Yes, that's Magic Johnson's autograph on Jordan Swagerty's baseball cards

By Chris Olds | Editor

Mistakes happen.

That’s the easiest way to sum up the unusual error card found in boxes of 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball, which arrived recently with a few unusual autograph cards of former Arizona State standout and St. Louis Cardinals prospect Jordan Swagerty.

The error?

All of the autographs on his cards are of a guy named Earvin Johnson. You know, the Hall of Fame basketball player otherwise  known as “Magic.”

Panini America officials were aware of the mistake not long after collectors began ripping into packs of the prospecting product. The company is reportedly discussing plans to replace the error cards, which might be plentiful, with rarer corrected versions — but has not yet announced its plan.

Update: Panini will replace the incorrect Swagerty autographed standard card with a correct version and collectors who send in the correct card an exclusive Elite Extra Edition card of top-prospect Manny Machado.

Swagerty has 905 autographed cards in the product, and it appears that most if not all of them have the basketball legend’s signature on them — even his Collegiate Patches Autographs card, meaning Johnson actually signed material swatches with the Sun Devils logo, which is nothing close to resembling the green and white Michigan State Spartans patches the former Dream Team member should have signed.

It’s not the first time that players have had wrong autograph stickers attached to their cards — it has happened with baseball’s Ryan Brauns and football’s Reggie Whites. While those errors are a little more substantial, it’s just another possibility of using stickers for autographs — errors that have happened for all card companies. In the past, collectors have noticed autograph stickers affixed upside down, too.

In this case, it is a costly mistake — Johnson’s signature was undoubtedly more expensive to obtain than those of the former USA Baseball player — but it’s one that will get collectors talking for sure.

On the secondary market, rarer versions of the “SwagerMagic” autos have sold for around $150, while most are going in the $40-60 range.

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UH-OH, IT’S MAGIC!
Here’s the rundown of the Jordan Swagerty cards that may all have Magic Johnson autographs on them…

Set, Card No., quantity
2010 DEEE Collegiate Patches Autographs, JOS /125
2010 DEEE Franchise Futures Signatures, 72 /450
2010 DEEE School Colors Autographs, 1 /149
2010 DEEE Signature Aspirations, 72 /100
2010 DEEE Signature Status, 72 /50
2010 DEEE Signature Status Black. 72 /1
2010 DEEE Signature Status Emerald, 72 /25
2010 DEEE Signature Status Gold, 72 /5

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.