New Card Packaging Has Can-Do Attitude

Tuna, dog food, soda, sardines and soup are things that most people associate with cans. But baseball cards? Now that’s a can of worms.

Pinnacle just opened one with the release of its Inside Baseball product, a soup can-sized container housing 10 trading cards. No easy pop-top, either; you need a can opener to get to the goodies.

An ecological nightmare? You’d think. There’s no deposit and no return, but card shops, and Pinnacle, are seeing the nickels and quarters roll in.

“We’ve gotten into 8,000 new stores with it,” said Pinnacle’s Laurie Goldberg. A dealer in Missouri reported selling 24 cans at $3 a pop within 15 minutes of receiving his shipment. New York-area shop owners also say the product is doing well.

And the highway department reports no empties littering the roads thus far.

“Some people are using the cans to store their better cards instead of putting them in books,” Pinnacle’s John Bramblett said.

They’re also good for building sand castles at the beach, storing pens and pencils, string walkie-talkies and the clankety-clank trailers on the back of the bride and groom’s limousine.

Here’s a tip: If you want to get to the cards and keep the can for display, open it from the bottom. If you want an attractive pencil and paper-clip container, open it from the top.