If you actually believe that this isn't a gimmick, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

I suppose that it's apropoe 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)

People really win in the Trade Me Something-A-Ruther contest!

Have you sent in your entry yet? What are you waiting for! You have until September 1st!

Can you beat Tom Harrington's 238 points?

In the meantime, here's a look at some of the parting gifts you might receive courtesy of TMS-A-R contestant Tom the Ripper.



(I swear, all Tom wanted was Charlie Manuel cards.)

Trade Me, Something-A-Ruther: Pat in Charlottesville

NOTE: ALL ENTIRES IN THIS CONTEST MUST BE POSTMARKED BY SEPTEMBER 1ST!!! IF YOU WISH TO SEND AN ENTRY, PLEASE E-MAIL ME!

Pat sent me 24 cards. Fortunately (or unfortunately) four of the cards were shit cards. This means that all other 20 cards will count.

Shit cards: Four 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Green StarQuests

While StarQuests are the shit, only real StarQuests count in this contest.

Card #1 & #2 Two 1991 Donruss commons.

These cards were on the top and bottom of the stack, and the intent was to use these Mike Fitzgerald and Tim Belcher cards as filler. Fair enough, but I already have both of these. (Zero Points)

Cards #3-#6 Four 1993 Score commons.

These cards of Delino DeShields, Greg Vaughn, Donovan Osborne, and Eric Wedge are ones that I actually need. (Four Points)

Card #7 2001 Topps Noteworthy Mike Piazza
Card #8 2001 Topps Before There Was Topps Babe Ruth

2001 Topps was probably the last really good Topps flagship set. (10 Points)

Card #9 2001 Upper Deck The Franchise A-ROD

A-ROD was indeed the Rangers' franchise player in '01. (Five Points)

Card #10 2002 Topps Mike Rivera

An indistinguishable base card of an indistinguished "Prospect." (One Point)

Card #11 2003 Upper Deck John Lackey

Whoops! I already have this card! (Zero Points)

Card #12 2003 Topps Record Breaker series one Ron Guidry
Card #13 2006 Topps Own the Game Chad Cordero

Well, they are on my wantlist! (10 Points)

Card #14 2006 Upper Deck Team Pride David Ortiz

You know what really pisses me off? Insert cards that aren't sequentially numbered, but rather have the player's initials on the back. (Five Points)

Card #15 2008 Topps Campaign '08 Fred Thompson

I don't think there's ever been a Presidential candidate who's wanted the White House less, than Thompson. (Five Points)

Cards #16-#18 Three 2008 Topps Own the Game

Cards of Matt Holliday, Prince Fielder, and Carlos Lee star in this annual Topps insert staple. (15 Points)

Cards #19 & #20 2008 Upper Deck StarQuest Ken Griffey, Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero

The only real StarQuests are the one in the real Upper Deck baseball. (10 Points + 10 Bonus Points)

Final Score: 75 Points

Trade Me, Something-A-Ruther: Tom the Ripper

The man with the most unique pack break videos on YouTube has sent in his entry. Here's his twenty.

Card #1 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best David Cone

If you think 1988 D'Russ was bad, imagine it with orange borders. That's 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best. They don't call this "Halloween Set" for nothing. (One Point)

Card #2 1996 Finest Chipper Jones

Sorry, I already have this card. (Zero Points)

Card #3 1996 Pinnacle Denny's Frank Thomas

Upper Deck wasn't the only company in the 90s with hologram cards. (Five Points)

Card #4 1997 Invincible Mike Piazza

I guess it was inevitable. Our first card from a shit set. (-One Point)

Card #5 1998 Score All Score Team Tony Gwynn

Again, another card I already have. Check the wantlists, jerky. (Zero Points)

Card #6 1999 Invincible Derrek Lee

Memo to future TMS-A-R contestants: Anything made by Pacific is shit. (-One Point)

Card #7-#9 A Trio of 1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck CD-ROMs

PowerDeck is a set that's a lot like 2001 Donruss: So bad, it's good. Greg Maddux, Pudge Rodriguez, and Jose Canseco are the CD-ROMs that were sent. (15 Points + 15 Point Secret Set Bonus)

Card #10 1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck Powerful Moments A-ROD CD-ROM

Wrap your minds around this: A CD-ROM insert card. (Five Points + Five Point Secret Set Bonus)

Card #11 1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck Auxiliary Greg Maddux

The PowerDeck Auxiliaries were the plain-paper "base cards" in this product. (One Point)

Card #12 2000 Upper Deck PowerDeck Mark McGwire CD-ROM

I completely forget that UD made this set again in 2000. (Five Points)

Card #13 2006 Fleer Lumber Company Miguel Tejada
Card #14 2006 Fleer Smoke 'n Heat John Smoltz

God I miss Fleer. (Ten Points)

Card #15 2006 Ultra RBI Kings Hideki Matusi
Card #16 2006 Ultra Diamond Producers David Wright

Like I said, God I miss Fleer. (Ten Points)

Card #17 2006 Upper Deck Player Highlights David Ortiz

You can't go wrong with Big Papi. (Five Points)

Card #18 2006 Upper Deck Speed to Burn Scott Podsednik

This guy completely fucked up my fantasy team last year. (Five Points)

Card #19 2006 Upper Deck Special F/X Star Attractions Josh Beckett.

At first I thought this was from the regular Upper Deck product. Then I flipped it over and saw the refractor-like sheen and knew it was from Special F/X (a.k.a. Upper Deck Chrome). You all know how I feel about chrome. (-Five Points)

Card #20 2007 Upper Deck 1989 Reprints Reggie Jackson.

Hey look, it's a card of Reggie Jackson in his old California Angels uniform! (Five Points + Another Five Points because this is such an awesome card)

Grand Total: 85 Points

For the final time...

This is a legit error card.



This is a gimmick card.



And this... The jury is still out on.



Got it? Good.

Stufff Joe Collector Likes: #8 Topps Gimmicks

As previously mentioned, Bowman Chrome is a product Joe Collector eats up. There's nothing Joe enjoys more than collecting cards that have already been issued, b ut are shiny and cost four times as much. After all, it's BowChro and it's worth something. But there's one thing Joe loves even more than BowChro and that's unannounced short-prints. They're also worth something.

So what happens when Topps combines both Bowman Chrome with gimmicks. What else!

BOWCHRO GIMMICK-JO!!!!

Imagine Joe's excitement when checked eBay and found that there are not one, but two new gimmick cards of Kosuke Fukudome for him to chase after.

Oh sure, he heard the rumors that Topps was about sign Fukudome to an autograph contract; and that all those unsigned base cards with "NOT VALID WITHOUT STICKER" were probably made in anticipation of Fukudome's signature; and that all those sticker-less cards must have been inserted into packs as an "accident."



Yeah, accident. That's the ticket.

But the other Fukudome card, well, Joe just about shit a brick when he saw that Fukudome BowChro card in his WBC jersey.

But wait, the madness isn't just limited to BowChro. Oh no. Joe had heard a while back that Topps was going to insert into factory sets of 2008 Topps a special Fukudome card. (You know, to try to make it up to collectors who were insulted that Topps would demean itself by gimmicking-up their flagship product.) Since Joe hardly ever bothers with regular Topps, he thought nothing of it. After all, it's not Chrome and it's actually affordable; ergo, it's not worth something.

But it is regular Topps, and Joe buys a factory set of it when it comes out anyway -- if only to pretend to know what it's like to collect cards that aren't worth something.

So imagine, if you will, Joe's excitement when he ripped open his factory set, found the Fukudome bonus card, and saw that it was sequentially numbered "UH1" on the back.

"OMG!!! DO YOU BELIEVE TOPPS ACCIDENTALLY INSERTED FUKUDOME'S UPDATES AND HIGHLIGHTS CARD IN MY FACTORY SET!!! THAT CARD'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT UNTIL NOVEMBER!!!! I HAVEN'T SEEN ONE ON EBAY YET, SO MINE MUST BE AN ERROR!!! IT'S....

FUKU-JO-ME!!!!!!

He immediately went out and bought 20 sets, ripped them, picked out the KosFuku card, and posted them all on eBay as some sort of variation card blissfully unaware that every Topps factory set has this card.

1st Impressions: 2008 Upper Deck Update

Upper Deck will finish off their flagship baseball card set with a 200-card Update set.

So what, you say. OK, here's the cool part: UD is going old school by issuing it exclusively as a factory set. In other words, its an update set the way an update set should be.

But wait, there's more! Each set will be packaged in a custom-fit box big enough to fit the whole 1000-card set.

Upper Deck Baseball is truly "The Collector's Choice."

Street Date: November 4th.

Trade Me, Something-A-Ruther: Don Sherman

Don Sherman of Arkansas send me a package with 32 cards. Since he sent in his package before I posted the first of these, he also qualifies for the double bonus.

Don sent me 32 cards so I'm not counting his twelve worst cards. Which are...

Three 2004 Topps Heritage singles
Two 2004 Upper Deck singles
Six 2006 Topps Heritage singles
A 2006 Upper Deck single of Ted Lilly that I already had.

And with that, here's his twenty...

Cards #1-#4 Four 1992 Donruss The Rookies Phenoms.

These are just any ordinary DTRPs. Oh no. These cards of Brian Jordan, Frank Seminara, John Valentin, and Wil Cordero were only available in jumbo packs.

Betcha didn't know they made jumbo packs of '92 DTR. You learn something everyday. (Twenty Points + Twenty Point Secret Set bonus.)

Cards #5 & #6 1992 Pinnacle Team 2000's of Ray Lankford and Eric Karros

These too were only available in jumbo packs, or "Superpacks" as Pinnacle called them. Unlike DTR, Pinnacle made their jumbos more available. (Ten Points)

Card #7 1992 Pinnacle Slugfest Ron Gant

Slugfest was exclusive to Wal-Mart packs. Even back in '92 card companies made Wally World exclusive inserts. (Five Points)

Cards #8-#13 Six 1992 Score 90's Impact Players

EVEN MORE JUMBO EXCLUSIVE INSERTS! These are of Chuck Knoblauch, Brent Mayne, Scott Cooper, Andy Mota, C-3POlerud and Lance Dickson. (30 Points)

Card #14 1994 Topps BlackGold Randy Johnson

A cool card from Topps' first stab at inserts. (Five Points)

Card #15 1995 Score Dream Team Gold Matt Williams

Why aren't they making hologram cards anymore? (Five Points)

Card #16 1995 Studio Ruben Sierra

Ah yes, '95 Studio. The infamous "credit card" set. A bad card, from one of the worst baseball card sets ever made. But I need it for my set. (One Point)

Card #17 2004 Flair Barry Zito

Speaking of one of the worst baseball card sets ever made..... (One Point)

Card #18 2004 Upper Deck 25 Salute Jay Gibbons

The theme behind this insert, was ten players who all wore "25." Looking at the checklist, you can't get any worse than Jay Gibbbons. (Five Points)

Card #19 2004 Upper Deck Matsui Chronicles #11

A massive hero worship insert that was exclusive to retail packs. (Five Points)

Card #20 2006 Topps Heritage New Age Performers Ichiro

You can't go wrong with a guy who wears his first name on the back of his jersey (Five Points)

An impressive 112 points, doubled to 224. Good enough for a strong second place.

Video Box Break and Review: 2008 Upper Deck Goudey Blaster

One Blaster box of 2008 Upper Deck Goudey (paid $19.97)
Eight packs per box, eight cards per pack.

For the Record: This is the Blaster box I did a pack-akkake with on APAD.

The Pulls



Base Set: 61 of 330 (18.48%)

Short Set: 57 of 200 (28.50%)
1 SPs: A. Kaline
1 U.S. Presidents: G. Cleveland
0 1936
2 Sport Royalty: A. Pujols, Bitter Gordie

Parallels
2 Red Backs: 1936 A. Pujols, Sport Royalty Chutley
1 Blue Back: Sport Royalty J. Evans

Inserts: NONE

Mirrors
2 Yankee Tedium Lunacy

Autogamers: NONE

Trade Me, Something-A-Ruther: Thomas Harrington

Thomas from Illinois is a guy I've traded with before, and he sent me this package. Like John before, Thomas will get the double-point bonus.

Just a reminder; if you're interested in participating in this gimmick contest, drop me a line.

Card #1 2006 Fleer Tradition Grass Roots Albert Pujols

This is off to a good start (Five Points).

Card #2 2006 Upper Deck Inaugural Images Tomoya Satozaki

Starting catcher for Japan in the '06 WBC. He plays for Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines in NPB (Five points).

Cards #3 & #4 2006 Topps Wal-Mart inserts of Carlos Zambrano and Mickey Mantle

These are the first two cards from this set I've ever owned, and it's kind of like the Trading Card History in this year's Topps. The Zambrano is done in the style of '92 Topps and the Mantle is based on the 1970 set. I like these cards so much, I'm unilaterally declaring them a Secret Set. (Ten Points + Ten Point Secret Set bonus)

Card #5 2007 Bowman Fred Lewis

Fred Lewis is quietly putting up decent numbers. Too bad this is only a base card. (One Point)

Card #6 2007 Fleer Perfect 10 NL Chipper Jones

Decent insert, from a greatly-missed product. (Five Points)

Card #7 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter N-43 Ryan Zimmerman

How the hell are you supposed to store these things without damaging them? Any suggestions? (Five Points)

Card #8 2007 Topps Heritage Chris Coste

Some guys (like Coste) were born to play in Philadelphia, and others just aren't. I'm looking right at you, J-Roll. (One Point)

Card #9 2007 Topps Heritage Then & Now Ted Williams & Joe Mauer

This may be the only time Teddy Ballgame and Joe Mauer will ever be on the same card again. (Five Points)

Card #10 2007 Topps Heritage Flashback Stan Musial

This card commemorates Stan Musial's 3000th base hit -- which was a pinch hit. (Five Points)

Card #11 2007 Upper Deck Goudey Reggie Jackson (SP)

This card shows Reggie (not surprisingly) as a Yankee. The thing is, he only played five of his 21 seasons with them. I'd like to see a Reggie Jackson Oriole card, for once. (Two Points)

Card #12 2008 Topps Heritage Then & Now Ernie Banks & A-Rod

Both players led the Majors in RBI. (Five Points)

Cards #13 & 14 2008 Upper Deck Hot Commodities Derek Jeter and Tim Lincecum

There are way too many pack/retailer-exclusive inserts in UD this year. (10 Points)

Cards #15 & #16 2008 Upper Deck Star Attractions John Maine and Jonathan Papelbon

Like I said, there are way too many pack-exclusive inserts in UD this year. (10 Points)

Cards #17-20 2008 Upper Deck StarQuest (Common)

Hanley Ramirez, Frank Thomas, Big Jim Thome, and David Wright are the SQ's. This is one of my favorite inserts of '08. (20 Points + 20 Point Secret Set Bonus)

Despite not sending a single serial-numbered card, the four StarQuests boosted Thomas' final score to 238 points (119 points doubled). He takes over the lead from John.