A year ago, I saw that Topps had a proofreading job available. As a baseball fanatic and someone who proofreads for work (and for fun!), this was a bit of a "dream job." (Although they could have started me out in the Club Penguin department, who knows--still woulda been fun.) The company is located in New York, but I would have gladly taken it and figured out a schedule that works for both of us. Like, I work in the office a few days a week while sleeping at my friend Chan's apartment and work from home the other days. (I remember Chan at the time saying, "you're giving them your own terms already, I see....") Anyway, nothing became of that.

Yesterday I bought my first Topps baseball cards of the new season. After finding a Mickey Mantle card and curiously checking to see if it's rare or desired more than the other pieces of cardboard, I noticed people referring to it as an "error" card. They were saying the stats area on the back had two "triples" columns. There were two "3B"s and no "2B." (The stats below were correct; the mistake was only in the header.) Noticing that my card also had this goof, I looked into it even further. On a message board, someone asked if anyone thinks Topps will be correcting this error. (Without a corrected version, an error card doesn't have an extra value--according to the hobby-spoiling card-pricing junta! One year they called Mike Greenwell "Jeff" right on the front of the card--but since they didn't correct it, which would have made the "Jeff" version more rare, it's just like any other card.) The answer that came back was: "Considering they made that mistake on the whole set, probably not."

That's right. Topps, the leading baseball card producer since before you were born, labeled the "doubles" column "3B" for the entire first series of their 2012 baseball cards. Except for the pitchers, whose doubles/triples aren't shown anyway. And certain other cards, like rookie cards and ones with horizontal pictures on the front, for some reason. But a majority of hitter's cards have the screw-up. After looking at the cards I had in my hands and seeing that it's true, I also looked at some pitcher cards, and noticed they topped the "walks" column with a "W," instead of the usual "BB," which differentiates it from "wins." (I can imagine the same non-baseball fan who messed up the 3B thing going, "oh look, they've got 'BB' standing for "walk"--there's an easy fix....")

So what did we learn today? I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PROOFREADER FOR TOPPS BASEBALL CARDS! Clearly. Now I feel like just sending them my resume. I could bring up my "terms," and if they seem weary, I'll just say, "double triii-plllle," and they'll realize they need me.