Executive Order: Setting Record Straight on ‘First’ George Bush Autograph Cards

Some revisionist historians near Wall Street are receiving some ill-gotten gains this week by wrongly touting their new George W. Bush autographed card as “the first time ever that a living President has made their autographs available in a trading card product.”

Some revisionist historians near Wall Street are receiving some ill-gotten gains this week by wrongly touting their new George W. Bush autographed card as “the first time ever that a living President has made their autographs available in a trading card product.”

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, right?

Clearly, that company overlooked, ignored or simply didn’t know about the pioneering autographed trading cards from George H. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, that appeared in Panini America’s popular 2008 Donruss Threads Baseball release, a point not lost on the folks over at Beckett Media. Panini America also produced poignant cards signed by the elder Bush and his wife Barbara that were inserted into 2008 Donruss Americana II.

“Obviously, we were thrilled to deliver the history-making first autographed trading cards of George H. Bush and the former First Lady three years ago,” says Ben Ecklar, Panini America’s Director of Product Development. “That was quite an accomplishment for the entire trading card industry and those cards remain popular with collectors and history buffs all these years later. We’re proud to have played a leadership role in that endeavor that has paved the way for other manufacturers.”

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19 Replies to “Executive Order: Setting Record Straight on ‘First’ George Bush Autograph Cards”

    1. Absolutely there’s a difference. Their quote — and their claim — is inaccurate: ” . . . marking the first time ever that a living President has made their autographs available in a trading card product.”

  1. I’m pretty sure they said, “The first time a living president has ever signed a baseball card.” If you want to lay claim to these slogans, maybe find a way to stop using stickers.

    You guys are getting very cheap with the semantics. Whether it’s the first President Autograph or the first Video Trading card, you need to stop treating it like a school yard bickering match.

    Stop being THAT guy.

      1. USA today and the press release tell a different story: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/07/george-w-bushs-baseball-card/1

        Who exactly procured the quote in question, by the way?

        “President George W. Bush lends his signature to new Topps baseball card release: For the First Time Ever, Topps Issues Autographed Trading Cards of a Former President.”

        From release: “The Topps Company, Inc. … announced that its 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter product will include 200 limited edition autographed cards of President George W. Bush, marking the first time a United States President has signed an actual baseball card.

        1. And I’ll refer you to the first quote in the statement, as covered by FoxNews.com

          http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/07/13/topps-issues-george-w-bush-autographed-cards-first-ever-for-president/

          “We’re thrilled to announce that this year’s set will include limited edition autographs of our country’s 43rd President, George W. Bush – marking the first time ever that a living President has made their autographs available in a trading card product.”

      2. Yup and I’m just asking who procured the statement. I just find it incredibly plausible that it’s not verbatim, but rather the general point. The person transcribing it probably figured it didn’t matter especially considering how we’re getting different quotes from different news sources. In most cases the longer, more detailed quote will prove to be more accurate.

        Alas, I find this a non-issue either way. You are after all making a rather large issue of what was probably a mistake either by the reporter or the topps rep.

        I think if Topps released this in their official! release, you’d have some beef, I guess.

  2. What does it matter? Panini was the first to have a President’s signature on a trading card and Topps is the first to have it on a baseball card. Sadly, what is being overlooked is that you and Topps are bickering over who was first to feature an autograph of a couple of terrible and inept Presidents.

  3. Hmmm, very interesting, I just want my 2010 Limited Suh auto redemption to ship already.. They are live in the market for like 6 months now.

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  5. On card or sticker really doesn’t matter . Still a former President . Who could possibly not be happy to pull one ? Historic auto plain amd simple !

  6. Actually neither one of you guys had the first presidential auto.
    Gerald Ford was in the TK Legacy Michigan Football Set first.

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