What an "error" card!

Take a look at the above Upper Deck Icons card. Obviously It is a Rick Porcello card. His name is on it. The only problem (well actually there is more than one), if you can call it that, is that the card has a picture of Ryan Perry and not Rick Porcello.

This is not all that unusual in that it usually happens a couple of times a year that a card of one player has a picture of another player (and once a batboy) on it. Sometimes these are mistakes by the card companies and therefore errors but sometimes it is done intentionally by the card companies to create chase cards to boost sales and in no way, shape or form an error.

What makes this card unusual is that it is signed by Rick Porcello and it does appear to be an on-card autograph as opposed to a sticker autograph.

Assuming this was a true mistake, I can imagine the following scenario regarding the evolution of this card.

A lowly Upper Deck employee takes 100 cards to Rick Porcello and tells him to sign the cards. Rick Porcello takes his pen and is just a millisecond from affixing his signature to the first card when he sees that the picture on the card is not of him but that of his teammate Ryan Perry.

"Hey, the picture on this card is not me!"

"What do you mean?"

"That is Ryan Perry on this card. Not me. Do you really want me to sign these cards? Ryan Perry is not here right now so he can't sign them."

"Hmmm. Well, I'll be darned. Hmmm. Well, Mr. Porcello, this check that I have has your name on it and I don't have like a blank check or anything for Ryan Perry. I think you should just sign the cards."

"You sure?"

"I have a check."

Porcello signs 100 of his cards with Ryan Perry's photo on it and accepts payment for his services.

I thought that this was kind of weird so I came up with a game plan with regards to acquiring this card.

I was going to get it on ebay, and no doubt overpay for it a little, and then take it to Tiger Fest in February and get in Ryan Perry's line and have him sign it above Porcello's signature. I would then frame it and display it and it would make an interesting conversation piece. It beats a coffee table book, you know.

I was all set to execute this plan when I noticed (and I referred to it above) that the cards are numbered and there are only a hundred of them. Aw come on now! I am not going to go fighting all the Porcello player collectors for these precious few "error" cards and pay an arm and a leg bidding for it on ebay.* Aw, man!

I will check ebay to see what this card is going for just for laughs.

Well, it was a plan anyway.

*No, I am not going to buy packs of this stuff to try and get the card because if this was an intentional "error" on Upper Deck's part to generate additional revenue, I am just not going to reward that kind of corporate misbehavior. Sorry. I will go get a coffee table book. "The History of Botany" or something.