Manufacturers chase the trading card collector

Drug Store News, Feb 15, 1993

Trading cards attract collectors with random insert cards, new niche sets and other dynamic products. * Score introduced a new mid-priced card line in December, Score Select (SRP: $1.25), in addition to its regular Score and premium Pinnacle lines.

Score Select baseball features extra game action, character and human interest, all on Dufex-process metallic printed cards with two chase card subsets--The Franchise (with the best player from each team) and Boys of Summer (30 rookies). * Fleer just signed Oakland A's pitcher Dennis Eckersley as the lead player in the Fleer Ultra baseball card set. Eckersley will sign over 2,000 cards for random insertion in Fleer Ultra trading card sets.

Fleer has upgraded its Ultra line in all four sports with UV coating and foil stamping in gold, silver or other color on heavy stock. * Upper Deck's latest 220-card Football Series II includes six different inserts, special cards and subsets, including the new insert set "Coach's Report" with evaluations of top rookies by former Steelers head coach Chuck Noll.

Upper Deck also produces baseball, basketball and hockey trading cards. Its Comic Ball animation-style cards helps gain brand recognition by children, says vice president of sales Bruce Regis. * Topps offers one regular and two premium lines--Stadium Club and the premium Bowman baseball line--and just reentered the basketball card market after 11 years. Topps offers one subset gold foil card per pack; a more rare subset "black gold" appears once in every 48 packs.

In 1991 Topps came out with Topps Archives, a reprint of 1953 baseball cards, and is now working on a 1954 set. It also released Topps Kids for new collectors, priced at 35 cents per pack. * Action Packed premium cards come in a unique embossed design. It also donates free Braille cards to schools across the country. Its special random insert cards feature gold leaf (including rare cards that inform the owner that he or she has won a valuable 18-karat or 24-karat gold card--to be delivered via Brinks).

Action Packed also offers other lines, such as the new Hall of Fame basketball, NACAR, Worl Life nature cards including the birds of Roger Tory Peterson, and sports cards in the All Madden Team series. * Leaf/Donruss is a baseball specialist. The Donruss 1993 baseball (released in December) is usually the first in the market, says Leaf president Jim Hanlon. "Collectors are very interested in the sharpness and uniqueness of photographs--it's no longer talking heads. They like action shots, says Hanlon.

The Leaf set ships in late spring, while its Triple Play set is for younger collectors who are just starting. The Studio Set features original black and white photos. * Pro Set's Eric Herskind says: "The serious collectors are very interested in how much product is produced," he says, noting that Pro Set is authenticating the number of cases it produces.

The manufacturer just introduced a new premium football line, Pro Set Power, using digital layered imaging to produce a semi-ghosted background. "The effect is that the player is popping off the card--it's definitely unique," says Herskind. Pro Set's premium line Parkhurst Hockey series, in its second year, shipped mid-January. Pro Set also manufacturers golf and auto racing cards. * Sky Box just released its update series NBA Hoops 2 and NBA Series 2. Doug Drotman, spokesman for Sky Box, explains that this year the manufacturer changed its design philosophy from the type of computer graphics which have dominated in recent years. The new design "blends graphics into existing action, versus a graphics card that happens to be a basketball card."

Sky Box also offers the Aladdin 85-card set, and, says Drotman, "the entertainment area of trading cards is growing tremendously." Others include DC Cosmic teams, X-men, Super Heroes and Super Villains, and in late April, Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Archie and Garfield sets will be released in late fall.

For more information Action Packed: Laurie Goldberg, spokesperson; (708) 617-2660. * Fleer Corp.: Jeff Massien, vice president marketing; (609) 231-6249 * Leaf: Jim Hanlon, president; (708) 940-7500 * ProSet: Eric Herskind, marketing director; (214) 407-2800 * Rembrandt: Elaine Krus, director of marketing; (310) 826-3261, * Score and River Group): Linda Wrisley, national accounts manager; (203) 227-8882 * Sports Design: Charles Mandel, president; (313) 650-3060. * Sky Box: Dave Wasserman, operations manager; (800) 92CARDS (922-2737) * Topps Co.: Ron Boyum, vice president sales; (718) 768-8900. * Upper Deck: Bruce Regis, vice president sales; (619) 929-6500.