Sports Card and Memorabilia Mistakes in Films

storm888 · January 8, 2007 4:00AM

This was posted by RPW on the currency forum:

"I have been thinking about this since I saw the film yesterday. In one scene prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion in March of 1961 Matt Damon is passed a one dollar bill on a bus that he later checks against a serial number list to see who sent it. It is a $1 FRN but weren't they introduced in 1963? "

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Anybody have similar tales regarding sports cards and momorabilia?

digicat · January 8, 2007 4:14AM

I noticed this in "The Sandlot". Great baseball movie, by the way.

Well, in the "dream" sequence, where one of the kids gets a visit from Babe Ruth, Ruth picks up a 1954 Hank Aaron rookie and asks the kid if he could keep it. The Aaron rookie is in a plastic screw-down holder. The movie takes place back in 1962. I don't think they had those back then.

tedh111 · January 8, 2007 4:53AM

Not a film, but a tv show.. In the wonder years, kevin is trading baseball cards with Paul. The cards he is holding are 1988 or 1989 topps... the show is supposed to be set in the 1960's

QUITCRAB · January 8, 2007 5:01AM

I think in the movie "mask"-rocky had some 72 topps and cher rips them up or takes them from him...its been along time since I have seen that movie so I could be way off base scott

Wondo · January 8, 2007 5:02AM

In Billy Crystal's movie "1961" he shows Bob Cerv with the team in spring traing, however, Cerv was aquired well after the season started.

Ok, maybe not card/memorabilia related, but close!

RedHeart54 · January 8, 2007 5:53AM

There's a 1960 Yogi Berra on the wall in a scene in "Stand By Me". The movie takes place in 1959.

shagrotn77 · January 8, 2007 7:14AM

Ray Liotta portrays Shoeless Joe Jackson as a righthanded hitter in Field of Dreams. Jackson was a lefty.

AlanAllen · January 8, 2007 7:35AM

In an episode of "Spin City," there is a sub-plot revolving around a Don Mattingly Rookie Card. They card they show is clearly 1989 Topps.

Joe

Champs1963 · January 8, 2007 7:49AM

I believe Goonies used a Topps All-Time Greats card to portray an older Lou Gehrig card.

kadokakid · January 8, 2007 7:51AM

Goonies reference was actually a 1973 Topps all time leaders card.

Peace

gregmo32 · January 8, 2007 7:58AM

There is a scene in Forrest Gump where he is playing ping pong in a high school gym and the basketball court has a three point line, which did not exist at that point in history (can't recall what year it was supposed to be). Damn good movie though...

onlyanumber · January 8, 2007 8:13AM

An episode of CSI was about a suicide staging murderer, Paul Villander. You find out Villander was born in 1956. As a 16 year old, he left home (he was a she) only to return several years later as a man. His mother refused to have anything to do with him when he came back, and you're left believing he never was allowed back in the house. When Catherine Willows is investigating Villander's childhood room (all done up as a girls room with dollhouse etc), she finds a stack of cards in the drawer hidden. They were 1974s.

GDM67 · January 8, 2007 8:44AM

<< There's a 1960 Yogi Berra on the wall in a scene in "Stand By Me". The movie takes place in 1959. >>

A guy I used to know who worked at a card shop I went to pointed that one out to me when I mentioned that Radar O'Reilly is seen napping with an issue of The Avengers, which didn't start publication until a decade after the end of the Korean War.

<< There is a scene in Forrest Gump where he is playing ping pong in a high school gym and the basketball court has a three point line, which did not exist at that point in history (can't recall what year it was supposed to be). >>

Unless it was being used by an ABA team

In the John Wayne Gacy film, with Brian Dennehey, the detectives are looking around in a kid's room in Chicago in what's supposed to be ©1979. There's a big poster of Ryne Sandberg in his Cubs' uniform on the wall. He was a 19 year old in A ball in the Phillies system at Spartanburg, SC that year...

frankhardy · January 8, 2007 8:47AM

Did anybody see the MacGyver episode about the stolen Reggie Jackson memorabila and the counterfeit baseball cards? I remember it vividly. MacGyver walked into a card shop and there on the magazine rack was a Beckett with Jose Canseco and I had it.

I don't remember any errors, but it was still very interesting.

Downtown1974 · January 8, 2007 8:52AM

Didnt Rainman have an impressive card collection?

GDM67 · January 8, 2007 9:51AM

Pretty sure Raymond had a '57 Frank Robinson. With his habits, it was a PSA10, easily

calaban7 · January 8, 2007 9:59AM

Alot of good examples here. Most of the ones that I had in mind , someone else has said it. All I'm adding is a little humor. I'm not much of a movie person, but I know my baseball. My wife gets so bent out of shape , when I've spotted these over the years. I remember seeing the Field Of Dreams at the theater. When Joe Jackson came up batting right handed I blarted out real loud, Oh bullsh*t, he was a lefty. I know I was rude as many people were there, I just lost control. My wife started argueing , so we ended up leaving. When we got home , it took just a brief moment to show her the facts. You know there's something to be said about people not wanting to be confused by the facts. Then there was the Forrest Gump scene, and so it goes.......... I do my best to watch in silence, but can sometimes be made to speak when the need arises.

jerster · January 8, 2007 12:05PM

Back to the "MASK" movie with Cher and Eric Stoltz... I believe he was collecting 1955 topps brooklyn dodgers. One of the ones he is happy to receive is the 55 topps Pee Wee Reese. Um, no Reese in 55 topps.

PuertoRicanFogBank · January 8, 2007 12:12PM

Rocky Dennis was looking for a "Ruby" Walker.

originalisbest · January 8, 2007 12:17PM

Actually, wasn't it '53 Topps he was collecting? In which case, a Pee Wee would be perfectly probable.

Skinpinch · January 8, 2007 12:20PM

FRANKHARDY,

We used to laugh at all the unbelievable solutions McGyver used to come up with, but that episode probably took the cake!

The bad guys were getting away in the car down the road, and McGyver had a ball in his hand, and the professional baseball player had a bat. So McGyver pitched him the ball, and the player ripped a bullet about 400+ feet straight ahead down the road...the ball hit some sign or something, and the sign fell on top of the getaway car! Bad guys caught! Priceless!

Oh, and isn't that the episode where some old lady had a scam going? She pretended that her husband had just died, and he left her a sports card collection. She played stupid and she would sell the cards to people thinking they were getting a steal...only that they were counterfits! I believe that is why McGyver got involved in the first place.

Then McGyver dressed as a nerd and went into a card shop, and said something like "Do you have cards, I want to buy cards, lots of cards." He had his pants hicked up, and talked like that guy Eugene. It was funny.

My memory has probably gotten a few things wrong with the episode, I would have to see it again. I would recommend that episode to any baseball card collector. You will get a good laugh.

kylehess10 · January 8, 2007 2:44PM

Does the news count? I remember seeing something on the news about the hall of fame exibit on tour. They started to talk about the Wagner T206 card. First of all, the lady pronounced his name HAY-NUS Wagner, then she said that it was worth 1.5 million, which it ofcoarse isn't. Beckett lists it at $600,000

VintageJeff · January 8, 2007 4:01PM

<< Does the news count? I remember seeing something on the news about the hall of fame exibit on tour. They started to talk about the Wagner T206 card. First of all, the lady pronounced his name HAY-NUS Wagner, then she said that it was worth 1.5 million, which it ofcoarse isn't. Beckett lists it at $600,000 >>

Beckett? You actually think Beckett has anything to do with the value of a T206 Wagner?

kylehess10 · January 8, 2007 5:54PM

<< 

<< Does the news count? I remember seeing something on the news about the hall of fame exibit on tour. They started to talk about the Wagner T206 card. First of all, the lady pronounced his name HAY-NUS Wagner, then she said that it was worth 1.5 million, which it ofcoarse isn't. Beckett lists it at $600,000 >>

Beckett? You actually think Beckett has anything to do with the value of a T206 Wagner? >>

Then where else can I look?

lostdart58 · January 8, 2007 9:26PM

The opening scene of Pride Of The Yankees with Gary Cooper has a young Lou flipping through some cards with his friends. You see a Babe Ruth card which appears to be a prop rather then an actual card.....................I bet that "prop" would be worth as much as a real Ruth card.

GDM67 · January 8, 2007 9:57PM

In a similar vein, I've always sort of wondered what happened to those mockup tobacco cards that Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly had of themselves (their characters, actually), in Take Me Out To The Ball Game? Did the Hall Od Fame or Barry Halper wind up with those? Or the Ron Swoboda card that Natalie Wood was so enamored of in Penelope?

frankhardy · January 8, 2007 10:36PM

<< FRANKHARDY,

We used to laugh at all the unbelievable solutions McGyver used to come up with, but that episode probably took the cake!

The bad guys were getting away in the car down the road, and McGyver had a ball in his hand, and the professional baseball player had a bat. So McGyver pitched him the ball, and the player ripped a bullet about 400+ feet straight ahead down the road...the ball hit some sign or something, and the sign fell on top of the getaway car! Bad guys caught! Priceless!

Oh, and isn't that the episode where some old lady had a scam going? She pretended that her husband had just died, and he left her a sports card collection. She played stupid and she would sell the cards to people thinking they were getting a steal...only that they were counterfits! I believe that is why McGyver got involved in the first place.

Then McGyver dressed as a nerd and went into a card shop, and said something like "Do you have cards, I want to buy cards, lots of cards." He had his pants hicked up, and talked like that guy Eugene. It was funny.

My memory has probably gotten a few things wrong with the episode, I would have to see it again. I would recommend that episode to any baseball card collector. You will get a good laugh. >>

Yep, you got it right. I forgot about that quote - "I want to buy cards, lots of cards." The shop owner was like "yeah, whatever." Then MacGyver was like, "Ok, are you ready?" Then he starts naming all of these super high priced cards.

Estil · January 9, 2007 4:56PM

<< Not a film, but a tv show.. In the wonder years, kevin is trading baseball cards with Paul. The cards he is holding are 1988 or 1989 topps... the show is supposed to be set in the 1960's >>

They're 1989 (you can tell by the backside) and YES I noticed that too!!

Here's one, from an episode of Family Matters, Steve is showing his baseball card collection to his pals Eddie and Waldo. He then holds up a "Mickey Mantle rookie card, in MINT condition!! And in fact, I have TWO of them!" To which Waldo replies, "There were TWO Mickey Mantles!? Did they play on the same team!?"

The error? Steve was holding up Mickey's 1952 Topps card, which is NOT his rookie card. Steve should've been holding up a 1951 Bowman Mantle if he really had a Mickey Mantle rookie card.

f2tornado · January 9, 2007 8:12PM

I didn't realize there were cards in all those shows. I'lI have to track down that McGyver episode. (Aside: I made hundreds of those McGyver pop bottle bombs when I was a teen. Really fun until I had to see the judge for disturbing the peace). I just watched an episode of Criminal Minds and the 1963 Topps Nillie Fox was left by the killer as a clue. The card used in the show was discussed accurately as a 1963 and one could easily tell what it was. This was the first time in a long while I saw a card used as part of a plot.

Allen · January 10, 2007 1:21AM

I don't know if anyone remember the show on Nickelodeon called "My Brother and Me". There is an episode with Kendall Gill and some of his cards the boys want signed. And then there is one where the boys are trading cards and their friend Goo lays down a card and says "Look, Michale Jordan Rookie Card.....Signed." and one of the brothers replies "Oh Please, Daddy got us one of those years ago."

Also the McGyver Episode it is Reggie Jackson who hits the ball to stop the car, it is from a collection that has his bat and the three balls that he hit for HR in the WS game. But this couldn't be because "Coop" Cooper from BASEketball had the third one. Reggie even mentions to him at the end that he got the first two, but some punk kid ran off with the third one. Reggie goes on to give Coop some encouragment and Coop says "I don't have your damn ball OK!" haha

Also Rocky was collecting 55 Topps Dodgers and there is a scene he is trading with someone and they are 1971 card I believe and he burns the kid for a Garvey and then gets mad at him because he is so dumb that he traded him the Garvey.

MooseDog · January 10, 2007 2:37AM

I can't remember the details but there was a pretty bad movie starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone called BLAST FROM THE PAST in which baseball cards figured very prominently.

Fraser's character had been in a bomb shelter for 25 years or so because when a plane crashed on their home in the 1960s his commie-fearing father (played by Christopher Walken) thought the Russians had sent a nuke. The shelter had a time lock so they couldn't get out. Walken sends Fraser up to the surface with some baseball cards to sell for money (how did he know in the 1960s baseball cards would be as good as currency in the 1990s?).

Silverstone's character worked in a baseball card store that Fraser goes into and of course the owner low balls him and his Mantle and Dimaggio cards. Silverstone tells him his cards are worth a lot more and the shop owner fires her on the spot.

I'll be there were some errors there but I don't really remember the movie that well. Maybe someone else has a better memory.

Morgoth · January 10, 2007 2:49AM

There's an episode of Arli$$ that is pretty much like the episode of McGyver. Arliss's assitant and the goofy ex football player find an old woman with a collection to sell left to her by her dead husband. She claims she doesn't know the value and the goofy guy wants to buy them for nothing by Arliss's assitant gets mad and bids against him until the price is so high he has to steal some money from Arliss to pay for the cards. Later they find out it was a scam and they were fakes and they blame each other for the mess they are in. Wahwah.

Estil · January 10, 2007 6:16PM

And let's not forget that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode (sixth season I think) where Captain Sisko's son Jake and Nog (Jake's BFF) try to get Captain Sisko a 1951 Bowman Willie Mays RC, which at the end of the episode you can clearly tell it's not real (the back side is blank).

Sports Card and Memorabilia Mistakes in Films

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