Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Real/Fake Line For Ultimate Baseball is GONE.

The patch cards in Ultimate Baseball are one of the main reasons why the product was so successful. They are also to a point now where the line has been blurred past the point of where one can tell fake or real. Although there are people who have undoubtedly faked these cards, there are also so many real logo patches that its almost impossible to tell.


Check out these cards that have been posted and sold on eBay over the last couple of days. Some I can tell, some are way too hard to determine.

Carlton Fisk - The patch is weird on this, too weird to consider it to be fake. It still makes me uncomfortable.

Paul Konerko - I dont trust this guy at all. There is already speculation around the boards that all are fake, and this card definitely looks that way.

Brandon Webb - A great patch, but it does look real because the window looks good and has non-patch material in the window.

Tom Seaver - 100% fake, this guy has already been covered on this blog before and his cards arent even questionable. UD was meticulous in matching player pics with uni swatches, which disqualifies this card all the way.

Roy Ozwalt - Another questionable patch, but too tough to make a sure determination.

Brandon Phillips - A cool patch with too much detail to seem fake, but again, this is a cheap pickup to fake if needed. Im not sure.

Carlos Beltran - another patch from this seller that is almost 100% fake. Just look at the separation between the swatch and the patch. Like he slipped it in over the crappy swatch.

Basically, Ultimate was the one set that needed a database, and its too bad it wasnt done ahead of time. Its just too easy to fake these cards, and it brings back memories of the faker favorite set of the century - 2005 Donruss Prime Patches. The difference between Prime Patches and this, is that its easy to tell fakes from that set because of card labeling, but Ultimate is ALL patches so its almost impossible.

I would employ a few rules that should start becoming applicable soon:

1. Dont buy Ultimate Patch cards where the logo patch takes up the whole window. Its not worth the risk.

2. Look for window damage. Its tough to get a patch out of the card without nicking the edges of the swatch window.

3. Avoid NEW patches. The jerseys that UD used seem to be at least a few years old, and the new sleeve patches from last season are easy to come by on ebay.

4. Avoid World Series, Commemorative, and All Star Patches. Its too easy for scammers to sell you on your salivation over such a unique patch. Its almost unheard of for any of them to be real.

5. Avoid sellers who have a ton of logo patches for sale. This is pretty much the case for everyone regardless of the patch card, as scammers will sell a never ending stream of crap to make maximum dollars.

Let me know if you have any questions about authenticity and ill do my best to scope it out.

5 comments:

  1. The patch on the fisk card is on the fisk jersey that mitchell and ness sells, so in my opinion probably fake, plus they were only worn for the playoffs in 1975, and that leaves maybe one or two real jerseys in the world that would have that patch

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Oswalt is from a known patch faker and I wouldn't trust it.

    The Beltran and Konerko are also from a well known patch faker.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I almost guarantee the Oswalt is fake. 1) You can't read the numbering on the card. 2) The patch is turned sideways on the card. 3) The auction never mentions what # it is. 4) bidders are private.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow Just from this site alone as I've said before I would never buy a Higher $ Patch auto cards off of EBay but in this scenario I'm wondering if it's worth even buying the product? Things in our hobby are so negative including the blogs I'm wondering WTF to do? It seems like every product,auto, patch & jersey is either fake or questionable. What's the point? How is anyone staying at a minimum at least optimistic about these products and our love of this hobby now and in the future anymore? not even mentioning ( the big 3 FN jokes) the lawsuit's and fakes coming from the companies themselves and Beckett's FN joke of a magazine B/V insanity and favoritism? I mean a Hayward Bowman red refractor for $15,000? and one superfractor sold for 7K! At these prices I can't believe anyone thinks these will ever get above or even close to that amount no matter how good or how long the guy plays. Let alone to compare this (in the auction) to the Honus Wagner and Mickey Mantle card? that's sacrilege IMO! were talking another guessing cuz I'm upset 90 and 60 years + ! This is becoming a joke and all these fakes that are being brought to light make me wonder if my love for the hobby and game are worth all of this! Maybe I'm disgruntled I don't know but is anyone else completely disgusted with this whole thing especially lately? Grant

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is why I stay away from this niche in the hobby (patch cards, especially buying on eBay). Sheesh.

    ReplyDelete