SO WHY ARE STICKER AUTOGRAPHS KILLING WHAT'S LEFT OF OUR HOBBY?

Most of you have not had the opportunities I got myself involved in very early on (pre-1998) regarding Certified Autograph Inserts. I'm the type of person who must know everything about anything I decide to spent time on- otherwise I don't do it at all.

When I first heard that 1991 Pro Line Football was inserting an ON CARD autograph into every three boxes or so, I was hooked. The only autograph I pulled from a box back then was an Art Shell. But I loved the design, the dual authenticity (embossed seal, and no card number) method. Plus I liked the cleanliness of the cards and the fact that the 1992 series had one autograph per box. THIS WAS THE VERY FIRST FAIRLY EASY TO FIND ALL AUTOGRAPH INSERT SET OF AROUND (100+) DIFFERENT PLAYERS. Some cards has frayed edges, especially on the gray area on the backs, but that didn't seem to matter very much. In 1992, I pulled about a dozen autos from boxes. None where superstars, but one box didn't have an autograph so I wrote a letter to the NFL Properties and they quickly sent me the one missing autograph & it was a star which was VERY nice of them and created a lifelong Pro Line autograph fan.
What many may not remember is that 1992 Pro Line had company offers where if you send in a certain number of wrappers you'd get a FREE bonus autograph! I got about (20) bonus autographs because in addition to luckily saving my wrappers, they also had another contest where if you had all the autographs in a row printed on a promo sheet- you'd win a specific star autograph and I got the Dan Marino autograph! I was living in FL at the time so I was elated. Even though football was my second favorite sport by far (Baseball has always been #1), Pro Line autographs increased my interest in FB much more.
When Pro Line decided to sell their license to Score Board I had a bad feeling about that which almost instantly came true.  The 1993 release was back to one auto in every three boxes OR LESS. In this hobby you can't increase the HOTTEST item in the product, and the next year decrease it substantially.
But then Score Board returned to one autograph per box and a design improvement for 1994 and I was once again in love with Pro Line. By 1994-95, Ken Goldin was on Shop At Home hawking "extra" autographs for far more what they were worth- so I decided to wait until the heat of these cards died down a bit as I had a feeling all other card companies would get in on this action.

By 1999, I decided to trade my entire 1989-1999 card collection for Certified Autograph Inserts (which at that time were still all ON CARD autos). I can't tell you how happy I was that I did that. In late 1998, I had one Mint Mark McGwire RC (1985 Topps) and knew it was time to trade it for Certified Autographs. I got three 1997 Donruss Signature autos for the McGwire RC: Alex Rodriguez Millennium Marks, Randy Johnson Millennium Marks (ERR- no serial number on back), and a Juan Gonzalez Millennium Marks. Considering I got that McGwire many years earlier in a trade for the whole 1985 Topps set for my $100 Studio Promo/Insert set- I got the best of that deal by far.

Then came early-mid 2001 and these were introduced by Playoff:

THE UGLY, USELESS STICKER AUTOGRAPHS!

The INSTANT I saw sticker autographs: I HATED THEM. I was one of the first people outside of the Production Managers for 2001 Score Select to ever see them. I was at that point receiving boxes to review directly from Ann Blake (Playoff' former owner). 2001 Score Select Football was the VERY FIRST product to have sticker autographs. The first several Playoff products actually used holo-foil return address labels (that they bought at Office Depot) for autographs!!!

This caused players (ESPECIALLY ROOKIES) who had gotten used to signing as big as they wanted on cards up to jerseys and other equipment to have to UNNATURALLY shrink their autos to fit the small stickers. This caused them to sign off one sticker onto the next sticker, This also caused them to change the shape and consistency of their autographs. THIS IS NOTHING ANY TRUE AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR WANTS TO SEE ON THEIR AUTOGRAPHS! But card companies were saving WAY too much money by using stickers, than by going through the more difficult process of getting ON CARD autographs.
At first Playoff used the LIE excuse that this would significantly cut down on REDEMPTION CARDS if not eradicate them all. It may have lowered the number of redemptions for a year, but by 2002 redemption STICKER autographs were popping up already. Now in 2014 there are MORE STICKER REDEMPTION CARDS than ON CARD autograph redemptions!!! How do card companies explain this???

To give a simple explanation to everyone whether they collect cards OR NOT, I'll explain this again. If you were to go to a ballgame and figured you'd try to get some autographs, would you bring cards, a baseball, football, etc. for the autographs OR would you bring a sheet of stickers to put on whatever item you want to when you get home?  THE ANSWER IS NEARLY THE SAME ALWAYS: no one would use stickers. The few who answer stickers never could explain WHY. So I have to disqualify the knuckleheads who said they'd bring stickers.
THE VERY SAME APPLIES FOR CARD COMPANY AUTOGRAPHS! There's no reason for sticker autos that helps collectors AT ALL, and it only saves card companies money. Since when have collectors cared about helping card companies since by the early 2000's they made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that they couldn't care less about collectors!

So next time you pull a scribbled UGLY autograph, know that 75% of the cause of these AWFUL autographs was caused by the implementation of STICKER AUTOGRAPHS which are on nearly 90% of all Topps & Panini products!  

WE CAN STOP THIS, WE JUST NEED TO COMPLAIN TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE! Go to the MLB, NFL, and even NHL Player Association websites and CONTACT anyone you can find a working e-mail for. Tell them the problems I stated here and add you own complaints. Then ask whomever you e-mailed to please forward your e-mail to the licensing person for merchandise and anyone else who they think might be able to SAVE OUR HOBBY! 

Can This Hobby Get Much Worse & What Will It Take for Card Companies to WAKE UP?

Sorry I've been unable to update for so long. My health just keeps getting worse. My healthy mind is trapped in a badly damaged body & this is beyond frustrating. You don't know how badly I wish I had the strength to do this daily and fight card companies/price guides directly. Because I know if the Executives got the TRUTH about what's truly going on in the hobby, they would make changes. They did it in the early 2000's when I caught Pacific and Playoff red-handed for committing fraud and it lasted until 2005 or so. When they all realized I was pretty much out of the picture they slowly but surely started up the FRAUD I stopped them from committing like selling left-over redemptions OUT THE BACK DOOR to their biggest direct buy dealers and withholding up to 25% of the most ex0pensive inserts from going into packs. Those are just two of dozens of terrible things that now ALL card companies have done at one time or another from 200-present INCLUDING TOPPS!

The Executives have always been shielded from the truth in this hobby. Now that many of the executives are new in this hobby, THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON IN THEIR OWN COMPANIES & since most of their e-mails are BLOCKED from the public we can't even tell them. I am absolutely certain that I know more about what goes on behind closed doors in any card company than their CEO's/Presidents- even though I haven't worked for a card company since late 2001 because some things change, BUT MOST DO NOT in this hobby. This especially goes for Topps that is run by Corporate Assholes who NEVER knew anything much about this hobby. I just proved that several months ago fighting for redemption replacements that were up to A YEAR OLD! Out of over (31) redemption autographs I was owed- that are now ALL past their 15-week replacement time, I only received THREE of the actual cards I was owed in the last 18-months.

In the December 2013 Issue of Beckett Football the front top cover states "TOPPS TALKS REDEMPTIONS". So of course I wasted my money and bought the first Beckett issue I bought in MANY months (because Beckett is so USELESS). So what did Topps say about redemptions, or what did Beckett ASK about redemptions that had anything to do with the MAJOR PROBLEMS I mentioned above? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  Nothing was mentioned about the tens of thousands (or HUNDREDS of thousands???) of redemption autographs owed to collectors that are over a YEAR old! Nothing was mentioned about all the LIES their Customer Service employees have been telling collectors since at least January, 2013 (that I personally have documented).

Topps used to ALWAYS send collectors an e-mail when their redemption was owed for 15-weeks. It was called the "LATE NOTIFY E-MAIL". They stopped doing this in late Jan. 2013, but never said why. It turns out their was a major scandal with employees STEALING LIKE CRAZY from their Duryea, PA offices. To anyone who receives a redemption or replacement- look at the return address: it's from Old Forge, PA. Apparently Topps tried to FIX the problems in Duryea, PA which took ALMOST A YEAR. When that failed, they just fired everyone and moved their PA offices to another town!!! Meanwhile Topps told NO ONE what was going on (ESPECIALLY BECKETT, the ONLY PRICE GUIDE LEFT) and many redemption holders are still waiting for their cards to this day!

THAT IS 100% BS AND YOU ALL NEED TO FIGHT TOPPS BEFORE THEY GO BANKRUPT & YOU GET NOTHING!

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How many of you are still owed 2012 Allen & Ginter Relic Redemption cards which are well over a year OVERDUE now?

I made what I thought was going to be a MASTER SET of these for a terminally ill little girl who I've been buying more cards for than I've bought for myself in the last 5-years. I was owed ALL of the redemption relic cards I needed to complete this set. I was also owed several 2012 Ginter Autograph redemptions. One I was especially looking forward to getting was the Guy Bluford (1st African-American NASA Astronaut) Autograph. I never got that autograph, AND NEVER WILL! Then Topps started sending me ABSOLUTE JUNK replacements that I DID NOT ASK FOR! They were sending RANDOM COMMON PLAYER AUTOGRAPHS IN REFRACTOR FORM FOR $15 LISTED STARS YOU WERE OWED! In the past it used to be Topps' policy that they will not send replacements until you ask for them. I had waited over two years for redemptions from Topps before because I needed that particular ON CARD autograph for my collection. But now Topps isn't even giving collectors a choice anymore!
<<<<<I started this on another post>>>>> I even got a Topps Executive involved and his assistant Claudia. Then they sent me about HALF of what they told me they were sending on the phone and they send me sticker autographs as replacements for ON CARD redemptions I was owed even though I told them I HATE AN Y STICKER AUTOGRAPHS. It's possible that these two were so DUMB that they couldn't tell the difference between an ON CARD autograph & a sticker!!! These are CORPORATE ASSHOLES who do not know the first thing about our hobby. Boxes they sent me were missing inserts: so these were either dealer returns, or end of print run boxes that they eventually sell very cheap to BIG dealers like Dave & Adam's Card World. End of print run boxes are missing inserts because the inserts wound up on the print room floor and are given to the card companies to send as replacements. This is how card companies get some of the cards they'll send you if you say you are missing certain inserts "guaranteed" per box.

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I decided to give Chris Olds (Beckett's President Or Senior Editor or whatever they call their boss these days) ONE LAST TRY getting any answers from him via e-mail in Jan. 2014. He responded for the FIRST TIME out of almost a dozen tries in three years and he said "I NEVER RECEIVED ANY E-MAIL FROM YOU.". He added that I should be more polite and I might get more replies. So I told him to check his e-mails again because either he doesn't know how to work e-mail, or he IS LYING (the truth) because I never once received an e-mail returned from the "Mailer-Daemon" to him from me & I keep copies of ALL my SENT & RECEIVED MAIL. I told him he needs to MAN-UP (that fat, lazy, boring bastard!) and if he wanted politeness maybe HE SHOULD PAY ME like he's paid for doing NOTHING helpful to collectors!!! Of course he never replied again. He's just plain useless. I tried contacting his partner Susan L. as well (who is a voluntary watcher of my Twitter page) and she didn't BOTHER to respond either.  THEY ARE BOTH USELESS! 

 

I contacted the NFLPA asking for any left-over promo cards they may have from any events like the decent Panini promos I've seen over the last couple of years. I told them I'll be donating all but one of each of the cards. Since I'm homebound and mostly bed-ridden I haven't been able to go to a card shop, show or event in over 7-years. 

Even though it was the LAST thing I expected: they sent me over a dozen Panini and Topps hobby boxes from 2011-2013 which was VERY NICE of them. It seems the card companies send freebie boxes to NFLPA Executives, and some executives didn't want to open their boxes. I learn something new every year! I know for a fact that Playoff did not do this in 2001. In fact Ann Blake told me "the less the NFLPA knows about what we do- the better". That's most likely because of all the fraud I busted them for doing.

So I can review current NFL hobby boxes: THEY ALL MOSTLY SUCK (nearly every autograph is an UGLY sticker), and the boxes were nearly all not worth buying for HALF what they sold for except maybe 2011-12 Panini Absolute, 2013 Topps Chrome Football, or 2013 Panini Contenders (if you can get a hobby box for $60 or less- which you probably can't). At least SOME autographs from those are ON CARD (Absolute RPM RC Autos, Chrome RC Autos, & some Contender Autos). I got a total of five redemptions and three were EXPIRED... the unexpired redemptions were from Topps that I may never see either. I didn't get one of the Top 3 RC autographs from any year. But did get a RARE ERROR Dual Auto card from 2013 Topps Platinum. It's an Giovani Bernard/Eddie Lacy Dual PATCH/AUTO numbered to 25. The problem is that the Giovani Bernard has a JORDAN REED (Redskins TE) STICKER autograph where Bernard's sticker is supposed to be. I never pulled an error sticker with the wrong player before (because I don't buy boxes with sticker autos), but I have heard of it happening: QUITE A BIT! PLUS the Lacy autograph was signed with a dry pen. Topps "supposedly" has a company representative view "ALL SIGNINGS"- then why did this representative not hand Lacy A NEW PEN?
Actual card:

 

I contacted Mike at Topps Customer Service over a week ago (last couple of days of Jan. 2014) and he told me to send him scans of the card to confirm the ERROR. I did that, and considering the way he was speaking- I should have heard back from him already but DID NOT??? I may wind up keeping this card whether I want to or not. I'll figure a way to sell all the other sticker autographs to buy more cards to donate this year.

 

It's about time Upper Deck gets the publicity IT DESERVES FOR ALL THE PAIN IT HAS CAUSED OUR HOBBY!

The Village Voice (a famous NYC newspaper) will be doing a story about Upper Deck and the fraud they've (Richard McWilliam especially) been involved in since the start of Upper Deck in 1989. I was contacted and told them everything I know. They will be using me as a contact as they continue to investigate their story as I'm sure there are things I haven't thought about in years but will recall as soon as a topic is mentioned. I can't wait to see it published.

 

As I've stated many times before: collect ON CARD Certified Autographs of cards you like. Those will always hold their value. I was buying dozens of 1993-94 Nabisco Autographs for $2-$3 each on eBay to give as holiday gifts to my Ambullette drivers, hospital employees and doctors who were good to me. Every one of those cards now easily sell for $10+ on eBay. I have a full set from each year and am glad I bought them when I did. There are MANY players that are Hall Of Famers that can still be bought for under $10 each for nice ON CARD autographs. Beckett FINALLY stated this so I was told & I've been telling everyone this exact thing since pre-2000. If that doesn't show you how USELESS Beckett Media is now that Jim Beckett has been long gone, nothing will... 

 

Good luck my friends!

 

James

Sports Card Hobby Fraud You NEED to READ: MORE FAKE GAME-USED CARDS!

I REALLY didn't want to have to post again, I'm way too sick to have to fight battles for people who are much more physically able. I just s[pent tnhe last MONTH in bed without leaving my one room apartment ONCE! I haven't been able to walk anywhere near normal because my disk (L5/S1) on top of my tailbone is herniated so bad that I couldn't use my low back muscles at all for the whole month.

I accidentally came upon some info that once again astonished me as to how stupid card companies can be. All the hobby big shots know who I am whether they wanted to or not. I FORCED them to know because they keep SCREWING UP & DIRECTLY HURTING COLLECTORS THROUGH GREED!
Ironically one of the WORST people like this died last month (Jan. 5th) and the news of his death only started trickling down to most collectors last week. The news of his death at age 59 was first released on my birthday (the 7th) which is also the day my friend Gary Carter (also died 11 months ago - age 57) was elected into the HOF in 2003 (weird...).

RICHARD McWILLIAM IS DEAD! <<<<click to go to story.

 

It sickens me how a FULL MONTH has passed and no details of his cause of death were released and EVERY story online that I found made him out to be a hobby hero! HE WAS A CROOK & HE PROBABLY DIED FROM DRUG ABUSE!!! Plain & simple. If I didn't know tons of factual stories to support this, I wouldn't have said it. I don't mean to disrespect the dead- but it's wrong to lie about this greedy scum too. He's given direct credit for all the innovations that Upper Deck came up with over the years, meanwhile there have been dozens of lawsuits against him specifically for him STEALING OTHER PEOPLE'S IDEAS. I've said it before & I'll say it again: I'VE NEVER BEEN SUED. This is because I ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH & I'm not in this hobby to make a penny profit. I'm not going to waste another second on this jerk.

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PLAYOFF WAS BUYING FAKE GAME-USED JERSEYS FROM BRAD HORNE (<<<click) FOR THEIR CARDS IN 2002 & I HAVE ABSOLUTE PROOF!

 

 In 2002 I personally obtained several documents directly from Playoff that listed all the information about 2002 Leaf Game-Used cards and autographs. These were lists of every card made and card deatils, how much they paid for the jerseys and autograph stickers, and most importantly: who they bought ther jerseys from. I got curious a couple of days ago and Googled a name I saw on the list of who these "game-used jerseys" came from. I get "strange feelings" from time to time and when I do I act upon these feelings. Some would call it intuition and others would say it is phychic. Since I always loved all sciences, I think it's simply intuition. So I looked up one name: BRAD HORNE because I got one of my funny feelings when I saw his name. HE WAS BUSTED JUST LAST YEAR FOR SELLING NOTHING BUT FAKE GAME-USED JERSEYS IN A STING BY POLICE! And I just happen to have a list of all 2002 GU Jerseys Cards made by Playoff in their Leaf Certified product & 10% of the jerseys they used were bought from BRAD HORNE & all the info I can find pionts to one thing: THEY ARE FAKE & THE FBI PROVED IT!!!

 

I personally saw Playoff using FAKE "game-used" jerseys of players like Daunte Culpepper (when he was RED HOT) with all the tags from the store they bought them from on them when I just started weorking for them in 2001, but I had no proof of this so I rarely mentioned it since I had iron-clad proof about so much other fraud. So I knew they were using brand new jerseys and calling them game-used & now it seems that I have the proof & here is an example. Sorry the text is so small, but it was on paper that was larger than the scanner I had, so I had to shrink it to fit in one .jpg file.  

 

 

If you can read this, you will see jerseys for the Fabric Of The Game cards of several players were bought from Brad Horne including John Riggins & Joe Montana! These are FAKE & WORTHLESS people!!!

 

YOU ALL NEED TO CONTACT PANINI (just click Panini) AND TELL THEM ABOUT THIS! You should call- Media & Public Relations. Feel free to tell them to read this page, or tell them "Cardcop dug up this info" - most of them know who I am...

I am too sick to do this, so I am handing off the responsibility to you.

 

How many other jerseys from other products used jerseys bought from BRAD HORNE by Playoff, then Donruss/Playoff & now Panini? When Panini bought Donruss/Playoff they kept most of the employees I busted for one thing or another (they only got rid of the top management), so there's no reason they would have stopped buying fake jerseys since I couldn't bust them for that. I rarely ever mentioned it too since I busted them for so much other stuff just as bad.

 

HELP ME FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

 

James



Final Post- Leaf Wrestling Problems & eBay Fraud Updates

This will most likely be my final post. All my illnesses took a very bad turn for the worst, including my terminal Myasthenia Gravis.

LEAF REALLY SCREWED-UP 2012 LEAF ORIGINALS WRESTLING!

 

When I saw the first Leaf Wrestling Autograph ever, I was in shock! All these autographed cards are missing the Autograph Authenticity Statement that ALL Autographed Card Company cards have had since 2000! That's correct, NOT ONE BIG CARD COMPANY IS MISSING AN AUTO AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT OR STAMP (in some earlier cases) EXCEPT FOR 2012 LEAF WRESTLING!

Plus ALL the printing plates are missing the Autograph Statement, 1/1 statement, AND what color the plate is!!!

 

I first noticed this on November 9th and immediately began e-mailing every hobby contact I had about this, especially the OWNER OF LEAF: Brian Gray. I of course blasted him a new asshole because I knew he did this so he didn't have to pay ANYONE for any licensing and thought if he condoned the authenticity of the autograph, then he'd be libel automatically for licensing rights! HE DID THIS BECAUSE HE'S CHEAP! Because of this, these autographs are practically worthless to those who collect ONLY Certified Autograph Card Company cards like myself. The reason being that ALL CARD COMPANY AUTOGRAPHS HAVE AN AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT! These cards don't even have the word AUTOGRAPH or SIGNATURE printed anywhere on ANY of these cards!!! Most didn't care, no price guide even responded and all sellers said they don't see what the issue is.

Am I the only person in this hobby that complains TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE when a major issue pops up? Because now ALL OF A SUDDEN everyone seems to be complaining about the very same  things I've been complaining about for almost TWO MONTHS & NON-STOP!

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I finally got an answer as to why message board/bloggers bash me with all lies on a regular basis. Instead of them using the information I provided from my past investigations (especially when I wasn't sick) and start investigations of their own, they expected me to continue fighting for them (for free as always) at the same level as when I wasn't sick??? THIS IS THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE BASHING ME!
I wan't you to see the exact response from a big MESSAGE BOARD ADMINISTRATOR who was bashing me all over the Internet. I asked him this: "WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" & this was his EXACT response:

"You and I had it out on the BMB (Beckett Message Boards) in 2004. You keep on rambling about all this crap, and how big a difference you (alone) made. You've made not one. Single bit of difference. The companies still do everything you stopped them from doing. It just gets old seeing these ramblings of yours everywhere. Especially when no one cares and people still buy the crap that Topps, UD, Panini still put out."

Besides his poor grammar, he makes no sense at all. He posted that I'm an eBay scammer, I never did anything to help the hobby and I'm basically a liar about everything. So why didn't he say any of that in his response??? Because he's useless scum, and I hate to say this but I think most who post on these boards/blogs are useless scum. You can blame catdaddyscards@gmail.com .

Many think I never did any fraud fighting until I got online in 1997. I started collecting in 1987 and felt sick every time I heard rumors from reliable sources about certain big dealers getting all kinds of stuff dirt cheap from several different illegal sources. But there was and NEVER HAS BEEN a governing agency in this hobby watching for fraud and then fighting it. This is why I started doing what I could locally when I gained enough hobby knowledge by 1992. I was born & raised in NYC, but lived in FL which I loved as often as I could (9-years of my 45-years of life). I've been stuck living in AWFUL living conditions since 2003 when I had to move back to NYC to get medical benefits & SSD.

So I guess I have to list some major that I accomplished starting in 1992:

1992: I fought sellers of many complete sets of 1992 Topps Real Gold cards (not Winners) from being sold BEFORE 1992 Topps was even released. A Florida dealer got most of these from his friend who worked at the printing company in NJ that put the gold foil & gloss on Topp's cards. Topps busted a ring that was selling large quantities of Topps cards illegally nationwide because of my tipping them off to this dealer who gave up everyone to get off easy himself.

1993: I reported a frequent card show seller (a real jerk too) who had two complete sets of UNSIGNED 1992 Pro Line Autograph cards at one show & was selling them as singles for up to $30.00 for the top stars like Emmitt Smith, Dan Marino, John Elway, etc. and was charging $3.00 each for commons. When I started asking him about these cards he offered me a complete set for $350.00! I spoke directly to my friend Bill Barron who made these cards as Director of the NFLPA at the time. These cards were confiscated from this dealer along with other illegal cards he had and he was fined a nice hefty amount.

I started fighting Shop At Home for lying constantly on air about the cards they were selling. I taped especially bad shows and started sending copies to the NFLPA & MLBPA. I fought them until they finally stopped selling cards by 2002 or so.

As soon as my very first website went up in 1997 I immediately started fighting the Score Board bankruptcy knowing that collectors would get screwed just like they did with Signature Rookies Redemptions. I wrote several letters directly to Judge Gloria Burns who of course didn't know the first thing about our hobby. So I explained it to her. All my letters are on file in this case in Cherry Hill, NJ to this day & forever so anyone can check to see when I started fighting hobby fraud. I didn't win over the judge, but I did win over Fleer who gave away 5,000 autographs to anyone who could prove that they were owed a redemption prior to the bankruptcy being filed. Everyone got a letter in the mail from the court so this was easy. Fleer didn't even run out of autographs! So I accomplished that.
Then I interned for over 200-hours to become a Forensic Document Examiner. Then I busted the largest sports autograph forgery ring EVER on eBay. The main ID was AL SALES, and the seller was Scott Davis. I even have his SS#. He was using MANY different ID's & I found and bust3ed each one. They were all permanently banned from eBay. BUT ACCORDING TO MOST ON MESSAGE BOARDS/BLOGS- I NEVER DID ANYTHING???

But with then NEW eBay, it doesn't matter because anyone banned can sign right back up. Even if you were banned YESTERDAY, you can sign back up today with the same name, address, phone and Paypal Account!!! The only thing you have to change is your user ID. HOW INSANE IS THAT???

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Fraud means PURPOSELY doing something morally wrong or illegal according to their licensing from each sport league that licenses them. You'd think that the leagues would monitor card company activity, BUT THEY DON'T! In fact the NFL goes out of it's way to HIDE fraud committed in our hobby! I saw that first hand while fighting all the fraud Playoff committed in 2001 that I had UNQUESTIONABLE proof of: back door selling, printing an illegal Ichiro Retro RC for early 2001 release, withholding up to 25% of expensive inserts from boxes, plus other stuff. The NFLPA, specifically Dawn Ridley-Nash helped Playoff bury the evidence I had against them!!! But thank goodness the MLBPA intervened and finally brought Playoff down years later. At least I stopped Playoff from back dooring cards from 2002-2008 for sure. If there was any back dooring, it was an employee stealing and not corporate back dooring. I'm sure all kinds of things went out the back door once they realized they were losing their baseball license. All those tons of close-out boxes of 2008-2009 Donruss/Playoff stuff on Dave & Adam's Card World came from somewhere & not legally either. You need to understand that I not only was a main reason that they lost their baseball license. This caused a domino effect that bankrupted Ann Blake-Powell too and made her fear being in our hobby! That was nothing but good news for ALL collectors that she will NEVER be in this hobby again. She did WHATEVER IT TOOK to make money. She tried to bribe me a few times with 5-figures!!! Plus she bribed anyone who ever stood in her way including the NFLPA. In 2001 when they requested to view all the autographed helmets for 2001 Absolute Football boxes she came to me in a panic saying "we need to get those in boxes this week to ship next week, but the NFLPA won' let me because they want to see them first". What most people don't know is that in 2001 (and most likely after) & all years before that I know of, the licensing agencies wanted to see all on item autographs BEFORE they went into products. THIS IS WHY THEY PUT AUTOGRAPH STICKERS ON CARDS- TO BYPASS THE LEAGUE VIEWING THE AUTOGRAPHS BEFORE THEY SHIP! I don't know why Ann was ignorant to think these helmets would be an exception! Then suddenly 2001 Absolute Football shipped on time??? Ann wouldn't tell me why either. She must have bribed the NFLPA (Dawn Ridley-Nash) to allow them to go out without the NFLPA's approval. How do I feel so strongly about this to put it in writing knowing full well that I could be libel to the NFLPA if I'm lying? Because of all the bribing I witnessed in-person by Ann Blake-Powell, and the fact that I told Dawn Ridley-Nash all the facts about the fraud playoff was committing & the NFLPA could have viewed all the evidence I had against Playoff at any time but never did, plus Playoff kept my entire personal collection of autographed inserts worth over $50,000 and the NFLPA did NOTHING! Luckily, I sent some Playoff evidence to a friend (with evidence against others as well) which is & always has been in a very safe place. This is why no one ever came after me and no one ever will!    

So what does "fighting them, or fighting fraud" mean? Doing countless hours of research to get BOTH sides of the story to make sure I have as much truth about the issue as possible. Getting as many people's contact information (e-mails, phone extensions, names & exact positions). Then I would ask all these people the exact same questions that were carefully thought out so they were not "leading' questions. I tried to be as impartial as possible for two reasons. I didn't want to scare off the supposed crooks and I didn't want to accuse in case the rumors were wrong.
Most card companies asked me to call them, especially once I got to management. They all wanted to speak on the phone at one point or another because they had no idea that I was taping EVERY CONVERSATION, but I was. They wrongly assumed that it was not legal to tape conversations. In both states I lived in while fighting hobby fraud, it was legal to tape record phone conversations as long as one of the party's knew they were being taped (I knew so it was legal). By early 1999, I had set up a nice system which recorded crystal clearly using a headset & microphone hooked directly into my dual tape deck. 

How can change be stable unless someone is making sure the same issues don't start up again? If they do- someone MUST stop the card companies from doing it!  The changes I made from 1999-2001 lasted until about 2010. That's not too bad being that the card companies were so afraid to: do things that were illegal according to their Player Association licensing, sell cards out the back door, or purposely do anything wrong that I knew of.  I made it clear in 2004 when I ended my website that I wanted all the hobby facts on my site to stay online to help people in the future. I got thousands of hits a month - not bad for a privately run site which ONLY fought sports card fraud. I had few links, no ads and no funding (other than my pocket), plus I rarely put my site in search engines. So most of my hits were collectors telling other collectors. I wish I could have afforded to keep that site up. I explained this 6-months before I had to shut it down. Then a Beckett Message Board asshole bought my site to "make a better hobby website" as he stated & it's been EXACTLY the same nothing since 2004. Look for yourself: www.cardcop.org  Don't bother sending him an e-mail, he never checks it!!!

I'M TRYING TO MOTIVATE ALL OF YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOURSELVES BECAUSE I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO AT ALL SINCE 2009!!! All I've been able to do is fight some things that were very obvious & easy for me like NSA fake GU cards and now the Leaf Wrestling Autograph cards that are missing any autograph authenticity statement. But now I cannot even do that, so it's YOUR TURN! I've posted enough information to make it easy for you, but according to almost everyone who posts/blogs: the hobby is worse than ever as far as fraud goes.

If you don't fight for yourself, of course things will continue to get worse! IS EVERYONE THAT IGNORANT THAT I HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS! 

 

There is a ten year old on You Tube who goes to retail stores & busts pack searchers in the act with his cell phone to record. THAT WAS A FANTASTIC IDEA & A TEN YEAR OLD CAME UP WITH THE IDEA HIMSELF! So don't say you can't make a difference! If you still do after reading this LONG post, then you are just lazy and need to keep YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

Some bloggers are stupid enough to ask me why I keep telling them I'm so sick- NOW YOU KNOW: TO EXPLAIN WHY I CANNOT FIGHT FRAUD ANYMORE & TO INSPIRE YOU TO FIGHT FRAUD YOURSELVES, OK? Then there's the complete idiots who say I'm not sick at all until I send them medical documentation, then the don't respond to me ever again or blog about me ever again either??? If anyone wants to see medical documentation OR have ANY questions e-mail me: cardcop04@gmail.com . Medical information is PRIVATE & cannot be sent to anyone else but to whom I send it to directly.

Everyone of you has an ability or many abilities. Use your abilities that you have to fight fraud with any time you have & fight the wrongs in this hobby! I'm not asking anyone to change the world, just do what you can! Some of you are Private Investigators, so teach other collectors how to get information out of people when they don't want to talk. It's EASY when you know how. I had to teach myself which took a LONG time, but once I got it, it was truly easy.

I got Fleer (Lloyd Pawlak) to admit to me (on tape) by phone that Fleer purposely withheld all serial numbered RC's & autographs from 2001 RETAIL boxes because the distributor (the middle-man between the card company & the retail stores) told Fleer that they wanted them to do something to stop so much theft. So Fleer solution was not not put any expensive inserts in these boxes. YET THE PRICE STAYED THE SAME!!! Fleer literally STOLE FROM EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT these $19.99-$34.99 boxes and I'm the only one who caught it! Six different products were involved including Fleer Greats Of The Game which stated on the boxes that autographs were 1:40 packs & there were NONE! I had to buy ten boxes of each product to prove this to Fleer & get them to admit the truth to me. I reported everything to Beckett and the other guides, but as always they never said a word!
The Price Guides would have to change if all of you went after them too! But instead most of you say nothing publicly & the ones that do only complain  to other collectors on message boards & blogs that no price guides or card companies read!!! THAT DOES NO GOOD AT ALL!

YOU ALL HAVE YOURSELVES TO BLAME FOR THE STATE THAT THIS HOBBY IS IN! IF YOU'VE DONE NOTHING TO FIX THE PROBLEMS DIRECTLY, THEN YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEMS!

 

Here's info most people will say you can't get anywhere.

 

 

Who prints card company cards???

 Upper Deck is the only card company to print their own cards that I'm aware of. All these companies: Press Pass, Topps, Fleer, Donruss/Playoff, Pinnacle, and others had cards printed by: Great Western Inc. 13465 Jupiter Rd. Dallas, TX 75238. Website: www.gwiinc.com  since 2000 or earlier. Personally I think that is a conflict of interest having the same private company print cards for all the same card companies especially since I know Ann Blake was part owner of this company!

 

How do you get a card company executive to talk to you on the phone?

YOU HAVE TO LIE! Call their Customer Service phone number. Whoever picks up say "you are the second wrong person I've been transferred to, I'm the owner of Great Western in Texas and need to speak directly to" and pick a name from below. 

 

 

Want card company executive e-mails? Here they are:

 

Topps:

ashorin@topps.com (Arthur Shorin -CEO), mappel@topps.com (Marty Appel - Senior Executive), wfriss@topps.com (Warren Friss -Vice-President), aweinstock@topps.com, (Ari Weinstock -Manager), jhaza@topps.com (Jeff Haza -Manager), jsechrist@topps.com (John Sechrist -Manager).

 

Panini-

thackler@paniniamerica.net (Tracy Hackler - Senior Manger. Switches from Playoff/Panini to Beckett once a year on average since 2000).

 

Leaf:

brian@leaftradingcards.com (Brian Gray -Owner), adam@leaftradingcards.com (Adam Berk -Hobby Sales), cassandra@leaftradingcards.com (Customer Service)

 

Beckett:

colds@beckett.com (Chris Olds - Senior Managing Editor), bfleischer@beckett.com (Brian Fleischer -long time writer & book writer for Beckett).

 

NFLPA:

demaurice.smith@nflplayers.com (President of NFLPA), carl.francis@nflplayers.com (Hobby Licensing Manager).

 

These are just a few to get you started, call any company when you are POSITIVE that they are closed and go through their voice mail system entering a random three letters to see if you get a name which also usually gives you their position. Then follow the same e-mail examples as above- like if they use the full name: THEN ALL EMPLOYEES LOOK THE SAME WAY! This is true for almost any company in any field!

 

Good luck & FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

 

 

 



James McCay aka Cardcop

Leaf Wrestling MISSING Any Autograph Authenticity!

THERE IS A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THE NEW LEAF ORIGINALS WRESTLING "AUTOGRAPH" CARDS!

NOT ONE OF THESE CARDS HAS THE AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT THAT IS ON ALL CERTIFIED CARD COMPANY AUTOGRAPHS MADE AFTER 2000- EVEN ON PAST 2012 LEAF AUTOGRAPHS!!!

 

So far about half of the dealers I ask about this agree that this was a major problem caused by Leaf. These cards don't even have the word: AUTOGRAPH or SIGNATURE printed ANYWHERE ON THESE CARDS, HOW CAN THIS BE??? I think most of the sellers who disagree are simply trying to sell the cards they have left, so of course they refuse to bad mouth what they are selling. My personal morals & integrity are too great to understand this!

 

We as collectors need to act now & contact brian@leaftradingcards.com -the owner of Leaf. You can also go to their web site & click links for Leaf Originals Wrestling to see more details on the specific product I'm talking about here www.leaftradingcards.com .

 

Brian Gray (Leaf's obnoxious owner) needs to be made aware that he screwed-up BIG TIME because he made Certified Autographs that are useless to true Certified Autograph collectors. To me, as a long time collector of ONLY Certified Autograpghs made by trusted card companies- these Leaf Wrestling autographs are nearly WORTHLESS! They are only worth what a Forensic Document Examiner authenticated autograph is worth. But who is going to spend $25+ to get a $10 autograph authenticated? NO ONE! Luckily I am a Forensic Document Examiner myself, so I have been buying some of these cards (only for $5 average each) to donate to hospitalized children as I do every year since 1989. But to me as a CAI collector- I DO NOT HAVE ANY USE FOR THESE & NEITHER SHOULD YOU!

 

Let me explain why: 

 

1) If Leaf goes out of business, or bankrupt (they've only been "Leaf" since 2010) do you think that anyone will think these are Certified Autograph Inserts (CAI's) in a year or more when the cards say NOTHING about the autograph on the card? I DON'T THINK SO!

 

2) If these cards go from the hands of someone who pulled them from a Leaf box that's one thing. But what if they wind up in the hands of a hobby newbie or hobby rookie? They won't have ANY idea where these "autographs" came from and if they are real! THIS IS A MAIN REASON WHY AUTHENTICITY STATEMENTS (OR STAMPS) ARE PUT ON THESE CARDS BY TRUSTWORTHY COMPANIES LIKE TOPPS!

 

3) There is a reason Leaf did not put the Autograph Authenticity Statement on these cards. We may never know why, but I have my opinion which I have to keep to myself for now. Then there's that odd statement that is on the very low backs of these cards IN SMALL PRINT which is for the licensing of the cards alone. It's like maybe (just a thought) Leaf didn't feel like paying the WWE for licensing rights to the wrestlers names given to them by the WWF/WWE (and is owned by them) so they thought that this statement putting the blame on the wrestlers would work??? That is very suspicious as to what Leaf would do to make money & how little the care about collectors.

 

I had a run-in with the owner of Leaf a few months back when I was owed a Darryl LaMonica Lombardi Autograph Redemption. Then I get a letter stating that they couldn't get LaMonica so they offered $30.00 worth of replacements. I asked politely for one card instead of a few commons. I also told them I collect 1967 players from SB I. There are DOZENS of these players in the Lombardi Set- so why didn't he send me one of those??? Then I was forwarded to Brian Gray.

After explaining to him about my physical disabilities (MD & MS+++), my charity work and my fighting hobby fraud all for free he sends me three COMMON NFL Draft RC's- exactly what I didn't want!!! If he was a jerk right off the bat that's one thing, but he made me believe that he was listening to me and stated he was going to take care of me & HE DID NOT! This made me decide to NEVER send a redemption to Leaf again!

 

When I blasted Brian Gray the moment I found out about these Leaf Wrestling screwed-up cards I told him & he threatened to sue me??? So I cannot do anything to help- IT'S UP TO YOU NOW! These could have been the HOTTEST Certified Autographs of 2012 IF THEY WERE CERTIFIED!!!

 

If you as a collector do not fight for your rights, then this hobby will continue to get worse until it's gone! I care more about the young collectors than ANYTHING & no one else seems to care about them anymore.

 

SO FIGHT LEAF FOR THEM TO OFFER CERTIFICATION FOR THESE LEAF WRESTLING CARDS! 

They have a program called Leaf Authenticated already in place where they put matching serial numbered holograms on the autograph card & a separate COA card. If they do this to these UNAUTHENTICATED Wrestling cards if we request it, then the cards we get back will be worth drastically more! Most of these autographs can be had for $3.00-$6.00 now. Even Hulk Hogan can be found for $50.00-$60.00 (far less than ANY Certified Hulk Autographs)!

I RETURNED A HULK HOGAN I WON FOR $59 & IT WAS SERIAL #01/50!!! I ALSO WON A HOT BOX (WITH FIVE #'ED AUTOS PER BOX) FOR $83 WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE $179.00. I RETURNED THAT TOO!

Now regular boxes of (5) autographs can easily be had for $50.00 (they were $79.00). This is because of what I did telling the hobby the truth about these cards and all the collectors who found this out themselves, often the HARD way! 

 

2014 UPDATE- As I predicted there was a fairly long period of time where these "autograph" cards could be bought on eBay for $5.00 or less for about 90% of the subjects in this set. Most can still be bought for $5 each or less! The best stars of course cost more, but they always sold for far less than sticker autographs (which true autograph collectors ALWAYs hated and still do) of the exact same wrestling subjects made by Topps or other companies that had Autograph Authenticity Statements right on the cards!

Months after I went on my mission to bring out the truth regarding these cards many other dealers AND collectors had the exact same complaints all over message boards and blogs online. They were slow to catch up, but they caught on. I should note that Brian Gray never did offer any solution to this problem. But his reputation is where it belongs now: near the toilet because he is nothing more than a GREEDY SCUM LIAR! The number of products Leaf released in 2014 has decreased quite a bit compared to other years and less and less people are buying Leaf cards which is smart. When the owner of a card company loses much of his hobby reputation, the products they've ever released suffer as well. Just look at the prices of Leaf Draft Pick autographs compared to Bowman Chrome autographs released the same year of the same players. the difference in price has stretched farther than ever I thought they would. 

 

Good luck & FIGHT ON!

 

James McCay



I have been a Certified Autograph Insert expert since the mid-1990's. I interned with a famous Forensic Document Examiner for over 200-hours in 1999 & bustyed the largest forgery ring EVER on eBay soon after. I LOVE THIS HOBBY WHICH IS WHY I FIGHT SO HARD FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT FIGHT!
I either learn everything there is to know about something I want to get involved in- or I don't do it at all. As a collector, I started in general in 1987 at age 20. I was inspired by former NY Met & HOF'er Gary Carter to donate all the profit I could have made from this hobby to hospitalized children every year from 1989-2011 (so far). So I have a unique situation where nothing I've EVER done in this hobby was for personal gain in any way shape or form. 99%+ of what I ever bought on eBay was to donate in December of each year. I worked very hard to help all collectors & investigated just about every hobby rumor you could mention. I found the truth and exposed it. I caused two BIG card companies to lose their baseball licenses for fraud which banrupted both companies. I've done freelance writing for many hobby publications. I've also had dozens of stories done in hobby publications about my donations and one about the start of my 1997 web site when I fought the Score Board bankruptcy trying to save collector's redemptions. Fleer read my site and were very nice to donate 5,000 autographs to those who could prove they were owed autographs.
I am now 45 and am in severe pain 24/7 from ruptured disks in my low back & neck w/awful nerve damage. I rarely can walk just a short ways and am bed-ridden most of the time. Because I have MD (Muscular Dystrophy) & MS (Multiple Sclerosis) symptoms I cannot have any type of surgery, the anesthesia would kill me. As long as I can type I'm here for anyone who has any questions.  cardcop04@gmail.com

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours: Blocked eBay Bidders & the FLIP side!

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours: Blocked eBay Bidders

I totally agree with you. Since I've been on eBay in 1997 (as a buyer & seller), I've always paid in 48-hours NO MATTER WHAT even though I have a very rare type of Muscular Dystrophy where I can barely move most days & even snuck out of the hospital more than once to get my eBay stuff in order. SO HEALTHY PEOPLE HAVE NO EXCUSE AT ALL!

But on the flip-side there are just as many cheap sellers who penny pinch every way they can think of regardless of eBay's Excessive S&H rules. I disagree with eBay's policies like charging that RIDICULOUS S&H fee to sellers, but that's no excuse to overcharge buyers!!! We are supposed to be peers here: BOTH buyers & sellers. Plus it makes BAD business sense to anger a buyer. I can't tell you how many sellers charge $3.00 to start, then .50 cents or more for each additional item. Then they send the (5) single card items I won with either no penny sleeves, or with them but no top-loaders at all & taped all over the place needlessly making it easy to damage cards cutting them out of this cocoon! If you charge me $2.00-$2.50 for unlimited shipping (like I ALWAYS did) you can package my cards anyway you wish, so long as they arrive in the same shape they were when I bought them & don't get damaged by you OVER taping them up. I always shipped in top-loaders for single cards with 1/2 inch crystal clear tape along the entire top making it almost air-tight & the tape never obscured the card anywhere. I never taped cards together either, or taped "dummy" cards around the top-loaders & I NEVER ONCE had a buyer receive a damaged card from me out of thousands of packages.
I often lost money on shipping but SO WHAT! If you are losing that much money selling cards that you cannot spend $1.00 out of your profit to make a buyer extra happy: IT'S TIME TO STOP SELLING- LIKE I DID! When/if the hobby improves, I'll sell again.

Those who charge more than $3.00 for a package weighing less than 4-ounces are OVERCHARGING no matter how many auctions the buyer won! Regardless whether eBay does anything, I still report every buyer who really overcharges for shipping & so should everyone.

The Contradiction that has Become eBay.

In the past I did stories about eBay going BUY IT NOW only. Thanks to overwhelming user response, eBay seems to have scrapped that idea! YEAH!

But the computer take over of so many eBay functions continues & big brother on eBay has never been worse. If you ever want to talk to someone you bought from or someone who bought from you- REMEMBER- Paypal lists the ACTUAL e-mail for these people on your receipt. So DO NOT use eBay Mail unless you absolutely have to. eBay has a computer program read EVERY e-mail you send through eBay Mail!!! If I wanted that, I'd move to Communist Russia!

EBay simply does not make any sense any more. Places have rules- and if you study those rules over and over so that you can become an authority on those rules, you can help enforce those rules- right? That sounds like correct logic, doesn't it? BUT THAT'S NOT HOW THINGS WORK ON EBAY!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't lie and I don't exaggerate. You know why? This hobby and companies involved in our hobby of Sports Cards & Memorabilia do such crazy things that I never have to lie or exaggerate because the truth is even stranger! 

Once again I'm at war with eBay. The ID I've been using for 5-months now: cardsharks ( I changed one letter to avoid eBay identifying me) has built up over (600) feedbacks and according to every regular eBay employee I spoke with by phone I was told many times "YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING REPUTATION AS AN HONORABLE BUYER & WE THANK YOU FOR THAT".
Remember I'm permanently suspended from eBay for well over a year now for basically fighting eBay's stupidest rules. All I did was calmly discuss the rules that contradict each other with "specialists" (eBay's term for supervisors) & since I wouldn't agree with the specialists I was permanently suspended. I SWEAR TO YOU THAT THIS IS THE REASON & I WILL GLADLY TAKE A POLYGRAPH TEST TO PROVE THIS!

The main issue was buyers that complain about the absolute worst sellers they encounter to eBay & by feedback and in retaliation the sellers call eBay with frivolous complaints about these buyers. The way eBay's Policy Violation system is set-up is this: ANYONE GETS A POLICY VIOLATION JUST BY EBAY GETTING A PHONE CALL ABOUT THE BUYER/SELLER REGARDLESS OF THE BASIS OF THE CALL OR COMPLAINT! THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE FACT PEOPLE, I PROVED IT OVER & OVER WITH THEM!

Now, the default Seller block for Policy Violations is (4) four in one month. So if you are a buyer who is fed up with newbie sellers who charge $4.00+ to ship one card and then your card arrives: in a plain white envelope with $1.05 postage, or if you bought (4) cards & were charged $1.00 for each additional card & the postage was $2.00 in a .25 cent bubble envelope, or you complain politely to the buyer & they immediately snap back saying "it's none of your business what I charge", or "my eBay/Paypal fees were $1.00, and it cost me most & time for gas to go to the Post Office". MEANWHILE ALL OF THESE EXCUSES ARE AGAINST EBAY'S RULES WHICH ARE CLEARLY STATED! So you call eBay and the employee you speak with tells you that you did the right thing by calling and you should continue to call & leave negative feedback for such things and you shouldn't worry about retaliation because we will help you: IS A BUNCH OF LIES!!!
Once you get a "specialist" on the phone they'll never disagree with the person who told you all those things- BUT they will say: "you must have misunderstood them", or "they wouldn't have said that". SO THEY BASICALLY PLAY GOOD COP/BAD COP!

Over the last two months I've been buying 2011-12 Panini Preferred ON CARD autographs like crazy because one of the hospitalized children I buy cards for wants these sets. The family of this child have given me as much money as they could come up with and I am donating the rest to make this dream come true.
There once was a time in America where you could contact a company and explain the details of a dying 14-year old child who collects cards and even provide the medical records (which the family will gladly do) in order to get a donation directly from the company. However, thanks to the unstoppable greed in this hobby and the current state of this country's economy- those donations DO NOT happen anymore! I did ask Panini for help THREE times over the last two years & they didn't even bother to respond (I contacted five different departments)! So it's up to individuals like myself to make these dreams come true.

BTW- I've been buying cards for this 14-year old dying girl for over 2-years and her doctor told her parents several times in that span that she has a couple of months to live- so I'd like to think that the cards are helping her stay alive.

So far I have spent over $1,500 out of my pocket (literally on my credit card which I don't know how I'm going to pay back) after the $2,000 the family gave me was gone. The good news is that the Crown Royale & Panini Choice sets are over 90% complete!!! We agreed that we would not include any individual cards that cost over $100 each. But in exchange I've been getting as many versions as possible of each Panini Choice cards (Red, Blue, Silver & Gold), Gold Versions of Crown Royale and have over (20) different Silhouettes JSY/AUTO cards too. I have at least two versions of 75%+ of the Panini Choice players. I have (86) of the (100) cards in the Choice set, 75% of the Silhouettes (which I'm adding as a bonus) and have (36) of the (39) Crown Royale cards. The only player that has eluded me in both sets (Crown & Choice) has been Oscar Robertson. I'm willing to pay $40-$50 for each card, but less than (4) of either card has ever shown up on eBay! So there are 35+ of each card still in packs or in other people's sets.

I've found that patience definitely pays off with these cards. The Devin Ebanks redemptions for ANY of his cards were $18-$25 each before the actual cards started shipping 10-days ago. Then I bought the actual Crown card for $12.00 & $12 for the Silhouettes card. SO WHY WERE THE REDEMPTIONS SO EXPENSIVE FOR SUCH AN IFFY PLAYER? Who knows, he sure isn't the next Kobe Bryant!!!
My next mission is to get the Mitch Richmond cards for less than $15.00 each. He's another one that is OVERPRICED, & Tony Kukoc is another one at $25.00 which is NOT WORTH IT. I'll wait until I can get each for $15.00 or less which I'm 75% sure will happen within the next month or so.

Remember to always ask questions & FIGHT anything that you think is wrong- ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE- I'm proof!

Best wishes as always.

James McCay aka Cardcop