Ever since our hobby discovered the insert card, manufacturers have been working hard to keep their sets fresh with new ideas. It seems like every new set for the past five years has had a new gimmick to attract collectors. In 1991, when Topps gave us Finest, we couldn't get enough refractors. Today many collectors seem bored by them while others collect them exclusively. Over the years new gimmicks have popped up including other refractor-like parallels (Mirrors, Limited Exposures), autographs, and pieces of things (jerseys, tires, helmets, etc.).
When Topps upped the ante on their Finest brand a few years ago by fracturing the base set into three colors of varying difficulty, the chase extended not only to parallels and inserts, but to the base/common cards too. Other manufacturers followed including Playoff football, and the Donruss Preferred brand. Many collectors don't appreciate fractured base sets as they make finishing the set difficult and expensive. When Topps debuts 1998 Finest next week we'll see the first signs of a manufacturer listening to the collector on this subject as the gold/silver/bronze themes will be gone.
With all these gimmicks already used it's easy to wonder where the manufacturers will point us next. Recently I've noticed some new gimmicks that are more subtle and show the manufacturers' new respect for collectors. Included in these gimmicks are unadvertised insert sets, variable numbered inserts, cross branded inserts, and short printed subsets.
Unadvertised Inserts
The first time I opened a pack of 1998 Donruss Baseball that contained a Crusade insert I was confused. I had read the odds on the pack and didn't remember seeing anything called Crusade. Soon I began to see them advertised for sale online and the word was out that Donruss had added a special, rare insert set and left it out of their ads and off the pack. Besides being unannounced, Crusades are rare and extremely attractive which should keep collectors chasing. The set comes in three colors with print runs of 250 greens, 100 purples, and 25 reds.
Pinnacle recently answered a question in our chat room about Mirror Black variations of their Certified Gold Team cards. Once again we find out that they are an unannounced set, limited to 30 of each card. Although print variations have been reported from Pinnacle in the past (Mirror Green cards), this is the first time that they were done intentionally and production figures were announced. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of unadvertised insert sets so don't be surprised if you open a pack of cards soon and find something you've never heard of before.
Variable Numbered Inserts
I'm not sure if this is a gimmick that will last, but it's definitely
an interesting one. Both Donruss and Elite have included variable
numbered inserts with the number of cards produced based on the stats of
the player on the card. I like this idea. Who said you had
to make 1000 of each card in an insert set? Why can't you have 560
of one card, but only 496 of another in the same set? In Donruss
Baseball they went one step further by offering three variations of this
theme by using On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, and Power Index
in numbering their Production
Line inserts.
 |
Had
this been Cal Ripken Jr. it would have
been numbered to just 402 or if it
was Ken Griffey Jr. the top number would be 646, but since Mo Vaughn
had a .560 slugging percentage
last
year Donruss made just 560 of these Production Line Slugging Percentage inserts. |
Donruss Elite took variable numbered inserts to a whole new level as they introduced Prime Numbers which have six different variations based on one number, including some truly rare inserts. For example they used Tony Gwynn's batting average for 1997 (a lofty .372) to create six cards, three regular (numbered to 72, 302, and 370) and three die-cut (ending with 300, 70, and just 2!). This type of multiple fractured parallels is also used in other Donruss brands including Preferred and Leaf.
In Leaf they didn't limit the confusion to just a small insert set of
20 players, instead they went all the way with a full multiple fractured
parallel of the 200 card base set, aptly called Fractal
Matrix. I can't remember the last time I fielded more questions
about a parallel set. Each time a new Leaf sport arrived I'd get
more questions and listen to more complaints then the previous release.
| It's easy to get excited when you pull a Gold die-cut Fractal Matrix Wayne Gretzky until you find out that it would have been 8 times tougher to find uncut! Not that I'd complain about finding such a beautiful parallel of the Great One. |  |
Last year when Pinnacle release Certified Hockey I mentioned that I wasn't happy that the EPIX inserts didn't make it into the packs. I figured that, as we've seen with other redemptions, the cards would become basically valueless. I realized my mistake when Score Hockey and Score Baseball came out and EPIX really got rolling. With EPIX, Pinnacle has introduced a new gimmick, cross branded inserts. If you want to collect the entire set you're going to have to keep buying as each new Pinnacle product introduces 72 more variations.
Fleer has taken the cross branded idea in a different direction with Diamond Ink. While I wouldn't classify Diamond Ink as collectible cards, they are an insert and you can find points in every new Fleer product. Of course when you think about it, Skybox was an innovator in this area with the introduction of Autographics in 1996. Now whenever you open a pack of any Skybox product you know you have a chance to find an autograph of a NBA player.
Short Printed Subsets
Here's a new gimmick that's just a look back at how sportscards were many years ago. If you look through the latest Beckett Baseball and start in the beginning you can't miss the SP designation next to many key cards in the sets of the 50's and 60's. Back then it was common to short print some cards or even an entire series (as many sets were released in 4 or 5 series). Last year Fleer released Flair Hockey and intentionally short printed the rookie Wave of the Future subset. What makes this different than just another insert set? Basically it's just the numbering. Since the Waves were numbered as part of the base set, you need them to complete it.
This year Fleer is back with more short prints. The most notable are the rookie cards in 97-98 Ultra Basketball. Recently I was asked why these cards are so expensive and when I explained that they were short printed, the person was surprised, but not upset. For this reason I believe that the best new gimmick is this subtle one. While the other trends I noted above all have their good points, short printing cards like they did years ago is a gimmick that I hope last for awhile.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on our hobby and the direction it's going in. Please feel free to write a message on our bulletin board. I'm always checking in and try to respond to everything I can. If you want more of a conversation then try the chat room. It's always open and I'm in there on Sunday evenings from 8 to 10pm EST. I look forward to seeing you there.
CHAT