…and you can thank Upper Deck for that.
It has been announced on Beckett’s blog that in the next issue of Beckett Baseball they will be giving away a 2009 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. autographed buyback.
This of course was not pulled from a box but delivered to Texas. It might also be Beckett’s saving grace as card sales are down, print media is near death, and they just lost their last, great public employee, Eric Jahnke.
If it’s one thing I know it’s that collectors love free cards. As an example, just look at the last big giveaway at Wax Heaven a few months back. There were over 100 contestants and the site received over 4,000 page views that day.
Now just imagine what will happen when Beckett does this with a card that last sold for over $4,000 dollars and has a one of a kind inscription. You are looking at the card of 2009 being given away by a company, Beckett Media, that has completely lost its touch with collectors.
Details of how to win will be in the April issue of Beckett Baseball.
So one of the 89 cards wasn’t even inserted into packs, kinda lame for people really hoping to pull it. At least it is being given away though.
Desperation, esprecially since UD ould have done that give away without them.
I wonder if they approached UD or vice versa
Rob, it’s HUGE advertising for both companies. At this point, according to a few ex-UD employees both could really use it.
See, I take issue with this card if it was one of the 89 that were allotted for the pack out. I hate the fact that companies say there are 89 available via packs when it is clear they’ve held a few back for certain reasons: replacement, contests, whatever.
That said, I’d love to own it. :p
I have a feeling more than a few didn’t make it into packs.
I’ll pass, thanks. I didn’t even know Beckett was still printing magazines (honestly, it’s been 5 years since I last saw one).
Upper Deck probably doesn’t publish pull rates / odds for this very reason.
what happened to eric?
Eric was a good guy – sad to see him go.
It’ll be interesting to see how they give this one away. The last Beckett baseball mag had a Pete Rose card to give away if you were the 14th person to send Chris Olds an email. Really… the 14th person! What a joke that is. Imagine a national medium having a contest where the 14th person in the entire nation wins. What a joke. I had 14 callers for college radio contests! Or maybe that says something about their circulation #s??? Hopefully not.
Newspaperman, I just spoke with Upper Deck.
They have ensured me that it was the only buyback they held back. In a way I understand that they would give the card to Beckett cause they have a huge audience (especially to collectors returning to the Hobby) but at the same time I can’t imagine why they would not give the card away on their site and ask Bloggers to promote the event.
Cause it would be an “event”. That card is a big deal.
” I can’t imagine why they would not give the card away on their site and ask Bloggers to promote the event.
Cause it would be an “event”. That card is a big deal.”
I agree Mario.
UD isn’t getting the most they can out of this marketing opportunity, unless they think Beckett will provide more visability for them.
After they took away Masterpeices and screwed up their 2009 baseball hobby boxes (I got 0 out of 6 promised hits), I’m done with UD.
I just bought a box of Heritage and that may be the only baseball product I buy this year… other than the remianing Topps Turkey Red and Legends of the Game cards I need.
Well, that certainly provides Beckett with a shot in the arm in terms of both initial advertisement/hype on the blogs and actual hype in hobby stores when the magazine comes out. Seems like a good deal for Beckett. On the other hand, I think it’s really crappy that Upper Deck advertises a card #ed/89 in their packs when the reality is that there aren’t 89 of them available in packs. I hope that they only withheld the one card they claimed to, but even so, when you are talking about small distribution numbers even one card is a big deal to hold out.
See, I disagree. I think giving it to Beckett to give away is a great idea for Upper Deck. Beckett is still the hobby’s largest publication. As much as some collectors and bloggers hate Beckett, there are many more casual collectors who still buy it and even more who merely glance at it. Beckett is available in damn near every supermarket and book store. And as far as letting bloggers pimp the give away … we already are. The fact that Mario has posted it here after Beckett posted on its blog means that a dozen others will follow, and then it’ll continue from there. Upper Deck still is the big winner here as lots of folks are talking about — and probably buying — the 2009 UD release.
I, too, am curious how Beckett will give this card away. If they do another e-mail contest as another person noted, that’s complete bullshit. That magazine is released at different times across the globe meaning that not everyone has a fair shot …
They should do the good ol’ random.org thing and do a video much like many bloggers.
random.org give away would be pretty comical “ok guys we have all 21,845 names, going to hit it 3 times and..”
wow, id kill for that card!
What a way for my long-time subscription to beckett to end – with a (hopefully fair) chance at a Griffey auto.
I hope they take emails with a April 15th deadline and then chose one at random. I don’t like the “xxth email with the right answer” thing because the dealers get the rag before it shows up in my mailbox so I would have no chance.
This card will end up in the hands of a Hobby dealer, guaranteed.
do you think you would have a better chance pulling 1 of the 88 or winning the one from beckett ?
the card if it is the last 1 printed, it will burn a hole in thwe persons pocket and be on ebay instantly !!!!!!! guaranteed !!!!!!!!!! if i get it i will take it to my grave !!!!!!!!!! lol !!!!!!!!!!!!
The magic # 24 / 89 was pulled in our store in Cooperstown, NY last weekend. Sweet card!