Shohei Ohtani Collectors: BEWARE this card.

This is not a real Shohei Ohtani card. It's fake. Some guy made it on his computer.

In fact, the image above is high enough quality that you could go ahead and print your own.

Let me reiterate the fact that this card is not worth anything.

Yes, the guy printed some nice quality fake cards. He put them in a nice-quality fake slab. And he's SELLING THESE FOR $25-50 EACH. I'm sure he's just printing another one out every time someone orders one, or he has hundreds of these things already printed.

I remember the 1990s, when everyone and their brother were printing "promo" cards. Those $10-20 cards are now in dime boxes. You can expect these cards to end up there as well. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Seriously, it really bothers me to see this crap selling - especially at these prices. Every single one is a "GMA" Mint 10. There's no value in this. Do you think there is? If you think so, I'll sell you legitimate Ohtani cards for $50 each too. I might as well make a few bucks here.

Honestly, I don't have a problem with "homemade" cards. There are niches in collecting that Topps and others have left unfilled, and some people just enjoy making and distributing card sets of their own. I'd love to create a few real card sets of my own. But this guy (or couple of guys) is/are seriously ripping people off. 

NPB Card Guy has posted (first post, second post) about Ohtani's legitimate 2013 rookie cards. Check that out for information on real rookie cards. (BTW, he did a post about this card's IN-authenticity a year ago. I'm reiterating for the good of society.)

There are no legitimate Shohei Ohtani cards from 2012.

Folks with collecting buddies on Twitter, Facebook, message boards, share this article, so people can be made aware.

And if you really want the card above, print one yourself. The image is high-enough quality.

Baseball Daddy-O!

He's an Indians fan, but that doesn't mean Baseball Dad is bad. The Indians were my team's rival in the 1995 World Series. But, actually, I love the Major League movies, I enjoyed my visit to Cleveland and Progressive Field, and I have a cross-stitched Indians logo made by my mother, stored back in America.

So, back in November 2012, Baseball Dad gave away a bunch of cards - one per person - in a sort of contest thing. I claimed and won a strange card, which he probably mailed about a year ago. Thanks to me not getting any deliveries from the States for about a year, I didn't see it until recently.

 This is a Broder card. If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to any unlicensed card. I remember when Broders were quite popular "promos" back around the late '80s and especially early '90s. I have a bunch of them in a box somewhere. In my pursuit for completion in my type collection, I'll grab these every now and then.

 The back is quite simple. I'm guessing this set was issued for the 1990 All-Star Game Home Run Derby. The picture on the front of the card is fairly familiar; I'm sure it came off the AP wire. Or another baseball card.

One card wasn't enough for him, though! I got to open my first pack of 2014. Or my last pack of 2013. I don't remember when, exactly, I got to this envelope. But the pack itself is over 10 years old. Vintage! (That's a scary thought. And no, 2003 isn't vintage in my eyes.)

 2003 Donruss Estrellas! Donruss sent me a box of this stuff for free in 2005. That could have been because I complained about damaged or missing cards, or possibly because I entered a contest. I used to enter those "free offer" contests on the backs of packs and boxes. I loved opening the box, because it reminded me of the 1990s, when boxes didn't have sick hit relics and autographs shooting up prices.

Anyway, here's what the pack held:

 Mmhmm.

 Yep.

 Uh huh.

 Alright! Now we're talking. The Big Hurt. This card will almost certainly go into my HOF collection.

 Back to the base...

 Manny being Manly.

 There's a poster in every pack. I scanned it in two passes so it doesn't exactly line up.

Finally, I could have won a trip to the World Series. But I didn't.

Thank you for the fun card and great pack!