The Steelers have won 60 games and lost 24 games with 2 ties if TJ Watt gets a sack or interception
When he does not get a sack, interception or does not play the Steelers record is 26 wins and 30 losses.
That is a winning percentage of .703 vs. .464
It sort of ruins the wait and anticipation for this set. This set is missing one of the Top players in the world, It would be like having a set without Ohtani, Mahomes, or McDavid in it.
How was Topps not being able to acquire his rights to publish his card.
Topps is reusing the 2025 baseball design which I really did not like but I have seen samples of a few NBA cards and for some reason the design seems to work better with the NBA than MLB
There is something seriously wrong with baseball now.
Trea Turner is the only .300 hitter in the National League which would match the American League in 1968 (Yaz).
Baseball has become Softball to an extent. This year produce 4 - 50 home run players - which ties 1998 and 2001 for the most ever.
In 1968 Gibson had an era of 1.12 and Denny McClain won 31 games. Nothing happened close to that this year. Pitchers hit in both leagues in 1968 - not in 2025.
How to get the batting average up - decrease the foul area, put seats in there with nets. You would have nets but the fans would be closer to the action more than ever. Make it harder to home runs. Move back the fences, make the wall higher.
Baseball has been trying a number of rules to change the offense in this game and it does not seem to be working.
A larger problem looms a lockout by the owners at the end of 2026. It is salary cap or bust by the owners. I am cutting back on my card buying now.
The major league hits leader will be maybe Bobby Witt Jr or Luis Arreaz and they will likely finish with 185 or less hits. That will be the lowest since Billy Hamilton 179 in 1891 when the most games a team played was 140 games.
The leader this year will be below every leader during the 154 game era. In 1918 the season stopped at the beginning of September because of WW1 and most teams did not play 130 games. George Case had 178 hits
WE ARE NOW LIVING IN THE ERA OF
THE HITLESS WONDERS
The Topps Heritage sets for the last 25 years has been an imperfect group, I really was not paying much attention to them until 2008 when I discovered Sports Card Blogs. Also the aspects of short prints limited my collecting.
In one of the most agonizing decisions I pick 1958 (2007) over 1959 (2008).
1, 1958 (2007) - It appears these cards actually exceed the original 1958. This is probably the only Heritage set that does this. I only had the original set ranked 23 all time.
2. 1959 (2008) - The photos were cropped just a little to tight. But I love the design
3 1971 (2020) - This set had to be released in the pandemic year - when prices were through the roof - I might have collected. When I look at these Heritage cards I feel something. I did not collect this set when it first came out but some how got a hold of some in 1972 and 1973 but my big haul was going through a box at a flea market in about 1980 as a 15 year old and just pulling semi stars Jim Hickman, Don Mincher, Johnny Callison,, Rick Wise, Tommie Harper - I will never forget that day - what a feeling.
4. 1976 (2025) 1976 was my collecting prime - This heritage set gives me a feeling. There is a huge drop off after these top 4 sets.
5. 1969 (2018) This set stands on an island it is better than everyone below it but it does not give me the feeling of the 4 above
6. 1975 (2024) Probably the heritage set I was looking forward to the most. Slightly disappointed, the photos were just a tad too small, the borders were just a tad to big.
7. 1972 (2021) My favorite set of all time but for Heritage I was slightly more disappointed than 2024 - A big part of the feeling is missing
8. 1962 (2013) I was feeling it with these cards back then - maybe it was the wood grain
9. 1968 (2017) Not near the 1962 set but the brown borders help
10. 1965 (2014) I have this I my 6th favorite design but Topps kind of missed this
11 1964 (2013) Not great but this was not a total miss
12. 1966 (2015) Did not do too much for me
13. 1967 (2016) Kind of dull compared to the original
14. 1954 (2003) inferior to the 1994 reprint set
15. 1963 (2014) There was something missing about the look and feel of these cards
16. 1952 (2001) - Kind of Blah
17. 1957 (2006) - Kind of Blah
18. 1953 (2002) - A huge disappointment they felt nothing like the original
19. 1974 (2023) Not a favorite designs heritage did not improve on it
20. 1973 (2022) - First set I ever started collecting at the beginning of the season. As a 7 year old I discovered 1972 Topps Baseball in the middle of the summer - then I went into the fall collecting football, hockey, basketball. When I was 8 years old this set gave me a tremendous feeling bit it was lost over the years and heritage did nothing to recapture it and might have made it worse.
21. 1970 (2019) - had this ranked 31 all time - heritage did not improve on it.
22,23,24 - 1955(2004), 1956 (2005) 1960 (2009) - Too much like Topps Big
25. 1961 (2012) - The cards/photo in this set were horrific in this set and felt nothing like the original
For me it was 1981 when the NFL passed MLB and became a the National Sport.
In 1981, there was the strike - The first summer of my youth without baseball.
For the NFL, that was the first season that they would break into games and show you highlights from those other game (oh that satellite technology). The Dwight Clark catch. But here are some more reasons.
Most of the season action occurs before 7pm. About 75% of the season takes place before 7pm. 40 years ago it was probably 90%.- The older I get the more I like that
75% of the seasons is concentrated on Sunday Afternoon (it is changing for the worse)- It is a predictable time period - you can set aside. It is once a week sport- it is a great advantage over MLB, NBA, NHL -
Most of the action is in the daylight and as the days grow shorter and colder - there something about being in house warm - watching while those players are out there in the freezing cold and snow
Night Owl mention on his blog something strange is going on with page views. They numbers are up big time- See Below comparison - From around June 7
Blog | Views | Posts | Page View Per Post |
Night Owl Cards | 6,727,950 | 5759 | 1170 |
Sports Card Collectors | 3,043,673 | 6311 | 482 |
Chronicles of Fuji | 2,619,848 | 2601 | 1007 |
Cardboard Collections | 1,876,217 | 1673 | 1121 |
Cardboard History | 1,794,078 | 1100 | 1630 |
My sports card obsession | 1,595,897 | 2675 | 595 |
Donruss 1982 | 277,199 | 1196 | 231 |
Cards over Coffee 400,000 750 533
Here are the numbers around the end of August
Blog | Views | Posts | Page View Per Post |
Night Owl Cards | 8.001,868 | 5799 | 1379 |
Sports Card Collectors | 3,588,390 | 6311 | 568 |
Chronicles of Fuji | 3.092.792 | 2626 | 1117 |
Cardboard Collections | 2,011.183 | 1673 | 1201 |
Cardboard History | 1,889,195 | 1106 | 1708 |
My sports card obsession | 1,759,025 | 2706 | 650 |
Donruss 1982 | 332,454 | 1205 | 275 |
Cards over Coffee no page views listed on page
To put things into perspective Night Owl had 15.9 percent of his total views on his blog came in the last almost 3 months
16.6 percent of Donruss 1982 Blogs of all views came in the last almost 3 months
For Chronicle of Fuji it is 15.2 percent
Here are Jim From Downingtown blogs
Blog | Views | Posts | Page View Per Post |
1968 Topps Baseball | 594,787 | 258 | 2305 |
1966 Topps Baseball | 501,665 | 214 | 2344 |
1969 Topps Baseball | 424,334 | 174 | 2438 |
1970 Topps Baseball | 369,666 | 140 | 2640 |
1963 Topps Baseball | 178,104 | 58 | 3070 |
1965 Topps Baseball | 83,131 | 50 | 1662 |
For 1968 Topps Baseball it was not as quite as high at 8.5
Something strange is going on - its like we are being probed - maybe it is 3I Atlas
A couple of years before the Pandemic, On The Shlabotnik report that I thought Topps Heritage was going to end in 2021 (with the 1972 design) because I felt that 1972 was the end of the Vintage years. I also thought that Topps would revert back to 1952 and start with that set because in 2022 everyone who was in the 2001 set would be out of the league.
I was wrong but I was partly right - instead of getting rid of Topps Heritage they started Topps Chrome Platinum.
Crazily in June of 2022, they released 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum using the 1952 design - So I was kind of right they were reuse the 1952 design for major set on current players.
In June of 2023, they released 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum using the 1953 design.
In June of 2024, well...........
Topps ended Heritage minors in 2022. Unless they put out a set this year (possibility???)
Which got me to thinking. I really liked the 2024 (1975) and 2025 (1976) Topps Heritage sets. But I think I know why, because that was in my wheelhouse, 11 and 12 years old collecting. I started collecting at 7 the 1972 Topps Set (My First Love - and still my favorite), and a lot of kids in the neighborhood were collecting but by 1975/1976 it was just me trying to all the cards in the set. Which I never did.
Demographics. The Baby Boomer era 1946 to 1964 when the birth rates were high, The 1952 set came out when the baby boomers were 6 years old. The number of births per year fell every year from 1965 to 1977. In 1976 - The 11, 12, 13 year olds were the end of the baby boomers. As I mentioned before by 1976, I was basically the only one in the neighborhood collecting - there was no one to trade with (and come to think of it, I was one of the younger kids, there was a kid around 11 but I don't remember any kids in the neighbor between 5 to 10 years at the time. In fact, I can only remember when I was 17, a 4 year-old girl who lived down the street and she had to have been born in the late 1970s so I really believe that declining birth rate was true.
In 1979, 1980, 1981 there were a hell of a lot less 11/12/13 year-olds collecting cards than there were 5 to 10 years before.
These heritage sets are about nostalgia - which the coming design years would have less adults who collected them as kids.
Part of the reason I never really sought the heritages (the biggest reason was cost of short prints), was I did not collect them as a kid and they did not have the hold on me (though I love looking at cards from the 1950s and 1960s).
Back to Demographics - if I remember correctly the number of births increased each year from 1978 to 1989. They fell in 1990s (beginning with the terrible GDP years in 1990 and 1991) until sometimes in the early 2000s but I am not positive about this.
These demographic partly explain the junk wax era. In 1987, those born in those increasing birth rate years would have been 9, and reached 13 in 1991 (which appears to be the age (13) when a lot of kids drop out collecting - I had a 12 year old cousin who completely lost interest in cards after 1989). The junk wax explosion may have also been from some of the Baby Boomers (35-41 years old - stashing cards for their 5 and 6 year olds).
This takes me back to the potential upcoming heritage sets - I like the 1977 set, but I really don't care to collect it in modern version form. For some strange reason I would like to see a 1979 version of Heritage. I don't have much emotional attachment to the 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 sets.
I would like to see a version of the 1983 and yes 1987 but that is about it.
Personally, I can see Topps (Now Fanatics) not continuing this much longer. I think we are getting hints of things to come (see above) and with the Heritage update set coming out almost a year after the release of 2024 Heritage set. Will there be an update set this year, I did notice the checklist did not really miss any big name players like they did last year. Is there a need for it. The way the rookie card status is manipulated is there a reason to get Nick Kurtz in any of the sets this year (He debuted in end of May) as the rest of the rookie class is really lacking.
I don't think there is a nostalgia market for us people in our late 50s and early 60s to want to collect the upcoming designs.
This is an update from 2020.
Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2025. It is based on the look and feel of the card set (or mostly how I feel about them) - The last five years have not been kind. I have noted where I flipped some of the older set rankings - as I have become fickle - The rankings:
1. 1972
2. 1959
3. 1983
4. 1971
5. 1953
6. 1965
7. 1975 - I don't know why I had 67 above this set - Heck I am not sure 65 or 53 is better. Moved from 8 to 7
8. 1967 - moved from 7 to 8
9. 1952
10. 1991
Maybe the most surprising pick is 1983, but it was an improvement over the 1963 set that is was based on. The 1983 set is sort like ‘The Empire Strikes Back” in the first Star Wars Trilogy. The 1971s were not called Black Beauties for nothing. The 1991 was most colorful and had the best anniversary logo ever. The 1972 set is Topps at its pinnacle. Its Large in size and Beautiful Looking. The 1959 set has the kaleidoscope look of paintings.
11. 1956
12. 1963
13. 1987
14. 1969
15. 1962
16. 1968
17. 1957
18. 1976
19. 1954
20. 1955
The golden age really dominates the next ten. The 1987 set was an improvement over the brownish borders of 1962 and 1968. The 1956 set is great looking but it reminds me just a tad of the late 1980s Topps Big set. The 1969 set was the 1967 just reworked a little.
21. 2008
22. 1966
23. 1958
24. 1964 - moved up one from 25
25. 1977
26. 2003 - 2023 seems to be its equal so why is this set so far up here and that set so low down there - moved down two from 24
27. 2005
28. 1961
29. 1988
30. 1985
The 21st century breaks through, 2008 was one of the most unique designs ever though the photos may have been too small. If you look closely 1964, 1977, 1986, 2004 sets are an evolving evolution of the same design. 2003 was a good rendition of 1963 and 1983 and the same goes with 1985 copying 1965. This is truly the top half of the sets, we now move to the lower rung.
31. 1970
32. 1978
33. 2010
34. 1981
35. 1984
36. 2006
37. 1986
38. 1973
39. 1974
40. 2023 - Not sure where to place - nice 2 photo design - think it is equal 2003 but I placed that set too high
41. 2007
The 2006 had a well thought out design. The 2010 set was based on a 2001 Topps cereal issue. The 2007 was no 1971 set but black borders returned. Surprisingly the 1973 and 1974 are kind of dull and boring though nostalgic.
42. 1990
43. 1979
44. 1980
45. 2013
46. 2012
47. 2014
48. 2022 - a slightly classy. simple design that could grow on me through the years.
49. 1992
50. 1960
51. 2011
52. 1989 - Switched with 2018 - 2024 inserts made me take a slightly different look at this set
53. 2018
2018 was the best of the borderless era, its design looked like the Rolling Stones logo. 2012-2014, were decent sets which varied little in design. The 1990 is the craziest looking set and could be called the Purple Passion set
54. 1982
55. 1993
56. 2009
57. 2004
58. 1995
59. 2020
60. 2017
61. 2001
62. 2019
63. 2024 - 1986, 2015 all over a again? Though This set could grow on me
64. 2015
65. 2016
66. 1994
67. 2025 - this set could eventually fall to the bottom
68. 2021 - A monstrosity
69. 2002
70. 1998
71. 1996
72. 1997
73. 1999
74. 2000
The last 35 years have not been the golden age but it is better than the late 20th century. 1982 set is the worst set in brown card board back era. Sorry Night Owl but 2015 is nutty and drab looking. The sets from 1997-2000 had so much gloss on them they stick together.
Boy do I feel old
This is where we stand today
1989 is to 2025 what 1952 is to 1989.
Which brings us to this card - Today the after the homerun walk through the dugout celebration is a common occurrence - This A's card is interesting because I think it is showing the origin of this type of celebration. It kind of makes sense this started in the late 1980s.
In 1987, I believe (the year of the lively ball) was the first year ever teams averaged 1.00 home runs per game and except for a few dips (each time the Pirates were good 1990-1992 and 2013-2015 range) Home runs have be over that level ever since and with it the dugout celebration. Also the All Star home run derby started in 1985. (and Babe Ruth saved baseball from the White Sox scandal with home runs)I don't think in my lifetime we will see an extended period of time where HR per game per team drops below 1.00.
* I am not taking in account any players that died before 60 and the 1989 Topps set had a few number 1 draft pick cards of players who wont reach 60 for 2-3 more years
July 19, 2025 A day that will love in infamy in Pirates history for the first time since August of 1903 the Pirates all time record falls below .500 with the loss to the White Sox
With the drubbing by the Twins today - the Pirates all-time record stands at 10,877-10,877 -Will they win tomorrow to stay above .500 - Only the Shadow Knows
The Pittsburgh Pirates hit the ,500 mark on August 22, 1903 and have been there ever since - or at least until maybe now - after winning 6 games in a row they have now lost 8 games in a row.
THEY PULL YOU BACK IN. The Pirates had won 6 in a row and now they have lost 5 games in a row. The watch continues.
It seems likely that the Pirates all-time record will fall below .500 sometime in early July unless some sort of miracle happens.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are back down to 3 games above .500. Their all-time record has been above .500 since August 22, 1903.
Analysis of Sport Card Blogger Stats – Pages views / per post.
Recently Sports Card Collection mentioned in their blog they reached 3 million page views. So I decided to look at other Sports Blogs to see how many views and posts that they have. Unfortunately most sports blogs do not have page views listed on their front page. So this is a limited but interesting analysis
Blog | Views | Posts | Page View Per Post |
Night Owl Cards | 6,727,950 | 5759 | 1170 |
Sports Card Collection | 3,043,673 | 6311 | 482 |
Chronicles of Fuji | 2,619,848 | 2601 | 1007 |
Cardboard Collections | 1,876,217 | 1673 | 1121 |
Cardboard History | 1,794,078 | 1100 | 1630 |
My sports card obsession | 1,595,897 | 2675 | 595 |
Donruss 1982 | 277,199 | 1196 | 231 |
This information was taken from around June 7, 2025
Jim From Downingtown has a bunch sports blogs that I can use in this post and they kind of blow the numbers out of the water. He posted from 2009-2021 or so on these blogs
Blog | Views | Posts | Page View Per Post |
1968 Topps Baseball | 544,102 | 258 | 2018 |
1966 Topps Baseball | 462,104 | 214 | 2159 |
1969 Topps Baseball | 385,757 | 174 | 2216 |
1970 Topps Baseball | 339,767 | 140 | 2426 |
1963 Topps Baseball | 163,844 | 58 | 2854 |
1965 Topps Baseball | 76,522 | 50 | 1530 |
A Few Observations
*It is surprising that Cardboard History (I am thinking posting since 2017) has more views per post than Night Owl but that could related to a number of factors.
*Less posts could mean a higher page view average . You can see that when observing Jim from Dowingtown's blogs with 1965 Topps baseball the exception.
*I did notice a spike in views in my Blog a few years ago when I was hardly posting. I am assuming Autobots, Spam or something and not real people.
*I have always associated Cardboard History with The trading card database which may create more traffic.
*If everyone stopped posting today, everyone's page per view would go up.
Addendum Cards over Coffee stated on June 22, 2025 they reached 400,000 views in about 750 - posts which gives them an average of 533 page views per post - they have only been posting since 2020
