For many collectors, the Kazuo Uzuki April Fool’s gag by Topps was the final straw. Seeded once in every 72 packs of 2008 Topps, Kazuo cards were hot items on eBay where many collectors failed to catch on to the joke.
On the back of the card Topps wrote that the 5’11″ teenager had a fastball clocked at 104 MPH. That’s really all it took for some to buy into the hype, despite the fact that no one could find any information on “Kazuo Uzuki”.
As it turns out, the guy pictured on the card was not any kind of prospect but a New York University law student named Sensen Lin. He made a total of $600 for the whole stunt and did a pretty interesting interview with the Wall Street Journal which you can read HERE.
That is AWESOME!!! I never knew any of that. It makes me cherish that card even more for being an April Fools Day joke. It was just some card I got in one of the two blasters I bought that year. Now its a story. Thank you very much for the great information.
lol thats awesome
The funniest thing in the story: Lin is Chinese-American, and Uzuki is Japanese.
From the article: “One clue: Kazuo Uzuki means “the first son of April” in Japanese.” LOL!
I keep waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yell “Prospectors, You got punk’d!”
Jeez Chris, what gave it away?
http://punkrockpaint.blogspot.com/2009/09/anotherrr-carrrd-for-dayfs-pirrrate-set.html
Thanks for the inspiration AGAIN, Mario.