Diamonds, Gold and then a Million Dollars

 In the past I've spoken about the Diamond Giveaway Die-Cuts and the Golden Moments Die-Cuts. For those who missed those, the cliffnotes version is that they were exclusive thick cards you could potentially unlock using digital codes you'd redeem on websites Topps launched for the years those promos were going on.

Today is going to be the third (and probably last) installment where I get a chance to talk about the forgotten Million Dollar Chase Die-Cuts.

For those of you who don't know or remember, in 2013 the promotion that involved entering in codes was the "Million Dollar Chase". The code cards had a dollar motif and collectors groaned every time they pulled one.

Cardboard Connection documented what the promo entailed but the gist of it was basically:

- You used the codes to unlock players

- Then used those players to guess who would get a hit on a certain day

- The objective was to extend your hit guess streak as long as possible and eventually redeem prizes depending on how long those guessing streaks lasted

The die-cuts like the CarGo were some of the prizes you could unlock. Unlike in 2011 and 2012, the die-cuts in 2013 are all autographed. The checklist for it is kind of random and screams more like one big sticker dump. On one spectrum you've got the HoFers like George Kell and Don Sutton, on the other end you've got names like Josh Vitters and Boone Logan. In between you've got even more random names like Gary Sheffield and Steve Garvey.

As far as I can tell the only other prizes you could unlock were coin cards which are not autographed.

Code Card from Night Owl Cards' blogpost

Anyway after typing all that out, I think it's clear why this promo is so forgotten. Just how many collectors seriously bothered keeping up with this promotion?

I suppose this type of daily commitment thing is still prevalent today given how "beat the streak" is a popular thing for sports gambling outlets. Also fantasy baseball is a whole second job in and of itself. But when the payoff is a bunch of die-cuts of likely nobodies and un-autographed coin cards, I think most were just content with selling off the codes or letting them expire. That's what I did at the time.

So back to the die-cut itself though, I quite like it. The wooden plaque motif makes this die-cut less shinier than its 2011 and 2012 counterparts but it's simple and it works. There's also a big plot of space allocated to where the autograph sticker can be applied (all of the autographs are stickers BTW).

If nothing else this was a unique way to add a certified autograph of Chicago Cubs great Carlos Gonzalez.

Also since I already had the three Colorado Rockies die-cuts from the Diamond Giveaway promo and just showed off the two from the Golden Giveaway promo in my last post, here's the complete run.

My scanner can't do full 8x10 scans anymore, leading to me making stuff like this in post

What a sight. Complete with the representatives getting axed in exactly the same order in which they left the Rockies org.

Now that I have these cards that seemed mildly neat to me a decade ago, I can finally put them away in a box and never think about these promos again.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.