Sports Card Live Ep #1
Show Date: January 29, 2013
On the inagural episode of Sports Card Live Dan & Doug from Mojo Break and Ryan from Sports Card Radio talk about the new release of 2013 Topps Series 1 Baseball. Reactions to the first MLB Baseball product of the year is mostly positive. With the Super Bowl around the corner we give our picks. Ryan picked the 49ers to win, Doug (a long time 49ers fan) also went with Niners and Dan picked the Ravens.
Panini is offering special incentives to buy product direct of their own website. Ryan says that it’s smart business but Doug notes that hobby stores and other dealers may take issue with a company selling a product they also manufacture. In other Panini news, the company decided to eliminate it’s MAPP strategy that only lasted about a year. 2012 National Treasures Baseball was the first product to be sold without the restriction of the minimum advertised pricing restrictions.
We get into a discussion about the new Heroes of Sport product. There is evidence on some sports card forums that the company was buying cards and packaging new product…… even after the product had already “come out”. Hot Boxes of Heroes of Sport showed up two weeks after the initial release day. Some big hits have been pulled from the product but many in the hobby remain skeptical.
Doug tells a story about getting shorted 3 autograph hits from a case of 2012 Bowman Chrome Baseball. Dealing with Topps customer service was painfully slow and didn’t end with satisfaction. It’s a difficult situation for breakers who get shorted hits because there are customers involved who are disappointed in getting shorted hits as well. The conversations extends to Topps’ overall lack of quality customer service.
Ryan and Doug get into some baseball prospects who could make a splash in 2013. Ryan shouts out Yankees former 1st round pick Slade Heathcott and raves about seeing him at the 2012 Arizona Fall League. Other names discussed are Billy Hamilton, Trevor Bauer, Gary Brown, and Mike Zunino.
We look ahead past the Super Bowl to the NFL Draft which seems to lack some of the sizzle of past years. It remains to be seen how it all plays out but it could be a down year in 2013 for the Football card market.
