Sunday, March 30, 2008

Some thoughts on Beckett-Gate.

Normally, I do not comment about "Lotto Pack" products, but recent events have led me to reconsider. First, take a look at this video of 2007 Upper Deck Exquisite Football.



You get the idea.

Now it would be one thing if it were isolated to just 2007 Upper Deck Exquisite football. Maybe Beckett got lucky, maybe not. But if you look at some of Beckett's other video box breaks, they've seem to be getting "Hit of a Lifetime" cards out of all sorts of UD, Topps, and Donruss-Playoff products in all sports (and non-sports).

All of which leads me to wonder: W.W.J.D. What Would Jim Do? Say what you want about Jim Beckett, but no one (and I mean, NO ONE) ever questioned the man's integrity. Beckett truly was "The Hobby's most reliable and relied upon source," and part of that had to do with the man in charge. But no more.

Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with Beckett (or anybody else in The Hobby media) doing video box breaks and product reviews. Objective consumer reporting is a vital component to any respectable journalism outlet. Nor should Beckett be held to account 100% for this debacle. Topps, UD, Donruss, et al, may very well be sending Beckett loaded boxes. (And it's not just Beckett either, as this video from Dr. Wax Battle shows.) Beckett probably is an unwilling accomplice, and we should give them benefit of the doubt. But Beckett should have never put itself in this position in the first place.

May I make a proposal? From now on, anyone in The Hobby media who reviews product should no longer accept free samples from card manufacturers, and the manufacturers should no longer offer them to the press. If you're going to review wax, and expect your reviews to be taken seriously, then pay for your box like the rest of us.

I'm proud to say that in my 9+ years of reviewing wax, I've never received any free cards from the manufacturers. And I can say to you with full confidence, that every single product I've ever reviewed on this site was paid for out of my own pocket at current market prices. I don't think it's too much to ask of Beckett -- or anyone else who reviews wax -- to do the same. W.W.J.D.?

4 comments:

James said...

Great blog entry. I'd like to see Beckett fully disclose how they receive their boxes. And you're right, to prevent this from happening, Beckett should go to a random card store to buy 'off the shelf' boxes for their video reviews.

I wonder if we'll see this topic discussed on their blog?
http://sportslocker.blogspot.com/

Wax Heaven said...

I already copyrighted Beckett-Gate months ago with the Gretzky card ordeal!

Jeanette said...

Wow, I agree with everything you just wrote. Those box breaks on Beckett are BBS (Beyond B.S.) Joe DiMaggio cuts, Adrian Peterson 1/1's...those are all fake. The yellow background disclaimer on their front page is just a tip-off of how bogus these breaks have been.

Great post.

Andrew Harner said...

I have to agree that it is UD to blame now Beckett. I also think that Beckett should go to card shops for their breaks.

But at the same time, UD screwed themselves if this was intentional because the AP 1/1 is gone from the product. So they got what they deserved if that is the case.