Some of these buybacks are a bit silly

[G1911]

Many are collectors who become investors when the price is right. Many are pure investors (see the modern world especially) and some are pure collectors. I will not sell most of my items for any price. I would not sell my boxing T collection for 20x it's value. I only sell my dupes or random pickups I find and don't really want but recognize are an easy flip. I give away for free more than I have sold. Some things are just for fun, and hobby land is a lot more enjoyable when it's not run as a $$ game. Cards are a break from the cash race for some. Collectors tend to rail at investors, investors tend to deny collectors really exist. Collecting isn't better than half/half or pure investing, but it is an extant thing.


Regardless of which of the 3 we all are, this card sucks for everyone. Right on Wright's face. It's odd because Topps did pay attention to the stamping on plenty leader/manager and standard design base cards. Most base cards have the stamps on the left or right bottom where it interferes with the picture less depending on the players pose. Some of the leaders like this McDowell/Lolich/Johnson have it placed in a spot clearly intended to not totally ruin the card, so they didn't blindly stamp everything.

[G1911]

Pulled one of these hunks of crap myself. Topps got lazy as hell in 2021 and didn't even put the in a wrapper, or pay attention whatsoever to where they stamp the card. You'd think they'd stamp the left side, and not the right here....

[G1911]

Pulled last week. Wrong orientation and poor placement. Sometimes the stamps are found oriented properly for a horizontal card, so Topps is capable of it. They often just don't. Kind of ruins what is otherwise a cool card. Bryant hit .165, so a batting pose is an odd choice for him in action

[ALBB]

I see the point of " ruining " the insert card..but If I collected new cards ( I dont) , I would find it " underwhelming " if my scarce insert pull was a VGEX shape 72 T common

[G1911]

Originally Posted by ALBB

I see the point of " ruining " the insert card..but If I collected new cards ( I dont) , I would find it " underwhelming " if my scarce insert pull was a VGEX shape 72 T common

The disappointing part is that the box topper insert is no longer even wrapped - it's literally just thrown in loose to bang around and get all the corners dinged. You can get oversized cards (I got a cool Hank Aaron out of this case) and poster inserts too instead of a buyback. I much prefer those to .10 cards we all already have and they stamped lazily.

My box before this had Bill Bonham, so I counted Bryant, as an SF native, a win.

I have never pulled a player better than Johnny Callison after a few cases worth...

[Exhibitman]

They should do what they did with that T206 deal: put the card into some sort of toploader so the card is not ruined in the process. But I agree that these are a silly insert. I don't want a 1972 Topps Bryant and especially not as a chase card. That's like getting dental floss for a birthday present.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

They should do what they did with that T206 deal: put the card into some sort of toploader so the card is not ruined in the process. But I agree that these are a silly insert. I don't want a 1972 Topps Bryant and especially not as a chase card. That's like getting dental floss for a birthday present.

I like how Topps 206 and 205 did it. The Mini-Framed Relics using the same frames are really nice cards too.

Boxes without a buyback as the topper are better. It can't cost Topps any less to buy stacks of old base, ship them to the packing building, and run them through the stamper, than to just print some more posters and 5x7's.