I hold on to at least four dying information sources … In some cases, some would say ‘death’.
I work at a newspaper and still read one almost every day. I am sure that half of the current population could not tell you what you looked like. I write for a magazine and read the same magazine – if I have time. Again, half of the population would say something like: “My father talked about that.”
I am still part of Facebook. I might check the other day to stay up on the few friends who are still there. But many, many people removed that app a few years ago, and again, people in the twenties consider it social media for aunts and uncles. And finally I still have a card blog – and I expect it to give me information and entertainment, just like all the other “archaic” media.
But much of that is the ego that talks, and I can take the figures or leave if I just want to write about cards. My problem today is the current online climate – with some people on Facebook and some on Bluesky and some on Instagram and some on YouTube and some on blogs and some on Reddit and some on disagreement and some on cloak and some on Beckett – in it – in it – in it – I can no longer find information.
Yes, part of it is that you have to hunt the right platform to get the information you need, mix and match. But also often it seems that it is just not. (But there is a lot of wrong information, that’s for sure).
For example, let’s take a look at this “Flagship Collection” from 2025 Topps Yoshinobu Yamamoto card card. I recently picked this up when ordering the last non-SP 2025 Heritage Card I needed (Corbin Burnes). In an attempt to save some dollars, I added a few deadgers to the cart and this Yamamoto card was one of them.
I chose it specifically because I saw it on the TCDB site and a few other places. On TCDB it is mentioned with the parallels and inserts and that is what I thought it was initially – a kind of parallel of the player’s flagship card.
Then I thought it was an insert. The generic name “flagship collection” didn’t help either, what does that even mean? Somewhere along the way I found out that they were part of the release via Costco and that things started to clean up. Costco is one of those points of sale – such as Meijer and Wawa – that I constantly hear but does not know because there is none around me. I’ve never been to it. There are two costcoes in Upstate New York, both relatively new and not close.
These cards were issued as part of a “Super Box”, via Costco, with packages of flagship from Topps and Heritage Plus 3 “flagship collection” Packs and an extra large card. Prices seem to vary from around $ 30 to $ 45.
And now, if you were patient to read my search, you know how long it takes nowadays to get an answer to your question (another obstacle is that Ryan Cracknell is no longer at Beckett and he was a font of information about the latest product).
If these “costco flagship collection” were mentioned or someone on the card blogs wrote about it, as someone almost always did 15 years ago when a new card product came, I could have discovered it faster. Nor does it help that there are 27 new things associated with the flagship this year, who could follow them all, whether you are a collector or just provide the information?
In this whirlwind of pieces of information from different scattered sources and nobody to bring it together and to understand it you want to watch a video of 26 minutes, I miss that this “flagship collection” cards have existed since 2023, and I actually Have a few cards of that set ’23.
My forgetful brain also contributes to this information crisis.
So now that I know what it is and it has in my hands, there is a short review here for someone else who was confused (I am aware that 95% of you cannot care).
-These cards are thicker than your average basic card in 2025. I don’t know any point sizes for cardboard, but they are still thin enough to easily fit on a nine pocket page, even if you place cards back-to-back.
-As far as the feeling, they remind me of the Perma-Graphics cards from the early 1980s to resemble credit cards of that period. They are a bit slippery but not shiny like a foil card.
– The lower part with the name of the player, the team and the position and the team logo, however, is shiny (but still no foil) and you need some light to read it.
– The design, as well as the design for the flagship collection cards of 2023 and 2024, remind me of the old Trading Card Day card designs, which are not inspired and fairly simple, using a few geometric shapes before she calls it for a day.
– There are of course parallels.
These are not attractive enough for me to look for all the Dodgers, I want them, but you can only spend money on so many cards and with the amount of things that TOPPS throws towards you, ignoring half of it is the only way to prevent you from ending up in the funny farm.
So I think what I say is that I would like the information there, in a reliable place that I can consult every time. But I would also like to ignore it at ease.
#information