Mystery Solved: Why Are The Crash Test Dummies In These Sets?

Are we alone in the universe?  Is Bigfoot real?  Who really shot JFK?  These are all questions that have plagued humanity for a very long time.  But one question rises above them all.  Why are the Crash Test Dummies (Vince & Larry) included in two minor league baseball team sets?  I needed to find out.

According to Ad Council, “The single most effective protection against death and serious injury in a car crash is the safety belt.  Since Vince & Larry, the Crash Test Dummies, were introduced to the American public in 1985, safety belt usage has increased from 14% to 79%, saving an estimated 85,000 lives, and $3.2 billion in costs to society.  The campaign tagline, “You Could Learn A Lot From a Dummy,” as well as the crash test dummies themselves, was retired in 1999, when the U.S. Department of Transportation revised the campaign.”

Between 1985 and 1999 the Crash Test Dummies (Vince & Larry) were everywhere.  Their slapstick comedy promoting safety belt usage will go down as one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.  Their popularity spawned comic books, video games, and a line of action figures.

The Oklahoma City RedHawks (now the Oklahoma City Dodgers) played their inaugural season in 1998.  Like a lot of minor league teams, they had team sets made which could be purchased at their souvenir shop.  At the time Multi-Ad was one of the key companies to print these up.  Between their 1998 and 1999 sets not many names ring any bells besides Todd Van Poppel (1998).  The most interesting cards are of the Crash Test Dummies (Vince & Larry).  But what the heck are they doing in here?

The Crash Test Dummies (Vince & Larry) are featured on five cards in the 1998 set – #26-#30.  Each card looks exactly alike except for the card number.  You’ll find two cards of them in the 1999 set – #29 and #30.  Once again they look alike besides the card number.

On the back of each card it reads “Vince and Larry are no rookies-these guys have been pitching safety belt use in a major league way for nearly 11 years.  As crash test dummies, they’ve had their share of hard hits.  When it comes to a save situation, safety belts and air bags are the perfect stoppers.  Take it from these two MVPs…if you want to be safe at home, wear your safety belt.”

My search lead me to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office.  Their Communications Manager came back with the following response:

“The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) has a long history of working closely with the OKC Dodgers (and formerly the RedHawks) as it relates to traffic safety marketing.  Each year, the OHSO enters into a marketing contract with the team (and others around the state) to promote traffic safety at their games and events.

I’m sure the inclusion of Vince and Larry was a part of a previous contract.”

There you have it.  Mystery solved.  I wish the explanation would have been some elaborate story.  But it was just a simple marketing deal between the Oklahoma City RedHawks and the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office.

Now we can all rest comfortably.

1998

1999

Q&A: Why Do Some Topps Boxes From The 80s Have Black Marks On Them?

Question: Looking on eBay I see so many 1980s Topps boxes with black marks on the covers.  What are the black marks for?

Answer: As a way to help distributors/stores clear out old inventory that had been sitting for awhile, Topps allowed for some products to be returned.  The distributors/stores would get a little money back.  Once Topps received those products back they would place black marks on the box covers.  Then Topps would ship them off to discount outlets.  In order to qualify for this the cases and/or boxes had to be complete.  Nothing tampered with.  Back then Topps did not seal their boxes in plastic like they do today.  Its very possible the people sending them back compiled packs from multiple boxes just to make a complete one.  That is the true origin of those black marks.  Complete boxes from the 1980s without the black marks will always be more desirable.  But this practice was so common you see them everywhere.

Q & A – Why Isn’t My Sid Luckman Card Autographed?

I get questions all the time from collectors passing by Sports Card Info.  99.9% of them go a little something like this – “I just purchased a card for $20.00, how much is it worth?”  Every now and then I get a really good question that deserves its very own blog post.  Today I received one of those questions.

Last night Sports Card Info was contacted by  a collector who told me they had a Sid Luckman 1997 Leaf Reproductions card that looks as if it should have been autographed, but isn’t.  As you can see in the above picture the collector sent me, in the upper right hand corner it says “[Authentic Signature]” but there is no signature.  There is a perfectly good explanation for this.

Deep within 1997 Leaf Football there is a 24-card set called Leaf Reproductions.  This insert set contains twelve current players (current as of 1997) and twelve former players.  Every card is serial numbered to 1,948 copies ironically due to the fact they are designed after the 1948 Leaf Football set.  The last 500 copies of the twelve former players are autographed.  The current players have no autographs.

All is good until we reach Sid Luckman.  Many believe the cards he did sign were released onto the secondary market by his family after his death in 1998, and not in packs of 1997 Leaf Football.  Luckman didn’t sign all of the final 500 copies of his card.  This results in what we have here.  One of the final 500 cards that should have been autographed.

The first 1,448 cards were released in packs.  None of these were autographed either.  The collector I talked to thinks he pulled this card from a pack.  In my opinion, Donruss either included some of the cards that should have been signed but weren’t into packs, or the Luckman family released the unsigned ones to the public along with the handful he did sign.

If you look this card up, you’ll see three different versions – autographed, non-autographed, and a promo.  But after seeing this card, there is really four.

After seeing the serial number on this card, I thought I might be able to determine a ballpark figure on the number of cards Luckman actually did sign.  But looking at some of the autographed versions, it looks like he skipped around in the order that he signed them.

Its funny how a simple card serial numbered to 1,948 copies can get so complicated.

Why I Like BuyBacks

Between this year and last year, I have paid a lot more attention to Topps Heritage.  Maybe because I like the old school look or perhaps its the Phillies cards commemorating their World Series accomplishments.

One thing I like the most are the buyback cards that come as box toppers inside each box.  I’ve always liked the idea of pulling original vintage cards from new products.  Most of the time collectors will pull commons that aren’t worth too much even though they are from an old set, but sometimes you can get lucky and pull a Hall of Famer.  If your really lucky you might even get a rookie card of a Hall of Famer.  Vintage cards of great players are good targets for counterfeiters and usually force collectors to purchase the card they want after it has been graded.  Sure it ads some authenticity to the card, but it can also increase the amount you have to spend and not all collectors have room to store those bulky holders.  With the buyback cards, Topps simply places their foil logo on the card and thats that.  I think its a great alternative for those collectors looking to purchase a raw vintage card of a popular player.  I’d like to see Topps do this more with other products.

Why Do I Blog?

I never thought I would be operating a blog.  It just wasn’t something that I thought would be entertaining to do.  The first time I wrote anything about sports cards would have to be when eBay started allowing users to write their own guides on certain subjects they knew a lot about.  The first one I wrote was titled How To Spot Fake Sports Cards That Are Up For Sale.  Within the first day it had received 21 helpfulness votes and gained much popularity.  You probably have seen a link to it on the left sidebar while browsing the sports card category.  After my success with the first guide I went on to write more and more about cards.  In late 2007 I decided to start my own blog, only posting a few times a week about counterfeit cards and scams.  I found myself wanting to blog more than just the few times and week, and thats how Sports Card Info came to be where it is today.  I enjoy writing about the hobby and interacting with other collectors.  A lot of collectors see other blogs as competition, but thats not what I think at all.  Its great if your the first blog to break the news on a hot story, but we all know that can’t happen all the time especially when your in college and not at the computer a lot.  The blogosphere would be very boring if every blog reported on the same subject.  Blogging helps you learn more and share information about the sports card industry.  Thats why I do it.

Probably my favorite posts are the ones when I catch a scammer, discover a fake card, or figure out a new way that people could potentially scam other collectors.  My best catch was when I caught a seller trying to sell a Yogi Berra 1952 Bowman graded a PSA Mint 9 with a starting price of $10,000.00.  The picture they provided cut off the grade and PSA serial number.  When asking for the number, they kept giving me fake ones that didn’t match-up.  I was able to get the auction kicked-off eBay.  Another favorite thing I like to post about would be pictures from shows, autograph signings, and sporting events.

I would like to turn this whole blogging thing into a career somehow, but I’m not too sure how thats going to play out yet.  Thanks for reading!