Upper Deck Throwback Thursday Create the Caption Promotion: Alex Ovechkin
This weekend is National Hockey Card Day in the USA and with all the positive response we received from Canada’s promotion last week, we are more than excited to head into the weekend.Categories: Upperdeck Tags: Alex, Caption, Create, Deck, Ovechkin, Promotion, Throwback, Thursday, Upper
PSA/DNA to authenticate Super Bowl game balls
By Chris Olds | Editor
Each and every game ball used in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday will be tagged with invisible ink to authenticate it as being used in game-play, announced PSA/DNA on Tuesday.
Roughly 120 balls will he used during the big game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they won’t be the only items authenticated — the pylons and the coin for the coin toss also will be marked.
“The DNA ink has an astronomical 1-in-33 trillion chance of being accurately reproduced by counterfeiters,” said Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA. “Many of the game-used Super Bowl footballs are sold by the NFL through charity auctions. The PSA/DNA certification combats potential counterfeiting and helps assure future owners that each ball is genuine.”
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based company uses a synthetic DNA strand that can be seen only with a specific laser. This will be the 13th year that the company has authenticated Super Bowl balls, which also will include a letter of authenticity. For added protection, the letters will have codes that can be verified at PSADNA.com.
Filed under: Beckett Media Tagged: Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, PSA/DNA, Super Bowl XLV
The Beckett Blog
Will your eyes see the twinkle in 2011 Topps Baseball? (Updated)
By Chris Olds | Editor
The first boxes of 2011 Topps Baseball have been ripped and the first reports of oddball findings are coming in, too.
The most notable previously unannounced finds are cards that have the twinkle or sparkle of a diamond digitally placed into the photograph of the card.
Topps reps are officially mum on the issue for now — expect an announcement soon — but cards confirmed to have this variation (so far) include: Roy Halladay, Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki, Chipper Jones, Aroldis Chapman, Chris Carpenter, Mariano Rivera, Miguel Cabrera, Brent Morel, Alex Rios, Kyle Drabek, Jared Weaver, Justin Upton, Victor Martinez, Brian Matusz, Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Oswalt, Jose Bautista, Justin Morneau, Brett Anderson, Desmond Jennings, Tommy Hunter and Chase Utley.
Given some of the names on the list, it might be an SP set that parallels all 330 cards in the set. However, they won’t be found easily. Brent Williams, an Arkansas-based dealer who specializes in breaking cases in bulk, has seen the cards fall one per case.
He pulled six through his first six cases and that held true for another breaker he is in contact with.
“I know of 22 other cases that each had 21 total,” he said.
The cards are also found in retail packs.
We’ll have more in 2011 Topps here soon — a Box Busters preview gallery will come later and our video will come soon (our Busters boxes are stuck somewhere in a snow drift.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Update: These cards have been confirmed.
3 Jon Lester
5 Joey Votto
15 David Wright
20 Hanley Ramirez
25 Carl Crawford
35 Shin-Soo Choo
40 Justin Upton
42 Mariano Rivera
44 Martin Prado
50 Alex Rodriguez
60 Andrew McCutchen
61 David Price
70 Kyle Drabek
75 Jered Weaver
78 Mike Stanton
80 Desmond Jennings
100 Albert Pujols
102 CC Sabathia
108 Zack Greinke
110 Aroldis Chapman
120 Mat Latos
128 Manny Ramirez
140 Brett Anderson
150 Miguel Cabrera
165 Jeremy Hellickson
166 Josh Johnson
169 Chipper Jones
174 Roy Oswalt
177 Brian Matusz
195 Nick Markakis
200 Ichiro Suzuki
208 Clay Buchholz
209 Carlos Santana
210 Brian Wilson
214 Chase Utley
216 Jose Baustita
218 Victor Martinez
236 Nelson Cruz
240 Andre Ethier
241 Wandy Rodriguez
247 Starlin Castro
250 Carlos Gonzalez
255 Torii Hunter
269 Stephen Drew
270 Ubaldo Jimenez
271 Adam Dunn
275 Clayton Kershaw
290 Ike Davis
293 Justin Morneau
294 Luke Scott
299 Chris Carpenter
300 Roy Halladay
307 Alex Rios
315 David Ortiz
320 Michael Young
322 Brent Morel
330 Derek Jeter
Filed under: Beckett Media, MLB, Topps Tagged: 2011 Topps, Diamond Anniversary, MLB, Topps
The Beckett Blog