Wade Belak
1976-2011
The game of hockey suffered a major loss on August 31, 2011 as it was announced that former NHL player Wade Belak had passed away at the age of 35. Known as one of the game’s toughest performers during his pro career, he will be missed by all whose lives he touched.
“On behalf of all of our staff, we extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Wade during this difficult time.” said In The Game’s President, Dr. Brian H. Price. “He had a solid reputation as one of hockey’s tough customers and one of hockey’s nicest guys. We were incredibly pleased when, only last month, Wade joined the In The Game team to be part of our upcoming Enforcers product.”
Wade Belak was born July 3, 1976 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At the age of six, his family moved to Battleford, Saskatchewan where he would attend St. Vital Elementary School.
At Battleford Junior High, he was showing signs of becoming a great athlete and participated in several sports including volleyball, track and field, badminton and basketball.
After school, he spent his time at the local swimming pool and ice hockey arena. At age 14, he was on his way to becoming a certified lifeguard; however, hockey was his priority. At the time, he played competitive hockey at the AA level.
After playing with the AAA Midget North Stars the next year, he was selected by the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League. He attended his first Blades training camp and made the team; however, Belak felt that he was not experienced enough for the WHL and decided to play another season at the AAA level with the Midget North Stars.
This proved to be a great decision for Belak as he enhanced his skills and developed into a better hockey player. The following season, he rejoined the Blades and had an incredible rookie season as they faced the Kamloops Blazers in the WHL Finals, only to lose in seven games.
In the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, Belak was selected 12th overall by the Quebec Nordiques. He chose to play two more seasons with Saskatoon before he joined Quebec’s American Hockey League farm team, the Cornwall Aces. After the club relocated to Hershey, he played for the Bears for two seasons and was part of a Calder Cup-winning team.
On December 21, 1996, Belak was called up by the Colorado Avalanche and played his first NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He began the 1997-1998 season with Colorado and recorded his first two NHL points, a goal and an assist, on October 22, 1997 against the Washington Capitals.
Late in the 1998-99 season, he was involved in a blockbuster trade involving the Calgary Flames. The Flames received Belak, along with his teammates Rene Corbet and Robyn Regehr plus a conditional draft pick in exchange for Chris Dingman and Theoren Fleury.
He became a member of the Calgary Flames on March 27th, 1999 and he would register his first point (an assist) as a member of the Flames on April 1, 1999 against the Phoenix Coyotes.
In the 1999-00 season was filled with excitement for Belak as he began the season with the AHL’s Saint John Flames. He was eventually called up and played 40 games with Calgary. Even though he saw limited action, he led the team in penalty minutes (122) and also averaged 7:33 minutes of ice time that season.
After playing 23 games with the Flames during the 2000-2001 campaign, he was placed on waivers and picked up by the Maple Leafs. His Toronto debut came on February 17, 2001.
Belak had a successful 2001-2002 season as he finished second on the team in penalty minutes (142) and set a career high in games played (63) along with playing his first NHL playoff game against the New York Islanders. In that series, he scored his first career playoff goal. His momentum continued in 2002-2003 and he led the Maple Leafs in penalty minutes (196) while setting career highs in goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes. The 2003-2004 season was filled with disappointment as he missed a total of 38 games due to injury in addition to being suspended for eight games for a high-sticking incident.
During the NHL lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season, Belak decided to play in Europe for the Coventry Blaze in the Elite Ice Hockey League. He suited up for a total of 42 games and chipped in 17 points and also added a physical presence by racking up 178 penalty minutes. In the playoffs, he added a goal and an assist and sixteen penalty minutes to help lead the Blaze to a grand slam title.
In preparation for the 2005-2006 NHL season, Belak signed a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs. He suffered through two disappointing seasons with nagging injuries and eventually was traded to the Florida Panthers. He spent two injury-plagued seasons there and was traded to the Nashville Predators in 2008-09.
Nashville was Belak’s final NHL team. After playing in 15 games during the 2010-11 season, he was placed on waivers on February 25, 2011. Going unclaimed, he was assigned to the Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, but decided to retire instead and remained with the Predators in an organizational role .
In his personal life, he married Jennifer Jordan Russell in 2002. The couple has two wonderful daughters; Andie Marie and Alex Grace.
The time for ITG Heroes and Prospects Baseball Series Two – Low Numbers has come. This product releases August 3rd – just in time for the 32nd National in Chicago. I thought you might want some information on this great product.
This product features another great lineup of Prospects featuring six 2011 First Round Draft Picks; Cory Spangenberg, Jake Hager, Jace Peterson, James Harris, Keenyn Walker and Kolten Wong. Click Here to View the Checklists
Other former First Round picks also available in Series Two – Low Numbers include: Cito Culver, Manny Machado, Michael Choice, Zach Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Kyle Parker to name a few.
The Heroes checklist is not too shabby either featuring two of the Hall of Fame’s newest members; Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven. They join Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, Steve Garvey along with many others in Series Two – Low Numbers.
There are several new insert sets in Series Two – Low Numbers.
Heroes Hard Cuts
There are six different 1/1 cards in this insert set featuring cut signatures from checks signed by baseball greats.
On The Barrel Head
There are six different 1/1 cards in this insert set.
First Pitch
There are four different 1/1 cards in this insert set featuring signed pieces of baseballs from the last four presidents.
Some of the great inserts introduced in Series One can also be found in Series Two – Low Numbers.
Batting Tips
There are six magnificent game-used bat tips each a 1/1 in this insert set .
Grand Slam Memorabilia
Stunning pieces of game-used memorabilia are featured in this 14-card insert set, each card is a 1/1.
Heroes PaperCut Signatures
There are 16 1/1 cut signature cards in this insert set .
I am extremely proud of In The Game’s first foray into the baseball card market. We have learned a lot and will strive to get better and better at making cards collectors want to collect.
Speak to you soon.
Ranked #1 non-sport set by the non-sport hobby, the original Horrors of War cards remain tremendously popular to this day.
In 1938, Gum Inc, created a design that was meant to be a message to our youth about the “horrors of war”. This epic issue contained 240 cards produced in extreme graphic renderings. The Year 1938 was the era of pulp magazines, just prior to the comic book industries’ first real releases.
The story content of the original issue of the first cards was the Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War, and the Japanese – Chinese Conflict, which proved to be amazing since none of these battles were regarded as significant. Because the issue date was 1938 and World War II was just gearing up, there was little or nothing to print on the subject. However, later 48 additional cards were produced, these cards are even more rare and desirable than the first 240 cards.
Produced over 70 years ago, the cards still inspire collectors to this day.
August 3rd, 2011 marks the date that Famous Fabrics will bring back Horrors of War trading cards to the hobby.
The 48-card base set will depict conflicts from the Second World War to the present. Collect the entire 48-card base set. Cards numbered 1-40 will be inserted into packs of Horrors of War and cards numbered 41-48 will be inserted as Horrors of War case toppers.
A complete set of 48 base cards is guaranteed in a 40-pack Master Case of Horrors of War. Remember, each Master Case includes 8 Case Toppers (card #s 41-48).
Each Horrors of War base card is serially numbered to 40. That’s right there will only be 40 complete sets made.
Here is the Base card checklist:
| No. 1 | The Third Reich | WWII |
| No. 2 | Hitler Visits Mussolini | WWII |
| No. 3 | Auschwitz | WWII |
| No. 4 | France Surrenders | WWII |
| No. 5 | London Bombed | WWII |
| No. 6 | Rommel, The Desert Fox | WWII |
| No. 7 | Pearl Harbor | WWII |
| No. 8 | Tuskegee Airmen | WWII |
| No. 9 | Bataan Death March | WWII |
| No. 10 | Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo | WWII |
| No. 11 | Mountbatten | WWII |
| No. 12 | Dieppe | WWII |
| No. 13 | PT-109 | WWII |
| No. 14 | Beach at Buna | WWII |
| No. 15 | First Raids on Japan | WWII |
| No. 16 | Normandy | WWII |
| No. 17 | D-Day | WWII |
| No. 18 | Battle of the Bulge | WWII |
| No. 19 | Iwo Jima | WWII |
| No. 20 | Russian Flag over the Reichstag | WWII |
| No. 21 | Germany Surrenders | WWII |
| No. 22 | Celebration in Times Square | WWII |
| No. 23 | Potsdam Conference | WWII |
| No. 24 | Crew of the Enola Gay | WWII |
| No. 25 | Atomic Bomb | WWII |
| No. 26 | 38th Parallel | Korean War |
| No. 27 | American Casualty | Korean War |
| No. 28 | Battle of Inchon | Korean War |
| No. 29 | Flamethrowers | Vietnam |
| No. 30 | Buddhist Monk burning in Vietnam | Vietnam |
| No. 31 | LBJ Visits Vietnam | Vietnam |
| No. 32 | Execution of a Viet Cong Guerilla | Vietnam |
| No. 33 | My Lai Massacre | Vietnam |
| No. 34 | Hamburger Hill | Vietnam |
| No. 35 | Burning Fields | Vietnam |
| No. 36 | Kent State Massacre | Vietnam |
| No. 37 | Kim Phuc | Vietnam |
| No. 38 | Multinational Coalition | Desert Storm |
| No. 39 | Burning Oil Fields | Desert Storm |
| No. 40 | Highway of Death | Desert Storm |
| No. 41 | Prisoners of the Iraq War | Iraqi War |
| No. 42 | Hussein’s Statue Falls | Iraqi War |
| No. 43 | Saddam Hussein Captured | Iraqi War |
| No. 44 | Osama Bin Laden | War On Terror |
| No. 45 | World Trade Center | War On Terror |
| No. 46 | New Yorkers in the Streets | War On Terror |
| No. 47 | The Pentagon | War On Terror |
| No. 48 | Obama Announces Bin Laden’s Death | War On Terror |
1/1 Cut Signature Cards
Each pack of Horrors of War not only includes the limited base card but also includes a 1/1 Cut Signature card. Cut Signature cards are also serially numbered out of 1,600.
1/1 Cut Signature cards feature personalities that go as far back in time as the late 1700’s
Horrors of War will feature 1,600 unique cut signature cards from over 16 different conflicts.
The complete checklist will be posted one week before Release Date.
Here are some mock-ups of some of the 1/1 cut signature cards in Horrors of War.
Lewis Cass/War of 1812
Cass was an American military officer who attained the rank of Brigadier General. After serving during the War of 1812, Cass became a US Senator, the Governor of Michigan, the 14th Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, the US Ambassador to France and the 22nd US Secretary of State.
Saddam Hussein/Gulf War
As the 5th serving President of Iraq, Hussein invaded Kuwait which led to the formation of an international coalition that opposed Iraq which started The Gulf war of 1991. Hussein was still in control of his country at the start of the US led Iraq War in 2003. Brought to trial by the Iraqi interim government, he was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites.
Tom Ridge/War on Terror
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security and named Ridge to head it. He also served as a member of the US House of Representatives and was the Governor of the state of Pennsylvania. Ridge also served his country as a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.
James Barnet Fry/Mexican-American War
Born in 1827, Fry was an American soldier who attained the rank of Brevet Major General. A veteran of both the Mexican-American War and American Civil War, Fry was also a prolific author of historical books.
Thomas Pinckney/American Revolution
Pinckney was an early American statesman and diplomat who served in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. After his life in the military, he served as the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was a member of the US House of Representatives and was the 36th Governor of South Carolina.
John F. Kennedy/Cold War
Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. A veteran of World War II, Kennedy was declared a war hero after his actions at the sinking of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109. Kennedy would go on to leave a legacy as one of the most influential men of the 20th Century. Among the events of his presidency were The Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall and the American involvement in the Space Race.
John Pratt/Great French War
John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden was a British politician. He was the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies under King George III.
Alberto Martin-Artajo/Spanish Civil War
Martin-Artajo was an advisor for the Nationalist government during the Spanish Civil War. He later went on to become the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Horrors of War 1938 Display Box
Every 10-box case of Horrors of War will contain a redemption card for a 1938 Horrors of War boxed-set display box. In addition to selling Horrors of War gum cards in packs with bubble gum, the set of all 240 cards was available in a special boxed set edition. This is the box in which the 240 cards were sold. The 1938, Gum, Inc. Horrors of War display box (20” x 10.75”) once held a complete set of low-number Horrors of War non-sports cards #1-240.
This box is designed with an uncut sheet displaying 16-cards glued to the top lid with an advertisement in the center. The underside of the top lid has detailed descriptions of the Horrors of War series and also general information related to card collecting.
The box is bright and clean, perfectly rectangular, and in completely un-restored original condition. The top of the box has three torn corner seams and some very minor edge wear but displays beautifully and is in excellent condition.
Simply complete the information on the card and send the completed card to the address noted on the card. The redemption will be held on December 7, 2011 and one collector will receive the 1938 Horrors of War display box shown above.
Today I find myself between a “rock and a hard place”.
I have never realized how true this saying could be until today.
In The Game has a policy of not including redemption cards for cards that should be included in packs. Our competitors do this frequently. I guess that’s their policy.
Being a collector myself, I feel that if you can’t put it in the pack you should never use a redemption card, simply take the card off the checklist. That’s my opinion. Other companies are entitled to theirs.
So here’s where the saying comes in. In The Game Canadiana is scheduled to be released on July 1st – Canada Day. We have been packing it out over the last two weeks and it is ready to go except for one important signer.
The signer was contacted three weeks ago to return their signatures as soon as possible and responded that they would immediately. Two weeks went by and nothing, we were getting tight for time. We contacted their agent again and were told that no one could find the package we sent them. Had they not waited two weeks to reply, we could have sent another package and still made our release date. The signer is now in Europe and a new package had to be sent out by FedEx. It was and we are now awaiting the return of the signatures.
So that’s the “rock”, here’s the “hard place”. In The Game has had an unmatched string of twenty-two releases in a row that have been on schedule. Again, other companies change their release schedule constantly. I have always felt strongly about this as well. Both collectors and dealers are waiting for products and have to budget accordingly. That’s why we go overboard in trying to make our release dates, every release.
So do I put in Redemption Cards or do I delay the release of the product?
A rock and a hard place!
I have made the decision to delay the product. I want to include the signer, a good one. I don’t want to disappoint collectors who are buying the product because of this signer and I really don’t want to go down the Redemption Card road.
Canadiana is not based on a particular season or event so a delay, in my opinion is the lesser of the two evils, the “rock” or the “hard place”. I believe this is the right decision.
To make up for the delay in the release of this product., I am going to add another insert card to each pack of Canadiana. Now instead of getting one Autograph Card and one Memorabilia Card, we will add a third insert card to each pack of Canadiana
I thought I would share some information with you about one of my new products. Hooray For Hollywood from Famous Fabrics Inc.
June 23, 2011 marks the date for one of Hollywood’s greatest premieres, the release of Famous Fabrics’ Hooray For Hollywood.
Each pack contains a 1/1 Cut Signature from the history of Hollywood.
1/1 Cut Signature subsets include; Academy Award Winners, Actors, Directors, Producers, Studio Executives, Actresses, Honorary Oscar Winners, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Composers and the Dual Cut Cast Cards.
Here are some of the 1/1’s from the Dual Cut Cast Card subset.
Wizard of Oz
Billy Burke/Jack Haley
The Good Witch and the Tin Man together again.
Ocean’s Eleven
Joey Bishop/Frank Sinatra
Old Blue Eyes and His Rat Pack buddy.
A Plumbing We Will Go
The Three Stooges
The most popular trio in movie history.
The Music Box
Stan Laurel/Oliver Hardy
“Here’s another nice card you’ve gotten us into.”
Buck Privates
Bud Abbott/Lou Costello
WHO will pull this card FIRST.
Babes In Arms
Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney
America’s sweethearts on one piece of Hollywood history.
There are 2,000 packs of Hooray For Hollywood and each pack contains a unique 1/1 Cut Signature.
A complete checklist of all the Cut Signatures can be found on http://www.famousfabrics.com
Order yours now. A list of our dealers and distributors can be found on http://www.famousfabrics.com.
I know this is In The Game news and it should not be in my Blog but I am very excited, so I put it in the Blog anyways.
In The Game is extremely pleased to announce to collectors that Alexander Ovechkin has come back to the manufacturer who introduced him into the trading card world and Alex will be a major part of the ITG product lineup.
“Alexander is one of the most exciting and talented hockey players in the world today and we were the first card company to feature him one cards before he made it to the NHL,” said In The Game’s President, Dr. Brian Price. “We have had a long working relationship with Alex and are excited about his return to our products.”
Ovechkin is set to make his In The Game comeback in the highly-anticipated Canada Vs. The World, which releases in the early Fall of 2011. He will also be featured soon after in Captain-C and Ultimate Memorabilia 11th Edition.
Back in 2004-05, In The Game featured Ovechkin, as an International Prospect, in the first-ever release of Heroes and Prospects. The hobby’s reaction to that brand was extremely positive and Heroes and Prospects has become an annual tradition. Alex was a part of many other great releases over the years and his return will allow the company to make more of his cards for In The Game collectors.
Since making his NHL debut during the 2005-06 season, Ovechkin has been one of the most popular players in the hobby and he has had a great deal of success on the ice with the Washington Capitals. The first overall selection in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he won the Calder Trophy during his rookie campaign. He went on to lead the league in goals on two occasions and has received numerous awards including the Hart Trophy in 2007-08 and 2008-09. In 2010-11, he was able to reach the 300-goal plateau.
“In The Game has always listened to collectors and has consistently succeeded in delivering them the players they want to see,” said Price. “Next season is going to be loaded with many surprises and we sincerely hope that even more hobbyists will begin to collect the cards we produce.
This is GR-8-T news.
The 2010-11 hockey season has almost drawn to a close and with an exciting Stanley Cup Final underway plus the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, it’s a great time to be a hockey fan.
But is it a great time for Be A Player?
I don’t think so. Neither card company licensed by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association seems to be releasing the Be A Player brand this year.
BAP may be MIA – missing in action. Panini and Upper Deck don’t have a set with that name on their release schedules and collectors might be missing out on an annual release that has a strong tradition behind it.
One of the main reasons this really irks me is because I made every effort possible to once again start a working relationship with the NHL and the NHLPA once Upper Deck’s five-year exclusive ended last year. While I was at least given a chance to meet with the NHL, the NHLPA rebuffed us completely and In The Game was once again on the outside looking in. Had we been allowed to make licensed NHL trading cards, I think it would have been natural for us to breathe new life into a brand that we took off life support in 1998 held for so many years.
Back in 1998, I was asked by Ted Saskin to take over the brand after Pinnacle went into bankruptcy and the other card companies either would not or were unable to take over the Be A Player line. I sincerely believe that I was able to make some of the most exciting and collectible cards in the hobby over six seasons and took the brand to a whole new level. Many collectors would agree with that statement as well, so it saddens me greatly to see the brand that I worked so many years to bring back into prominence, be left dormant.
For those of you who are new to collecting or have returned to the hobby in recent years, here is a quick history of the Be A Player brand.
In 1993-94 with a labor interruption on the horizon, Upper Deck starts using the BAP brand on trading cards. They released a small boxed-set featuring player in street clothes (no NHL team logos were used) and the cards were also used on hang tags for a Roots clothing line.
From 1994-95 to 1995-96 Upper Deck continued to makes hockey’s first NHLPA-licensed one-autograph-per-pack product. There were no logos on cards as the NHL did not participate.
However, 1996-97 saw Pinnacle enter into the autographed hockey card market and produce two separate series of Be A Player, one autograph per pack products. By the end of the following season, Pinnacle’s aggressiveness in the trading card market took its toll and the company went bankrupt leaving most of their Series B product locked in Pinnacles warehouse.
In the summer of 1998, Ted Saskin called me to ask me a favor. Since Ted was very instrumental several years earlier in helping me get a settlement from Upper Deck for the licensing of my Parkhurst brand, I thought I should help.
Ted wanted to know what to do with the Be A Player brand and asked me to speak to collectors, dealers and distributors to see where the brand should be placed.
I will save the long version of this story for another blog but in the end, In The Game was incorporated to do Be A Player and the NHLPA received 70% of the profits. Since Upper Deck’s license was up for renewal that year, Saskin insisted that Upper Deck allow In The Game to use Gretzky in Be A Player.
I quick put together a great team and started making Be A Player trading cards under the In The Game brand and the first series called Be A Player – All-Star Edition was released in January 1999 in Tampa Bay. The second series was released in May of that year, Be A Player – Playoff Edition.
For the next four seasons, we put out an annual Be A Player Signature Series product. During that time, ITG also released an annual BAP Memorabilia set (with Update Sets) which focused heavily on rookie cards and memorabilia.
Our company also introduced their annual Draft Redemption cards in 2001-02. In The Game’s Ultimate Memorabilia product is also launched in 2000-01. In 2001-02, Between The Pipes was also introduced to collectors and is a hobby mainstay to this day.
The last year ITG was fully licensed by the NHL and NHLPA was 2003-04. In that year we made the bold move to change the annual Signature Series product to In The Game-Used Signature Series with one autograph and one memorabilia card per pack.
In 2004-05, In The Game denied a license by the NHLPA and no Be A Player brand products were issued.
Upper Deck took over the reins of BAP from 2005-06 to 2009-10 under their five-year exclusive and released an annual Be A Player set. Additionally, a product called Be A Player Portraits with oversized Autograph 8X10 cards released in 2006-07.
Now in 2010-11, the Be A Player brand is in limbo and there are no answers forthcoming from Upper Deck, the NHLPA or Panini.
As you can see, there has been a tumultuous history for Be A Player, but In The Game offered it a chance to grow and be an industry leader for six seasons. There’s no real reason why we couldn’t do it once again – but the chance to do that doesn’t seem to be available to us.
There is always going to be speculation as to why – and we don’t have all of the answers ourselves – but it would be nice to have an even playing field with Upper Deck and Panini.
Instead, we have soldiered on and created some great trading card products over the past six years. We also have a great working relationship with the CHL, AHL and PHPA in addition to hundreds of active and retired players. We’re already planning for next season and continue to listen to collectors and try to offer them the best value for their hobby dollar.
So, I ask this of all of you who read this blog – don’t you think it’s about time In The Game was given a chance to revive Be A Player again and take it to even greater heights?
No problem.
Back in the old days when ITG had its NHL and NHLPA licenses, we made Rookies galore.
In fact, we set a new standard in the industry when we made limited Rookie Debut cards immediately after the player played his first game. I thought it was a great idea but I guess it wasn’t since neither UD or Panini has done it since. Or maybe they just didn’t want to go to the extra effort to get images of these players immediately and make the cards in such limited quantities. Who knows
Now that we have lost our licenses, some collectors don’t buy our products any longer because they don’t have ROOKIES in them. Well that’s ends NOW.
Decades – The 80s our retrospective trading card product celebrating the 1980s in hockey will have 45 Rookie Cards including; Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Luc Robitaille, Cam Neely, Paul Coffey, Pelle Lindbergh and Joe Sakic.
I know, I know Beckett won’t call these Rookie Cards. Well, too bad for Beckett. This is a Decades Rookie Card of Patrick Roy no matter what anyone says and its well worth collecting. And my Mark Messier Rookie Auto/Memo, is it worth collecting? You decide.
Decades will be released June 2, 2011 and you won’t want to miss it.
Brian Price
I have now been officially dropped from the ranks of “Super Hero” to the masses of “Only Human”.
The rapid decline is extremely humbling.
As the small card company that could, In The Game always prided itself on not making mistakes, well not ever but very, very few. We felt that our attention to detail was the main reason for this.
Sure we had the odd spelling mistake, a couple of incorrect stats, used wrong image a couple of times because goalies on the same team behind masks looked similar, the usual stuff. But if you look at the 100’s of 1,000’s of cards we make each year, the numbers were minimal.
That all come to a screeching stop on April 13, 2011.
A blogger who was opening up a box of our 2010-11 Between The Pipes to post the contents called us to inform us that the Emerald Version of our Masked Men III cards had 1/1 on the back and that our website said that the Emerald Masked Men III cards were out of 340.
Was he wrong? I sure hoped so that night, I called a staff member and had them drive to our office and open up a box of product. He sure was right and boy we sure were wrong.
There is an explanation for this event but not an excuse. The card went through the normal proofing process that all our cards do before they are released and no one caught the small 1/1 designation. Probably because they were not looking for it. There never was supposed to be a 1/1 Masked Men III card in the product.
We made 1/1 Masked Men cards before and collectors felt it was to elitist and difficult to collect, so we don’t make 1/1 Masked Men cards any longer.
What were we to do. Well the first thing in my mind was to communicate this situation to everyone we could as fast as we could as the product was releasing the next day. We sent out a Newsletter to those on our list (I would advise everyone who collects our product to subscribe to the Newsletter so you can have up to date information). We posted it on our website. I personally went on the all the major hockey forums. We contact Beckett. We sent out an email to all our distributors and direct dealers. I personally went into a number of hockey chat rooms to let people know of the problem.
All of this was done before the product released on April 14, 2011.
I know that there still will be issues to deal with. We made a mistake for which we are truly sorry and apologize profusely.
We are working on a Redemption Program to make the Emerald Version of the Masked Men card more valuable and that should be forthcoming.
For those who purchased cards thinking they were 1/1’s, again I apologize. Perhaps, the person you bought the card from knowing it is not a 1/1 will adjust the price.
But please remember, we did not advertise this product with a 1/1 version of a Masked Men Card, the lowest number inserted is the Gold Version and that is out of ten.
So as I said at the start, my Super Hero mantra is gone, I am only human.
A very sorrowful Brian Price
It seems like this product is making quite a stir.
Both Famous Fabrics and I personally have been receiving tons of emails asking more information about the product. So here’s a little more.
The Base Card set configuration is interesting. There are a total of 48 cards in the Base Set but only 40 of them are put into Horrors of War boxes. The other 8 are case toppers. Each Master Case contains 4-10 box cases and there are 2 additional Base Cards inserted as case toppers in each case. Thus a Master Case contains 8 case topper Base Cards and fills the 48 card set.
Each Base Card is serially numbered out of 40, thus there is only 40 master sets of 48 Base Cards. Confusing, hope not.
Here are a few more base card images:
Here are a couple of the WWII Cut Signature Cards:
We will also feature 1/1 Cut Signature cards from the Civil War, WWI, War on Terror, Korean War and other conflicts.
Each Horrors of War box contains one Base Card and one 1/1 Cut Signature Card.
Only 1,600 Horrors of War boxes are being produced.
Order yours today.
Brian Price
According To Dr. Price 
