When life hands you buybacks, make ... uh ... buyback-ade

To show you how quickly the hobby moves in 2015, I am writing about something that was a hot topic just yesterday that collectors have already dropped in order to comment on the 2016 Topps flagship design.

But this is a blog, not the place for the latest off-the-cuff opinions. If you want one of those, in particular about the 2016 Topps design, here's mine. For anything more concrete on '16 Topps from me (or anyone, really), wait until January/February 2016.

Now, onto buybacks.

These things have been around for a while, and they're really quite ridiculous, and I think everyone has weighed in on that. Why buybacks are a subject all over again is because Allen and Ginter -- in another case of dragging the good names of both Allen and Ginter through the mud --  has inserted stamped buybacks of past A&G cards, no more than 10 years old, into its packs this year.

This makes me eternally grateful that I did not buy a box of A&G this year. Packaging a 5-year-old buyback as a "hit" is a stretch of logic that I'm convinced is only out there to test exactly how dumb the collecting public is.

While all of this A&G nonsense has been going on, I've been conducting my own buyback research. As you know, I'm trying to collect as many buybacks from the 1975 Topps set as I can. It is my effort to turn the comical ploy of buybacks into my own amusement. Lemons into lemonade, as it were.

The buybacks have been coming to my mailbox pretty quickly. Brian of Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary sent me some just the other day.

I believe these are my first goodies from The National.

The '75 buybacks Brian sent gives me 25 buyback cards from that set, and that's not even all of them, because I still have another buyback package to show.

This has caused me to think about adding a want list, with earnest, because the last thing I want is duplicate buybacks. But it's also caused me to start looking online to see what's out there.

A quick review unearthed a little more than 100 different 1975 Topps buyback cards, something that will keep me busy for quite a bit I think (although maybe not, at the rate that I've been getting the cards lately).

I didn't find any '75 Topps superstar buybacks (in fact not one All-Star card), but that doesn't mean there aren't notable buyback cards from that set. For example, Brian sent this key Mario Mendoza buyback.

And I did stumble across buybacks of other "valuable" cards from around the same time period. There was a 1976 Topps buyback Nolan Ryan on COMC, which is terribly sad for anyone who doesn't own a regular 1976 Topps Nolan Ryan.

And that's the key, right? Where are you at as a collector? I can have fun with this project because I've already completed the 1975 Topps set. But what if you hadn't completed the set yet? What if you really liked the '75 set and were looking to complete it and you saw all these cards from that set rendered useless to your mission because of a stamp?

Maybe '75 isn't the best example. Maybe something from the '60s is a better example. That might put a dent in someone's collection quest. Although if Topps is issuing '60s high-number buybacks, that is hard-core, and I am standing up and shaking my fist while applauding at the same time.

I like this buyback project because it is breezy in nature. There is no part of me that wants to add this card to my Dodger collection because I don't have a Ferguson card with a stamp on it. I'm treating it for what it is, a quarter card that somebody altered.

But you can find while searching online people who are treating the buyback cards as more than what they are. Some of the '75 buybacks go for a buck or less, because that's what a regular '75 Topps card would go for. But others -- and this is based solely on the mind-set of the seller -- go for double digits, because the stamp supposedly makes it rare.

That's capitalism at its finest/ugliest. But you won't get me to buy any of those inflated buybacks. This is not a high-stakes project.

(Great place for a stamp)

This is a fun project.

Speaking of fun, Brian sent some other cards without stamps:

Melissa McCarthy completes the Dodger First Pitch insert set. All five cards are mine.

Gotta get Kershaw in another insert set. But at least this one commemorates his home run against the Giants to start the 2013 season.

I suppose two out of three of these have something stamped.

And four 1972 Topps needs. Yay!

If you want to see me squeamish about a buyback, show me a stamped 1972 Topps card. Like I said, the whole dynamic changes when you're trying to complete a set.

Brian also sent something that requires opening, but I'll save that for later.

You're too busy pondering the 2016 Topps design anyway.