2023 Topps Chrome Baseball Cards Slipping Out The Backdoor

2023 Topps Chrome Baseball isn’t due out for months, yet a few singles have popped up on eBay.

eBay user truf2228 had two 2023 Topps Chrome Baseball Autographs up for sale. One of Livan Soto, and the other of Spencer Steer.

The Soto autograph was sold on 4/11/23, and the buyer left positive feedback. The Steer autograph was taken down before the sale was completed.

In addition to both of those cards the same seller had a Nelson Rada 2023 Bowman – Chrome Prospect Autograph Orange Refractor #’ed/25 up for sale with a missing signature. It too was taken down before the sale could be completed.

A few months ago in a now deleted Reddit post an individual mentioned they were gifted cards, and wanted to know what they were worth. The pictures they showed were of 2023 Bowman and 2023 Topps Chrome Baseball cards. Before the post was deleted Card Shark Brian posted a link to it on Twitter.

Fake cards? Authentic cards slipping out the backdoor by an angry employee? You be the judge.

Stuff like this has been happening for years.

I’m not fully convinced the signature is authentic. Compare it to Soto’s signature from his 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph.

ALERT: Watch Out When Buying These 2022 Topps Stadium Club Baseball Chrome Refractor Autographs

The 2022 Topps Stadium Club Baseball Chrome set consists of (90) cards.

Collectors ripping through their packs/boxes have noticed that the Refractor parallels of these cards contain the Topps autograph COA printed on the back. The only problem is that these specific cards were never meant to have that COA printed on them.

As you can imagine it wouldn’t take much for a scammer to forge the player’s autograph on the front, and attempt to pass it off as the real thing. An individual who didn’t know any better might look at that card, see the COA, and believe the autograph is authentic.

It looks like this is isolated to just the regular non-autographed Refractor parallels. 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.

If you’re looking for an authentic 2022 Topps Stadium Club Baseball Chrome Refractor 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.

A similar situation took place with 2021 Topps Archives Baseball.

Card of the Day: 2021 Topps Star Wars Masterwork – Boba Fett – Out Of The Box #12

ALERT: Watch Out When Buying These 2021 Topps Archives Baseball Autographs

Archives Baseball means retro designs and on-card autographs.

Collectors picking up singles on the secondary market need to carefully watch what they are buying.

Due to a printing error, every 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis insert comes with the “Topps Certified Autograph Issue” message printed on the front. The COA which states “The signing of all Topps autograph cards is witnessed by Topps representatives to guarantee authenticity.” also appears on the back.

The 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis come in two different formats – autographed and non-autographed. Only the autographed cards are suppose to have the COAs. Unfortunately the non-autographed inserts also have the COAs printed on them, and made their way into the product.

As you can imagine, printing COAs onto cards that weren’t meant to be autographed opens the door for a lot of scammers. Nothing is stopping someone from forging the player’s signature, and passing it off as a pack-pulled autographed card.

The following list of players have legitimate 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis autographs:

• Byron Buxton
• Bryce Harper
• Barry Larkin
• Christian Yelich
• Dylan Carlson
• Darryl Strawberry
• Freddie Freeman
• Frank Thomas
• Ichiro
• Joe Carter
• Joe Mauer
• Juan Soto
• Ke’Bryan Hayes
• Kyle Lewis
• Luis Robert
• Mariano Rivera
• Mike Trout
• Pete Alonso
• Paul Goldschmidt
• Rod Carew
• Rickey Henderson
• Yordan Alvarez

That same list of (22) players in addition to (28) others also have non-autographed 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis. Those non-autographed cards with the accidental COAs printed on them are what scammers will take advantage of.

Legitimate 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis autographs are hand-numbered to (20) copies. It wouldn’t take much for a scammer to hand-number a card they forged a signature on.

Unless you pull the card directly from the pack and/or are an autograph expert, purchasing any of the (22) 2021 Topps Archives Baseball 1989 Topps Big Minis autographs on the secondary market could be an authenticity gamble. You just can’t tell if it came from Topps autographed or was signed by a scammer. Obviously, if you find an autograph out in the wild of someone who isn’t on the above list it most definitely is a fake.

Topps did alert collectors about this mistake.

A similar situation happened with 2018 Panini Illusions Football.

Check Out The 2017 NSCC Topps VIP Set

Topps is the first company to strike first when it comes to unveiling their plans for the 2017 National Sports Collectors Convention.  VIPs will find a 4-card pack inside their packages.  There are actually five cards to the set, but you’ll need to trade in order to obtain them all.  The set is designed to look like 1987 Topps Baseball in honor of it’s 30th anniversary.  It includes Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, and Ted Williams.

One of these years it would be fun to see some randomly inserted parallels and/or autographs thrown into the VIP bags.  I also think it would be cool to see Topps use cards such as these for buyback autographs in future products like Archives Signature Series.

The 2017 NSCC takes place in Chicago, IL July 26-30.  Tickets are now on sale.

Flashback Product of the Week: 1988 Pacific Eight Men Out

The 1919 Black Sox Scandal will always be one of the most talked about events in sports history.  This is where eight members of the Chicago White Sox came together and decided to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series in exchange for a large payday from gamblers.  At the end of the day though, neither the players nor gamblers came out with much money.  Despite being found not guilty in court, those eight players were still banned from baseball.  “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is probably the most well known player to have been banned.

Author Eliot Asinof wrote a book released in 1963 titled Eight Men Out.  It retold the events of the whole Black Sox Scandal.  In 1988, director John Sayles made a movie based on that book.  Actors John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, and Charlie Sheen all had major rolls.  The film for the most part was well received.  For some reason, this movie doesn’t come up that much when fans talk about their favorite baseball movies.

Pacific made a 110-card set based on the John Sayles movie.  You can buy these cards by the box or factory set.  Not only does the set feature shots from the movie, but it also contains cards of the actual men involved with the Black Sox Scandal.  The “Shoeless” Joe Jackson card is one of only a few licensed by MLB.  Other key cards include Charlie Sheen and John Cusack.  This is probably one of the most educational sets on the market today, and you can easily pick one up for under $20.00.  I really like the way these cards look.  Especially the cards of the actual players.  They have these red borders with black/white photos.

Has CollectorCrate Gone Out Of Business?

Has CollectorCrate gone out of business?  This is an excellent question, because nobody seems quite sure.  The CollectorCrate website hasn’t been updated for awhile.  Either has their social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve sent numerous e-mails to them, but have yet to hear anything back.  On their Facebook page there are a handful of complaints from collectors wanting to know what the hell is going on.  So far CollectorCrate has been silent.  This lack of communication from them is not a good sign.  The only bit of communication some people have received is an e-mail stating their package has been shipped.  But that doesn’t seem to mean much.  Its probably some automatic thing just leaving collectors waiting for something that won’t show up.  While going through some of the complaints, it looks like the trouble began in March.  By the looks of it, some collectors that purchased products from them were charged but never received anything.  A lot are trying to find a way to get their money back.  If CollectorCrate went up the tube, the customers are probably last on the list of people to get their money returned.  That is if anyone involved with this company gets any kind of financial restitution at all.

Going out of business is one theory.  Another could be that something physically happened to them.  Perhaps they aren’t able to get in contact with their customers.  The most recent date of usage on any of their social media accounts comes from 4/16.  On that date they retweeted the new Star Wars trailer.  People were asking about their orders before that though.  According to artist Brad Utterstrom, he sent the sketches to be used for April to CollectorCrate.  They were of Cal Ripken Jr., Anthony Davis, and Russell Wilson.  He sent them an e-mail to see if the sketches arrived, but hasn’t heard back.

Last fall CollectorCrate opened up shop.  For a fee, they would ship you a box of goodies on a monthly basis.  The box included packs of cards, boxes, and all kinds of neat little stuff.  It worked just like Loot Crate, but sports related.  They covered baseball, football, and basketball.  A few months ago they began to include exclusive sketch print cards.  Too bad this whole thing looks to have gone downhill.  I would’ve enjoyed seeing them make some exclusive figures and bobbleheads.  Its an interesting idea that I don’t think should be given up on.  A lot of cool stuff could have been brought to the hobby through this type of business.  Perhaps they weren’t seeing the response from collectors like they hoped.  Maybe collectors realized it was just better to buy a sealed hobby box for the price of a CollectorCrate.

As for right now, I wouldn’t be signing up given whatever has happened to them.  We need to hear something from CollectorCrate first.  DO NOT ORDER!!!

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