Leon Washington Bowman Autograph: Humorous Jester or Horrendous Gesture?

Nov 10 2006 5:12PM

See also: UPDATE: Leon Washington Autograph Card Value Increases More Than 1,000%

Please note: the photo accompanying this news story may offend some viewers.

By David Lee

Leon Washington is not a punk. Heck, he's not even a rude guy. In fact, at the Rookie Premiere Photo Shoot in May, he was by far the friendliest player I interviewed.

So why is he flipping two birds at us on his latest autographed card?

I was going through e-mails that had piled up over the weekend when I came across one from a collector asking about Washington's 2006 Bowman Signs of the Future autographed card. He pulled the card and immediately noticed the, um, gesture.

I went online to find a scan of the card to see if what this collector was claiming is true. It certainly looks like Washington is issuing double "birds" in the photo. Either that, or he's telling us we're all No. 1. Twice. With the wrong fingers.

We attempted several times to contact Washington through the New York Jets this week, but he could not be reached for comment.

Could this just be a mistake? Could Washington simply be throwing down some college frat house sign? It's possible, but Topps is playing it safe. The company is calling this an oversight and is offering a replacement.

"In no way does Topps condone this type of behavior to be photographed for its trading cards and is deeply embarrassed that this photograph was not deleted in the early stages of the editing process," a company spokesperson says. "We apologize for this oversight and recommend collectors to return the card to Topps for a randomly chosen replacement autograph card from our 2006 Bowman football product."

The address for those who wish have the card replaced is:

The Topps Company
Leon Washington Card Return
PO Box 766
Pittston, PA 18640

This isn't the first time an obscene gesture or inappropriate word has made it onto a card, but it may be the most emphatic. The 1972 Topps Billy Martin #33 comes to mind. Martin is standing near a fence in his Detroit Tigers uniform with his left hand at his side communicating in the same language as Washington.

And who can forget the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken? Written on the knob of his bat is, well, it rhymes with "Duck Face." To this day, Beckett catalogs that landmark card as the Billy Ripken "Rick Face" card. The obscenity was caught and edited on most issues, thus creating several variations. The vaunted "Corrected Error."

Sales of the Bowman Washington autograph range from $5-$15. The unique photo doesn't appear to be bringing a premium, but that may change once more collectors start catching on. An eBay search on Friday pulled up more than 20 of these for sale.

UPDATE: Since this story was posted on Friday, online sales of this Leon Washington card have reportedly reached the $100 mark.

On Wednesday, Washington offered an explanation of the photo to the Associated Press, saying he was making an 'E' with both hands to honor his hometown, but some fingers were hidden under his armpits.

"All it is is that I'm from the east side of Jacksonville -- that's my community," Washington told AP. "It looks funny, but maybe I should've taken the picture a different way. That's all it really is -- nothing more than that."

Topps then responded to Washington's statement: "We're glad to see that Mr. Washington has clarified the meaning of the hand gestures," Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi told the AP. "But at the end of the day, to the average person looking at the card, it looks like something else."