Topps to be the LONE baseball card provider

[PANatsFan]

http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3460:topps-becomes-the-official-baseball-card-of-major-league-baseball&catid=71:sponsorships&Itemid=164

This seems like horsecrap to me

Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) and the Topps Company today announced an exclusive multi-year licensing deal to make Topps the Official Baseball Card of Major League Baseball. Topps will have exclusivity on MLB, Jewel Event and Club trademarks, logos and other intellectual property, for use on baseball cards, stickers and certain other product categories featuring MLB players. Topps’ exclusivity begins on January 1, 2010.

[houston-nat]

Now they'll cost more than cigarettes

[The Chief]

People still buy baseball cards?

[houston-nat]

People still buy baseball cards?

My parents gave me a Sammy Sosa rookie card for my birthday back when I was 10.

Baseball stinks.

[Obed_Marsh]

Time to buy cards that are not made by Tops, even though I haven't bought baseball cards since I was a child.

Anyone who collects them got non-tops cards to recommend?

[CALSGR8]

Upper Deck  has been good.  Allen and Ginter Cards are cool but I don't know if they are a subset of Topps or not.  How can you diminish Fleer and Upper Deck in one fell swoop?  What's wrong with the baseball card industry is not only too many makers but too many divisions within the same manufacturer.

Topps, Topps  Stadium Club, Topps Heritage, Bowman,  Bowman Chrome - all of these are divisions of Topps.

Fleer, Fleer Ultra, Fleer Tradition.....

When I was a kid it was one level of cards.  Also, don't talk to me about the stupid parallel sets where the only difference is a different color border!   

This is really strange, I mean can't the other manufacturers sue due to anti-trust or monopoly reasons?   Any one with Legal experience please chime in!

[fredhits]

wow this is awful- topps was always solid but it was great having cards like upper deck which were higher quality- i liked having the options---- now just having topps sucks (of course I haven't collected cards since i was a kid- maybe this is necessary to keep baseball cards afloat?)

[Nat of the Living Dead]

I collect Nats cards exclusively and I feel this is a positive and negative thing. Negative, because it does take away variety and Topps will probably blow up the prices of their product even more. It's positive in the sense the market is over-saturated right now and this could be a move that slowly brings the market back under control and give new life to the hobby.

[DCFan]

I thought baseball cards were the domain of the players union and was how they funded their retirement?

[Kevrock]

This is really strange, I mean can't the other manufacturers sue due to anti-trust or monopoly reasons?   Any one with Legal experience please chime in!

One would think. The same thing happens in video games. EA has exclusive rights to NFL and NCAA football teams, logos and players. The result is that EA has no competition and has done a sub par with the games.

[Lintyfresh85]

One would think. The same thing happens in video games. EA has exclusive rights to NFL and NCAA football teams, logos and players. The result is that EA has no competition and has done a sub par with the games.

I give you NCAA but I challenge you to say that Madden hasn't seen steady improvement since Ian Cummings took over the producers job for Madden.

I actually look forward to the game this year.

[hammondsnats]

still loved topps the best growing up.  upper deck was good, pinnacle was decent, donruss wasn't bad.

[Lintyfresh85]

I still have a massive book of cards somewhere in my closet.

I used to love collecting those things.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Upper Deck runs all over Topps these days in terms of quality, IMO.

[Lintyfresh85]

Can't beam 'em, buy 'em.

[2k6nats]

One would think. The same thing happens in video games. EA has exclusive rights to NFL and NCAA football teams, logos and players. The result is that EA has no competition and has done a sub par with the games.

I have to jump on this.  Madden has improved steadily in their 2009 and 2010 games.  In '09, the graphics were improved ten-fold; comparing it to Madden '08 was night and day.  In 2010, they added full online franchises, which could be managed from your console or computer.

[2k6nats]

Upper Deck runs all over Topps these days in terms of quality, IMO.

I'd like to use a video game reference here.  MVP Baseball, done by EA Sports, was leaps and bounds above the MLB 2k series.  This prompted 2k Sports to sign an exclusive license with the MLBPA.

[Lintyfresh85]

I give you NCAA but I challenge you to say that Madden hasn't seen steady improvement since Ian Cummings took over the producers job for Madden.

I actually look forward to the game this year.

I have to jump on this.  Madden has improved steadily in their 2009 and 2010 games.  In '09, the graphics were improved ten-fold; comparing it to Madden '08 was night and day.  In 2010, they added full online franchises, which could be managed from your console or computer.

Great minds think alike!

I'd like to use a video game reference here.  MVP Baseball, done by EA Sports, was leaps and bounds above the MLB 2k series.  This prompted 2k Sports to sign an exclusive license with the MLBPA.

So true! MVP was the best thing going at the time. Thank goodness for my PS3 and The Show to rescue me from the awful crap that is MLB 2k.

I'd love to see The Show vs. MVP faceoff. It'd be fantastic.

[Blueliner]

Wait a second.  Back in the late 70's and early 80's Fleer won a court battle with Topps and thus Fleer, and Donruss, started to produce baseball cards.  Topps was the only baseball card company that was allowed to include gum with the cards.  Of course later Topps didn't put any gum for awhile and then later they put gum in the cards.

So now it's deja vu, all over again?

[Kevrock]

I give you NCAA but I challenge you to say that Madden hasn't seen steady improvement since Ian Cummings took over the producers job for Madden.

I didn't play Madden much last year. I've heard good things about Ian Cummings, though, and I know that Madden is usually at least a year ahead of NCAA.

What bugs me in NCAA, and previous versions of next-gen Madden, is the faulty animation-based engine, pathetic DB/WR interactions, and terrible OLine/DLine interactions. On top of that, NCAA sports psychic CPU defense... call a pass play, CPU is in nickel. Call a run play, CPU is in 4-4. It's ridiculous.

Madden may be stepping it up, but do you think they would have dragged their feet into the next gen games if 2K had been producing a game?

In general, these exclusive deals are good for the company that gets the deal and terrible for everyone else.

[PANatsFan]

Wait a second.  Back in the late 70's and early 80's Fleer won a court battle with Topps and thus Fleer, and Donruss, started to produce baseball cards.  Topps was the only baseball card company that was allowed to include gum with the cards.  Of course later Topps didn't put any gum for awhile and then later they put gum in the cards.

So now it's deja vu, all over again?

Boy that gum was crispy, and tasted like crap!