This would be a base set. Every player in the league gets a card. Sorted with the teams alphabetically but the players sorted by jersey number in each team, not alphabetical. Design would be mostly a full action image with a white border. (Parallels would be different color borders...I am one of the few that loves parallels) The player's name and team would be spelled out in team color block letters in the border. Player name in the top border, team name in bottom, alternating left-aligned and right aligned by team. (all teams would match name placement) Backs would be full career stats , and the back would tell you what date the front photo was taken on. Team logo would be on the back. Biographical information would include the player's home town, and how they entered the sport (Draft position number, not round number). For the NBA, that would be 510 player cards. But that's not all. Each team's coach would also get a card. Each team would also have a team card, which could be a team photo or logo. The back would have the history of the team including the all-time records (most points, assists, games played, etc). as well as the previous season's record and standings, and a recognition of the assistant coaches, many of whom are former players. That brings it to 570 cards. There would be a subset of previous season highlights, which would include but not be limited to the playoffs and all-star game. Highlights subset would be determined on the previous season, so couldn't be set in stone from year to year. Award winners would also be recognized, but I can't decide if they should be notated on the player's regular base card or given a special subset. Ideally that would be a 600 card set, but that would only be series 1.
Series 2 would be issued very late in the season, enough time after the trade deadline to get new photos, but actually during the season- and include rookies in action photos, any roster changes, (trades, players signed later, G-:League call-ups, etc) and checklists for both series 1 and 2. Teams that change jersey designs would also be highlighted to show the new designs, in theory. It would be a bit of a challenge sometimes, for example of the 30 teams in the NBA, 27 changed their jerseys between 2016-17 and 2017-18. Series two would vary in size as needed, but it would run to as many cards as needed, not be a set size each year. Finally, there would be a "Farewell card" for players who have retired after the previous season tacked on at the very end of the set. It would include their full career statistics and have the most iconic photo possible of them on the card front.
For the card backs, the color template of 2012-13 Hoops would essentially be the standard, with only a slight modification of the stats box coloration, instead of being all one color, it would be two contrasting colors to make for easier reading- some of the players will have small text if they have long careers. Stats would only be actual stats- not averages- and would include high scoring game totals for each season, like Upper Deck used to do, and would be in italics and the text in a different color for the league leaders, like Topps used to do.
And this set makeup would be used for every sport. No exclusive contract, and not just the big 5...every sport. Some concessions would have to be made for more individual based sports, instead of being sorted by team name/jersey number, if there is no team, then alphabetical. Set size would be determined by the sport, it would not be a standard size- it would be as needed.
Set composition and card backs would not need to be changed, but card front designs could change from year to year- but doing it Star style where just the border changes is more than acceptible as well.
Finally, all base cards would be oriented vertically. Inserts could be oriented horizontally. but all cards would be uniform.
VERY slow trading due to health problems. Not transferrable so safe to trade with, just moving is painful and can't always access the cards.
Cardboard History My COMC
New Collection Website: Cardboard History Gallery (Still under construction)
Tips on how to make your scans look like the card does in hand (No more washed out, fuzzy scans!):