Monday, March 22, 2010

Tournament of Gimmicks: Round One, Day Two



Remember, you are picking the WORST gimmick in each game.

And don't forget to fill out your Burdick, Olbermann and Berger regions as well.

Game #5
2) 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights #SQ1 Poley Walnuts

For some reason Topps thought a stealth card of a squirrel climbing a foul pole would drive collectors to buy more packs of '07 U&H. It just drove us nuts. And of course Poley Walnuts plays for the Yankees. Of course he does.

vs
15) eTopps

The idea is you can buy, sell and trade your cards completely online without ever having to deal with the pesky physical possession of your cards. You know, if that type of thing puts you off. To be honest, the way some of these cards look, you'll be glad they are hundreds of miles away from you in some hyperbolic chamber in New York's outskirts. But it inspired the Million Card Giveaway and Topps really did strike gold with that.

Game #6
7) 2010 Upper Deck Double-Take Variations

Does anyone at Upper Deck really believe that someone is a) going to find out what all the meaningless little photo variations are? and b) going to actually attempt to collect them all? Oh, right.

vs
10) 1986-90, 1994-96 Sportflics

Sportflics, we hardly knew ye. Although you have to admit, a couple of pricey cards with full color backs in a foil pack in 1986 was decades ahead of it's time. Talk about your Hot Tub Time Machine. And of course Sportflics became Score and look at what they did for the hobby. No, I'm serious. I miss Score.

Game #7

6) 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights #312 Joba Chamberlain "Astros"

Believe it or not, there once was an innocent time when Joba the Hutt was the next coming. And he was a Yankee no less. Topps immediately went into cash money mode and saw fit to release not just this gimmick but this one as well. Why the Astros? Maybe Topps wanted to fool Yankees fans into thinking Joba pulled a Clemens.

vs
11) 1982 Fleer #438 "All" Hrabosky 5' 1"

In a set riddled with error cards the Al Hrabosky was certainly not in the category of this but was close. So Fleer fixes his name, then forgets The Mad Hungarian is definitely not 5'1" if he's an inch. The result, three different variations of the Hrabosky card with the one pictured above being the rarest.

Game #8
3) "Franken-Cuts"

Just when everyone started wetting their pants over unlicensed Razor cut sigs of dead presidents and ballplayers we found out the whole thing was a scam and get this, the autograph verification services we getting a "cut", literally. Now you couldn't sell one these frauds to someone's grandmother for a dime. Thank goodness this whole mess was exposed.

vs
14) 1999 Topps #220 & #461 Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa

To celebrate Big Mac and Sammy Soser steroiding their way toward one of baseball most hallowed numbers Topps released 70 and 66 different variations of their respective base cards. Seriously? I hope to kingdom come no one beats Barry.

You have until Thursday at Midnight (ET) to vote.

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