Another blow to the "game-used" card niche

sportscardtheory · Sep 15, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i...ompanies-knew-jerseys-fakes-article-1.1159317

"Bradley Wells told agents that buyers from Panini America, Upper Deck and Topps knew they were purchasing phony game-used jerseys to insert in the premium cards, which means thousands of collectors who thought they were buying collectibles that linked them directly to their favorite athletes may have been deceived."

"Wells acknowledged he was involved in “dirtying up” jerseys and gloves to make them look game used, but said that it was Monette's idea to play “home run derby” with baseball bats in order to make them look like they had been used by major league players."

I'm sure many of us knew this was a probability, but to see someone involved actually say it makes it sting a little.

jrinne · Sep 15, 2012

I think the majority of collectors knew this was happening. Real or fake I still love the cards and the way they look.

George_Calfas · Sep 15, 2012

So the Feds need to go after the companies if they were "in on" knowing the items were fake........dont see it happening. Dont see any collector benefiting.

rsmath · Sep 15, 2012

I wonder which types of players are involved in the fakes. Pretty much just the superstars or I wonder if there are a lot of AAAA'ers - I'd like to think a lot of the relics of AAAA'ers I collect are legit because they aren't "big name" enough to be highly desirable to the hobby masses but who knows...

Brewer Andy · Sep 15, 2012

But if enough ruckus is raised, is there a chance MLB licensing requires card companies to get more specific about their "relics"? Sadly probably not

morgoth · Sep 15, 2012

I do think if MLB was contacted enough by collectors they might require all game used items to come from them directly which would be awesome and most likely also limit the amount of game used made which would be good as well.

MansGame · Sep 15, 2012

Simple8 · Sep 15, 2012

Exact reason why I have never been a fan of These type of cards. Wondering when the players will speak up or if they even care. I know that the players have a contract with these companies but if they're selling fake goods if I was a player I would want to take action and not let them use my likeness.

MansGame · Sep 15, 2012

Perception is reality with game used cards... This is how I've always thought about them. You'll nearly never know if it's truly game used unless they have authentication stickers or whatever on everyone and we know that isn't happening.

budvandall · Sep 15, 2012

morgoth said:
I do think if MLB was contacted enough by collectors they might require all game used items to come from them directly which would be awesome and most likely also limit the amount of game used made which would be good as well.

I think this is a great idea.

alifaxwa2 · Sep 15, 2012

Perhaps a class action lawsuit is worth considering.

matchpenalty · Sep 15, 2012

So card companies aren't spending top dollar and having their own big name authenticators working to make sure the stuff they buy is legit? Shocking!!!

I really doubt most card collectors care or even have any idea how game used market works. They are buying the card. So card is the thing they care about the most. If you want game used stuff you buy the entire jersey ect... Do people just buy pieces of autographs?

moxacaine · Sep 15, 2012

This is probably why they dont care about people altering their cards and putting fake patches in there. Because the "real" ones are fake anyway. lol

predatorkj · Sep 15, 2012

I figured something like this was gonna happen.

Brewer Andy · Sep 15, 2012

moxacaine said:
This is probably why they dont care about people altering their cards and putting fake patches in there. Because the "real" ones are fake anyway. lol

"I think of these as works of art"

Pine Tar · Sep 15, 2012

Class action lawsuit coming to the card companies. And then they will settle were everyone gets a GU card of Angel Pagan in the settlement.

D-Lite · Sep 15, 2012

Simple8 said:
Exact reason why I have never been a fan of These type of cards. Wondering when the players will speak up or if they even care. I know that the players have a contract with these companies but if they're selling fake goods if I was a player I would want to take action and not let them use my likeness.

I'm in this boat too. Like others have said, some of the cards are truly beautiful and worth picking up at the right price, but "the right price" is a big question mark when you have no idea if the thing is real. How do we know the wood in bat cards isn't from the lunchroom table at Topps?

I'll stick to certified autos.

jrinne · Sep 15, 2012

The only company I honestly would believe is ITG.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Sports Cards by Freedom Card Board.com

katieneack · Sep 15, 2012

I don't think I really care that much. I buy the cards because I like the way they look, not because of the actual "game used" idea of the memorabilia.

budvandall · Sep 15, 2012

The bottom line is that this is fraud. The card companies are "knowingly" selling fake items. There have been many stories over the past year about the feds putting people way for the same thing. I would like to see one of two things happen. The card companies have to purchase game used items directly from MLB In the case of retired players, they have to use an MLB authorized authenticator. The second is the feds make them to stop using any "game used" items. I think the whole game used thing is getting old anyway.

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