Imagine having spent $80 bucks on a box of 2014 Topps Supreme and pulling out a Mike Piazza authentic autograph card. You'd be excited. Heck, you might just scream from joy after having seen it come out of the pack.
Then, imagine your pain and anguish when you realize that the card you received is not really Piazza's signature at all. Well.... That's not entirely accurate. It actually is a signature of Mike Piazza, but it's not the Piazza you were looking for. Instead, it's a signature of Angels pitching prospect Mike Piazza.
Oy Vie!
Check out a Piazza Supreme card above and the below prospect Piazza card below. Do you notice any similarities?
Wow! What a major screw up.
A collector from Minneapolis named Nate Woodward tweeted about the mistake a few days ago. He's obviously dismayed at the mix-up.
In a subsequent tweet from another collector going by Joe E, we find out that Topps will replace it, but it will be at YOUR expense:
Topps says its "human mistake and send it back AT MY EXPENSE and they will rectify the situation"Not cool, Topps. Not cool, at all!
@toppscards is using Angels prospect Mike Piazza's auto on these cards @PSACard @beckettmedia pic.twitter.com/jodgXpZhJm
— Nate Woodard (@storm_chaser82) October 31, 2014
@storm_chaser82 @toppscards @beckettmedia Topps says its "human mistake and send it back AT MY EXPENSE and they will rectify the situation"
— Joe E (@AmazinHOF) November 3, 2014
Just in case you wanted to see what a real Mike Piazza, the future Hall of Famer Piazza, autograph looks like then take a look below.
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What about the jersey patch? Looks like a Mets patch so presumably a game worn piece of the catcher Piazza, but with the screw-up, I'm not confident in anything anymore.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! Although, I've always had a large amount of mistrust in relic pieces - especially of vintage retired players. Current player uniforms are easily attainable by the card manufacturers. A jersey piece of someone like Koufax, Paige or even Piazza (who's been retired for awhile now)? Well, I have to question their authenticity.
DeleteIf you throw in the recent FBI bust on game-used memorabilia dealers then the likelihood fakes have flooded the market is very real.
BTW, fakes are an endemic issue for all the card manufacturers, and in my opinion it's likely Upper Deck was one of the worse players. So, this isn't just a Topps issue.
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