Whatever happened too.... ?

When you look through your baseball card collection, have you ever wondered. Whatever happened to this player? They were highly touted as top prospects, five tool players and #1 draft pick. But it has been 6 years and they are nowhere to be found, there career is invisible and that rookie card you paid $40 for is now selling for 99 cents, if even.

Let me throw a few names out there. Andy Marte, Chris Lubanski, Matt Bush, Delmon Young... ok so maybe Young could be an exception, at least he is playing in the MLB. But have you checked his bowman chrome rookie card? What was once a $60 card is now selling for $10. Thats a pretty big drop considering Young had a pretty good year for the Tigers in 2011.

But the other players listed have disappeared from the radar. They have either struggled in the minors or have been arrested one too many times. Products like Bowman Chrome are great to buy because you never know when you might get the next Albert Pujols. But then again if you think about it Pujols' rookie card was in 2001. That was 11 years ago, it has been 11 years since we had a breakout player like that. You could argue about players like Jason Heyward but even he has been struggling in 2011 and his cards have dropped considerably in value as well. Sometimes it feels like playing the lottery when choosing which prospects to buy. You might get lucky, but you might also get Matt Bushwhacked.

Baseball Cards. Forward or Backwards?

We've all heard that MLB is giving Topps an exclusive contract to produce baseball cards. Stating that they believe Topps can change this hobby for the kids. So with all due respect lets take a look at the products they have made so far.

Bowman Chrome - Chock full of rookies that kids know nothing about. Who is Lars Anderson? I guarantee that most kids that's not heavily into card collecting already even knows who he is. This product is aimed at the adults looking to make money on the secondary market

Allen & Ginter - Right away look at the price tag, $70-$80. Definitely not aimed at the kids. Also the fact that they have autographs of non MLB players will turn kids away.

Topps - Bland, ugly and boring design. An eight year old can make better looking cards. Autographs are hard to pull and when you do pull one please keep that Justin Ruggiano ($0.99 no buyer) nicely protected.

Sterling - $195 a box. Nuff said

If you look back towards when Topps was the only company making baseball cards you can clearly see what they made. Off centered, bland, boring and overproduced baseball cards. Clearly they were aiming for the kids.
At least Upper Deck has made products aimed towards the younger collectors. UD Heroes. Upper Deck and among others. I say competition is good. It keeps other companies on it's toes and makes sure they are producing quality products.
Truth is the only thing that will make collecting fun for kids is the adults who collect baseball cards. They are the ones teaching the next generation the beauty of collecting sport cards.
I don't think this is a step forward. I think this is a step backwards for this hobby.