What If…….?

With all the talk lately of the MLB license going to a single company it got me thinking, what if MLB could some how grant one commercial license to Topps and issue independent licenses to individuals who would like to produce their own cards.  My thinking would work like this,  issue the single license and regulate how many sets are released and how they are sold and produced, much like it works today.  Then sell independent licenses to individuals who would like to produce a custom or niche set.  They could sell the licenses accordingly to the size of the set.  Say if you want to produce a 100 card set and produce 1000 sets,  charge x amount of dollars per 100,000 cards.  Then allow the producers to charge what they want and sell them how they want.  You could sell in packs, per set, or sell singles on thEbay.  If anything this would create competition with design, allow people to show off their skills, and maybe create a few new viable sales techniques.  We need change in the hobby, but giving one lone license is not the answer.  This would allow the hobby to grow and advance without corporate giants being in total control, something they have not been doing such a great job at lately!

You Thought Craig’s List Had Idiots!

How much would you pay for this card?

Now check out this auction on eBay and tell me if your answer was even close to the asking price.  At least it has free shipping.  By the way, there are several BIN auctions with $1 price tag.  I sent him an message and he replied asking if I could afford something with a price like that.  The answer is no, I can’t.  If I could I wouldn’t drop ten cents on it.

’62 Topps And Its Green Monster

Last week I was officially banned by Beckett.  A couple of their message board fanatics pooled together and claimed I was spamming them and turned me in.  A day later my login was no longer valid.  The spam in question was a PM I sent to RiceLynnEvans75 suggesting he tried out Zistle.  He was having problems with his collection on Beckett and not getting answers from them so I sent him a note about how Zistle kicks Becketts ass in every aspect.  I have sent emails to Beckett asking why I was banned but no reply.  I’ve called asking the same question only to be put on hold until I couldn’t hold any longer, seriously it was obvious they put me on hold and left for lunch.  This is what being critical of Beckett and their business practices will get you.  Luckily they make it real easy to sneak back in through the back door so I will now be an even bigger thorn in their side, just going by a different name.  If anyone has a Beckett account and wants to let RiceLynn and Cardboard Fan know what kind of dicks they are, feel free and remember to mention me!

Just prior to getting the boot I came across a post from Wildhorse745 asking about a green tint version of card #138, Babe Ruth Special.  He has completed the entire master set of ’62 Topps except for this card.  He believes he has it but the difference is so subtle he is not 100% sure, and if he has it he is not sure which is which.  We’ve traded emails and scans and it is hard as hell to tell.  The cards are for sure different, but which is which.  Here’s an obvious example of the green tint variations…….

The one on the right is obviously the green tint.  Now here’s the Ruth card in question………..

I told him I would post this and see what you guys thought.  So which is the green tint variation?

#31 Retired

After May 3rd, #31 will never be worn on a Cub’s jersey again.  It will be officially retired before the Cub’s, Marlin’s game on Sunday May 3rd.  I’m thinking I will be there.  I’ve only missed Ernie Bank’s number retirement ceremonies and I might as well keep the streak alive.  This will also mean I need to add two more autographed balls to my collection.  I think I’ll try to get both autos on one ball.  We’ll have to see how that goes.  It would really suck to be a Fergie superfan living in Florida, who is a Cub’s fan, who also enjoys the Marlin’s.  Poor Applebaum.  If you can make your way up to these parts I would be more than happy to buy an extra ticket and a couple of ice cold Old Styles.

Free Kenny Powers Cards!

If you know who this is, then you’ve seen the funniest show on TV.  Eastbound & Down has easily become my new favorite show.  It’s on HBO so a lot of people are missing out on this.  If you are one of them do yourself a favor and try to catch an episode.  It’s about a washed up big leaguer and his efforts, or the lack there of, to get back to the top of the game.  It’s executive produced by Will Ferrell and is full of his type of off the wall humor.  If you visit the Kenny Powers official website you can download 5 of his baseball cards for free.  Here’s a couple of clips to get you by……

Razor Buyers Beware

While reading up on Razorgate, as it’s been dubbed, I noticed Beckett had no mention of the whole situation on their website.  I waited a couple of days, and still nothing.  This morning I felt like sending out a buyer beware post on their message board.   I wanted to warn anyone who was thinking about purchasing one of these cards that they may not be what they seem, something that I figured Beckett would want their readers to know.  I guess I was wrong.  Instead they revealed themselves for what they truly are.  I always thought Gellmen was a little harsh in his view of Beckett, it turns out he was giving them the benefit of doubt.  Here is the thread as it appeared, minus beavers comment that didn’t make any sense after it was censored.

gritz76

Razor Buyers Beware

I feel the need to share this with all of you.  It seems that some of the autos included in the Razor Presidential Cut Sig set are allegedly not real autos.  It appears that a few of them were signed with an autopen machine.  They are authenticated, but it seems that there are questions of the ethics of the authenticator.  It seems as if these were passed as authentic as a favor even though these are not authentic. There are also questions raised with some of Upper Decks Presidential cut sigs.  Here’s a link so you can check it out yourself.

http://www.autographalert.com/news.html

FROM MOD: The allegations are from anonymous sources — so you should consider that. They could have no credibility. And, by the way, the cards were not authenticated by Beckett or JSA when slabbed. They were merely slabbed by Beckett. Any authentication claim/responsibility is with Razor. Razor chose to pay for the slabbing service, not the slabbing and authentication service. It’s pretty simple.

TO MOD: These allegations must have some credibility because Brian Gray has recognized these cards as possible machine inked autos.  Also if Beckett/JSA is an authentication company, they should not plaster their name all over a product if they have not authenticated the card.  This is misleading and irresponsible.  Last I checked, you guys were not in the business of packaging cards.  So the way I see it, Beckett/JSA is partially responsible.

RichK

As an FYI; nothing more; nothing less — although this is interesting reader — the blogger here is a well known autograph dealer with an ax to grind about various people. Just take his comments at face value
Regards

Rich

gritz76

Agreed, but I think these accusations are based on fact.  Brian Gray has already stepped up and is trying to make sure the people who own these cards are taken care of.  Still no word from Upper Deck but I doubt we ever will.  I think if you are going to sell a product as high end as the Oval Office or sell a set with cut sigs as the highlights of the set, you better make damn sure these are legit autos.  This whole situation will make me question the legitimacy of any “hits” I ever pull.  I still think the documents these sigs were cut from had more value than the card they were place in.  I guess I just don’t get it.

MartinFFCollector

Found this on another message board about autograph alert and the site’s owner.
This situation doesn’t concern me. Just passing along info…..
http://www.autographdealernews.com/Articles.aspx?article=20
http://www.uacc.info/page15.html
http://www.iada-cc.com/NewsDetail.asp?NewsID=131
http://gavelchat.sportscollectorsdigest.com/default,date,2008-06-09.aspx

gritz76

I want to state that I know the autograph site author is a little shady.  In this instance he has a valid claim.  The sigs were done by an autopen machine, and the UD sigs are trimmed to the point where important parts of the signature are no longer there.  This information needs to be in the open so that people who want to pay $2500 for a card know exactly what they might be getting.  I think it is also important that if Beckett is going to put their name on something it is in their best interest to varify it as authentic.  Why not slab them with a Razor logo instead of the Beckett logo if you are not 100% sure these are legit?  It is at least a little misleading, is it not?

dmskier1

I’ve heard this was happening from other sources also. There isn’t enough going into the authenticity of these auto’s. I’m sure some individuals who are trusted to authenticate these cards don’t take the proper time into each and every autograph.

Most of all if a consumer spend their money for something they are “trusting” to me authentic then the companies have every responsibility to ensure they products they send out are exactly what they say it is.

Personally I think its ridiculous to fork out $2500 a pack for a product that comes from a brand new company like Razor. I’m not saying not to buy their products. But they haven’t built a firm foundation in the industry yet. They aren’t a trusted name, yet. And I don’t think they have earned the trust UD and Topps have. They really should build trust and a foundation into the collecting community before they become confident to sell a product at that price. And collectors most of all should demand this company earn their trust.

And it is a complete shame the UD trims auto’s to fit in the card. I’ve seen several auto cut’s make to fit. It really should devalue the auto. It defaces the very rare and few pieces of history. It’s really sad to think they do that to fit it on a card. There are other ways to make it work.

gritz76

Yeah, this is fairly big news in the hobby and it went unreported for a couple days here on Beckett.  I can understand why, but by ignoring it does not make it go away.  As far as trust, I’m not so sure Upper Deck has quite earned that over the years either.  Read the book Card Sharks for more examples of this.  The grading and authenticating industry, I believe is a waste.  There are too many instances were fraud is obvious but the companies turn a blind eye in favor of profits.  I know what condition my cards are in with out someone else telling me.  It basically provides a false scarcity for certain cards.  Sure there may be only two documented 10’s of a card but that does not mean there is not thousands if not more out there in the same condition or better.

bennybeaver01

I pretty much agree on the grading “scam” as I call it. Grading has turned the hobby into a money grubbing industry. It is no longer “oh I got a rookie card of a new great player” it is “of I got a rookie card of a new great player that I better send into BGS and put on ebay for a exorbitant price compared to what a ungraded sells for”. Whatever, different strokes for different folks I guess. But this industry is going down hill fast on quality, service, and trust lately.

pacrimcollectibles

The questionable authenticity of these cut signatures isn’t a new problem. When I worked in Portland we had a cut of Casey Stengel pulled from SP Legendary Cuts in our shop. We were thrilled for the customer until we realized that there was something wrong with the autograph. After a quick referenceing session on eBay, we figured out what that problem was. Upper Deck had taken a preprinted autograph from an easily obtainable source, a round card produced in the late 60s, and had used it. That story ended happily asUpper Deck did replace the card, but it can’t be the only time this has happened.

There was a thread on here about a month ago about Topps contacting the recipient of the Barack Obama / Jackie Robinson dual cut auto and replacing the Obama signature. Topps did this rather quickly and quietly. You have to ask yourself why they would feel the need to replace that signature.

There is a pretty simple explanation as to why questionable autographs pop up on these cards as often as they do. These companies have to buy on the cheap in order to be able to produce such cards, and when you buy autographs on the cheap you run a major risk of getting burned.

Keep in mind that whoever authenticated these signatures has to share the blame. Some of these companies have such limited resources of archived examples that they blindly pass anything that looks close to their one or two authentic signatures, while at the same time they choose to fail items that are completely authentic because it doesn’t match their one source.

Finally, autographalert does have an axe to grind, but most of their content these days comes from outside sources. They receive daily emails from collectors who can’t believe some of the common mistakes authentication companies make. My favorite was how a Bo Jackson preprint that appears in every copy of his “Bo Knows Bo” book got authenticated.

The Cardboard Fan

Beckett is not and does not claim to be an authentication company… they use JSA for that… they are a grading company and publisher… check your facts sir

gritz76

Cardboard Fan,

Maybe Beckett/JSA should of checked their facts before agreeing to go forward with this project.

Either way, the #1 Authority has their name forever attached to the highest price pack of cards ever produced.  It just happens that in that set, it seems some of the cards are fraudulent. How are we supposed to take Beckett/JSA seriously.  Your price guide is so far off market value, it’s an embarrassment.  Your in house blogger consistently plagiarizes other blogs.  And now your grading/authentication departments are a part of the biggest sham to come along.  Congratulations Beckett, you are #1 at something!

END

This is when the thread disappeared.  To me, it looks like Beckett may know more on this subject than they are willing to admit.  This situation is definitely news worthy and one would think Beckett would want to cover it from some angle.  Instead they decide to muffle all mention of it on their message boards.  I just hope some unsuspecting collecter does not decide to purchase this product and then later finds out what we all know.

Whant To Know What An Autopen Looks Like?

Apparently there are models that now run up to 10 pens at once.

Shameless eBay Plug

’09 Topps Com. Patch LPR-11

’09 Topps Roy Campanella Com. Patch LPR-10

’09 Topps Ian Kinsler Game Worn Jersey #CBR-1K ’09 Topps Heritage GU Rocco Baldelli #CC-RB Let me know you seen them here and I’ll throw in some extras.

Who Wants To Try And Produce A Card Set

I’m sure most of you have read this article about the machine signed “authentic” cards.  With Upper Deck a punch away from being knocked out and Razor a couple flowers short of a funeral, it is time we stepped up and produced our own set.  I called for this in the beginning of the year.  We’ve all seen what Goose Joak and Punk Rock Paint can do with graphics programs.  Goose Joak has nearly a whole set worth already.  Mario is fully capable of taking a fine picture, as are others in the ‘sphere.  We have a couple of industry insiders with Mr. Judd and Mr Whitmire.   We have people who have plenty of clout and connections within the hobby to get things done.  I’m pretty sure we even have a lawyer or two around somewhere.  Who better to produce a set than us?  I know more than a few of us have a little extra time on our hands due to lack of work, I for one have only worked 2 hours this week with out much hope for more.  Please leave a comment below if you have any interest or input on this topic.  You can also email at gritz76 at yahoo dotcom.  Here are two of my favorite examples of Goose Joak cards and a fine job done by PunkRockPaint Enterprises, LLC.

See, we can do this!

Card Show Goods

Last Sunday was once again Super Show Sunday.  There were maybe 8 dealers there Sunday and surprisingly quite a few people wandering around.   I don’t know how many were there for the show, and how many were there for the horseshoe tournament.  That’s right, our local “mall” has an indoor horseshoe pit, club, store, place?  Not quite sure what to call it, but it is what it is.  There were the regulars there with some new stuff out and there were a few new faces.  That is were I picked up what might be my new favoritest card I own.  That’s right, favoritest.  I figure if a mall can have a horseshoe pit, I can invent new words.  It’s a little rounded and a bit creased but hell, it’s a ’56 Banks.  I was going to walk away from the table with a ’73 Billy Williams\Rod Carew leaders card for $1 when I overheard the dealers wife complaining about not making many sales.  That’s when I made my move.  He had it stickered for $50.  I offered $25.  He then went to his trusty Beckett and I thought for sure the sale was doomed.  He explained it booked for $100 and he knew the condition wasn’t the greatest and countered with $40.  Now if he has this priced at $50, why in the hell is he going through his Beckett?  He already knew what it was “worth” so I figured he was just making sure I knew what it was “worth”.   I ended up getting it for $30 and he threw in the Williams\Carew card for free, what hell of a guy.  He also had a ’58 Banks and his rookie on the table.  I hope he comes back next month so I can try to snag those from him too.  Other than that I picked up a couple more for my ’62 set……..

A nice unmarked 6th series checklist with a pair of Colavito bookends. I also snagged a new oldest card for my collection…………

It’s a 1951 Bowman Bob Ramazotti, nothing to brag about but it is 58 years old!  Here’s the rest of the loot…..

I bought 4 packs of ’09 Heritage and thought I would seek out a couple of real ’60s Topps.  I ended up with Lou “Hollyfield Ear’ Johnson and the guy who apparently bit the damn thing off was none other than Bill Mazeroski, he’s got the blood splattered all over his face and it looks like he ‘s still chewing it.  I also picked up a couple of Cubs In Action and a nice Puckett RC to replace my beat to hell one from a pack I opened when I was 7.  I scored a Rocco Baldelli GU jersey out of the ’09 Heritage, if any one would want to trade a stack of commons from the set for it let me know.