1976 Topps Baseball Forum

OK.  That answers the questions.  The checklist is incomplete and will most likely always be that way.  I agree with the comments - I would rather have had the unmarked cards.  Two of them would have fit in well in the sets that I have started.  By the way, I did not go out of my way to buy these; they came in a shoebox full of great cards.

I see these cards in dollar bins at shows quite a bit.  Card values are always subjective, but saying these buybacks are worthless is probably misleading.

I just can't believe the "beat up" cards Topps has affixed the logo to.  Would it kill them to at least use EX cards?

I think there is a premium to the team or player collector who chases 'everything'...but outside of that seems that nobody cares about these..

thanks for the comments, nice discussion.

mark 

When I have entered checklists for Buybacks ( http://www.tradingcarddb.com/Subsets.cfm/sid/75122 ) I list them as one entry for each set, and not attempting a listing of each card, which would be pretty much impossible.

Everyone stop and think. Take this into consideration. These are original cards, not reprints. What if Topps had inserted unaltered, unstamped, original condition cards. Where would you list them?  Remember 1991 when you could win vintage Topps cards, we don't list those vintage cards as being part of the 1991 set. We don't list post-release autographed cards, why list post-release stamped cards?

But, if you're going to insist on listing them then list them as a parallel in the original year. For example, under 1976 Topps list them as a parallel set "2014 Buybacks" and then duplicate the base set checklist. I think that would be better than a 25,000+ checklist in the 2014 set; and you wouldn't have to worry about creating a bizzare, incorrect numbering system.

That would not accurately document where the Buybacks came from though.

There's also no guarentee that every card in any set is issued as a buyback, which would create listings here for cards that may or may not exist.

A similar problem exists for sketch cards, which are rare in sports releases but the current fad/trend in non-sports. Each one is singular, no two are alike...yet some artists produce as many as much as 2000 sketches for a release, though usually the number is in the hundreds. Some releases have over a hundred different artists producing cards. That in theory could lead to a checklist with 200,000 cards on it. Most of which are never seen again, either pulled by people who don't share their collection, sitting in sealed packs somewhere, or lost to fire/flood/people who don't care about and properly handle their cards.

i dont necessarily like the topps buybacks but for some reason i love the 10th anniversary issue stamped cards that A&G put out this year.  i guess in the future at least everyone will know when they were stamped and the mini stamped ones have been framed with 2015 frames on them which i think looks even better.  my local card shop puts them in the dollar bin and i scoop them up there and have bought some cheap on listia as well.  to me it is unique novelty at that price point but i am not going to shell out 20-30 dollars like some of the listings on COMC, just my 2 cents or rather dollar bin.

Why doesn't "2014 Buyback" document where they came from?

Billy, you don't come right out and state your stance on this issue. But I've inferred you might be against these Buyback checklists also, since they're unknowable (like sketch cards).

I always thought Admin only wanted complete checklists in the database. If this trend of partial checklists (i.e., NCAA schedules, Buybacks) is allowed to continue, Admin is opening itself up to a flood of partial checklists. And thus a lot of work updating them everytime a new entry is discovered.

Honestly, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, it's cool to pull the old card from a pack, but on the other, I don't like classic cards being messed with. If it's a common card it's no problem, but I would hate to come across a card I needed to complete a set that has a stamp on it...

I like the idea of Topps inserting buyback originals into modern packs, but I don't like that they are being stamped.  The first time I saw a card like this, I scratched the stamp off.  I'd rather have a lower-graded original than a vintage card with a foil stamp.  That's like putting sugar on food from the garbage to sweeten it up.  Foil stamps don't belong on vintage cards.