I suppose that it's apropos that on the day my boycott of Topps begins its fourth month, that this story breaks.
I don't know how Trader Crack and the Orlando Sentinel found this out before I did, but Topps has come up with an explanation regarding the Kosuke Fukudome Bowman Chrome "error" card.
Recall, that this is the KosFu card that appears to have been designed for Fukudome to autograph as A) it has no facsimile autograph on the front; B) the "CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPHED ISSUE" logo that has been on just about every Topps autographed card for the last decade is printed on the front, and C) a white box with the words "NOT VALID WITHOUT STICKER" is on the reverse side. Of course, there is no autograph on the card.
(The "Not Valid" box is where the now-familiar black hologram sticker Topps uses for authentication purposes on autographed cards and some gamers. If you have one of these cards and peel off the sticker you'll see the "NOT VALID" phrase.)
The party line is that Topps "inadvertently inserted a Bowman Chrome Kosuke Fukudome Autographed Rookie Card (which is not autographed) into packs of the recently-released 2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball. A total of 1900 copies were issued. Fukudome is not a subject on the Autographed Rookie Card checklist nor was he ever solicited as one."If all this is true, then it begs these questions: If Topps never had intended to include an autographed KosFu BowChro card, why did they produce a card that appears to have every intention of being autographed by KosFu? And why did this card magically appear in packs of BowChro? And why did Topps wait until two weeks after BowChro's release to notify The Hobby about this card? And how do they know exactly how many packed out?
I'm taking this card out of the "Honest Mistake" column and into the "Bullshit Gimmick" one.
(Images lovingly ripped off from the Orlando Sentinel)
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2 comments:
The news was just a boring ole' press release. Really whether it's an error or a BS gimmick, it's all semantics. I think the bigger issue is the fact that it's getting impossible to trust any set Topps comes out with now. I fully expect there to be some error/gimmick/whatever in every set now. Although I haven't officially boycotted Topps, let's just say I've bought a bunch of Upper Deck Series 1 and 2 and maybe one pack of Topps. I call it now - 2009 Topps Series One has an homage to 1989 with a Melvin Mora "Rick Face" complete with blackout and whiteout variations.
Like I said last time, after all the nonsense they've pulled recently Topps no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. Call wolf too many times and I don't care if you become Canis lupus poopus.
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