MLBPA Rwshuffle Eliminates Donruss

Seeking a more focused and less muddled hobby, the Major League Baseball Players Association did not renew the Donruss/Playoff licensing agreement for 2006. Topps, the grandfather of baseball collectibles, and Upper Deck, are now the only baseball card manufacturers. Fleer, citing sluggish sales and debt approaching $40 million, went out of business in May and was recently sold at auction to rival Upper Deck for $6.1 million.

The demise of Donruss was the result of the manufacturers marketing failures, certainly not the quality of its baseball cards. Collectors and dealers agreed that the Donruss Diamond Kings, Absolute, Timeless Treasure, and Elite sets were among baseball’s most popular releases. Donruss poured so much money into acquiring autograph rights and game used memorabilia as well as cutting-edge technology that it could not afford to promote its products to a wide assortment of collectors.

Donruss game-used cards were instrumental in the development of high-end sets, but the MLBPA is now trying to attract younger collectors with less-expensive cards and a more modest number of high-end releases. Topps and Upper Deck already has a product line that fits the new model, Donruss does not.

Topps and Upper Deck will be required to market and promote baseball cards to attract children and new consumers while still providing value to the current collector base. Baseball cards will be more readily available in drug stores and convenience stores, and will be heavily promoted in major retail stores.

With fewer products in the marketplace, customer confusion will be reduced significantly as the MLBPA attempts to encourage set building and rookie card collecting. Beginning with 2006 releases, a new “Rookie Card” logo will appear on the cards of players making their major league debut.

The Players Association will prohibit players not on the 25 man roster from appearing in base sets. Topps will still be allowed to produce cards for non-25 man roster players in their Major League uniforms, but only in subsets and insert sets and will not include licensing photos on the card backs.

The insert/subset clause allows popular Topps brand Bowman, the self-proclaimed “Home of the Rookie Card”, to continue producing the first cards of top minor league prospects -- but as insert or subset cards not part of the base set. A card that is not part of the base set is not a rookie card according to the MLBPA. How price guide analysts and editors target such cards remains to be seen.

The goal of the MLBPA is to more clearly define rookie cards, but the new rookie rule makes a confusing situation even more chaotic. The market established between dealers and collectors over time constitutes rookie cards, not a logo neatly placed on a baseball card.

In a long overdo effort to restore order to the hobby, the new licensing agreement prohibits companies from releasing next year’s set in the current year, so 2006 sets were not released in late 2005 before the holiday rush. According to the MLBPA, 2006 Topps and Upper Deck will be released at the start of spring training.

A shake-up has been imminent over the last several years as a saturated market made the hobby too expensive and confusing for most collectors. But instead of eliminating Donruss, the MLBPA should have reduced the brand quantity per company. Why not spread the remaining 40 brands between three or even four companies? Limiting competition will eventually reduce the quality of baseball cards.

DONRUSS MAY NNOT BE COMPLETELY OUT OF THE BASEBALL CARD BUSINESS

Donruss might not be completely out of the baseball card business. The manufacturer will reportedly pursue a MLB Properties license allowing the company to produce cards of retired players no longer covered by the MLBPA license. An MLB Properties license would provide the rights to picture all Major League uniforms and logos.

Before the MLBPA shake-up, Donruss already had multi-year licensing agreements with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax as well as the rights to produce Babe Ruth memorabilia cards. The manufacturer has remaining inventory of vintage game-used memorabilia that could be used in future produces, including swatches from the 1925-era Ruth jersey the company bought for $264,911 in 2003 used to make memorabilia cards. A MLB Properties license would allow Donruss to continue producing popular Prime Cuts and Classics sets. Based on the recent popularity of throwback sets, Donruss could establish a successful niche in the hobby.