Nothing Beats Simple Design

Less is more.  I've heard it attributed to many people, including an architect who is famous for some designs that aren't so minimalist.  But for cards, I think that is really pretty true.  I like clean, simple pictures.  I like designs that aren't cluttered with a lot of glitz, glamour, and distractions.  I like bold, simple on card autographs.

It's sad that a lot of things like these aren't around any longer.  For football, especially with the Panini monopoly, it seems like they need to find some stupid gimmick for their cards so that they can sell thirty products a year with the same stupid retread stuff.  I don't like gimmicks.  My passion for older Upper Deck stuff is pretty well known, but I do have to give credit where it is due.  There is a reason that Bowman reigns supreme in Baseball.  There is also a reason why people are resistant to all the new fancy refractor types.  Refractor, blue, orange, gold, and red were enough for people.  Stop doing waves, bubbles, static, shimmers, funkdads, and hoohaws.

These autographs are great examples of what I love.  Admittedly, Five Star Football was actually one of Topps higher end products, although I believe it's been morphed into a mid end baseball product now.  It does make me miss the competition among brands.  If people are into these sort of cards, I would suggest that they pick them up soon.  Stuff like this is going by the wayside, and the selection is limited.  We've seen quite an appreciation of older Upper Deck basketball stuff (when they had the NBA license) and I think that we should see an uptick in older NFL licensed Upper Deck and Topps stuff as people graduate away from the Panini press.  Haha.  Panini press.  This is a great, small-ish, affordable set that has a disproportionate amount of Hall of Famers.  Right up my alley.