so, next month 2012 topps is released. my new year's wish is that we see some new blood with the short prints and the vintage legend type inserts. i really wish gil hodges had been elected to the hall of fame so that topps might have been motivated to use him to represent the dodgers instead of roy campanella, duke snider, jackie robinson, and pee wee reese.
nothing against those four hall of famers, but enough is enough. there are other players, topps. i know that we have seen sandy koufax get a bunch of cards in 2011, which is great, and steve garvey and don sutton were used as well in some of the insert sets, but there is no denying that topps seems beholden to the four brooklyn hall of famers. here's a sampling of what we've seen in the last couple of years, in addition to the four kimball champion mini inserts from 2011 topps shown above.
roy campanella was part of the topps '60' insert set this past year
as well as the 'lost years' insert set.
as a fan of 'cards that should have been', this was by far my favorite insert set. i hope topps expands it to a bigger insert set in 2012. here's the 'original' back to what should have been campy's 1954 card
then there was topps marquee
and back in 2010, we saw him on a million card giveaway
and a turkey red insert in the update set
he also got a vintage legends card, 2001 style
that's three inserts in the update series. that's a lot.
the duke was similarly featured in recent sets. here's his 2011 topps marquee card
and then there is this 2011 topps tribute card
like campy, snider was part of the 2011 topps '60' insert set
that's enough of the duke - let's move on to jackie
not sure why, but topps added the jackie robinson special inserts/parallels/whatever to 2011 topps heritage, as well as a 'news flashback' card recounting his election to the hall of fame
he also was featured in the '60 years of topps' insert set from 2011 topps
back in 2010, he was part of the topps 'tales of the game' insert set
and had a cool redemption card in 2010 chrome
here's his triple threads card
and his vintage legends insert card from topps update
you get the idea. that's why i'll just show one pee wee reese card - his 60 years of topps card from 2011 topps update
it's even got jackie lurking in the background.
let's see some new (dodger blue) blood in 2012!
I've complained about this many times. And Topps responded with a zillion Koufax card this year. Unless Topps signs some other people to licensing deals, it's going to be the same guys. And I don't know if I can take the same Campanella pose anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that the depth of talent, or lack there of in the eyes of collectors and set designer alike is what is holding us hostage.
ReplyDeleteJim Gilliam, Carl Furillo, Billy Cox, Gil Hodges, George Shuba, Sandy Amoros, Johnny Podres, Don Newcombe, etc. Those 4 Dodgers ARE the best of the best and sadly, only Dodger fans see the others for more than what most see them as, semi-stars at best, often just commons.
The early LA Dodgers (late 50s-late 60s) are even worse, having really only 2 big stars in Koufax and Drysdale. Tommie Davis, Willie Davis, John Roseboro, Frank Howard, Wally Moon, Claude Osteen, Wes Parker, Swwet Lou Johnson and others just didn't have the star power.
We have to wait until the 70s to see a few more bigger stars, but again only a few in Garvey, Sutton, Cey, etc.
I guess I'd rather have a billion more Camby and Duke cards than a single other Jeter or Pujols card, or to keep the comparison equal, Mantle or Jackson cards!!
Didn't a bunch of the contracts for those legends players just switch over to Panini? If you want to blame anyone though, blame MLB. They're the ones who kiboshed the retired player sets.
ReplyDeletedayf, you're right. Panini signed a deal with Curtis Management Group (CMG) Worldwide in mid-December. The press release I read doesn't note that it was an exclusive deal so it looks like we can expect double the Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella cards in 2012 (though the Panini versions will be without logos).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/panini-cmg-deal-will-put-old-hall-of-famers-in-upcoming-products/