2022 Baseball Card Thoughts

 Baseball card thoughts:

I finally found some 2022 Topps packs at Target and picked them up.  Since the lockout has ended, I'm still not pleased with the direction of baseball.  But I'll give it a chance to see if my fears (long, slow, boring games dominated by a few teams) come to fruition.  

I've been collecting cards since 1981.  Though I'm no longer serious about collecting, I like to pick up a few packs to check them out.

Pros:

• The overall layout is nice and clean- white border isn't too cluttered
• All of the pictures I've seen are of action shots from games, and the photography is good
• They have lots of stats on the back- not just the most recent year and career

Cons:

• I'll deal with the con specific to Topps 2022 first.  Several of the cards are upside-down.  If you organzie the backs in the same directions, many of the portrait pictures are inverted.  That's just sloppy and lazy
• Now the big problem, which not only applies to this set but to baseball cards in general.  They aren't for collectors.  They are for speculators.  
  
  16 packs cost $40.  That's insane, even with inflation.  Especially when you can buy the entire basic set of 2021 Topps for $70.  Why would anyone buy the packs?
  
  Because the packs have the special insert cards.  Besides the basic set, they also have a chance for the following parallels (same cards with different borders:)

• Gold Foil – (1:2 hobby jumbo, hobby jumbo only)
• Premiere Party
• Rainbow Foil
• Rip Party – (exclusive to Rip Party packs)
• Royal Blue – (1:10 retail, retail only)
• Gold – /2022
• Green Foilboard – /499
• Advanced Stats – /300 (select cards only)
• Orange Foilboard – /299
• Red Foilboard – /199
• Vintage Stock – /99
• Independence Day – /76
• Black – /71 (hobby and hobby jumbo only)
• Father’s Day Powder Blue – /50
• Mother’s Day Hot Pink – /50
• Memorial Day Camo – /25
• Clear – /10 (hobby only, select cards only, list below)
• Platinum – 1/1
• Printing Plates – 1/1 (each has Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow versions)

Plus the Short Print Variations.

Plus the Super Short Print Variations

Plus the Ultra Short Print Variations
Plus the autographs.

Plus the parallels on the autographs

Plus the memoribilia cards

Plus the parallels on the memoribilia cards

Plus the 1987 cards

Plus the Chrome versions of the 1987 cards

Plus the...

I'm not joking.  Go to this link and see all of the checklists.  No human being could collect them all.

That's not the point.  It's not for collecting.  It's a lottery- buy a ticket and if you're lucky, you can find something worth much more than you spent.

But the lottery is a bad investment.  And so are baseball cards.  

Too bad... I use to enjoy buying packs and putting together a set.  But I stopped doing that- and under these conditions, I won't start ever again.