The Ultimate Baseball Card Set? Part 1 Results + New Polls

Well, it's time to reveal the results of the first part of my Ultimate Baseball Card set design poll. I asked 4 questions for you, my loyal readers, to respond to. It was an interesting exercise for two reasons: First, I was hoping the results would prove enlightening on what people like best (we'll get to that in a moment), and second, I get to see how many people visit my "new" blog posts. (I do use a "hit" counter, but I seem to have a few entries written awhile back that recieve constant hits while most of my newer entries do not.)

That said, on to the results:
(my comments may not match the results perfectly since it is possible for people to go back and vote on my old blog. If I close the polls, the results don't display!)

First, card border:

Second, base set size:




Third, number of short prints:




Finally, number of parallel sets:



My thoughts:
Note: I didn't vote on my own polls - that would seem to be a bit unfair.

White border was the clear winner here (with 10 votes out of 16 total). I was a little surprised that black borders didn't fare better (though maybe people hate them for the same reason I do, they are impossible to keep "nice").

The base set size seemed to have no clear winner. 350-700 cards (an admittedly wide range) "won" the poll, but that option only garnered 46% of the vote. It seems clear to me that there is no "perfect" set size to most people...but everyone was in agreement that sets should be more than 100 cards. (That also surprised me, the only reason I even am attempting to trade for the ugly, ugly Spectrum set is because it has 100 cards in it.)

Luckily, the number of short prints option was more defined with the voters. 84% of voters said less than 20 (either selecting "none" or "1 - 20" option). Once again, that surprised me! Sets like Topps Heritage, Allen & Ginter, and even UD Goudey all seem rather popular in the blogosphere...and all of those sets have over 20 short prints (Goudey has WAY too many as the polls indicate, but still...)

Finally, I asked about parallel sets. Of the fourteen respondents, seven (half!) said "none". The other half seemed to favor 2 - 5 parallels (5 out of the remaining 7 voters). That ought to make people at both Topps and Upper Deck take notice. Virtually all the sets released this year have parallel sets (Upper Deck seems to release a full rainbow of parallels with each set anymore)...yet half of those polled said there should be zero parallels. That said, almost half of those polled claimed there should be 2 - 5 parallels, so I think it is safe to say there is still a market for the parallels....

So what comes next in this little experiment? Well, we've decided on:
A 350 - 700 card set with white borders, less than 20 short prints, and no parallels. I don't know about you, but right now this set seems like it isn't overly market friendly...

With that, let's flesh out the set details a bit more:

Set Size:

Set Size

• 
  
  350 cards


• 
  
  450 cards


• 
  
  550 cars


• 
  
  650 cards


• 
  
  700 cards

view results
Free vote poll

Inserts:

Insert Options

• 
  
  No inserts at all


• 
  
  Only autographs


• 
  
  Only relics


• 
  
  Relics and autographs


• 
  
  Non-relic and auto inserts only

view results
Free vote poll

Rookie Cards:

Rookie Cards?

• 
  
  No


• 
  
  Yes - but only of "top prospects"


• 
  
  Yes - but only one or two per team


• 
  
  Yes - as many as possible


• 
  
  Yes - but only as part of the inserts

view results
Free vote poll

And finally, card stock:

Card Stock

• 
  
  Thin but not glossy (similar to '80s Topps cards)


• 
  
  Thin and glossy (similar to current day Topps base cards)


• 
  
  Thick and not glossy (similar to '08 Topps Heritage)


• 
  
  Thick and glossy (similar UD Heroes swatch inserts)


• 
  
  Something unique (similar to UD Masterpieces)

view results
Free vote poll

That's it for now....let's continue shaping this set. I appreciate all the votes so far!

Source:

http://www.goldcoinsgalore.com/oldbaseballcardboxes.JPG