General Forum

Hello,

I have been collecting basketball cards since I was a kid, but had a long hiatus between 2003 and 2016.  I recently rediscovered this hobby and have been learning a lot in the process.  I used to keep my inserts (or cards  I thought were inserts like subsets) in a special binder, and the rest were just tossed in an old chlorine bucket (solid and non dangerous storage for sure).  

I ended up throwing away all the cards that were not in my binder.  I know I had a Chris Bosh Black Diamond rookie card that didn't make the cut (stupid) and I had some baseball rookies like Derek Jeter that got tossed because I had to decide whether to keep my MLB card or NBA cards in the binder.

It was funny to see this year some of the rookies I kept in the binder (TJ Ford for example).  

Anyways way off track here, my question is what it the reasoning for the names of certain sets?  Why is Fleer Ultra named "Ultra"?  Why is Topps Finest named (Finest)?  Why is Topps Chrome still "Topps Chrome"?  Yet Topps Stadium Club is "Stadium Club"?  Is this maybe because other manufactuers have made that set at some point?

Most of the set names like that were established years ago by Beckett and the Standard Catalog, and everyone else just followed suit.  I do think we should move to the more exact name.  Not every collector (especially newer collectors) would automatically know that Fleer made Ultra or that Topps made Stadium Club.

Funny you should ask - only because it has been brought up here on the forums in the past, with much empassioned discussion. :)

There are many collectors who think the sets should be named Topps Finest, etc. Problem is, one of our major hobby publications called it Finest from the very beginning. Same with Ultra. And the rest that seem to be missing the manufacturer.

Now, Ultra, was in fact made by more than one company, and it would stand to reason that trying to call it Fleer Ultra by Upper Deck could be confusing and awkward. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Topps in front of Stadium Club or Finest, but with the history these sets have had, it's unlikely that we'll see a change.

In the same vein,  I never know whether an Upper Deck product is called "UD" or "Upper Deck". (And hate that they are separated alphabetically by Ultra!)

I couldn't agree more with that UD/Upperdeck thing. I've always wondered why some were different than others. I think the main reason for the change in names is the change in ownership of the names. Fleer is no longer in business (I believe), so "Fleer Ultra" is just "Ultra" because it's under UD ownership. Panini bought Donruss and Pacific names, which is why they were using "Luxury Suite, Elite, etc. It's all about rights to the names and ownership now.

I don't have another empassioned discussion in me.  I'll not get involved in this one.

Even though we all have opinions, I am with David here, no umpf left in me for it either ......... was like that when I got here and will be like that after I'm long gone!

=D ....... hehehehe.