Thursday, June 20, 2013

Why I'm Disappointed With A Billy Williams Card


Here's the card I showed yesterday, a nice Billy Williams autographed card from 2013 Museum.  So how the heck can that be disappointing??


To answer that, I need to go back to this post I wrote in April when Gypsy Queen came out.  I said, "The cards feature a shot of Billy at the Polo Grounds, taken in either 1962 or 1963.  He looks so young in the picture.  Even better, its a picture that hasn't been used much on other cards.  Too often, these kind of cards keep using the same picture over and over."

I guess I shouldn't be so complimentary to Topps.  After Gypsy Queen, look at....


...the Topps Tribute card for Billy...


...and look at the Cubs Archives Season Ticket Holders set Billy...


...and again at the Museum Billy.

Understand my disappointment now??!!


 
 

 

 


7 comments:

  1. Was confused by your last post... thinking, how could that awesome card be disappointing. But, now I'm starting to see what you're talking about. It's still a pretty awesome card though.

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  2. My question is, how is it that his Museum Collection autos are live but his Gypsy Queen Autos are redemptions (and still pending)?

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  3. That's a nice looking card for sure. But, Topps? Seriously?

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  4. Billy ... and a whole mess of other players, including many current ones in which there are lots more photos available.

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  5. If they are licensing photos for retired players from a service like Getty, they only get so many photos with unlimited use on an annual basis. Once they exceed the limit, they have to pay royalty charges for each over and above use unt that year or contact period is over. So, like all other unpopular decisions with Topps, this is likely a cost control issue. If they have a nice archive of truly owned photos, then you are right, it's laziness.

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  6. Marko - I don't see how they don't have a bunch of old photos, at least of guys like Billy Williams who existed when they made cards. Look at their website - they are always selling prints of old players, some of which are Topps originals, some of which are pics I've never seen on cards. If they can sell non-baseball-carded photos of Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench on their website, can't they at least throw those onto cards instead of the same photo over and over again?

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  7. Also - even if it is them trying to save costs - that doesn't change the fact it's a poorer quality product than previous years when they didn't have this issue.

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