Topps Printed Autograph COA On ’22 Stadium Club Cards Not Meant To Be Signed

Accidentally printing the autograph COA on cards that were never intended to be signed opens up the possibility for all types of fraud. We’ve seen it happen with products such as 2018 Panini Illusions Football, and 2021 Topps Archives Baseball.

Absolutely nothing stops some deadbeat scammer from forging the player’s signature, and attempting to pass it off as the real thing. A collector who doesn’t know any better could easily see the COA, believe the autograph is authentic, and easily be taken advantage of.

Topps recently made this mistake again in 2022 Stadium Club. I’ve talked about this before, but wanted to bring the subject up again to help clear some things up. Especially now with the release of the standalone 2022 Stadium Club Chrome product.

2022 Topps Stadium Club – Chrome Refractor Non-autograph (front)

2022 Topps Stadium Club – Chrome Refractor Non-autograph (back)

The 2022 Stadium Club set has (300) cards in it. (90) of those cards have Chrome versions with accompanying parallels. The non-autographed Refractor parallel of those cards come with the Topps autograph COA on the back that reads “THE SIGNING OF ALL AUTOGRAPH CARDS IS WITNESSED BY A TOPPS REPRESENTATIVE TO GUARANTEE AUTHENTICITY.” These specific cards were not meant to have this COA printed on them. It looks like this is isolated to just the regular non-autographed Refractor parallel. Non-autographed Orange Refractors #’ed/99, Pearl White Refractors #’ed/30, Gold Minted Refractors, and SuperFractors #’ed 1/1 do not have this COA printed on the back.

2022 Topps Stadium Club – Chrome Autograph (authentic front)

2022 Topps Stadium Club – Chrome Autograph (authentic back)

With all of that being said, there are legitimate pack-inserted Chrome autographs. If you’re looking for an authentic 2022 Topps Stadium Club – Chrome Autograph not only should it have the COA printed on the back, but the front should have the “TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH ISSUE” message as well. It should also be serial numbered.

2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome – Refractor Non-autograph (front)

2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome – Refractor Non-autograph (back)

2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Autograph (front)

2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Autograph (back)

In addition to including Chrome cards within the regular 2022 Stadium Club set, Topps issued a standalone 2022 Stadium Club Chrome set. Its a completely separate product. No errors were made to those non-autographed Refractors.

Card manufacturers can sometimes make things so confusing.

Photos: Ryan Zimmerman Life Size Bobblehead Night & Spencer Torkelson Might Be “The Fonz”

The Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals) took on the Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers) on Saturday, August 7, 2021. The Senators lost 7-0.

Before the game began the Senators unveiled their newest addition to their Life Size Bobblehead Hall of Fame. Mr. National a.k.a. Ryan Zimmerman now has a life size bobblehead on display at FNB Field. The first 750 fans through the gate received a replica bobblehead.

While eating my dinner at the River City Grille I looked over the rosters for both teams. None of the names on the Senators roster rang any bells, but two names stuck out from the SeaWolves – Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson. Both are highly watched prospects. Riley Greene hit a lead off home run.

Spencer Torkelson doing his best impression of “The Fonz”.

Spencer Torkelson #7

Spencer Torkelson can fly!

Spencer Torkelson running towards 3rd base.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Official Trailer

Be Kind, Rewind These Cards

Multiple attempts at merging video with trading cards has been made over the years.  Most were met with poor reviews from collectors.  Upper Deck gave it a shot with their line of Evolution cards in 2011.  They did their best to make them look like a card, but in all honesty I think they resembled a small portable gaming system like the Nintendo GameBoy.  In classic Panini fashion, they too tried their hand at it with their line of HRX video cards.  Despite some coming with autographs, Panini’s HRX cards were met with even a poorer response.  The video on many didn’t function very well or at all.

Perhaps Steve Rotfeld Productions did it best in 1990.  Greatest Sports Legends is a series of (207) documentaries covering some of the best athletes from the 20th century.  They first began airing in 1972, and won an Emmy Award for their 1983 film about Jackie Robinson.  Throughout the 1980s, these documentaries were heavily distributed on VHS tapes.  The ones with a 1990 copyright date are my favorite.  You have to admit the words “video baseball card” couldn’t have been taken more literally.  Its very primitive.  The front and back of the VHS sleeves are designed to look like a card.

Unlike some VHS tapes, these don’t carry much collecting weight.  Its unlikely that many of us still own a device that could play one of these.  Funai Electronics was the last company to make VCRs for home-use, and they ceased production in July 2016.

Card of the Day: Luke Richardson 1995-96 Upper Deck Be A Player Auto

Will This Be The Next Topps Print-On-Demand Product?

After a long day of work, I like to check out what news is shaking up the hobby.  In addition to that, I look forward to seeing what new Topps NOW cards are available.  I’m a fan of the Topps NOW program.  I’m a picky collector, so I choose wisely as to which ones I decide to add to my collection.  In it’s first year of existence, I bought almost every Phillies card they made.  After 2016, I cut back a bit.  Upon the success of the Topps NOW program, Topps has spun-off and created Throwback Thursday, On Demand, and Topps Living sets.  I’ve been picking up every Phillies card from the Topps Living Set as I really enjoy the artwork.

I’d like to make a bold prediction as to what the next print-on-demand product will be from Topps.  One of these days we are going to see a weekly set of 5-10 cards based on young prospects who make Baseball America’s Hot List.  Thanks to products like Bowman, Bowman Chrome, and Bowman Draft, prospecting has become an extremely large part of the hobby.  People are willing to spend thousands of dollars on players who have yet to make it to the big leagues.  Cards of players who make it onto Baseball America’s Hot List tend to spike in popularity.  At least for the week that they’re on there.  Some stick around longer than others.

If this were to happen, I’d suggest only having the cards up for sale for only a few days.  You definitely would want them to come down before the next Hot List comes out.  Baseball America’s Hot List and print-on-demand products are very momentary and “right now” things.  I’m confident that collectors would purchase these specially made prospect cards that correlate to the weekly Hot List.  It only seems natural the two would go together.

The Baseball America name has appeared on many Topps cards before.  So the two aren’t strangers.

Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig Dual Signed Baseball To Be Given Away During The 2014 National

We’re only a few hours into the New Year, but its never too early to talk about an event taking place during the next National.

Prospect collectors looking to bust something non-card related might want to check out Onyx Authenticated’s newest product that arrives later this month.  2014 Onyx Authenticated Premiere Gear will come with (1) authentic game-used piece of baseball memorabilia per box.  This just won’t be a small portion of memorabilia like you would find in a card, its the whole thing – caps, jerseys, cleats, fielding gloves, batting helmets, and catchers gear.

The checklist includes pieces of memorabilia from:

• Byron Buxton
• Jabari Blash
• Miguel Sano
• Dorssys Paulino
• Garrett Richards
• Enny Romero
• Gary Sanchez
• Jose Iglesias
• Dan Voglebach
• Breyvic Valera
• Julio Morban
• Gregory Polanco
• Scooter Gennett
• Logan Morrison
• Rymer Liriano
• Felipe Rivero
• Michael Pineda
• Kaleb Cowart
• Jon Lester
• Grant Balfour
• Jameson Taillon
• Keyvius Sampson
• Jonathon Crawford

As an added bonus, Onyx Authenticated has also thrown in some autographed baseballs that you can keep an eye out for from players such as: Bryce Harper, Javy Baez, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, and Jon Lester.

Onyx Authenticated will only be making 100 boxes.  Five of those boxes will have a Golden Ticket.  Anyone that obtains one of these Golden Tickets will be eligible to win a Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig dual signed baseball which will be given away during the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, OH.

Heading to Cleveland for this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention?  If so, be sure to check out this very Limited Edition product available exclusively at the event, Preferred Players National Edition 2014.  Each Limited Edition case contains 3 Autographed Baseballs from today’s baseball Stars and Top Prospects.  Each Hand-signed baseball comes in its own wood box and display cube with an official ONYX Authenticated Certificate of Authenticity.

Where Will You Be Shopping Black Friday? $10.00 Discount From Atlanta Sports Cards

The holiday shopping season is upon us.  It seems to start sooner each year.  Black Friday is a great time for collectors to get some deals and exclusive promos.  If you plan to do some online shopping for that special collector this year, one place you need to check out is Atlanta Sports Cards.  Why?  Because if you spend $150.00 or more you can get $10.00 off your purchase when using the official Sports Card Info coupon code at checkout.  Simply enter SportsCardInfoCoup in the promo code box while checking out.  Its as easy as that.  Also be on the lookout for their 2012 Leaf Holiday Bonus Packs.  Each pack includes (1) card which is either an autograph, a quality memorabilia card or printing plate.

Other great places to shop include:

Trade Cards Highlight 2012 Upper Deck Football – Who’s It Going To Be?

Oh I might as well jump on the bandwagon and talk about these trade cards too.  Lucky collectors have been pulling these from their boxes of 2012 Upper Deck Football.  Its the first licensed college football product that contains rookies of the 2012 Draft Class, and collectors are eating it up like mom’s meatloaf 🙂  One of the best things a manufacturer can do is slip something totally unexpected into a product without announcing it to the public.  Letting the collector make the discovery is a great marketing strategy.  That’s exactly what Upper Deck has done with their trade cards.

The back of the card states that Upper Deck will trade you this card for an Upper Deck Football card of a 1st Round Draft Pick Quarterback.  There are unsigned (silver) and signed versions (gold).  I hope you don’t mind waiting awhile for your card to arrive, because Upper Deck won’t start filling these mystery redemptions until June, 2013.  I have a feeling it could be Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III.  Upper Deck may have decided not to fill them until next year so it allows Luck’s exclusive with Press Pass to pass by.

Then again, it doesn’t state that it would be a card of a 2012 1st Round Draft Pick Quarterback.  Perhaps it could be someone from another Draft Class.  For all we know it could be Ryan Leaf.  Either way, slipping in a card such as this gets collectors talking, and that’s what Upper Deck wants.  This isn’t the first time Upper Deck has gone the sneaky route.  In 1992, Upper Deck offered a trade card which could be redeemed for a Shaq variation.

Harry Kalas Will Be In Sportkings Series E!!!

I just happened to check the Sportkings website this morning and I saw that they posted the cut signature checklist for the Top 50 Broadcasters section of their Series E product due to be released on May 3, 2012.  I am happy to announce that former Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas will have a cut signature included in this set.  Kalas hasn’t had a new card made since 2005.  I am a huge Harry Kalas fan and I was hoping that they would put him in here.  Harry Kalas has cards in 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game, 2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, and 2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic.  This is one card I will be watching for.  I need it for my Kalas collection.  Lots of Phillies fans will be after this one.

Here is the Top 50 Broadcasters checklist:

TBC-VS	Vin Scully
TBC-MA	Mel Allen
TBC-RB	Red Barber
TBC-CG	Curt Gowdy
TBC-HC	Howard Cosell
TBC-BC	Bob Costas
TBC-JM	Jim McKay
TBC-KJ	Keith Jackson
TBC-AM	Al Michaels
TBC-DE	Dick Enberg
TBC-JB	Jack Buck
TBC-TH	Ted Husing
TBC-JBR	Jack Brickhouse
TBC-DD	Don Dunphy
TBC-GM	Graham McNamee
TBC-EH	Ernie Harwell
TBC-MAL	Marv Albert
TBC-HCA	Harry Caray
TBC-JMI	Jon Miller
TBC-BS	Bill Stern
TBC-CH	Chick Hearn
TBC-MG	Marty Glickman
TBC-JW	Jack Whitaker
TBC-JN	Jim Nantz
TBC-CS	Chris Schenkel
TBC-LN	Lindsey Nelson
TBC-RH	Russ Hodges
TBC-RS	Ray Scott
TBC-JMA	John Madden
TBC-BP	Bob Prince
TBC-JBU	Joe Buck
TBC-MH	MiloHamilton
TBC-BW	Bob Wolff
TBC-CT	Chuck Thompson
TBC-CB	Chris Berman
TBC-PR	Phil Rizzuto
TBC-MB	Marty Brennaman
TBC-CM	Clem McCarthy
TBC-BWA	Bill Walton
TBC-FH	Foster Hewitt
TBC-HK	Harry Kalas
TBC-JMO	Johnny Most
TBC-BE	Bob Elson
TBC-BM	Brent Musburger
TBC-PS	Pat Summerall
TBC-MHA	Merle Harmon
TBC-DV	Dick Vitale
TBC-DS	Dick Stockton
TBC-TK	Tony Kubek
TBC-BCO	Bud Collins