Nonsense Newsletter No. 175: Upper Deck changes the game, baseball's case hits and more!
Happy Saturday Nonsense fans! In this week’s edition of the Nonsense Newsletter John Dudley talks case hits in baseball. I ramble on about how much of a fanboy I am of Upper Deck, and how they’re changing the game with RPA in 23/24 The Cup. Oh, and the Quick Hits is dope (all the kids say that now so I’m thinking it’s a good thing) as usual. So, let’s grab the coffee, find out favorite chair and enjoy yet another edition of the Nonsense Newsletter.
By John Dudley
Downtowns and Kabooms! Have dominated the basketball and football card world, but rare inserts have had less of a place in the baseball card landscape. That’s changing as Topps has put a major focus on adding and improving case hits to pretty much every baseball product.
I’m using the term case hits in the vernacular. Most “case hits” are a bit rarer. For discussion, when I say 'case hit' here, I mean an insert that one gets one or fewer of per case. Many parallels fit this definition, but I’m going to leave parallels for another day and check out the inserts.
With case hits becoming ubiquitous, collectors are becoming increasingly aware of them, and demand has increased for some of the case hits. At the same time, the fact that there is one (or often more) case hits per product means that there are A LOT of case hits to choose from. Quite a few of them get lost in the shuffle.
Not all case hits are created equal. Some are considered grails even if I think that term is as overused as “the GOAT” is. Others go straight from the pack to the bargain box. With the ever-increasing number of case hits in baseball products, I thought it would be a good idea to get a handle on how each case hit is viewed in the hobby.
My list here is far from all-encompassing. For one, I’ve left off all parallels, so no Gold Minted, Team Logos, or other popular parallels. Second, no game used or autos. Finally, there are so many that it’s hard to keep up.
That’s where you, the reader, come in. If you’ve got a favorite case hit that I’ve left off, let me know in the comments. I’m sure there are a ton. I’m also only including case hits from 2024 and 2025, so no gems from 2004 needed (although I’m sure they are interesting and lovely, so go ahead and share those too).
By John McTaggart
There are plenty of announcements made by trading card manufacturers every day — most of them amount to nothing more than meaningless PR fodder.
Every so often though, one comes along that is certainly worthy of note.
One of these announcements came Wednesday from my friends at Upper Deck when they informed collectors that this year’s premier product, The Cup, was debuting an innovative and potentially industry-changing program aimed at eliminating counterfeiting and patch-swapping, particularly in the highly coveted The Cup RPAs.
Quick Hits
Hobby News — Big sale alert! A Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant Exquisite Dual Logoman is up for auction currently. Estimates are at 6 million for the sale. It has the chance to set the record high sale for both Bryant and Jordan which would be quite the feat. 2021-2022 were the peak years for big sales, but late 2024 to present is looking fairly strong. This will be an interesting test of the peak of the high-end market.
Vintage— Question: Have you heard of Roger Connor? Me neither. Yet, back in the late 1800s, he was the man in the game of baseball. He was Babe Ruth before Babe Ruth. Well, if you’re the kinda guy who wants to start collecting Roger Connor cards, then you’re in luck, the only one graded in existence, an SGC 1 1888 S.F Hess Cigarettes card is coming up for auction. It is literally the only Connor graded copy to exist. Find out more here.
Hobby News — Topps hit a homer with All Aces in Series One. Now, it’s the hitters turn with All Kings in Series Two. The playing card-inspired designs are sharp, but the black background and holographic foil accents make these some of the prettiest cards on the market to see in person.
The Sports Card Nonsense newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors and contributors. They are for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation for purchases or of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any assets.