Wha...?

The Topps Million Card Giveaway site never fails to amuse me...













So Topps is gimmicking Yankee cards that were printed 23 years ago? Oh good grief.

Tournament of Gimmicks Second Round

The second round in the Tournament of Gimmicks has officially begun! Cast your vote on the sidebar to the right. You have until 11:59 PM EST Saturday to vote. Don't forget about the Burdick, Olbermann and Berger regions as well.

Tournament of Gimmicks First Round Results

BURDICK REGION

1) 2008 Topps #FS1 Kazuo Uzuki 78
16) 1994 Score Rookie/Traded September Call-Up Redemption Card 7

8) 2009 Upper Deck #885 Ken Griffey, Jr. 20X 20
9) 2007 Topps Alex Rodriguez Road to 500 64


4) 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights "Upside-Down" Longoria, Bruce, and Fukudome 68
13) 1992-92 Triple Play 17

5) 2010 Yankee Pie-In-The-Face 62
12) 2001 Donruss "1999" & "2000" Retroactive 23


6) 1997-98 Pinnacle Mint 41
11) 2009 Topps Heritage #102 Adrian Gonzalez "Rangers" 32

3) 1989 Fleer #616 Billy Ripken "Fuck Face" 52
14) 1995-98 Leaf Materials inserts 21


7) 2008 Topps Heritage #201 Johan Santana "Mets" 27
10) 1998 Pinnacle Multi-Stat-Backs 46

2) Manufactured Letter Patches 54
15) 1994 Upper Deck Diamond Collection 19

OLBERMANN REGION

1) 2008 Topps #661 Johan Santana "No-Hitter" 61
16) 1982 Fleer #576 John Littlefield RevNeg 15

8) 2005-08 Topps Barry Bonds Home Run History 57
9) Allen & Ginter Rip Cards 22


2) 2008 Upper Deck Documentary 45
15) 1995 Stadium Club Ring Leader Phone Cards 28

7) 1998-2000 Topps TEK 34
10) 2007 Topps Generation Now 45


3) 2009 Topps Heritage #83 Derek Jeter "Red Sox" 39
14) 1997 Pinnacle Inside (Cards in a can) 38

6) 2008 Upper Deck Predictors #PP7 Hillary Clinton (Morgana) 57
11) Pacific Card-supials 20


4) 2007 Topps #40 Jeter/Bush/Mantle 41
13) 2008 Topps #234 Red Sox "Rudy Giuliani" 36

5) 1998 Zenith "Dare-to-Tear" 31
12) 2001 Pacific Manny Ramirez "Corked Bat" 46

BECKETT REGION

1) 2008 Topps Heritage #440 "Jon" Smoltz 22
16) 1995 Topps D3 12

8) 1996 Finest (Fractured Base Sets) 11
9) 1998 Pacific Aurora Cubes 17


4) 2006 Topps #297 Alex Gordon 26
13) 1995-99 Finest peel-off protectors 13

5) 1933 Goudey #106 Napoleon Lajoie 8
12) 2001 Sweet Spot #JIS Ichiro "Game-Used" Jersey 18


6) 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights #312 Joba Chamberlain "Astros" 22
11) 1982 Fleer #438 "All" Hrabosky 5' 1" 8

3) "Franken-Cuts" 20
14) 1999 Topps #220 & #461 Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa 11


7) 2010 Upper Deck Double-Take Variations 27
10) Sportflics 5

2) 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights #SQ1 Poley Walnuts 26
15) eTopps 14

BERGER REGION

1) 2008/09 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy 37
16) 1988 Topps Bigs 5

8) 2008 Bowman Chrome #155 Kosuke Fukudome No AU 21
9) 2008 Topps Kosuke Fukudome “Japan” 20


4) 2007-08 Topps Moments and Milestones 22
13) 2008 Topps #AS Arnold Schwarzenegger 21

5) Topps Target Throwback/Wal-Mart All Black Blasters 26
12) 2009 Topps Heritage #70 “Thom” Glavine 16


6)1998-2000 Skybox “Gangsta” Text 19
11) 1997-98 Leaf Fractal Matrix 11

3) 2001 Donruss Elite Extra Edition $5.99 Redemption Cards 26
14) 2006 Topps #RC1 Alay Soler 4


7) 1898 Upper Deck #413 Dale Murphy RevNeg 13
10) 2007 Topps Update & Highlights #100 Jacoby Ellsbury 17

2) 2010 Topps Milton Bradley “Scoreboard Abe” 22
15) 1969 Topps #653 Aurelio Rodriguez 8

Tournament of Gimmicks Update

Here's a wrap up of the Beckett and Olbermann regions and an interview with tournament and Stale Gum founder Chris Harris.

Tournament of Gimmicks Update: Olbermann Region

Here's a live update of the Olbermann Region. Second round begins Thursday!
BURDICK REGION
OLBERMANN REGION
BERGER REGION

Tournament of Gimmicks Update: Beckett Region

Here's a live update of the Beckett Region. REMEMBER, THERE'S STILL TIME TO VOTE FOR THE WORST BASEBALL CARD GIMMICKS OF ALL TIME!
BURDICK REGION
OLBERMANN REGION
BERGER REGION

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.