How much does a "wrong patch/swatch" bother you in a card?

[Kahnadah]

I just noticed, in another area, a card where the swatch/piece is almost certainly not from the jersey or equipment that the player depicted on the card used. It got me wondering if this something that bugs people? I know it'd drive me batty, but it'd be interesting to hear from other boardies.

 

[WatchMyBreaks]

I won't buy a game used piece with a player featured in one jersey while the game used piece came from a different time in their career. Same with photoshoot material or manufactured patches.

You can also add sticker autos to the list as well any Leaf singles that feature a player photograph while another player is represented by just a mock up jersey with a number. Not a huge fan of cards that just feature a gigantic swatch with a player name and no photo either.

I'm also not interested in ITG Vault cards for a variety of reasons. It is pretty strange how many amazing patches, stick pieces, etc where held back and released in Vault releases a decade after the fact. Not exactly sure the thought behind holding back a great card as a replacement instead of just adding it to packs to begin with.

I may be extremely picky but this market is extremely oversaturated with game used.

 

[Kahnadah]

cardboardnostalgia: I feel the same way. It's part of the reason I quit cards and went to game used sticks. I hated seeing a Reggie Lemelin with a picture of the back of a jersey and a huge green swatch, or an Iginla with a big swatch of a mid-90's Koho on it! Iggy never used that in the NHL and Reggie's swatch could only have come from a practice jersey.

 

[WatchMyBreaks]

I've been "out of the hobby" for quite a long time. Mostly because I witnessed my Datsyuk collection lose 50% of its value post lockout, post Pacific bankruptcy, post UD exclusive. It was no longer possible to be a player collector at a high level and keep up with the 20 garbage products UD put out.

I mainly just turned to ripping product, flipping it on eBay and participating in group breaks.

Lately I've got the itch to start collecting the cards I really wanted when I still liked the hobby. After reviewing some prices on eBay, I realized that I could buy most of those unattainable cards for a fraction of what they were worth years ago. So I've slowly started to piece together a personal collection. Mostly focusing on unique patches or hard to find players.


Here is where I'm at so far, with many more to be added in the future:

https://cardboardnostalgia.com/personal-collection/

This kind of collecting make much more sense to me than opening $700 tins of The Cup only to get about $50 in cards to sell on eBay.

 

[30ranfordfan]

They don't bug me to the point where I wouldnt own a card... but i do find them odd.

If It's a player like Patrick Marleau, I get it. UD bought that sharks jersey, but now they want to make Leafs cards of him. If It's Mark Messier, It's beyond me why a card showing him as a Ranger... with an Oilers patch... exists.

 

[nybravest]

They don't bug me to the point where I wouldnt own a card... but i do find them odd.

If It's a player like Patrick Marleau, I get it. UD bought that sharks jersey, but now they want to make Leafs cards of him. If It's Mark Messier, It's beyond me why a card showing him as a Ranger... with an Oilers patch... exists.

They can always use that sharks jersey for a flashback fabrics set or a spgu supreme patch.

 

[Kahnadah]

They don't bug me to the point where I wouldnt own a card... but i do find them odd.

If It's a player like Patrick Marleau, I get it. UD bought that sharks jersey, but now they want to make Leafs cards of him. If It's Mark Messier, It's beyond me why a card showing him as a Ranger... with an Oilers patch... exists.

Yeah, it bothers me a little more, but I see where you're coming from. Totally agree on the Messier, too. I was thinking more an equipment patch from a brand of equipment that the player never used. Like a current player with a piece of stick from a wood-shafted stick. That's drive me around the bend!

 

[aflamesfan]

Not quite the same but I hate the Alberta Flag patch in cards.

Flames card, and then you have this Blue patch in the card... just clashes with the red

I also do not go for Photo Event used cards with some exceptions. I do like the All star event cards though or anything that says where it came from specifically.

 

[brian045]

UD has been getting much better with matching I’ve noticed. I’m sure it’s a sales tactic. If you picture Lafleur on the checklist as Montreal, it should draw more interest than a rangers photo. It does bug me, but I’m not going to pass up a nice piece due to it

 

[RGM81]

Mismatches can be very frustrating. Early in Carey Price's cardboard career, UD would pair him up (understandably) with Patrick Roy for a lot of dual memorabilia cards, but at the time UD was relying heavily on Avalanche jerseys. So there would be these two awesome Habs goalies shown together, but one with an obvious Colorado memorabilia piece. Frustrating.

In their early awesome release, 10-11 Certified, Panini went in the opposite direction on one of the coolest cards they made early in their run. They had Carey and Roy together, used a special Centennial jersey for Carey's pieces, but showed Roy as an Avalanche using Habs jersey pieces. So you have this card where it looks like they switched the pieces around (i.e. Carey showing off Avalanche blue) because of that. But I'm still not mad...I got the card dual signed:

On their current cards, Leaf uses some of Carey's old Tri-City Americans memorabilia on Habs cards. Total non-starter for me in terms of interest. Got enough of those in the early days, don't really need them in 2018.

I do really like the ones where it "looks" like it's wrong but in fact is correct. Panini had on some of PK Subban's rookie parallels in Dominion pieces that were obviously from a Carolina Hurricanes jersey. But it was right because the All-Star Game was in Carolina that year and PK, being the showman, borrowed Jeff Skinner's jersey for some of the competition. Thus, Subban event-worn material!

 

[zackmak]

I won't buy a game used piece with a player featured in one jersey while the game used piece came from a different time in their career. Same with photoshoot material or manufactured patches.

You can also add sticker autos to the list as well any Leaf singles that feature a player photograph while another player is represented by just a mock up jersey with a number. Not a huge fan of cards that just feature a gigantic swatch with a player name and no photo either.

I'm also not interested in ITG Vault cards for a variety of reasons. It is pretty strange how many amazing patches, stick pieces, etc where held back and released in Vault releases a decade after the fact. Not exactly sure the thought behind holding back a great card as a replacement instead of just adding it to packs to begin with.

I may be extremely picky but this market is extremely oversaturated with game used.

100% agree with everything said. Having a piece of memorabilia that doesn't match the photo makes the card look like it was made by incompetent amateurs, IMHO.

I never understood this: if a company has access to an archive of player photos with them in various jerseys, etc, why wouldn't the graphic artist putting together the cards match them up accordingly? Such an easy thing. Even if a mis-match happens, you would think the last person that signs off on the cards (i.e. Creative Director), would notice - or care - to correct.

Putting a mock jersey on a card...especially if it's mixed in with live photos of other players is extremely laughable!

I know these unlicensed card companies have to make-do of not using real photos of certain players, but why not do artwork like paintings or sketches of these certain players?!? You can get around it that way, and the card looks presentable, or at least, 'appropriate'.

On the other hand, having just a name with a piece of memorabilia (no photo), can sometimes work. If you frame the card with an 8x10 photo of the player, it makes for a nice display piece.

Again, these are just my opinions. Obviously there are interested collectors for what we're talking about. To each their own. While the memorabilia is the focus of the card, the entire artwork surrounding it is just as important to me.

 

[KillerCanuck]

For example all ITG/Leaf 16-17 and 17-18 Trevor Linden cards like iTG rare materials or nickname I havent bought anything because they look awful with same pics. I´m soo disappointed with ITG/Leaf. Can you imagine with pink, purple..too flashy but same look.
Horrible!

 

[KillerCanuck]

100% agree with everything said. Having a piece of memorabilia that doesn't match the photo makes the card look like it was made by incompetent amateurs, IMHO.

I never understood this: if a company has access to an archive of player photos with them in various jerseys, etc, why wouldn't the graphic artist putting together the cards match them up accordingly? Such an easy thing. Even if a mis-match happens, you would think the last person that signs off on the cards (i.e. Creative Director), would notice - or care - to correct.

Putting a mock jersey on a card...especially if it's mixed in with live photos of other players is extremely laughable!

I know these unlicensed card companies have to make-do of not using real photos of certain players, but why not do artwork like paintings or sketches of these certain players?!? You can get around it that way, and the card looks presentable, or at least, 'appropriate'.

On the other hand, having just a name with a piece of memorabilia (no photo), can sometimes work. If you frame the card with an 8x10 photo of the player, it makes for a nice display piece.

Again, these are just my opinions. Obviously there are interested collectors for what we're talking about. To each their own. While the memorabilia is the focus of the card, the entire artwork surrounding it is just as important to me.

Simple black/white with face up or close up in face-offs, bench....Point is more humanity look.

 

[WatchMyBreaks]

I know Greg is a member of HI as is Dr. Price and having them here is very valuable but the drop off in quality between ITG and Leaf is unbelievable from a design stand point.

Upper Deck can get pretty tired but they do come up with new concepts and to be honest the Presidents Choice cards featuring actual player pictures are better quality than anything Leaf puts out. A card with 8 different players, microscopic pieces of game used along with a mix of fake jerseys and the same player pics rehashed is not appealing to me as a buyer.

Panini, for as much as I hate their product in other sports, did a fantastic job with hockey. I’m sure Chris Barr had a lot to do with that. A true passion for the sport and design.

 

[JayKayZee]

I recognize that in today's NHL, business is business, and players are fairly likely to change teams over their career. So, it doesn't surprise me when I receive a material card from the next 12ish months afterward picturing the player with his new team, and material from his old team. I don't expect companies to just throw old sweaters away. I would like to see new team colors show up as quickly as is reasonable. Use the old swatches for "retro" cards after some point.

What I CANNOT STAND!! is when UD uses swatches from jerseys the player would NEVER have worn in ANY game. The most obvious for me are the Sabres rookie cards I see them cranking out. They had patches from old "BUFFASLUG" jerseys in Sam Reinhart Rcs. He didn't even wear that at the draft!! Now I'm seeing "ROOKIE MATERIALS" from the past year or 2 with swatches from those absolutely tragic yellow thirds (last worn 14-15 season), which again, these kids NEVER wore. These are not even "photoshoot" jerseys, since they are never shown on any card in those sweaters...

 

[ChuckNorrisFearsSid]

I'm really not a fan of the card having a picture of the player in one uniform and the swatch of another. That bugs me a lot. If you can obtain the equipment, how hard is a photo? To me it shows lack of attention to detail and tells me the concern is on churning out product more than making well thought out cards. Making 459 parallels of GU subsets in newer products also really bugs me, LOL.

 

[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

I was reading on another forum that '01, '02 or even '03 Leaf Certified Fabric Of The Game baseball had a picture of the item from which the swatch was taken on the back of the card. It looks great and I think it should be almost mandatory with all the shenanigans mentioned here. At the same time, this is one of my personal faves:

What a beautiful train wreck of a card, with an All-Star jersey pictured, Ducks designation, and Wings patch. I guess to me, if the patch comes from a jersey that I identify most with an iconic player, I really don't mind, e.g. Roy, Sakic, Fedorov.

 

[odjickfan]

I love cards like Journey Jerseys where swatches from various jerseys are used and it's clearly indicated on the card. Doing more of them might be a good way to pass these old jerseys.

 

[creasecollector]

What I CANNOT STAND!! is when UD uses swatches from jerseys the player would NEVER have worn in ANY game. The most obvious for me are the Sabres rookie cards I see them cranking out. They had patches from old "BUFFASLUG" jerseys in Sam Reinhart Rcs. He didn't even wear that at the draft!! Now I'm seeing "ROOKIE MATERIALS" from the past year or 2 with swatches from those absolutely tragic yellow thirds (last worn 14-15 season), which again, these kids NEVER wore. These are not even "photoshoot" jerseys, since they are never shown on any card in those sweaters...

Yeah, I also can't stand when this happens. I'm sure somewhere on some USB stick they have photos of these guys wearing these sweaters for some kind of "proof" maybe, but these jerseys are not even on their rookie cards so it's very out of place. At least with a draft year sweater, it can matchup nicely with the overall design of the card and match the photo of what they were wearing.

 

[primetimepawich]

If a card pictures Larry Murphy with one team and features a patch from another team, yeah, that annoys me. I will overlook it depending on the size and quality of the patch - I've purchased a number of Leaf singles in the last few years with this problem because they had quality Maple Leafs patches that filled a niche in my PC, but those are the exceptions. If a card is themed around a specific team he played for but has a patch from another team, I won't get that because it defeats the purpose. When I already have to be selective and budget-conscious, it makes for easier decisions.