The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: MLB is back (they hope), Project 2020, NFL pulls, Hobby Hybrid heat, new Star Wars and more in today's edition.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: This six-figure Trout was paid for, big pulls, an insane 2020 Bowman break, Project 2020 and some supply-demand examples.

Continue reading →

The Topps Project 2020 baseball card of Ken Griffey Jr. that you see here has obliterated the sales records for the company's online offering of 20 memorable baseball cards re-imagined by 20 different artists.

This creation from artist Keith Shore -- a re-do of Junior's 1989 Topps Traded Rookie Card -- sold a record 99,177 copies in just two days, obliterating the previous high of 34,950 sold for one of the Mike Trout cards earlier this spring. (See all past cards in the series here.)

With today's numbers finally revealed, the overall volume of cards sold in this ongoing series has surpassed the half-million mark (650,102) less than a fourth of the way into its release -- two cards are offered every weekday via Topps.com until all 400 are done. Meanwhile, the re-sale prices on a number of these cards have reached into the thousands of dollars (despite having an original price of just $19.99) -- and that's left people pondering the possibilities of what happens when pop art meets the pop of the bat.

It doesn't hurt here that artists are often their own best marketers, right?

"Absolutely. The goal of Project 2020 was to appeal to the fans of the artists," said Jeff Heckman, Topps' Director of E-commerce. "Therefore the social media presence of the artist was an important factor in choosing the artist. We wanted the artists to have fun with the Project and engage with their community. So far, the engagement and interactions with the artists has been amazing."

Heckman fielded a number of other questions about Project 2020 ... keep reading for an exclusive Q&A.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls, Project 2020, Future Stars Club hits a snag, a hobby forecast and ... Andrew McCutchen has words for a collector?

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: MLB discussions, Project 2020, big pulls, Pat McAfee signing, a run on repacks and ... the next big bump? (?)

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Scorching slabs, Project 2020, Sports Illustrated on cardboard, MLB & NBA breaks in today's edition.

Continue reading →

This one is a quick idea for a new department here on The Buzz ... Fast Five -- a quick list under a simple topic that might offer a basic starting point for a themed collection. It's a basic list of five items that could be fun for a starting collector or a new way to add to a stash that might already seemingly include everything when it comes to cardboard. For some of you, it's probably common sense. For others of you out there, it's something to think about.

This time? Five players (and cards) I'd want to see in the next rendition of Topps Project 2020. (Would it be Project 2021?)

BAT DOWN, HANDS DOWN
Ronald Acuña Jr.'s bat-down SP variation in 2018 Topps Series 2 is perhaps the most-iconic of all of the Rookie Cards in basic Topps sets in recent years, and I think it would be a no-brainer as a card to bat lead-off on a second project like Topps Project 2020 -- an effort where artists re-create memorable cards from the past for 20 players. The list is one that skews old -- just five players are from 1990 and beyond and only two who debuted in the 2000s -- while the top sellers (so far) have skewed young and that makes me wonder what/who might be popular the next time around. They have to do this again, right? (For the purposes of this list, I'm ignoring the realities of licensing -- some players are potentially not available to Topps or licensing could impose other limitations. (That's what I don't know.) What I do know is a collection of 20 takes on this Acuña would probably get me every time as it's such a good starting point.

Keep reading for four more making up the list this time.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls, Michael Jordan and a pretty good Topps Project 2020 thread after you get past the hatred.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Chat with a Project 2020 artist (and get some early preview action) and plenty more in today's edition.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Product delays, big pulls, an Ichiro Suzuki collection, Project 2020 and plenty more.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: New breaks, Project 2020, buying low on Kris Bryant, Jim Wynn, The National and more.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls, your collecting tastes might not be others' collecting tastes, Babe Ruth memorabilia cards, the Women of Star Wars and plenty more in today's edition.

Continue reading →

What happens when Topps selects 20 artists to re-imagine 20 iconic baseball cards from the past?

A new set called Topps Project 2020. 

The first two cards arrived today with Ichiro Suzuki's 2001 Topps Rookie Card and Sandy Koufax's 1955 Topps Rookie Card getting the nod from artists Ben Baller and Jacob Rochester.

How does it work? Keep reading for the details.

Continue reading →