Topps Responds To Fake Austin Meadows & Randy Arozarena Autograph Issue

Two very distinguishable autograph's on one card, both fake! Twitter user @SpitballBros has shared an image of a card he has pulled from 2022 Topps Definitive with obviously fake autographs. Any one in the hobby and business of baseball cards can clearly tell that the auto's do not appear to be real, and apparently Topps agrees, and has made an official statement on the hot topic. Topps will be replacing the card with something of equal value, and give you a fresh box to bust open.

Dear Topps fans,
Topps has been made aware of the questions regarding the authenticity of the 2022 Topps Definitive Baseball Dual Autograph of Austin Meadows and Randy Arozarena and we believe the autographs are not of the players pictured. While these types of issues are exceedingly rare, we take this extremely seriously and will work with customers holding this card to make the situation right. To that end, each and every customer that has received this card will be sent a full replacement box of 2022 Definitive Baseball and a replacement card (or a card of equal value).

We are asking any consumer with the card in question to please contact Topps Customer Service at support@topps.com (please use subject line - 2022 Definitive Meadows/Arozarena). We are confident this an isolated incident (limited to less than 50 cards) and resulted from adjustments made to our autograph procurement process as a result of Covid protocols. We are further strengthening our procurement and QC processes to avoid these situations altogether going forward. Both Fanatics and Topps care deeply about our consumers and will continue to prioritize the fan experience.
Sincerely,

Topps and Fanatics

While Topps has done a great job on fixing the situation fast, the question still remains on how this happened in the first place. Where is the quality control? Did a Topps employee purposely sign these himself? Did Austin or Randy have a friend or family member do the signing for them? What happens to the cards that already inserted into the boxes and into the hands of collectors not familiar with their original autographs? Do we really need to take a better look at other recent Topps releases to make sure this wasn't done before? This is obviously a huge mess for Topps, and we really appreciate the fast action on fixing the situation, even though this may leave a bad taste in collectors mouth's for some time to come.

We have reached out to Topps for comment, if and when they respond, we will update our article.

Here are some images of the forged autographed card, and some images of their original true autographs.

 

[codyg]

This is mind blowing, how does a company like Topps allow this to happen?

 

[golovey]

This is mind blowing, how does a company like Topps allow this to happen?

they do not care anymore because the company will soon be in fanatics hands

 

[Mad-Man-Matty]

It was clearly the same person who wrote both autograph's, so its not like one of their friends signed them, sent them back to topps and then was resent out to the other signer.. this happened in-house at Topps.

 

[Taliasen]

Is Fanatics buyign topps and keeping all of the existing staff, just taking over financial operations or are they cleaning house and rehiring all of the position including quality control?