(Look, even Roger is sad to see it go.)
While trolling the blogs for my daily dose of hobby clarity, I happened upon an article over on the Beckett blog talking about the Topps Million Card Giveaway. Normally I don't read much on the Beckett Blog at all but lately, there have been some interesting articles instead of box breaks that blatently rub it in everyone's face that Beckett receives nothing but rigged boxes. Many of you may have already been aware of this fact and forgive me if I'm late to the party, but the TMCG is ending in six months time.
What does this mean for collectors? Well, it means precisely what I said...The TMCG is ENDING. Period. There will be no more trades to be made. There will be no more cards to have shipped. There will be no more nifty galleries that feature all the cards in your collection. Topps just isn't going to support that kind of thing after March 15, 2011.
Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself over on their website. It is in the "Rules" section which I'm sure only 20% of the population actually read. If you go to section 2 and scroll about halfway down the page, you will find it in big bold letters, all underlined. Once the deadline hits, that's it. It's over. I wonder how many collector's actually knew this?
This isn't really that big of a deal in my case. I have about 20 cards or so and most of them are pretty much useless to me. I have no need for any 1987, 1992, or 2006 cards. I do have a few Pirates of old that may be nice to add to my collection but those will be a long shot. So in my case, Topps can keep them. But I know there are hundreds if not thousands of you out there with some nice collections. I even found a few MCG members with over 1000 cards in their albums. That is unbelievable considering the amount of packs that would have to be busted to get that many code cards. Of course, I'm sure most of them were obtained by other means. But that's besides the point.
I think the bigger picture is how the database will become inaccessible after that point. How many collector's/bloggers/ebayers have been using their database for their picture hosting? How many links on blog posts and comments will go dead after March 2011? It will be interesting to see what effect this has. At least for those collecting football, you have the new Gridiron Giveaway to hold you over for awhile. Oh, wait a second. That one ends on the same day.
So, how many of you are going to cash out before the deadline? How many cards are in your collection? How many cards are you going to try and have shipped? How many have you already had shipped?
Right now I have 46 cards. I would ship 43 of them, but I'm still trying to trade multiple card lots for older stuff. I've primarily been trying to get some of the awesome play at the plate cards from the '56 set. My oldest card is a '52 Bruce Edwards
ReplyDeleteI had three cards shipped back in March.
ReplyDeleteI have 12 cards in there now. They're nice enough that I'd like to get all of them shipped, but I probably won't. Maybe half.
I have 11 cards, all between 1970 and 1990. I was hoping to trade and get a card or two I need from my live collection, but own every one already. Alas, Topps will be keeping them as well.
ReplyDeleteI have 10 Orioles cards ranging from 1962 to 1996 that I will have shipped to me when all is said and done. I did a lot of wheeling and dealing to whittle down approximately 20 cards I redeemed. I believe that there are more codes in Updates and Highlights so I will wait until January or February to get my cards delivered.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any shipped to me and haven't looked at the site in many months, however, it seems Topps would do well to keep the site live forever (or for several years at least).
ReplyDeleteI would think the success of this year's effort would mean it will be back again. Maybe not.
I have exactly one card, a 1970 Lowell Palmer which I get offers on daily. It's one of the coolest cards ever and will eventually make its way to my collection.
ReplyDelete