Topps Jumps the Gun on Alex Gordon

Hours after Topps 2006 Topps Baseball was released in February, case busters discovered that a card was missing from the 330-card set. A few days later, Topps announced that card #297, originally slated to featured Royals prospect Alex Gordon, was pulled from the set. Topps made this last minute change in compliance with the Major League Players Association ruling that no players can be featured in standard issue 2006 sets prior to appearing in a major league game.

Minutes after Topps released its statement, a handful of Gordon cards with a huge square hole cut out of the middle were listed on eBay. Confused collectors were paying as much as $75 for a card that consisted of nothing more than a border. Approximately 1,000 partial cards have since been discovered and are currently selling for $30-$40. Apparently, Topps was able to eliminate Gordon’s image on most of his cards before reaching the packaging process, but not all of them.

A collector from Bloomington, Illinois, was the first to unearth a fully-in-tact Gordon card #297. After calling various hobby publications and discovering that he had the one complete Gordon card to date, the veteran hobbyist sold the card on e-Bay for $500. Meanwhile, collectors and dealers continue to pay inflated prices for Topps 2006 boxes in search of another complete Gordon card.

Gordon’s 2006 “Autographs” insert survived the distribution process unscathed and is currently selling for $10-$70 depending in its scarcity. Because the card is an insert and not part of the base set, Gordon’s autograph is not restricted by the MLBPA’s ruling.

The huge Topps gaffe has raised many eyebrows within the hobby. In an attempt to clarify rookie card status, the MLBPA ruled that no player can be featured in standard issue sets before making his major league debut. How did Topps let Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft, slip through the cracks? Many dealers and collectors believe Topps created the error to cause a stir and interest in its 2006 base set. The MLBPA has yet to investigate or even issue a statement, so don’t be surprised to see a few more “errors” pop up.