Short Prints......I HATE SHORT PRINTS

As the 2012 baseball season comes to a close and the start of the post season is on the horizon, it's time to take stock of the recently released 2012 Topps Update series. One of my 2012 Card Collecting goals is to wrap up the 2012 Topps Cincinnati Reds team set. While I was taking a look on eBay today to determine what cards I needed from the latest release, I was struck with terror as I saw Topps had released a short print of the Red's All-Star first baseman. First words that came to my mind, "Crap, not another short print!"
When Topps started including short prints in their base product a few years ago I thought it was a pretty cool idea. But as time has gone by and Topps has started releasing the SUPER short prints, my acceptance of the short print has begun to evaporate. There are two things that have made me a content collector with Topps flagship product: history and affordability. While the history is still there with over sixty years of product, the short prints are starting to put a nix on affordability. Spending more than $20 on a baseball card from the current year release is ludicrous to me. While I've been fortunate so far to not experience this problem (sorry Angel's collectors with your 2012 Pujol's SP), I fear there may soon come a time when I'm faced with this problem. That, in turn, will definitely lead to some serious soul searching regarding what should actually constitute a true team set.