Donruss released a statement about its Razor product saying the company "inadvertently" released some copies of prospect Wade Miley's card. This was on Beckett's site."A limited number of Razor exclusive player Wade Miley, a pitching prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, were inadvertantly released in 2008 Playoff Prime Cuts.
Donruss issued this statement Tuesday:
Donruss issued this statement Tuesday:
Due to a production error at the time of pack-out, some 31 copies of a Wade Miley card mistakenly were inserted into packs of 2008 Playoff Prime Cuts Baseball.
Donruss officials believed they had a deal with Miley during the production cycle of Prime Cuts, but when it became apparent Miley was exclusive property of another manufacturer, Donruss pulled Miley cards before pack-out.
“These few just slipped by,” a Donruss representative said. “It’s an honest mistake, and one we regret.”
There are no Miley autograph redemption cards."
Does anyone believe this was an actual mistake?
I'm on the fence about this one, although, I'm not someone who is going to get caught up in this type of hype. (Jeter/Mantle Topps, I was all over that).
This is seemingly one of the cards here on eBay. But how is this card /25 if 31 were released.
Update: The current listing is up to $88 with two days left. I just wanted to add to ended listings, so you see what "hysteria" can do these cards.
Here's one that is numbered to /25.
Here's the 1/1.
The current cards is going to sell for more than five times the amount of the 1/1. HURRY UP! Snatch up your boxes to get the other 28 of these cards.
There was an /25, an /5 and a 1/1 that 'snuck' through.
ReplyDeleteNo comment on whether it was gimmicky or sincere though. I've given up trying to guess. Nice to see it with someone other than Topps though.
I don't think this was sincere at all. Look at what happened with the demand for Topps Series One cards last year with the Jeter/Mantle (not)error.
ReplyDeleteWith the price of those packs, and the fact that Donruss doesn't offer current player cards maybe they are seeing a drop off in demand, and people avoiding them for that reason so they decided to try this.
It's a shame because I was in love with Donruss cards from 2002-2005, but that's a story for another day.
I think this was an honest mistake. That card isn't of a huge prospect and its from a higher-end product. I believe errors like the Jeter/Mantle are done on purpose because they are popular players and the manufacturers want to make more sales. You don't see too many errors in products like this. I do like how Donruss/Playoff uses the same phrase on the Prime Cuts IV cards: "Authentic Game Used / Worn". On the back of the Joe Jackson bats it says "game worn material". I'm still wondering how he wore a bat?
ReplyDeleteI have a split opinion about it. In this case, I could believe Donruss in that this was a reasonably honest error, simply because they haven't built a recent history of lame "oops" moments like Topps.
ReplyDeleteThe 07 Topps Jeter/Mantle/Bush and 08 Red Sox/Giuliani cards are clearly not mistakes, and are gimmicks in an attempt to move base product--especially at hobby stores--particularly for the chase for the Gold/Copper/1st Day/Strontium-90/Daisy Fuentes variations of the cards.
The 06 Topps Alex Gordon, in comparison to this Wade Miley Cyrus card from Donruss, seems especially gimmicky. Whole card, punch outs, white versions, and even an auto(!) card "escaped" the factory. Please. Here's a pipe-dream listing that gives a good rundown of what made it to market for that elaborate joke, where Wal-Mart and Topps were the real winners, and Keith Olbermann wasone of the biggest losers (naturally).
Reasons I can believe this one:
- The population is believable and logical, not hidden or supposedly unknown.
- The cards are, so far, complete, and not in pieces, or with notches or punch-outs, or decorative zipper pulls.
- Trading card companies, much like the Intelligence Community and NASA, are far less of well-oiled machines than people would like to believe. It probably, genuinely, didn't register to the right person at the right time at Donruss that this prospect became an exclusive to a lame, small-time upstart like Razor.
So far, a can't-miss draft pick / prospect like Alex Gordon seems to be actually-missing, or at least not living up to wholly ridiculous expectations. Extrapolating that to this instance, when the short-term lemming-bid hysteria on this latest passing news item is over, a few people may have, once again, overpaid for a card of a guy that has a greater chance of being more mediocre than spectacular, in a non-MLB licensed edition of 31/31, more or less. *yawn*
However, I can't blame Donruss for at least riding an honest (or maybe slightly-less-than-honest) mistake, in order to elevate themselves to Razor.
Can anyone explain to me what is so great about Razor? Aren't they somewhere down at the bottom of the sports card evolutionary chain, lower than TriStar, and right below Just?
I believe it's possible that it COULD be an OOPS, but I don't think it is. I think Donruss is after baseball sales and what better way? There are always people that will chase after gimmick cards.
ReplyDeleteThe reason this is believable as an honest mistake is the fact that these boxes/packs are selling ridiculously well on their own merit.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a prospect product, or a base card heavy flagship like 06/07 Topps Series 1.
This is a 7 cards/box premium high-end product with a retarded abundance of patches/autos from retired/deceased HOFers.
The checklist reads like a roll call for the heavenly HOF.
Ruth, Gehrig, Dimmagio, Mantle, Wagner, Robinson, Thorpe, Jackson, Medwick, Ripken, Aaron, Mays, Musial, Rose, Schmidt, Sandberg, Paige, Cobb, Williams, Berra, Maris, Bench.
People are not running out to buy these for a Wade Miley base card.
The entire production run was sold out from DLP before the release date.