*NOTE: This post was originally posted in December 2017. I’ve added some edits throughout the post and at the bottom (as of 12/29/2020), but have left the original post mostly in tact for reference.
This card is YUGE. Very Rare! Investment! Get them while you can!
I’m kidding, obviously.
For a couple months now, there has been a mysterious 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe #74 card that has been listed on the feeBay for $250,000. That’s right, for the amount of an average home. In card groups on the Facebook, people have occasionally posted asking, “What’s up with this?”. I don’t have any specific insight, but I believe it’s a simple scam. Or brilliant capitalism. (no…it’s a scam).
There is nothing special or rare about this Jose Uribe. It is a regular issue common card from one of the most over-produced sets in the history of baseball. Current estimates say there are approximately 124 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe cards in existence for every man, woman and child on the face of this earth (that’s an exaggeration, but probably not too far off).
EDIT: But it’s an ERROR!! Yes, technically, it has an error – the birth year is one year off. But here’s the thing…to my knowledge, Fleer never corrected it. Therefore, the “error” is just a boo boo on the card. There’s no two versions – error and corrected, thus no scarcity to the error “version”. Thus, it’s not an error in the “No Name Frank Thomas” or “FF-Ripken” sense of the term.
No one is going to buy this $250k Jose Uribe. And I think the seller is well aware of this. What’s really interesting is, now that it’s been listed for a couple months, if you go into feeBay and check out the sold/completed listings (comps), you’ll notice that a TON of 1990 Fleer Uribe’s have indeed sold. All across the board, anywhere from $0.99 to $45 and more! Like, there is seriously a very surprising amount of these cards that have been sold. This card is not worth $45. It’s not worth $1. I wouldn’t pay a dime for it. Perhaps set collectors who aren’t concerned with pinching pennies would pay a couple shiny quarters for it to complete a set, but that’s about it.
What we have here folks, is (at best) a very interesting case study in capitalism. Create the demand, by whatever means necessary (post a single exorbitantly priced card to get a lot of attention), then post a ton of listings of the same card for lesser amounts. Perhaps some ignorant fella comes along, see’s this VERY RARE JOSE URIBE HOLY COW card, does a new search for Jose Uribe, and see’s other listings of the same card. HEY LOOK, THAT ONE’S ONLY $40!! Sucker…
Apparently, one even sold for $2,200. I’d be surprised if this is actually a legitimate sale/transaction, my guess is this would be a shilled out fake sale staged by the original scammer, but whatever the case, there it is, under sold listings.
So here’s a deep philosophical question. If a card is truly worth only what one is willing to pay, then will this little social experiment in hive-demand and market driven capitalism make this particular Jose Uribe more valuable? Apparently it already has…to the right person (or to the uninformed).
Now, who wants to buy my 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe cards? I’ll sell you about a hundred of them for $100k. That’s a heck of an investment deal.
Edits as of 12/29/2020
Is it worth more because of the ERROR?
As noted above, this card does have a technical error – they printed his birth year one year too early (1959, as opposed to 1960 which is correct). But, to my knowledge, Fleer never corrected it, so therefore there is only the one version – with the error. Since no corrected version, there is no scarcity to the error, so that won’t make it worth more. LOTs of cards, especially from this era, have errors like this that were never corrected.
Money Laundering
A popular theory has been around for some time that this card is being used for money laundering purposes. I mean, yeah, that could be the case. We don’t know this for certain, but why not?
Market Manipulation.
I.e., SCAM. I find it somewhat difficult to believe it was an original attempt at manipulating the market for this specific card. Why this card if one is going to do this? Perhaps because they knew there was an error on the card (although knowledgeable collectors and dealers would certainly know that doesn’t mean anything on this card). Perhaps because Jose Uribe tragically died in a car crash in 2006 (other athletes – some far more notable – have died and you don’t see this happening with their cards – besides, if this were the case, you’d see these prices for his other cards as well, but we really don’t see this).
Practical Joke
A third common theory – and personally the one I think is most likely – is that it was simply a practical joke originally, and then it spun out of control with people seeing the original $250k listing and posting their own to try to capitalize. In this case, it’s certainly market manipulation, but probably unintentional (at least at the start).
Whatever the case – money laundering, market manipulation, practical joke – why this specific card? I don’t have an answer to that, but the seeming randomness of it tends to lend credence to the practical joke theory in my mind. Other cards on occasion pop up for exorbitant prices, and this one in particular was SO random and nonsensical that the internet turned took it and ran.
And now, as of the end of the year 2020 (good riddance!), the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe (error or otherwise!) has taken on a bit of recognition. While it’s pretty widely understood that it’s a “worthless” card, indeed, sales are continuing to occur on eBay for anywhere from $1 to $5 per card! There are even graded versions (Gem Mint!!) hitting eBay. There’s enough sales for me to believe that people are actually wanting and seeking out this card now – probably most of them knowing exactly what the card is (and is not) – and wanting it just because of the phenomenon. Instant cult classic.
So, again, the question is…how much is my 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe baseball card worth? And again, the answer is…what someone will pay for it.
LEGENDARIO – 12×16 Art Canvas Print of Jose Uribe 1990 Fleer
More From The Sports Card Blog
New Custom slabs coming to heavy trading cards!
The design and exact logistics are still in the planning phase, but we are excited to announce that Heavy Trading Cards will soon have an option to purchase custom slabs! Take a look at the prototype and let us know your thoughts! Naturally, actual grading services will not be offered, so the label design will not reflect a numeric grade, BUT we are thinking outside the box and an opportunity […]
Thank you! Finally after days of searching I finally got an honest answer. I have contacted sellers on Ebay and nobody wanted to give me a straight answer as to what makes this card so rare. Apparently it is the delusion in their scrawny little brains. I feel sorry for the people who shelled out their hard earn money for this common card. Just as a note, I contacted both Beckett Grading and PSA, and neither of them had answers. All they could tell me was that they had LESS THAN 5 of these cards in their archives. So again thank you for shedding some light on the dark side of the sports card industry.
Thanks Bill! Yes, there’s a ton of speculation, but if you think logically about it, I’m sure it’s something along these lines. I’ve seen people speculating that it has to do with money laundering as well, though in this instance, I have a hard time believing that. Money laundering would have to entail something somewhat believable, right? Who knows.
So I have one of these cards of Jose Uribe and I am new as for having this dugout collection.my name is dee can you give me some on-site if this card any value
The year of brith one year off
To my knowledge, Fleer never corrected the error. Therefore it’s a moot issue. No scarcity to the error because there’s no corrected version.
Please don’t believe the hype the one that sold has a year misprint on the back
Ok what about this I have two of Jose uribe card number74 with his Born Date as 1/21/60 and I have another one of his cards saying that he was born on 1/21/59 so would this have something to do with the high price on his card.?can someone give me a little feedback.? Thanks
So it being an error card pay no nevermind right? His birth year is 59, not 60👍, does is make it 250k absolutely not, but its definitely rare.
To my knowledge, Fleer never corrected the error. Therefore there is no error “version” – it’s just the normal card. When errors are caught and corrected versions are put out, the more rare error version can increase in value, simply because it’s more scarce. It’s kind of like an unintentional short printing. If no correction, no scarcity to the error card. Folks on ebay are using the ERROR label to try to drive up price, but it’s manipulation.
I recently went through my commons box of baseball cards and found 37 Jose Uribe 1990 fleer baseball cards. So who and where are people getting there is 124 in the world. If i have a total of 37. So i do the math 124
-37
Equals=87 left for everyone else. Wow what people will fall for.
To clarify, above I meant 124 cards “for every man, woman and child on the face of this earth” EACH. Exaggeration of course, but probably not too far off 😉
Apparently you are wrong, it’s 30 for every man……….etc.
This Jose Uribe thing is nuts. I’m gonna dig through the first stack of commons I have. If I find 2, I’m it’s for sure a scam.
Ha! Just came across this about an hour ago. I’m 47,I was a huge collector of baseball as a kid, I could not believe the price. So anyway I went to the attic and looked through my cards I have sets sets sets! But I also took extras and put all in alphabetical I was a boring kid. I found that I had 237 of these cards! No joke. Believe it don’t. I’m not one to throw away a baseball card. I have more cards than any five card stores in my town. So as to the price of this card it’s hard to believe I mean I would have 177 million dollars If this was and I could sell them all at too dollar. Mint condition to this day. It’s a unbelievable price for a huge common. A scan is a scam,plus if someone is willing to pay that price than that’s what they pay and it will only drive it up more,maybe,depending on how many fools are willing to buy one at that price. Ridiculous!
237!! That’s crazy! Actually not really, considering how many MILLIONS were produced. Hey man, throw them up for $5 each with free shipping…I bet you make a killing!
Millions produced? So the number of printed cards produced by fleer in 1990 is wrong on the back of the card?
On the back of my copy, it says only 19,141 cards printed in the United States by the Fleer Corp.
??? Not sure ???
19141 is the zip code
You should burn 236 of them and bring up the price more hahahahahahahaha….
I have noticed you don’t monetize your blog, don’t waste your traffic,
you can earn additional cash every month because you’ve got high quality content.
If you want to know how to make extra $$$, search for:
Ercannou’s essential adsense alternative
Simple put, it was likely a transaction for “some other product or service”… Wink wink. Think about it, and ponder what products or service they may have received.
the description of it on ebay proves it is a scam. no card of any kind in 1990 came in sealed bags. same as old comics, they don’t come in seal bags.
I also want to know if I have a rare card number 74 Jose Uribe is it valuable in mint condition
An obvious hoax, and yes a touch of brilliant capitalism with a hint of hilarity.
I think it’s great that I have a base card with so much value 😁.
I have only one question…on the back of my 1990 Jose Uribe fleer #74 card, it says fleet printed only 19,141 copies of this card in the United States. Is that number accurate?
19141 is a zipcode for Philadelphia. It is not a print run.
I have been collecting errors and variations for years. I even wrote 3 books on baseball cards, wrappers and other sports.
You can price an item you want to sell ,like my dad always said a sucker is born every minute.
Yes they are some errors that are hard to find and maybe”RARE” but not these crazy prices. SCAM, SCAM,SCAM.
I have a Mark McGwire that is cut wrong is worth anything
I have more than one Jose Uribe different card numbers and other base ball players such as Sandy Koufax, Bo Jackskon ,Ken Griffey .and others I have been collecting for some yrs but would like to sell them and for how much. I know they are worth a lot. Please let me know. let me know if your interested in buying them all what I have.
Thank You
Jean
Hello jean. [email protected]
If you still have cards for sale. I am putting a package together to send as a Care Package to the troops in Kabul. My cousins there and Amy contribution would show support from around the world, not just family only. 🙂
Ya fucking scam all the way
What people are not saying is that making a false statement about a item in an advertisement on the internet is a crime. To be guilty you must have the intent to knowingly deceive a buyer. Money does not have to change hands for it to be internet fraud. Internet fraud is a Federal Crime. On ebay you can list the price of a card at any price you want. But once you make a statement to it’s rarity, the statement must be true. According to listing policies on ebay, you cannot list an item by using your opinion, it be must listed with only facts. Ebay does not exist for people to make money off other people who have less knowledge of an item. ebay needs to shut down this hoax sooner than later, it’s not good for the hobby. It just brings out all of the bottom feeders who need to stay out of the hobby.
To my surprise, I had approximately say 5000, 1990 Fleet cards that I had collected. Went through them all twice pulling out Z E R O, yes that’s right, not a damn one Jose Uribe card. All those people who are saying they have a g angload of them. Unless you have 500,000 1990 Fleers, I think your full of it. I had to open my Factory Sealed Set to get mine. I really thought I would pull a dozen or more. I have my One! REST IN PEACE JOSE.
So I read scam and I read rare card shoot my ten year old so found his along side the road lol complete set of fleer90 in the box neat find I thought and so Google came strait to the ebay site of 20,000$ lol and I obviously am a sckeptic but will poast the thing on ebay for a g tomarrow would love to catch me a sucker hell after he bought it I most likely send him the wrong card lol !
Mybe your mad because you don’t have the card
Ok so I’ve read every comment on here. I’ve collected sports cards over twenty years my grandfather introduced me to them. I remember doing the flea markets as a child setting up with my father and grandfather and in the early 80s to mid 80s cards were booming. It was very common for people to overpay for cards. I’ve seen the uribe card called a scam. I don’t think it’s a scam so to speak. I read in one comment on here I believe it said there is only 5 on file. If the person who originally listed this card may not be informed on cards as some ok most others same must be said for the people buying this card. Now at the same time another comment made a great point a card is worth as much as a person will pay. To cut this short as an eBay seller all you people overpaying for cards ( not only uribe but remember Strasburg rcs prices a few years ago ) I say keep buying I personally don’t believe it will kill the hobby but the opposite and could even possibly bring back the glory days of the 80s.
the only “mistake” I can find is that there are no colon marks(:) after the words both and throws on my cards. does that make the card rare
i have one of these cards that has the wrong year he was born. what is that card worth
The card is not rare. It would be rare if they corrected the mistake. The did not. The card says he was born in ’60, he was born in ’59. It was a mistake, not an error. All fleer jose uribe fleer ’90 cards say ’60. Not rare, not rare at all. Just went through 1 wax box of cards I opened a year ago and pulled 1 out. Not rare. Beckett marketplace is selling the card for 35 cents
I have a upper Deck that has a 1960 birthdate and it’s a 1991 is this card sour that enemy thing.?
If the person has 74 cards of #74 yes I will give him .50 cents each write now let me know. On this sight.
59 is correct
I have one of these jose uribe 90 fleer #74 birth error card but have no idea where to sell it and what I can get for it.
Leonard
[email protected]
Hey Leonard! Here’s the thing about the “error card”. Yes, it has his birth year wrong. However, to the best of my knowledge, Fleer never corrected the error, so there’s no “corrected” version. Since this is the case, there is no rarity to the error card – it’s the only version (and there are millions of them). Folks on ebay are hyping the error in order to sell them, but since there is no corrected version, it’s not even considered an actual error card. These cards seem to be gaining a bit of a cult following because of this craziness, and ebay does seem to have a ton of sales of this card for anywhere between $1.00 (basically the minimum on ebay) and $5 (raw, ungraded of course).
It is not a rare card. They have lied too you for years about rare cards. Keep it it is worth more too talk about.
Exactly what is the difference between mistake and error?
There has to be a correct version printed after release of original. But in some cases, the correct version may be worth more.
Example:
19xx Babe Ruth (incorrect name “Babe Ruthe”) 20000 were printed.
19xx Babe Ruth (correct name “Babe Ruth”) 1,000 were printed.
The correct name card becomes highly sought after. Since only 1000 were printed. Supply and demand.
Also, cards cut wrong, slanted, dots, colored lines are not errors. Actually, they make them worthless. Do you want a Nolan Ryan RC with part of his head cutoff?
This price is not correct 250.000 for a card not rare I have 8 of them and I see many more. It is not a rare card. Stop telling nonsense and ruining the industry with such crap. Stop selling cause you are a bad seller to con people who are un-witting towards this product. Stop taking advantage of them.