Tournament of Gimmicks: Round One, Day One

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Game #1

8) 2009 Upper Deck #855 Ken Griffey, Jr. "20X"

The classic late-'00s gimmick: Make 20 different versions of the same Ken Griffey, Jr. card and not bother to tell anyone in The Hobby. Then, after a few weeks, issue a condescending press released confirming a gimmick that no one gave a shit about.

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9) 2007 Topps Alex Rodriguez Road to 500

The gimmick that just won't go away. 500 different A-Rod cards, that ALL LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME!

GAME #2

1) 2008 Topps #FS1 Kazuo Uzuki

Was anyone actually dumb enough to be fooled by this? A 20-something Chinese-American law student being passed off by Topps as a 16-year-old Japanese pitcher. Never mind the latent racism, WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?

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16) 1994 Score Rookie/Traded September Call-Up Redemption Card

To be fair, Score didn't anticipate the 1994 strike. Then again, collectors didn't anticipate that Score would fulfill this redemption with a card of Alex Rodriguez either.

Game #3

5) 2010 Topps Yankee-Pie-In-The-Face

Could Topps get any lower than this? Sadly, no. (see the #2 seed in the Berger Region) And, surprise, surprise, they're all Yankees. IT'S YAN-KAKKE!

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12) 2001 Donruss "1999" & "2000" Retroactive

A one-card "pack" in the middle of another pack. Didn't Donruss realize just how difficult it would be for collectors to open a one-card pack and NOT damage the card inside?

GAME #4

4) 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights "Upside-Down" Longoria, Bruce, and Fukudome

After Poley Walnuts, Kazuo Uzuki, Rudy the Red Sox, and the Great KosFu Series Two Scandal (See the #9 in the Berger Region), Topps had conditioned The Hobby to expect some kind of gimmick for '08 TU&H. Instead, they just phoned it in with this unimaginative, and pretty cynical, gimmick.

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13) 1992-93 Triple Play

Triple Play may have done more to get kids OUT of The Hobby than video games, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and iPods ever have.

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