Legal News

Law Blog Law Student of the Day: Baseball-Card Hoaxer, Sensen Lin

By Ashby Jones

The folks over at baseball-card maker Topps pulled a fast one on collectors earlier this spring when they issued a “Future Star” card of a supposed Japanese high-schooler named Kazuo Uzuki (pictured). According to this AP story, Uzuki (aka the “Uzi”) was “said to be known for his devastating 104 mph . . . fastball and was on his way to becoming the first Japan-based high-schooler to jump straight to professional baseball in America.”

But, in the tradition of Sports Illustrated’s famed 1985 Sidd Finch (pictured, inset) hoodwink, the Uzuki card (and tale) was a hoax — unveiled last Tuesday (April 1). According to the AP story, the wool didn’t come down over everyone’s eyes: many collectors suspected that Uzuki wasn’t for real. “One clue: Kazuo Uzuki means “the first son of April” in Japanese.”

So why is this in the Law Blog’s jurisdiction? According to a recent story in the NY Daily News, the guy in the picture (the Not-Kazuo) is none other than NYU law student Sensen Lin. Lin said he was recruited for the joke by a friend who works for Topps.

We caught up with Lin on Monday afternoon.

Hey Sensen. Thanks for getting back to us. So how’d this come about?

Yeah, I have a friend at Topps who called me up a few months ago and asked if I wanted to do this. At first I was a little wary. I thought they were going to ask me to take my shirt off or something and that it’d be a practical joke. But my friend told me they’d pay for the cab over there to their offices and that they’d pay me $500. So I figured why not.

So what’d you do?

They put me in all these funky poses. I don’t know that much about baseball so I didn’t exactly know what I was doing. Turns out, the guys at Topps added some things. I wasn’t wearing that necklace and the glove in the picture is different. They also photoshopped in the background.

But the whole thing worked out okay, right?

Yeah. At first I was worried. I guess that’s the lawyer in me, but I kept looking around on the Web, waiting for stuff to come out about me.

We couldn’t find anything.

Yeah, no criminal record or anything. So far, it’s been okay.

Other than the picture, did you help out with the hoax?

No, I just told my friend to make me sound sweet. They did. Kazuo is supposedly taller than I am and, I mean, he throws 104 miles an hour. There’s also a video that ties into the whole hoax. It’s on YouTube. I got $100 for that. My buddies and I, we went out for beers afterwards.

According to the Daily News, you’re Chinese, not Japanese, right?

Well, I consider myself more an American at this point. I came over from China when I was four.

So what’s next?

I summered at Ropes & Gray last year, in its New York office. I’ll be heading back there next year.

Litigation or transactional?

Hopefully, more on the transactional side.

You should blow up the picture and make sure to hang it in your office.

Right, poster sized.

Totally. Good conversation piece. Well, best of luck with everything. And thanks for taking the time.

No problem.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).