TPG Goof: Someone needs fired

[shernan30]

I'm not one to post eBay auctions to comment on them, but this is a good one. I hope PSA is less one employee in the grading department.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321487425853

[alanu]

This is obviously a mistake, but to suggest a person should lose their job is a stretch.

[bunst]

Why would anyone send that in for grading? It is worth 7 cents maybe.

[clydepepper]

The good thing is that because it is SO VERY obvious, no one will be fooled by it.

Still, it's a nuisance to anyone doing a search on 1887 Old Judge.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by shernan30

I hope PSA is less one employee in the grading department.

This is not the graders fault but the person who types the info onto the flip

[ullmandds]

I mean c'mon...the size of the card is so different too?

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

This is not the graders fault but the person who types the info onto the flip

Fire the typist!

Brian

[conor912]

Holy crap, it's almost worth 25 bucks just for the flip!

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by conor912

Holy crap, it's almost worth 25 bucks just for the flip!

Think if you were the one with the Old Judge card and they sent you a flip denoting it as a Conlon Collection! Argh!

[timn1]

I'm with the OP on this one. What does it say about TPG that something like this gets through? Makes the whole idea of TPG into a joke, IMO. Clearly there is no one knowledgeable doing quality control, at least at this company.

[oldjudge]

The argument that if someone wrote this information on the submission form it is not the TPG's mistake for including in on the slab is ludicrous. The TPG screwed up big, and I agree with Steve--someone should be made an example of and fired. It is only then that people will take their jobs seriously.

[the 'stache]

Every once in a great while something comes along where I'm speechless. This is that rare example. I can't believe what I'm looking at.

Part of me wants to say somebody with an obvious grudge against PSA has concocted this card and flip combination to make them look bad. Because who would send that card in to have it graded? That defies logic. The shipping charge alone is more costly than the card is valuable. But what's really scary? That's the best possible explanation about what we're looking at here. Because any other explanation necessitates somebody at PSA being completely incompetent when it comes to 19th Century baseball cards.

So, what are the other possibilities?

1. Somehow, somebody at PSA messed up, and put a flip meant for a real OJ Hank O'Day on a Conlon O'Day that may be worth a dollar.

2. Somebody looked at this card, and thought it was an Old Judge Hank O'Day. Meaning they never flipped the card over, which clearly denotes the card is from the Sporting News Conlon Collection. They never saw the circa 1994 copyright mark, and they missed the MLB logo which, of course, did not exist back when OJs were manufactured. Oh yeah, and they also don't know what one of the most important sets in the history of our hobby looks like. There's that, yeah.

The worst part of this whole thing is that we're never going to know what really happened. But if somebody were to lose their job over this, I wouldn't feel badly for them. There are some mistakes that just cannot be made. And for a company that prides itself on professionalism, and accuracy, an employee grading cards that can't tell the difference between a 19th century tobacco card and a 20th century insert card-type exhibits spectacular ignorance, and they should not be employed by PSA.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

someone should be made an example of and fired.

I agree that someone should definitely be made an example of, but I'm on the fence about firing them. I hate to see anybody lose their job, but then again these mistakes are way too common. Maybe 2 weeks off without pay?

[swarmee]

There is one Hank O'Day from this set graded a 5.5; but it is designated as "Bat at ready, looking at camera". This card does not have that variation listed.

http://www.psacard.com/Cert/20990254

Looks like it's an officially graded card, since I can't see someone breaking the real card out of the shell once it's been graded, only to substitute it with a Conlon.

[glynparson]

It happens ALL THE TIME at every grading company. Problem is the proofer should have caught this before it went out the door. That is the individual that should face any repercussions. Not the Data entry person, who may not know a lot about cards.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by shernan30

I'm not one to post eBay auctions to comment on them, but this is a good one. I hope PSA is less one employee in the grading department.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321487425853

Really? People are going to make mistakes, even some that are dumb and obvious. Every company strives for 100%, but know that it will never happen. When you think of how many cards and miscellaneous junk that gets "graded" now by the grading companies, it's a wonder there are not even more mishaps. I'm not talking about the .5 or 1 difference in grades, but blatent errors. So they missed one. I'm glad that you are so perfect that you have never f**ked up on the job.

[ethicsprof]

I'm believing that Mr. Shernan is being a bit hyperbolic.
Such an excitatory response would help explain the use of an error,
viz. 'needs fired', to make a point about another's error.
IMHO

all the best,
barry

[4815162342]

Come on gentlemen, no 19th century collector is going to be fooled by the flip on this card. I'm glad that I haven't been fired over the years for an honest mistake here and there.

[iwantitiwinit]

I agree with Daryl. While it's an obvious mistake and while it is someone's job to ensure cards are being evaluated properly we are simply talking about baseball cards here. To hope someone loses their job over this in my opinion is a bit severe. It is after all only a piece of cardboard.

[gregr2]

I wonder if they have a system setup that takes a random sampling of cards each day and have them reviewed for validation by a second or even third "expert" at the TPG? This way they could have metrics for the folks who do the grading and hold them to a certain standard. The second or third person would then validate the grade of the first grader (yes I know sometimes it seems like a first grader actually did the inspection) and they could keep statistics on each grader this way to help improve their skills.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

That's pretty bad.

[nsaddict]

The person that entered the info should NOT be allowed to continue in that capacity. Everyone makes mistakes but this is so outrageous! Cleaning toilets would be more fitting....wait, he tried that using Cool Whip

[Rich Klein]

And why isnt anyone saying the seller is making it crystal clear this is a major goof-up. We should have kudos for the seller on this

And, who kows, there may very well have been an old judge card which the flip got switched for and if that occured and you found the card would you correct the listing or would you try to swoop up that card for the bargian price

[sniffy5]

Who even knows what really happened? Could have been some disgruntled lackey underling over there at Psa who has a lazy boss, and said underling tried and succeeded in exposing his boss, the final arbiter of what leaves Psa, as an incompetent boob. Cause I gotta believe somewhere in the chain of events of this card's time at Psa, a joke was played at some point. But if this is an actual mistake, the person who is responsible should be let go. And anyone who sympathizes with such in competence probably can relate to it. Just my opinion.

[swarmee]

PSA has graded 8 other black Conlon Hank O'Day cards and five of the "Burgundy" type.

Another question: how did it get a PSA 5.5 rating with the paper loss on the front in UMPIRE?

[bobbyw8469]

Please note the middle card....

[ksabet]

If you had 49 cards needed to be graded and the price difference between 49 and 50 is large per card, why not throw garbage in and save in the long run?

[glchen]

I really don't know why people need to be fired for this sort of thing. If there is a mis-grade, then PSA guarantees the card. If there is a mechanical error, PSA will reholder the card for free and reimburse your shipping charge. If I went to a restaurant, and my order was incorrect, I wouldn't demand to see a manager and insist that the waiter or cook was fired because they messed up my order. People would be looking at me as if I were Satan.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by glchen

I really don't know why people need to be fired for this sort of thing. If there is a mis-grade, then PSA guarantees the card. If there is a mechanical error, PSA will reholder the card for free and reimburse your shipping charge. If I went to a restaurant, and my order was incorrect, I wouldn't demand to see a manager and insist that the waiter or cook was fired because they messed up my order. People would be looking at me as if I were Satan.

Not sure how it works at your place of employment, but at my place of employment you get fired for incompetency. Missing the yellow highlighter (or whatever it is) isn't a simple mistake, it's incompetency. We're not talking about a mechanical error or transposing a numerical grade here; we’re talking about something so obvious that anybody with any card knowledge whatsoever should notice that.

[Fred]

Here's the explanation for those that don't understand the Columbus Ohio colloquialism of "someone needs fired" -

In Ohio (I shit you not), the locals shorten terms that should include "to be". For example, the term "Someone needs fired" in Ohio means the same thing as "someone needs to be fired" in most other parts of the US.

Another example is if someone in Columbus Ohio says "the car needs fixed" then that would indicate "the car needs to be fixed". Seriously, this is the truth. I've only heard this colloquialism in Columbus Ohio. I visit that city frequenty and the people with whom I work really speak this way. I've come to understand and accept it.

Now, the weirdest thing that happened to me in a Columbus bar (this is before I started figuring out this colloquialism) was when a girl in a bar asked me "do you want laid". I'm serious... I didn't get it when she first said it... I must have had a stupid look on my face because she repeated it and then looked at me like I was nuts....