General Forum

So I was looking for another player to collect that's currently on my beloved Chicago Bears. I decided to go with Anthony Miller.  He had a nice rookie year and I figure he's going to breakout soon; if not it'll be fun anyway.  How many people could possibly collect him anyway. Well his Rookie year was 2018 so I figured I'd get a nice bunch of them off e-bay and from trades here.  Much to my shagrin, this guys of exactly 1 year of NFL service has 1522 different cards already.  Seriously??? Now let's talk about Panini.  They must make 999 different sets each year. Searching for a Panini card you got from e-bay on here is a nightmare.  The numbers never match even when a set has a checklist which is hit or miss.  Where does one find 999 Panini checklists at to add on here??? I really like all these MEM, AU, SN etc................ cards but part of me longs for my choice of Topps, Fleer or Upper Deck.  That is all.  So I've got 72 of his 1522 cards so far and I should be done with him the day after NEVER!!!! 

And if you look at those 72 cards, I bet everyone of them has the same photo on front and back, unless the back has no photo.  And the problem with Panini checklists is that they publish them wrong on their own website.  But I definitely feel your pain.

Kurt Benkert(sp) is a backup QB who has yet to play in a NFL game but has 436 cards. The only reason I want his cards is he went to UVA. But there are 189 UVA cards of him.

Panini has def made it hard to get collect a single player and keep track of anything at that. Sets now with 20-50 insert sets.. really? as much as Panini has frustrated and detered the old school collector, i've read articles of how the card industry has picked back up and even some people using the term "investment" of cards. Prices have increased over actual value due to auction sites like Ebay, due to other atheletes bidding on certain rookies which jack the price up. Its no win for many people. Best thing to do in that situation, if find that one brand that has the prime RC for that athlete and pick that card up. 

Don't worry, unless he becomes a superstar panini probably won't include him in sets after his first year. 

I have really come to loathe panini. Their sets are just too small. Yet they are packed with inserts no one really wants. The NBA is a 525 man league...the largest set they produced in the 2018-19 season has only 280 players. That's disgraceful. 

Ok, I'm in on this rant.

Old-timer Rant: My start in collecting is the early 60's.  Topps nice basic sets, no overloading off inserts/parallels. Actually fun to collect. Now most issues have more parallels, inserts and insert parallels than Topps had cards.

And Panini Rant: How as a card company can you live with yourself when you can't put out a checklist that doesn't even resemble the card set that is released. At least they can keep us busy here correcting their mistakes that people insist on loading on TCDB because they are in such a hurry to load a checklist to say the checklist is up on here.(so what if it screwed up)

I don't see that as just a Panini issue, Topps was doing the same thing long before.  Not to mention Bowman with their 4000 different sets you can't tell belongs where (is it Bowman Chrome? Bowman- Chrome? Bowman Prospects Chrome? Bowman- Bowman Chrome?).

While I do agree that I wish they would make fewer variations and bigger base sets to include more players (first year or not).  I also agree I miss the days there were 4-5 companies all with licenses that if you wanted to skip a brand one year you could.  I don't think I bought one pack of flagship Topps in 2018 because I hated the design. 

I don't mind inserts.  In fact, I like them. But parallels are generally lazy.  It's the same card with a different colored border.  What I don't like is when the insert sets are full of retired players.  If you dont think I'll buy your cards based on the current players, get out of the business kid.  Let someone have the license who wants to make cards of the guys who play now.  That goes for Topps and Panini.

Also, Billy, how does the NBA have 525 players when there are an even number of teams?  I've seen you use that figure many times, and can't figure out where it comes from.  Not doubting you -- just curious. 

I was wondering that myself, so I looked it up: 530 players played at least one NBA game in 2018-19.