Jan 31, 2010

What Bothers Me About Topps Unique


This.
Here we have the Joakim Soria "Game Used Button!" relic, serialed to only /6. My first thought, of course, was: "I can haz button shirt cardz?". At the time, it was affordable. I am probably watching it, but lost faith in the card after some good thought.

First off, this is anything but Unique. Why? The usual reasons: Sticker Auto, bland Topps design. Of course, Joakim could sign a cantaloupe and I would throw down some bills for it. [By the way, Google Image Search "Hits until porn" game revealed pornography on the first page of images. Beware, kids.]

Also, a button is part of a uniform. Why completely remove the button from the jersey and make them two different cards? Thickness, obviously, is one concern. This card would probably be 3x as thick and a regular relic card. The only other reason I can think would be that they never thought to use the buttons until this year, and for some reason, besides the reason that Joakim "Blue Flame" Soria wore them, so they were kept.

On a side note...anyone who was ever a hard-nosed player in high school or American Legion baseball will realize buttons are readily losable when diving. When you think of how many jersey cards are out there, or at least when I do, I think 'why so many'? I figured it's probably because of instances like losing buttons, or ripping the ass out of the back right leg of your uniform stealing second. One of the fiercest competitors I ever had the pleasure of sharing a uniform (not literally, we were teammates for 2-3 years) with would go through 4-5 pairs of pants in a season - which brings me to my next though. So many cards say "game-used/worn Uniform" on them...some say "jersey", and rarely do they ever say "pants". Why not? Jersey implies a top, pants is explanatory, but "uniform", I believe, is intentionally left vague.

Tangent number #18 for this post: New Idea for Topps Unique.





Game used pants zippers. Eh?

2 comments:

  1. lol...good thoughts.

    A button card. Hmmmm...sadly my main question is "Will it fit in a 9 sheet pocket?" If it would, I want it.

    A button is weird though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think there's two reasons why we don't see pants plugged on the cards.

    One, the nether regions are in pants. I can see some people having a hang up about that.

    I think most likely, though, is that it is a carry over from the memorabilia industry. Jerseys have value because they have logos and patches and clearly identify the player with team name, number and sometimes a player name. Pants are pretty indistinguishable from one another. The tagging can help but on the outside you really cannot tell.

    ReplyDelete