In Case You Were Wondering What Happened to the Rest of Inkworks' Stock

Since non-sport manufacturer Inkworks closed up shop a few months ago, much has been speculated about their remaining inventory. There was a noticeable upturn in the number of eBay listings, particularly from a couple of sellers. Then there was Razor's grab bag release Ink Archives that had one random Inkworks autograph per pack.

Factory Entertainment has now launched InkworksArchives.com, which should answer a lot of questions about the leftovers, particularly autographs, Pieceworks costume cards and sketch cards. There's also a lot of promo cards and uncut press sheets, which were an Inkworks staple.

I've only done a quick browse through what's available but it should give an indication as to what there was lots leftover on. For example, there's lots of Golden Compass cards, but very little for either of the Alien vs. Predator set. Of course, this could change if more items are listed on the site, but it's a good first look.

Upper Deck Sticks It to Topps One More Time

In light of the whole Upper Deck paying homage to Topps O-Pee-Chee lawsuit, including the 2009 O-Pee-Chee parallels that were supposed to mimic the 1971 design, I find this card from 2009 SP Legendary Cuts a little funny:

So do you think the card containing the disappearing ink penmanship to be from 1971 Topps Baseball or 1971 O-Pee-Chee Baseball?

Holy cow is that one ugly card. Ugly signature. Face cut off to protect image rights. Blech. The "new" part of the card has Martin on the Yankees but the not-so-obvious "inner card" has him on the Tigers. I love the clean stamp look of this year's SP Legendary Cuts but this card is pretty bad. But it can be found on eBay for a penny less than $175.

A Few More Father's Day Delights

Here's a few more cards to celebrate Father's Day with.

 

 2006 Topps Co-Signers Baseball Dual Autograph Cecil and Prince Fielder

 

1991 Score Baseball "The Griffeys"

 
 

1985 Fleer Baseball "Super Star Special"

 

John F. Kennedy (Topps, 1964) #2

 

President Obama (Topps, 2009) #65

 

The Brady Bunch (Topps, 1969) #83

 

Family Guy: Season Two (Inkworks, 2005) #P1

  

  

Gallery: 1985 Topps Father/Son

After being mauled by the kids at 6:30 this morning, I've come to the groggy realization that today is Father's Day. So here's a topical gallery to get your day going.

There's a subset in 1985 Topps Baseball that showcases various father and son duos who had made the Majors. "Father • Son" consists of 13 horizontal cards running from #131 through 143. Interestingly, it also shows Topps' love for their old stuff long before brands like Heritage emerged.

For all those dads out there, Happy Father's Day. I'm off to go watch some Doctor Who with my four-year-old daughter who thinks the aliens are strangely funny.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

More From The Office - Opening Credits

It's late, I have a long day tomorrow but I'm avoiding sleep. With only a week left of work until the so-called summer break, what's a little lost snoozing anyways?

I've started delving into the DVD's of the first season of The Office as I play, experiment and attempt a dream set of what I think would be a great non-sport set.

These likely won't be my final cards, but they're a start. I envision probably only three cards in the final set that cover the opening plus the header. Card backs will come eventually. I'm thinking of maintaining the folder theme, maybe add a coffee ring and use corkboard for the back's backdrop.

Anyways, here's some rough drafts for the very front end of the "set":

The set's header card, probably a checklist on the back.

Upper Deck Masterpieces Aren't Dead Yet

It might not be around as a full-fledged baseball set this year, but it looks like the Upper Deck Masterpieces line isn't gone entirely. The beautiful piece of artwork shown above is an insert that'll be found in 2009-10 Upper Deck Basketball.

The early checklist shows a total of 35 cards in the set, although I couldn't dig up the insertion rates. I haven't picked up any basketball cards since Kobe was considered a youngster and the Grizzlies were still in Vancouver. That will likely change once these are released. 2009-10 Upper Deck Basketball is scheduled to hit shelves in September.

And, yes, I was under the impression 2008-09 was it for Upper Deck and basketball too.

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Autograph Checklist

Below is the early autograph checklist for Upper Deck's apparent answer to Allen & Ginter, 2009 Goodwin Champions Baseball. I do have to admit, the possibility of getting a Michael Jordan autograph, even if it's super slim, is intriguing. Poker champs like Evelyn Ng - not so excited. But that's the A&G formula, so I'm not surprised in the least.

The design leaves good space for both the signature (on card!) and a nice picture. The clouded background of the Jordan looks super nice, although Jeter and James look a little too Photoshopped.

There's two things to remember when going through this checklist:
1) These early lists often change and often become much weaker. That being said, the main signers are Upper Deck spokesmen so the chances of the Jordan disappearing are unlikely.
2) The best signers are often the hardest to find.

 

 

Each box of 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions will have one autograph.

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Autographs
(Please note, this list is subject to change.)

Adrian Gonzalez
Alex Hinshaw
Al Kaline
Jonathan Albaladejo
Bucky Dent
Jeremy Bloom
Bobby Orr
Bill Rodgers
Bill Skowron
Chad Billingsley
Corky Carroll
Rick Cerone
Chone Figgins
Chipper Jones
Clayton Kershaw
Carlos Lee
Chris Perez
Clayton Richard
Chris Volstad
Cory Wade
Dick Allen
Dennis Eckersley
Don Gay
Derek Jeter
Daniel Murphy
Don Newcombe
Donovan Bailey
Dustin Pedroia
Dave Scott
Eric Chavez
Evan Longoria
Evelyn Ng
Felix Hernandez
Garrett Atkins
Gavin Floyd
Kevin Garnett
Grady Sizemore
Ken Griffey Sr.
Hunter Pence
Hanley Ramirez
Joe Alexander
Jay Bruce
Joe Carter
Jed Lowrie
Josh Johnson
Joe Lewis
John Maine
Jon Lester
Joe Pepitone
James Shields
Justin Masterson
Josh Willingham
Ken Griffey Jr.
Kent Hrbek
Koji Uehara
Kevin Youkilis
Ryan Braun
Laird Hamilton
LeBron James
Gerry Lopez
Mark Allen
Matt Cain
Matt Garza
Michael Jordan
Nate McLouth
Nyjer Morgan
Mark Zupan
Nick Markakis
Nolan Ryan
Ozzie Smith
Mike Parsons
David Price
Prince Fielder
Phil Hellmuth
Jonathan Papelbon
Paul Konerko
Paul Molitor
David Purcey
Brooks Robinson
Chad Reed
Rollie Fingers
Roy Halladay
Roy White
Steve Carlton
Stephen Drew
Kelly Shoppach
Sparky Lyle
Geovany Soto
Tom Curren
Tony Gwynn
Ted Martin
Troy Tulowitzki
Whitey Ford
Kristi Yamaguchi
Yogi Berra
Zack Greinke 

Danny Macfayden's Octo-Goggles! Be Jealous!

This one's for Night Owl:

 1933 Goudey 156. Danny MacFayden

These, my friend, are the best specs in the history of baseball cards.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball Bait and Switch?

It's funny to think that a couple of hours ago I was thinking about scrounging some funds together to get a couple boxes of 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball. As of right now, I'm leaning in the other direction. Why? The old bait and switch that pisses me off, even when it's not the main content of a set I'm going after.

Case in point, Upper Deck's sales materials featured a vintage-esque 1971 O-Pee-Chee parallel that looked a little like this:

Then Topps decided to take Upper Deck to court. Both sides exchange press releases saying they're sticking to their guns. So I'm looking at A Pack to Be Named Later and I see this monstrosity:

(HT: APTBNL)

What the heck? I may be jumping the gun here but it looks like Upper Deck caved under pressure. And rather than admit it publicly, they went ahead and continued to sell, sell, sell without acknowledging somewhere along the line that the vintage parallel that had many people excited was being replaced with a much more generic black-border parallel. Again, I could be wrong but if the early eBay listings are any indication, the 1971 parallels are no more.

I wasn't planning on going after the parallel set, but I'm ticked nonetheless based on the apparent bait and switch. It's to the point where I don't really want to get anything from this set now - one that I've been looking forward to since I was shocked to hear it announced. Upper Deck took away a key ingredient without announcing it. Good reason for cancelling them or not, all it would have taken is a press release and a couple of emails and there'd be some disappointed folks but I have a hunch most would be understanding. It's called communication. If virtual Derek Jeter can sign some virtual autographs, would it really be that hard to get word out about the change? Isn't that what the Upper Deck blog, website or Facebook page might be good for?

This isn't the first bait and switch in this hobby, nor will it be the last. However, I feel it's one of the bigger ones.

Smoke Screens Abound in Topper Deck Suit

I just read this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about the Topps/Upper Deck (Topper Deck) suit. While there hasn't been any movement and the release of 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball still appears to be on, it does list some interesting points.

First, the obvious. Topps isn't liking the look of the O-Pee-Chee stuff. It's a little to deja vu.

Upper Deck's response: the 1970s Topps cards were posed. Theirs will feature action shots. Can we say smoke screen? I dunno, but I consider the design elements come from, well, the design, not so much the photo that sits around it. Don't get me wrong, the picture is key to any card, but color, fonts, borders, etc - those are the keys to design here. With that sort of argument Topps might as well counter and say that both cards are in English, therefore they're the same and Upper Deck should pay up.

I'm still under the belief that this suit's going to come down to the license Topps and O-Pee-Chee had. Did OPC own their borrowed designs or were they licensed. There's no doubt in my mind that Upper Deck is lifting Topps' designs. They're also lifting O-Pee-Chee's designs. But who do they ultimately belong to? And quite frankly, with a new O-Pee-Chee set on the horizon, I'm fine with letting the millionaires duke it out in court.

1971 O-Pee-Chee (Topps) Baseball

Notice the clear use of a posed photo.

2009 O-Pee-Chee (Upper Deck) Baseball Parallels

This card is soooo different. Forget the stylistic use of lower case letters, theblack borders holding a white frame, the upper case team name, that annoying dot. It's an action photo so it's not copying. End of story.

And in a 2-for-1 double post, here's the card of the day:

1971 Topps 5. Thurman Munson

 

 

I'm loving the crazy action shot. Dust in the air, immediate emotions on the face. I wonder if the unnamed Athletics player is safe or out. You couldn't pose something like this.

 

TGIF - More Mock-Ups from The Office

I'm still in the planning stages of my "set" based on The Office. It's Friday, so here's a few more character cards that will make up the front end of the set.

 

  

  

 

Playing With Photoshop: The Office

If I were to go out tomorrow and start a card company, the first license I'd go after would be for The Office. The show is great and more importantly, from a strictly business perspective, there's a huge following behind it. There was a freaking convention last year, the thing normally held for the like of sci-fi movies and shows starting with Star and ending with Trek or Wars.

Doing a little procrastinating this evening, I came up with a very crude initial design (very crude):

 

  

  

If there's any Photshop masters out there who are big-time Office fans and want to collaborate, please let me know. I'm open to anything. I have a card back design in my head and envision doing a full-on set of Season One mock-ups over the summer.