The Rise of Digital Baseball Cards
Baseball cards have been a beloved hobby and collectors item for over a century. Ever since the late 19th century when cigarette and candy companies began including cards with pictures of baseball players as promotional items, fans young and old have enjoyed amassing collections of their favorite players through buying, trading, and inheriting physical cardboard cards. In the digital age, a new format for baseball cards has emerged – digital baseball cards.
Digital baseball cards offer many of the same collecting experiences as traditional physical cards but in a convenient digital format. Fans can view, organize, and trade collections from the comfort of their mobile devices or computers. Several major companies now offer digital baseball card apps and platforms where users can find, purchase, and trade virtual representations of real baseball cards from past and present seasons. While physical cards will always have nostalgic value for many collectors, digital cards have rapidly grown in popularity due to their accessibility and ease of use.
One of the biggest names in digital baseball cards is Topps. Topps was the original creator of modern baseball cards back in the 1950s and has continued producing physical card sets annually. In recent years, Topps has launched the Topps BUNT app, which allows users to collect, trade, and play with virtual baseball cards from Topps sets on their mobile devices. Within the Topps BUNT app, fans can find digital replicas of iconic Topps cards from decades past as well as the current season’s cards. Users accumulate cards through pack openings that can be purchased with in-app currency or earned through game play. The app also features a variety of online trading and battling modes.
Another major digital baseball card platform is MLB Showdown by Upper Deck. MLB Showdown focuses more on the game and battle aspects of collecting rather than strictly amassing card collections. Users draft virtual baseball card rosters and then face off against other users’ teams in online matchups. Players accumulate cards and boost their teams’ stats through booster pack openings, similar to physical trading card games. MLB Showdown offers cards spanning MLB history and allows fans to play out dream matchups and relive classic baseball moments in digital form.
While Topps BUNT and MLB Showdown are two of the largest dedicated digital baseball card apps, several other companies have also launched offerings in recent years. Panini offers a digital version of its well-known Donruss and Contenders physical card lines through the Panini Instant app. Dacardworld has a digital platform where users can buy and sell digital replicas of vintage and modern cards from various issuers. Even the MLB itself has gotten in on the action by launching MLB InGame, which allows fans to collect virtual cards during MLB.tv live game streams for use in various online modes.
For collectors, one of the main draws of digital cards compared to physical is accessibility and convenience. Entire collections can be accessed from any smartphone or tablet as long as users remember their login credentials. There’s no risk of physical damage, loss, or theft affecting digital collections. Users have their entire libraries of cards at their fingertips wherever they go. Organization and cataloging of collections is also far simpler digitally – cards can be instantly searched, sorted into customized albums based on player, team, year, or other criteria with just a few taps.
Trading is also streamlined online. In apps like Topps BUNT, users can view the entire trade inventories of others and make offers with just a few clicks. There’s no need to painstakingly sort through boxes of duplicates trying to find potential trade partners in person. If a trade is accepted, the card transfers are instantaneous rather than requiring packing up and shipping cards. Some digital platforms even feature automated trading algorithms that match collectors with others also looking to swap certain cards.
While the convenience of digital cards is a huge draw, there are some aspects of physical card collecting they can’t replicate. The tactile experience of flipping through cards, admiring the artwork and stats on the back, and showing off prized possessions to friends is lost digitally. Scent and texture are also intangible online. The resale and collectability aspect is diminished for digital cards which have no tangible scarcity. As long as the apps and platforms hosting the digital cards remain operational, collections can still be enjoyed.
As technology improves, the experience of digital baseball cards will continue to grow more robust as well. Augmented reality features are being implemented that bring the cards to life with 3D holograms and bonus content. Gamification elements are expanding the ways users can interact with and play using their virtual rosters. With no storage space or value limitations, digital collections can ultimately grow to be much larger than what could physically be housed and displayed.
In the future, the line between physical and digital card collecting may continue to blur as well. Scannable codes on physical card packs could unlock corresponding virtual versions for online use. Hybrid models where digital and physical collections can be combined or traded between are also imaginable. Wherever the medium takes collectors, digital baseball cards have undoubtedly carved out their own place alongside traditional cardboard as fans continue their never-ending quest to catch them all. As technology and fan demand evolves, digital cards appear poised to remain a vibrant part of baseball’s enduring hobby landscape for years to come.
