to use the whole day for getting some amazing photos of the rookies in action. This does not mean constructing a makeshift photo studio where the players can pantomime screams and other lame ass poses, it means putting them on the field to make their cards look like real game action.

These are by far my least favorite cards around:

Blake Bortles Looks Like an Idiot

Johnny Manziel is standing like a starlet on the red carpet

Teddy Bridgewater gets high from smelling footballs

Get it? Initial STEPS? LOL.

No More Sticker Replacement Gimmicks

Whether its signed scraps of acetate or signed scraps of paper that are embedded in the cards, either use a sticker or get the cards hard signed. The gimmicks are ugly and do nothing but showcase how much we miss hard signed cards like the other sports have ad nauseum. At least if they are going to use a sticker replacement, make it more a part of the design instead of obscuring a large portion of the card’s design space. Stickers, when done right, blend in and hide themselves. Sticker replacements are completely the opposite. Also worth mentioning that putting plain boxes behind the stickers or walling them off from the rest of the design is just as bad as a replacement gimmick.

Here are the worst of the worst:

Sticker on an acetate window

Signed acetate scrap instead of a sticker

Signed scrap of black paper instead of sticker

Signed scrap of cloth with a manufactured patch

Update the Rewards Platform

If Panini gave collectors the choice of waiting for redemptions instead of forcing them to use the points system, I would have a lot less negative things to say. The rewards store is not something I would ever voluntarily choose to use, and though some people have found success camping out and waiting for new loads of inventory, its a joke for the majority of users. Its even worse when you are opening a super premium product and one of your cards is REPLACED with a points card. That should never happen. Panini needs to realize quickly that redemptions are inevitable in many cases, and welcome in some cases. They are not the problem. The problem is what happens when someone pulls one they dont want, or dont want to wait for. This is where the choice to wait or get the points would be much more helpful.

Give Us Unique and Compelling Content

I dont know how Panini is going to create 30 compelling products. Ever. I dont know how its going to happen in any fucking stretch of the imagination. People can argue that no company has ever had a perfect calendar, but at the same time, no company has ever released a flaming ball of suck like Spectra either. The Panini Football team have yet to cultivate a brand of their own, and most have been such miserable failures that collectors laugh at them. Expecting them to build 30 products plus is just crazy talk. Its like asking a Patriots fan to give back to back coherent sentences on deflate gate’s impact for the 2015 season. So many of Panini’s products blur together or are bad to the point of being immortalized, that they are going to have their work cut out for them. Black Gold had some serious potential to be a unique product, but disastrous design choices prevented that from being reality. The Sizable signature relic cards were some great examples of unique content that should return. Same can be said about silhouettes and other Panini programs that are always well done.

Avoid Diluting Pro Products With College Cards

In the preseason and before the draft, using college photos over combine and pro-day crap is preferred. For everything else after the Rookie Premiere stuff is done, keep your oil and water separated. They dont need to be in the same product, even more so if a planned college only product is coming later on. There is college content in almost every Panini product these days, and collectors are overwhelmed and sick of it. There is very little reason to combine the two genres in my mind. College is a niche audience, and it seems like more people would be fine with it disappearing from NFL post-premiere products than sticking around. Letting College products stand by themselves gives collectors who dont want any NCAA materials the opportunity to avoid those cards.

Again, there are so many fucking problems with what Panini does with their card design that I could write forever and still not encompass everything. Im hoping they get their shit together because I really dont want to be out of football cards to buy next year.

Let me start off by saying that value and prospecting in football frustrates me to no end. QBs should not drive the football hobby the way they do, and more stock should be put into other positions. I understand that positional longevity in RBs, WRs, and others is significantly shorter, but the discrepancy of talent and production versus hobby value is way off.

Here are some of the values for the non-QBs who are lighting it up this year:

2015 Topps Valor Todd Gurley Auto Relic /75

2015 Topps Heritage Amari Cooper Gold Auto /5

2015 Topps Inception Stefon Diggs Auto RC

2015 Donruss Elite David Johnson Auto Relic

Mariota and Winston HAVE NOT played poorly in any way. What might happen if they put up numbers like the above players? Values like this would be laughable:

2015 Topps Marcus Mariota Jumbo Patch Auto /50

2015 Certified Jameis Winston Mirror Red Patch Auto /49

Its also worth talking about that the timeframe in which the hobby gives a rookie to be successful is pretty short as it is, although the league tends to mirror the “QUICK STAR” mentality more and more with each passing year. It used to be that QBs would take years to develop. It wasnt even that long ago! Over the past two to three classes, its a ‘produce now or get the boot’ approach from GMs around the league, and the hobby has taken notice. Some of this is the result of the rookie wage scale peeling back huge guaranteed salaries for top picks (which are used on QBs more often than not), and other times it has to do with job security of front office personnel and coaching staffs. Either way, the hobby in football wants instant superstars or nothing at all, even if some of that superstardom is carry over from college.

In 2013, the hobby took about 100 steps back with a draft class that had no real superstars from the get go, putting a horrible year into the record books. Although some talent was obviously present (Hopkins, Allen, and others are now league leaders), none of those rookies were QBs. Geno Smith and EJ Manuel, who were the top QBs in the class, have had turbulent careers so far, with both ending up on the bench in game and in the hobby. Even though 2014 had great talent and production from Carr and Bridgewater, they felt a lot of stigma from the previous years, and skepticism surrounding long term viability. It doesnt help that Manziel has been a bust to date, either – but that is a different post on its own.

We also saw in 2014 that a WR can generate MAJOR hobby interest, but the lessons surrounding longevity and consistency are at play, and Beckham has since come down to earth considerably. The hobby isnt forgiving for a non-QB, and I am scared for another year where Mariota and Winston dont show instant success on teams that look to be quite terrible. On the flip side, Todd Gurley and Amari Cooper are showing the brilliance that we expect from top draft picks, and yet, their cards are performing like top WR and RBs. Had Mariota continued his pace from the first game of the year, you would not be seeing anything even low enough to sniff where Cooper and Gurley are today.

The hobby loves the limelight that QBs receive, but they refuse to recognize that same glow in other positions that look to be headed for the top tier of NFL players at their position. Some could argue that the secondary market as a whole for football is soft as it is, but im not sure that is the whole story.

Im starting to wonder what might happen if another class like 2013 comes around, and that could be the case next year. The QB class doesnt seem to have the star power that other classes have had, and though Cook and Goff may be selected high, its likely out of necessity rather than game changing talent. 2015 and 2014 both had enormously deep WR and RB classes, and we are seeing the production from those positions go unrecognized by the hobby in a larger sense. The scariest thing could be what might happen if alternate value isnt established in other parts of the class, especially if Panini wants to continue their focus on rookie content during the first year of their exclusive next year.

Some how, some way, there must be a focus shift in the hobby, not just from QBs to other positions, but also from rookies to more established players. If we continue to bank solely on the rookie class, there is no ability to recover in a bad year. Products take a nose dive, collectors walk out the door, and there is nothing left for us to chase. The main issue is that autograph cost skyrockets after the rookie year, sometimes during, and access to autographs afforded by the NFLPA and agents also decreases. Rookies are almost as much a luxury as much as a necessity for card companies, and they might have to sleep in the bed made by the collective setup.

Panini may be able to withstand the financial burden of a bad year, but the shops might not be able to again. This is one of the things they have no control over, so the one thing they DO have control over needs to be exceptional. Product quality is at an all time low all across the industry, and without some improvement things are looking bleaker than ever.

Eventually, there will be another 2012. Eventually there will be another Andrew Luck and RGIII and all will be right with the world. In the mean time, I am hoping the hobby wakes up and sees that the QB isnt the only thing worth putting value behind. Sure, WRs and RBs are likely going to last 7-10 years instead of 10-15 years in the league, but that doesnt mean there wont be HOFers who eventually come out of those shorter career situations. Its time to wake up and smell the roses on this one.

If there is one thing that Topps does VERY well, its retro themed baseball products. The designs always look nice, the cards are usually hard signed, and they offer something for everyone. Gypsy Queen has been a staple for a number of years now, and I feel like it doesnt get half the attention it deserves. The cards are rarely anything short of great looking.

Here are some past examples, you can see how nice they look:

2012 Gypsy Queen Sandy Koufax Auto SSP

2014 Gypsy Queen Bryce Harper Mini Auto 5/5

2014 Gypsy Queen Hank Aaron Green Auto 1/10

2015 Gypsy Queen Mike Trout Auto /25

2015 Gypsy Queen Jose Bautista Mini Auto Relic /25

Although this year’s set doesnt differ much in design or formula from the previous years, I dont think that is necessarily a bad thing when you have something working the way Topps does with this. Although I dont think it will ever measure up to the big daddy in Allen & Ginter, its a product that I will have no issue opening a box or two.

Because this is a retro product, Gypsy Queen has a lot to offer both set collectors and hit/autograph chasers, as both sides of things are represented and represented well in the boxes. It should have a nice base set with lots of inserts and SPs, coupled with 4 hits per box, including 2 guaranteed autographs. Because Ginter doesnt guarantee an auto per box, I have always had trouble committing to opening more than one. This is a bit different.

The issue with GQ has always been the checklist for the hits, as Topps has had the tendency to water down the autographs with some unfortunately low tier guys. However, if you manage to pull one of the big names, you will walk away with a REALLY nice card. One you can display with pride.

There are some adjustments to the lineup this year, with the baseball swatch cards now vertical instead of horizontal, and now the on card mini booklet relic autos, which were stickers last year. Both look like nice changes to keep people chasing. The 1/1 canvas sketch patches are back too, which are some of the more interesting cards of this type. They end up being almost like miniature works of art, which is awesome.

Check out the previews: