Incompetence at its best

rexvos · November 20, 2007 12:32PM

Once again not sure if this has been posted but make sure you read how Beckett was blasted for being complete idiots with these cards

Gretzky Rookie Nightmare

this has been removed from their front page, and anyone that posts about it gets their thread locked and an immediate suspension

what absolute clowns those guys are, I would never give that company one cent of my money

JeremyDie1 · November 20, 2007 12:44PM

Yep. Saw that too over at Beckett. Inconseivable how things work over there.

ripkenintheminors · November 20, 2007 12:45PM

I initially read the blog entry but didn't follow the comments. This quote right here really concerns me:

<< All of them were real. The photo was taken after the cards were graded. They were ready to be put in the BGS inner sleeve in the slabbing room. >>

Some 270 cards were graded and ready to be slabbed, yet they were spread out like that on the table. If BGS had a grading system without the 4 subgrade format I could argue that they were in stacks sorted by grade. However, it's pretty irresponsible IMHO. For one, who knows if they get them in the right slab. Second, who knows if they screwed any of the cards up for the sake of that picture.

I'm curious what the owner thinks about this. Although controversy can have perks, the owner of the cards certainly shouldn't want people questioning the grading.

bigfische · November 20, 2007 12:45PM

I bet pepper is fired already.

rube26105 · November 20, 2007 12:48PM

me takes it they aint real

ripkenintheminors · November 20, 2007 12:54PM

I missed out on all of the controversy. I noticed the following thread from the PR guy in the hockey forum:

yikes

rexvos · November 20, 2007 12:58PM

<< I missed out on all of the controversy. I noticed the following thread from the PR guy in the hockey forum:

yikes >>

I could almost hear the Spin Doctors playing as I opened that thread.

DrJ · November 20, 2007 1:07PM

Pretty cool picture.

I can't really crucify Beckett on this one if it turns out that cards in a specific row were set to receive the same grade. The actual picture is of less than 270 cards, so I imagine there were additional cards which were receiving different grades.

As a collector, I would actually perfer to have the cards out a holder in a controlled environment, then constantly removing a card from a sleeve, which introduces human error and additional handling. It is not like the table is going to jump up and bend the cards.

J

Bottom9th · November 20, 2007 1:35PM

Sounds like lots of double talk from Pepper and Co.

CDsNuts · November 20, 2007 1:44PM

Hell. I hope those 150 Jordan rookies I sent BGS haven't been logged in yet.

jmbkb4 · November 20, 2007 1:51PM

BGS is first class.

I remember when they released pictures of their graders -- it looked like the rejects from a Star Wars convention.

no offense, nam.

JackWESQ · November 20, 2007 2:01PM

I have to admit, that put a little smile on my face.

/s/ JackWESQ

baseballfanatic · November 20, 2007 2:09PM

In the touchy times we are in now, can we talk about Shoeless Joe and how he had some "ins" with Beckett and rolled that over into the type of collection he is selling now?

rexvos · November 20, 2007 2:35PM

<< In the touchy times we are in now, can we talk about Shoeless Joe and how he had some "ins" with Beckett and rolled that over into the type of collection he is selling now? >>

maybe the most notorious trimmer of all time.

nightcrawler · November 20, 2007 2:49PM

Absolutely unexceptable.

I can't believe it.

DrJ · November 20, 2007 10:44PM

Another thought on this subject...

What if the guy brining in the cards to the Beckett Office dropped them off in a super jewel case of some sort instead of the standard submission sleeves. It is not Beckett's job to provide card savers for those who do not follow the normal submission process.

I still don't see what the big deal is with this submission if everything was in a controlled environment.

J

stown · November 21, 2007 12:29AM

<< I still don't see what the big deal is with this submission if everything was in a controlled environment. >>

Are you serious?

As you can see, the cards are fanned out without caution. If each card was carefully spread out, they would be all aligned, which obviously isn't the case. If the cards grade 8 or higher, you are looking at 5 to 6 digits... Don't know about you but if those cards were mine, I would be outraged for how they were handled and used as a publicity stunt. To top it off, allegedly, these were fanned out AFTER being given a grade. What if one was a 9 and then got dinged while being handled??!

: shakes head at the supidity :

Just in case they *poof* the article, here are the following quotes from the Beckett emloyees:

Pepper Hastings Says:

November 17, 2007 at 10:31 am
Customer brought the cards in. We just brought the camera.

Pepper Hastings Says:

November 19, 2007 at 11:21 am
All of them were real. The photo was taken after the cards were graded. They were ready to be put in the BGS inner sleeve in the slabbing room.

Elon Werner Says:

November 19, 2007 at 4:44 pm
We come across some really incredible cards. From time to time, we’d love to be able to show them to you because you might not ever get to see something like that. We are always extremely careful in handling cards. It’s never in our best interest to jeopardize anyone’s cards/collection. We won’t always go through all the detail of how we carefully placed the cards for this picture or others you might see down the road. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and can use any grading service they choose. Our reputation stands for itself and we stand by it.

Elon Werner
Beckett PR

nightcrawler · November 21, 2007 1:16AM

<< Another thought on this subject...

What if the guy brining in the cards to the Beckett Office dropped them off in a super jewel case of some sort instead of the standard submission sleeves. It is not Beckett's job to provide card savers for those who do not follow the normal submission process.

I still don't see what the big deal is with this submission if everything was in a controlled environment.

J >>

Why would you want to make up some ridiculous scenario to justify their ignorance???

DrJ · November 21, 2007 1:37AM

<< 

<< Another thought on this subject...

What if the guy brining in the cards to the Beckett Office dropped them off in a super jewel case of some sort instead of the standard submission sleeves. It is not Beckett's job to provide card savers for those who do not follow the normal submission process.

I still don't see what the big deal is with this submission if everything was in a controlled environment.

J >>

Why would you want to make up some ridiculous scenario to justify their ignorance??? >>

I am still not sure where the Beckett ignorance is coming from. My point was people are jumping to conclusion without knowing the whole story (par for the course on the internet), and my scenario (albeit speculation) is just as plausible if not more plausible then the scenario that Beckett is just throwing around these cards without care.

If the cards are in a controlled grading room, I would rather have them outside of any protective holder to avoid an additional removal and human handling from a card saver which gives the greatest chance of a card being damaged. As I said before, it is not like the table is going to jump up and grab the cards or someone is going to spill a drink or turn a fan on and make the cards fly across the room. It is a controlled environment!

J

stown · November 21, 2007 1:51AM

<< I am still not sure where the Beckett ignorance is coming from. >>

Again I ask, are you serious?

Depending on the condition, that's anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000+ worth of cards, allegedly after being graded, fanned across a table.

If they were mine, I can guaranfreakintee you that I would be screaming bloody murder.

Knuckles · November 21, 2007 1:55AM

If I were the owner of those I would be causing a sh.! storm beyond belief.. wow.

I treated crappy cards better than that when I was ten years old.

<< IDIOT! >>

sagard · November 21, 2007 2:00AM

Is anyone else not so sure they are real? I remember when the last McGwire counterfeit came out it was really close and someone had a thousand of them.

Knuckles · November 21, 2007 2:00AM

Man and it get's even better...

Pepper Hastings Says:
All of them were real. The photo was taken after the cards were graded. They were ready to be put in the BGS inner sleeve in the slabbing room.

Ron Says:
So they were already graded, then you just lay them all out and hope you get them slabbed in the right order? Or hope they don’t get damaged? I guess that explains why i’ve seen cards from Beckett that don’t deserve the graded they got. Nice job guys.

I was really considering using the newly grouped BGS/JSA but between JSA's recent professionalism and now this forget that. They'll continue to not receive a dime from me.

- Garret

nightcrawler · November 21, 2007 2:01AM

This kind of thing reminds me of all those "EXPERT ANTIQUE APPRAISERS" you see on the Antiques Road Show. If they're such experts, why do they have to muddle everything up with their stupid fingers. I saw one "EXPERT" actually fold a page in a book just shortly before telling the owner it was worth 65 grand???

Anyway, they are guilty of handleing these cards poorly, and when you consider that if one was a 10, then it would also be worth 65 grand. And then they have the nerve to say that it will be happening again.

Bad PR and bad handleing of the entire problem. No need to pretend otherwise, IMO.

They just brought their company down 4 grade points in my eyes.

Knuckles · November 21, 2007 2:01AM

<< Is anyone else not so sure they are real? I remember when the last McGwire counterfeit came out it was really close and someone had a thousand of them. >>

The Beckett dude stated that they are real within the blog..

rube26105 · November 21, 2007 2:12AM

i bet they are fake, id trust beckett about as far as i could fling the guy across the state-260 of em just pop up all at one, seems a little too convieient to me,might be wrong-but if you are going to do fakes,take em to beckett lol

the market will be flooded with wayne rookies now, im waiting for somebodyto take em 467 mantle rookies they found in grandpas steamer trunk all pristine

Morgoth · November 21, 2007 2:18AM

Dr J. I think the issue is your assuming that the room is controlled environment. Do you know that food is not allowed? Do you know what actually gos on in that room that might damage an unprotected card? They stated they were carefully placed for the picture but do you really think that is the case? What about tracking of grades? With 4 sub grades and a main grade it would hard for me to believe that each card wouldn't have it's own score sheet with it so the slabber would be able to print the right numbers on it. Think about all the possible combinations of grades and subs and 3 little piles seems really sloppy because these are all POST grading. How are they tracking this stuff?

BTW l would love to know more about Shoeless Joe and his collection. Laser cutter supreme?

DrJ · November 21, 2007 2:25AM

<< Dr J. I think the issue is your assuming that the room is controlled environment. Do you know that food is not allowed? Do you know what actually gos on in that room that might damage an unprotected card? They stated they were carefully placed for the picture but do you really think that is the case? What about tracking of grades? With 4 sub grades and a main grade it would hard for me to believe that each card wouldn't have it's own score sheet with it so the slabber would be able to print the right numbers on it. Think about all the possible combinations of grades and subs and 3 little piles seems really sloppy because these are all POST grading. How are they tracking this stuff?

BTW l would love to know more about Shoeless Joe and his collection. Laser cutter supreme? >>

We have to assume the grading rooms are controlled. If not shame on Beckett, and they need to be flogged.

Also... there are less than 270 cards in that picture, so there has to be additional cards hopefully with different Sub-grades. Of course everything outside the picture is speculation so who knows what is going on in the office. Maybe they are playing beer pong on the same table!

J

sagard · November 21, 2007 2:57AM

<< 

<< Is anyone else not so sure they are real? I remember when the last McGwire counterfeit came out it was really close and someone had a thousand of them. >>

The Beckett dude stated that they are real within the blog.. >>

I understand that. When the last McGwire came out it beat the grading companies for a while as well. I'd like to hear the provenance or see some wrappers of those Gretzkys.

zep33 · November 21, 2007 3:02AM

Beer Pong!! FTW

Stingray · November 21, 2007 3:03AM

I hope those little pieces of grit or sand or whatever between the cardds are not rubing on the front of the cards as they fanned them out like that??

ripkenintheminors · November 21, 2007 3:03AM

I hope I don't have to eat these words, but I would trust them if they say they are legit. Several years ago, the graders at BGS did a counterfeit series discussion and this card was one of them. At that time, they knew of at least 3 versions of the counterfeits. This is the same group that targeted counterfeit Ripken minor league cards years ago while another service was slabbing them as legit so they're not all that bad.

Ichiro51fan · November 21, 2007 4:01AM

<< 

<< I am still not sure where the Beckett ignorance is coming from. >>

Again I ask, are you serious?

Depending on the condition, that's anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000+ worth of cards, allegedly after being graded, fanned across a table.

If they were mine, I can guaranfreakintee you that I would be screaming bloody murder. >>

Wow! I wouldn't even fan out my 84 Donruss commons like that... much less one of the most valuable cards in the hobby!

btw, these are Topps cards and not OPC, right? Even if you assume they are the equivalent to PSA-8 (Topps), you're looking at about $100k. If they are OPC and even come in as 7's on average, it would probably be closer to $150k. Either way, that's one lot that I would have personally taken the 16 hour drive down to PSA for!

Morgoth · November 21, 2007 4:29AM

If you really had 270 NM or nicer Gretzky RC's wouldn't it be in your best interest to submit them a little over time as to not kill the pop report all at once? that seems fishy to me.

Teknobailey · November 21, 2007 4:31AM

<< If you really had 270 NM or nicer Gretzky RC's wouldn't it be in your best interest to submit them a little over time as to not kill the pop report all at once? that seems fishy to me. >>

I know that if I had that many of them, I wouldnt give a rat's *** about the pop report. I wouldnt SELL them all at once, but the pop report would be on the BOTTOM of my priority list.

stown · November 21, 2007 4:53AM

<< We have to assume the grading rooms are controlled. If not shame on Beckett, and they need to be flogged. >>

I'm willing to bet the manager on duty and whoever did that have been fired.

<< Also... there are less than 270 cards in that picture, so there has to be additional cards hopefully with different Sub-grades. Of course everything outside the picture is speculation so who knows what is going on in the office. Maybe they are playing beer pong on the same table! >>

I did a quick count and came up with +/- 90 yet still looking at a minimum of $10,000 being tossed around.

For whatever reason, you don't think this is a big deal. That's fine but could you please do me a favor. Grab $10K worth of YOUR cards, take it out of the protection sleves, and go ahead and spread them out on a counter like in the picture.

WinPitcher · November 21, 2007 6:25AM

This is all speculation, however, if they were mine I would never have them all graded at once. (unless of course they were counterfiet) I agree with morgorth. The population reports drive the price in many cases and having that many graded all at once can only hurt it IMO.

Steve

Knuckles · November 21, 2007 1:55PM

Little update..

Linkage

lawnmowerman · November 21, 2007 2:54PM

I really wanna spoof this thread

tennesseebanker · November 21, 2007 3:01PM

I wanna dip my ____'s in it

Whats the word I'm looking for ???

Incompetence at its best

Comments