Q&A – When Were The First Relic Cards Issued?

Collectors were introduced to the relic card between 1996 and 1997. Believe it or not but at one point in time pulling a one-color, non-serial numbered relic card was a huge deal. A card which fits that description today gets tossed aside like yesterday’s trash. In this hobby when something starts off as rare and becomes popular with collectors manufacturers will eventually overdue it to the point where it looses it’s appeal.

Card companies such as Upper Deck, Press Pass, Pinnacle, and Collector’s Edge all issued relic cards beginning in 1996.

Pictured below are some of the hobby’s first relic cards.

Sterling Marlin 1996 Press Pass Burning Rubber

Terry Labonte 1996 Press Pass Burning Rubber Die Cast

Dale Earnhardt 1996 Press Pass VIP GOLD Firesuit

Allen Iverson 1996 Press Pass Game-Used Jersey

Mario Lemieux 1996-97 Upper Deck Game Jersey

Steve Young 1996 Upper Deck Game Jersey

Ken Griffey Jr. 1997 Upper Deck Game Jersey (copyright date on card is 1996)

Bill Elliott 1996 Pinnacle Driver’s Suit

Kerry Collins 1996 Collector’s Edge Advantage Game Ball

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.

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.

Remember When CBS Made Football Cards?

CBS loves to keep reminding you of what you already know you’re watching.  If you took a shot every time they said “This is the NFL on CBS.” you’d probably pass out before they held the coin toss.  I remember Saturday Night Live making note of this back in the 90’s.  Kevin Nealon played Jim Nantz, and he kept repeating “This is the NFL on CBS.” over and over again.  “CBS proudly presents The Masters.” is another one you hear a lot.

Television stations are the last places you think about when it comes to card manufacturers.  For a very brief moment in 1989, CBS made football cards.  Now, this was not some nationally distributed product that came in a fancy box.  It was more like a 10-card set shipped in a few envelopes.

For those members of the 1989 CBS Football Announcing Team who either at one time played in the NFL or coached, received a card.  The players include: Terry Bradshaw, Dick Butkus, Irv Cross, Dan Fouts, Pat Summerall, Gary Fencik, Dan Jiggetts, John Madden, Ken Stabler, and Hank Stram.  As you can see, the cards feature an action shot of the person during their time in the NFL.  The photos were then placed on a green football field with a white yard mark.  On the back you’ll find a horizontal layout containing a head shot, biography, and stats all bordered in red.

CBS split this set up into two different releases.  Each issue has five cards.  They were sent out to various CBS representatives probably as a marketing tool.  Although they aren’t serial numbered, only about (500) sets are suppose to exist.  The price for an individual card and/or complete set can be all over the place.  It definitely is one of those oddball sets from the late 80’s.  The set’s official name is 1989 CBS Television Announcers.

Less Is Truly More When It Comes To 2012 Prime Signatures

Hypothetically speaking, if Panini were a character from Batman’s world, I think they would make a good Two-Face.  Some of their products look like cookie cutter brands from year to year, but then they bring out a product like Prime Signatures which looks amazing.  Its almost like they have dual design team disorder.

The on-card autographs found in Prime Signatures are some of the nicest cards Panini has released, along with those silhouette autographed patches found in Crown Royale.  Less is truly more when it comes to Prime Signatures.  Just by looking at them, you can tell they aren’t overly designed.  They basically let the photo and signature do all the work.  I love the use of white when it comes to card design.  It doesn’t always have to be white either.  Sticking with mainly one color for the overall design can work well too.  Just watch out for those dreaded white boxes if the background isn’t all white.

The Rookie Extreme Prime Materials Jumbo cards contain the perfect sized patch along with an on-card signature.  Not every card will be hard signed.  There will be plenty of stickers, but at least the backgrounds are white and they won’t stick out like a sore thumb.  I’m hoping 2012 Prime Signatures is printed on thick card stock again.

Why Do Managers Do This?

I am by no means and expert on all the rules of baseball.  But I do have one question that has been on my mind for awhile.  Maybe someone can clear up my confusion.  My question is this:  When a starting pitcher is doing very well, and winning the game, why does the manager take them out?  I know this doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens often enough.  If a pitcher is “in the zone” why decide to put somebody else in?  I have seen it backfire so many times this season.  I just finished watching the Phillies beat the Giants 7-6 in 11 innings.  I’m very glad they won, but Tim Lincecum had them down 4-1 and then the manager decided to take him out.  If Lincecum would have stayed in, I bet they would have won.  This was a mistake by Bruce Bochy that I’m glad he made and worked in the Phillies favor.  But what is the reasoning of decisions like this?