Two More Additions To The Panini Autopen Scandal

Time to add a couple more autopen autographs to Panini’s list.

After the announcement that Dak Prescott used an autopen on stickers that Panini used for his redemptions from the 2016 Panini Prizm release some people have begun checking on other Panini sets to see if this is not a one-time occurrence and a person on the Blowout forum found that Brian Kelly, from Florida Georgia Line, used an autopen on the stickers that Panini used for the 2014 Panini Country release. Another person found that Kelly’s bandmate Tyler Hubbard also used an autopen for the stickers that were used in the same release.

The use of an autopen is not Panini’s fault, that is on the athlete/personality that are signing the cards and stickers, but what is on Panini is that on more than one occasion these autographs have passed through people’s hands and nobody did anything about it. One or two autopen autographs can understandable slip through without being noticed but in the case of Kelly and Hubbard we are talking sheets of perfectly signed autographs that are on the same location of every sticker and signed with the same pressure, same start and stop location, same little swoop and loops and same angle every time. This is a situation of seeing and not caring, a QA issue.

At this point collectors are just looking for any autograph sequence that may look similar as a way to nail Panini, though this isn’t only a Panini problem, this a Panini only problem right now.

Why Must You Hurt Him Like This?

While I hit 1,300 unique Griffey cards a card that came in just prior is one that I am focusing on today. The card, #1,298 in the collection, came from a seller in the Seattle area in less than stellar condition. The card came in badly damaged, which was not the seller’s fault but from the post office. When I received the mailer it had a large oily circle that was roughly the size of a soda can smashed on to the middle of the padded mailer. I am guessing it was caused by some sort of machinery and even though the card was secured inside a rigid top loader it took some nasty damage to the top loader, penny sleeve and card.

The card has a circle stamped in to it that runs from Griffey’s waist and down his right leg and to add insult the card is creased above the circular mark. Ouch ouch ouch.  I contacted the seller to let her know how I received that card and I told her it was obviously damage by the post office and not her and that I was going to leave positive feedback, she immediately offered a refund and told me to keep the card. She even told me to look through her auctions and choose any card in the same value range and she would send that to me which I politely refused because I felt bad that not only was she out the Griffey card but the money too and I didn't feel right taking another card from her.

But while we were going back and forth I told her I used to live in the area and it turns out her and her husband used to run a card shop that I frequented in my town. It was totally random and had the card not been damaged I wouldn’t have contacted her and reconnected with an old dealer. Sadly, she closed the shop a year after I moved because her husband passed away but she is still selling cards through eBay.

Have A Wonderful Independance Day

Happy 4th Of July

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, and safe, holiday

A Little Scandal For Panini

Another scandal within the hobby, this time coming from 2016 Panini Prizm and the accusation that Dak Prescott has been using an auto-pen to sign his signature for redemptions from the set.

When I first saw this story appear on Twitter yesterday some people were saying that it was Beckett/BGS who notified Panini and wouldn’t grade the autograph on the card(s) submitted. I have not found any additional information regarding BGS being the first to find the issue but there is no question that Dak did not sign at least some of his cards.

EDIT 7/5- It was verified by Ryan Cracknell this morning (7/5) that it was BGS that did notice the issue and it was Beckett Authentication's Steve Grad who notified Panini. 

These are $350+ cards of one of the hottest rookies of 2016, Panini really mishandled this one. The back only says that they guarantee the autograph but in this case they cannot even do that. This isn’t an isolated incident of questioning an autographs authenticity and this isn’t a Panini only problem either. The only way to really counter things like this is to have a company rep witness the individual signing but that isn’t going to happen.

Monday Question Day- Storage? Plus A Fire Update

 Today is question day:

How do you store your cards?

I store most of my cards in four 5,000-ct boxes with a baseball box, football box, “other” box and Griffey box. I have my other PCs (Jay Buhner, Steve Largent and Ryan Bader) in a 3,000-ct box along with some other special cards. I have 3 binders that hold special cards or cards with some value with a baseball/basketball binder, football/other sports binder and non-sports binder. I have about 50 cards on display and my supplies are in a small dresser drawer next to my computer.

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As of 11:00 am this morning the Goodwin Fire is 27,541 acres burned but is now 75% contained and the Forestry Service is estimating full containment by July 13th. About half of the evacuated towns have been allowed to return and there has been some disruption of power to those towns but the power company is working to get those sections back up and running. Miraculously there has been no loss of life.

I have been through natural disasters before but this one caused me major anxiety. I am glad that I prepared for an evacuation and not need those supplies than not prepare and need the supplies. I have put away all those things because we are no longer in the path of the fire and I was finally able to sleep the last two nights. Smoke is still around and in the morning the smell of burning wood is pretty heavy but it isn't as bad as it was and last night when the moon was rising it looked red through the smoke, kind of neat.

I want to thank everyone for their words of support.

Here are some photos from a state wide news website (AZ Central), I did not take any of these, of the Goodwin fire.

Close Enough Right?

Someone at the Washington Post caught an error on the NFL’s website. The NFL’s online store is offering team plates with each plate showing the team’s logo over the state’s outline and someone made the mistake by using the outline of Washington State instead of Washington, D.C. for the Redskins. Whoops!

The plate has been removed since the Washington Post posted the story and since these are only mockups there is nothing physical to show someone’s geographical error. But as everyone knows, once an image is on the internet it will always remain on the internet.

Update on the Goodwin fire: It is up to 25,000 acres but is now 25% contained and my area is still being used as the evacuation center so we are safe and not under a pre-evacuation order. 

A Quick Post About My Day

Today is a personal post, something I rarely do outside of extreme circumstances.

I live in an area near Prescott in Northern Arizona. Currently there is a large brush fire, the Goodwin fire, that is burning to the south and east of my town. It started last Saturday and is now up to 20,644 acres burned with 1% controlled.

This was the view from my street yesterday when the fire was 4,400 acres and 12 miles away.

This is what it looks like now in my area. The smoke is so heavy and down to the ground it looks like fog or a dust storm and there is ash falling from the sky. Visibility is about 2 miles and there should be Bradshaw Mountain in the background but it is engulfed entirely with smoke.

My son’s school is being used as the evacuation site for areas that have already been evacuated. There are observation planes and helicopters flying over the house so low it rattles the walls and there are large flying tankers and Chinook helicopters towing water tanks going by regularly. Luckily there have not been any loss of life.

This is a spotter plane flying over my house, he was about 500 feet up and you can see the smoke even makes this picture blurry.

This is a Chinook yesterday flying from a nearby lake towing a water tank towards Bradshaw Mountain.

At this point my town has not been issued the pre-evacuation warning but I have begun getting things ready in case we do have to leave. I hit Walmart this morning to stock up on supplies and they are stacked in my garage ready to toss in to my Tahoe at a moment’s notice.

I am now experiencing a real life “What would you do with your collection if you had to leave unexpectedly?”

Now that I am comfortable that I have the important things ready to go I have begun to pull parts of my collection aside. This is most of what I would be taking; my entire Griffey collection along with my Buhner, Largent and Bader collections. My binders, which include relics, autographs, limited cards and sketch cards. My Griffey memorabilia and all of my displayed cards can be tossed in to the document boxes if it gets to the point I need to leave.

Bader Wins The Bellator Light-Heavyweight Championiship

Last Saturday night Ryan Bader had his first fight in Bellator MMA against Light-Heavyweight Champion Phil Davis for the belt, something that Bader never had the opportunity to do in the UFC. The fight went the full 5 rounds and went to the judges and in a split decision Ryan Bader became the new Bellator Light-Heavyweight Champion. It was a nail bitter until the end, it could have gone either way and I really thought Davis did enough to appear more active, though all of his takedown attempts were stuffed by Bader, and win over the judges but when the announcer said "And new champion..." I jumped out of my seat.

I have not picked up many Bader cards lately but I did grab this 2017 Topps Knockout Auto-Relic about a week ago. This is my 129^th Ryan Bader card (Not counting three Topps Vault cards) which puts my collection at 38.8% of all Bader cards.

Monday Question Day- Throwback Unis?

Today is question day:

Would you be interested in a set built completely on alternative or throwback uniforms?

Baseball obviously would be the best option because they do throwback games often each season so there would be many opportunities for photographing the players. Football and basketball do a number of throwback or alternative uniform games (NFL color rush and NBA Cinco de Mayo come to mind) but not as often as baseball.

Currently there are the occasional throwback or alternative jersey that shows up on cards, usually as a SP, but I would love to see a base set built only on throwbacks and/or alternative uniforms. Maybe toss in a couple of autographs (sticker autos would probably be necessary) and have an insert based on decades for example uniforms of the Dodgers in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, etc. and that would be it.

This 2015 Topps Update Bryant Throwback variant, I do not own this card, is a perfect example of what I am talking about. I would love a set built around throwbacks and alternative uniforms like this.

The Simpsons Mr. Burns Update

I have completed the Mr. Burns card and will eventually get to the backs, I am just going to make up stats for Homer and just create a bio for Mr. Burns. I am not going to work on the backs just yet but instead I have turned my attention to a couple of custom cards that have been rattling around my brain for awhile.