Getting to the bottom of the Chrome Fukudome

I just got off the phone with Topps Customer Service regarding the Bowman Chrome Fukudome Error cards that Cardboard Mania blogged about first, and I Commented on yesterday.

It's a total error card. According to the rep I spoke to there are NO Fukudome Autographs in the Bowman set, now whether or not there were supposed to be is anyone's guess and the rep couldn't tell me that for sure. However, he did say that going forward there will be no more authentication stickers on the backs of cards, so that's a bit of interesting information.

I asked him point blank if this was a deliberate short-print or simply an error, and he said without hesitation that it was an error.

So we've now boiled it down to either an error or a counterfeit card. Since they are all coming out of the Far East (except for the one that's in Florida), I'm venturing to guess that something is happening at the overseas plant where Topps cards are printed (if they are indeed printed overseas, I'm not sure where they are printed to be honest, and another attempt to get to a Topps rep failed).

So despite all the bad mojo that we've been attributing to Topps lately, this particular card doesn't seem to be a part of that. An error, yes, short printed? Almost certainly, but deliberate? No.

Some people will continue to disbelieve though, for whatever reason. Having worked in large corporations in the past, I'm not quite as skeptical because I understand the process that these things have to go through to get to market. I'm much more willing to believe that these particular cards were either a) conterfeited or b) the work of a couple of individuals who have the access to create and distribute such an item. I find it very difficult to believe that the company itself deliberately created such an item in order to foist it off on unsuspecting collectors and make a FEW dollars here and there.

It just doesn't make sense to me. Now, in 1978 a SINGLE Topps employee may have managed to magically graft a penis onto C-3PO in the fourth series of original Star Wars Cards (though Snopes is claiming that the single artist theory is indeterminate). Of course, we all know about Billy Ripken and the "fuck face" bat card, and then there's the Alex Gordon cards from a few years ago, so the fact is that occasionally mistakes get made and cards that weren't supposed to make it to market do.

However, to imply that Topps as a publically traded corporation would deliberately make a handful of "error" cards to capitalize on a given player's popularity in the secondary market is just silly. Topps wouldn't bother to do that, because let's face it, even if by some chance each card sold for $500 a piece, and there' let's say, six of them, that's only a $3,000 profit. Topps is a 370 MILLION dollar market cap company according to their financial records (and this site). Three grand is a drop in their proverbial buckets.

I do love how some bloggers will deliberately mis-state numbers though, for example, one blog post questioning another quickly becomes "many people began talking about it maybe being an honest manufacturing error." Really? Many people? Who? If there were more blogs about this issue, I didn't see them.

Another DAMN Fukudome Gimmick

Fellow Blogger Cardboard Mania discovered yet another Fukudome "gimmick" card today that's all the rage on the 'bay (that is if people have stopped paying outrageous amounts of money for Michael Phelps cards).

Here's the thing: more than likely this was a production error rather than something that Topps did deliberately.

The fact that there is no autograph sticker, and there is no corresponding sticker on the back makes it appear to be an error to me.

Of course if it were any other player than Fukudome, you wouldn't think twice, but with the blogosphere going apeshit over Topps shenanagins for the last couple of years, one might think it was deliberate.

I'm going to do a bit of research and try to contact Topps for an official response. I've already sent an email to their customer service, but I'll follow that up in a couple days with a phone call.


In all honesty, even if it's a gimmick, I don't really care, and it doesn't really bother me. Sure, Topps has done some really boneheaded moves lately, and they appear to be in a bad position with some of their other products (WizKids, the gaming company they purchased some time ago just laid off 90% of their staff), and some of their upcoming product looks just hideous, however, this particular card doesn't seem to me to be anything more than a massive screw up.

Of course, I could be really wrong, and it's all deliberate. In that case, shame on Topps.