Sweet Spot Asterisk Card No Hoax

Here's a developing story worth keeping an eye on: in an industry first, a punctuation mark has been given its own autograph card.

In case you don't know what I'm babbling about, you'll definitely want to read this story on Beckett.com. A few collectors have already found 2007 Sweet Spot Baseball autographs that list "756" where the player's name would be and feature a big asterisk where the signature is usually found. Beckett quotes an anonymous source that confirms the cards are real - and very rare.

While this appears to be a humorous way to get in a little jab at Topps-exclusive Barry Bonds, it's not the first strange thing that's popped out of this year's Sweet Spot set. Last week, reports surfaced of a "Michael Buysner" rookie card that appeared to be a parody of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, a prominent figure in the group that is in the process of purchasing Topps.

Upper Deck actually stated that those cards were never intended to reach the general public, but it sure seems like the designers at the industry's leading manufacturer are having some fun.