Find game used card in pack

This card does not pass the hearsay test:. And that's why hearsay, normally, is inadmissible. But apparently, it's good enough for memorabilia cards. Now, I'm not saying this card is not a swatch of Wojciechowski's jersey. It very well could be. But Upper Deck by no means establishes that fact with its choice of legalese.

A recent Topps card exemplifies how far card companies have strayed from using legalese on the back of their cards and into the land of disclaimers:. The relic on this card is not from any specific game, event or season. Legal translation — I mean, first things first: you can tell the disclaimer is going to be good just by how small it is in comparison to the rest of the text.

This text is miniscule. Turning to the actual disclaimer, what the heck is this patch? It's not from any specific game, event or season? I mean, how enjoyable is memorabilia if Topps can't even point to a specific game, event or season that it came from? If I was a philosophy major, I would argue this disclaimer proves this patch doesn't actually exist. And it's not like it would be hard to vouch for where this patch came from. Heck, when this card came out, Moustakas had only played for Omaha in , so it shouldn't be that hard to nail down a time frame for the patch.

That is, if it is a piece of Moustakas' Omaha uniform. The disclaimer is so vague, it might not even be a Moustakas swatch. The way the disclaimer reads, it could be from the bat boy's sock. As part of this article, I was going to dive into an analysis of why I believe the legalese changed into disclaimers citing consumer fraud statutes and the Lanham Act , but that's unnecessary because the thing boils down to card company laziness.

The law really only requires that if a company makes a representation, it better be true. So, the card companies' legal disclaimers really show us how much effort they are willing to put into their respective memorabilia cards: not much. In the long-term, this is not in their best interests. Card companies should consider the less effort they put into the cards, the less demand those cards will receive from collectors.

Don't get me wrong, there are some card companies that do a good job. For example, Press Pass racing has a great memorabilia card:. Legal translation — Here, you know the racer, the season, and what the card is. That's pretty good. It would be better to know the actual races too, but beggars can't be choosers. Again, while I may be pointing out the problem, I'm going to offer a couple of solutions.

Or, maybe, as I've suggested above, card companies need to take the extra time to personalize the legalese on each card to specifically say what the items is. Even better, link it to the photo on the card. There are some cards out there that do this, so it is not impossible. The best disclaimer I've seen for a product is one I've never collected but I may have to start. From Bench Warmers:. This card contains a piece of an authentic bikini worn by Jamie Bergman.

This certificate expressly warrants the authenticity of the piece of bikini on the front of this card. Legalese translation: Holy crap! And not just for the picture, but for how Bench Warmer bends over backwards to explain what the patch is. Also, the person certifying the authenticity is identified. Now, it's not sports, but if you wanted to be able to pinpoint where this patch came from, you can. Sure, it's not game-worn, it's from a photo shoot.

But the card serves as an example that establishing a link with the patch and the photo can be done. Now-defunct entertainment card manufacturer, Inkworks, did this as well. The swatches from their costume cards matched the screenshot shown on the front of the card.

As a rule, if they couldn't see the costume on-screen, they wouldn't use it. There are some sports card examples that do go to this level too, so it can be done. Legalese translation — You know exactly what this is.

Who, what, where and when. Seasoned veterans can do this by touch alone. Others actually use portable scales, which they tote into stores and use while they pick through displays of cards. Some people buy cards by the box, take them home, weigh the individual packs, remove the packs they deem worthy and re-sell the common packs. Measure the thickness of the pack. Again, experienced collectors do this by feel. If a jersey card is present, the thickness of the entire pack will be greater than a normal pack.

This is a more scientific approach to the thickness-feel test and provides incredibly accurate results. Some people have no compunction at all about performing this test in-store. Others buy boxes of cards and take them home to test for thickness. They keep the packs that show promise and sell the others. Dishonest hobby shop owners and dealers have been known to employ this practice. Press down on the middle of a pack. A jersey pack will present an indentation or seem more spongy than a regular pack.

John Kibilko has been writing professionally since He landed his first professional job with "The Dearborn Press" while still in college.