SoCal Autograph Odysses

 I recently picked up an autographed card of  Reds star and former MVP Joey Votto from a Facebook group I'm in.  I saw it posted along with some other cards, and I reached out immediately to the guy to ask what he wanted for it.  This particular card is from 2021 Topps, with the 1986 throwback look.   The guy gave me an offer I couldn't pass up, and I'm glad I jumped on it because he ended up telling me later on that his messenger was blowing up from people asking about this particular card.  I've always liked Joey Votto, and have met him before during postgame autograph seeking outside of Petco Park back in 2013.  You can read about that experience  here . He signed a baseball for me that night, which is pictured in the post on that link.  I do suspect that some day Joey will end up in the Hall of Fame, as he's long been one of the more underrated starts in the game, and he has very comparable numbers to other guys already in the hall. 

 For the first time in a few years, I attended a public signing appearance, and it was a big one.  Former Cowboys running back and all time rushing leader was making an appearance at the Tristar store in Las Vegas, in the Miracle Mile shops.  When going through my stash of sports cards during the pandemic last year, I came across two Smith rookie cards from the 1991 Bowman set.  I decided that since I was going to be in Vegas anyway, I'd bring that card along and get it signed.  My wife, brother and law, and father in law all tagged along with me, with my brother in law also getting a photo signed. After a 15 minute walk from the MGM Grand, we got the store. The entire process was smooth. We bought our tickets, met him, had our item signed, took some photos and left. It was a very easy process and I'd go back to that store.

 Over the last few weeks, I've opened a few boxes of Panini Draft Football products, ranging from Contenders to Prizm and Chronicles.  Most of the boxes I opened came with one guaranteed autograph per box, which usually means the hits are going to be poor.  While I did get all the rookie cards people want from the new draft class (Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, et al), my autographed cards did live down to my expectations. Both of the above autos came from the Prizm Mega boxes.  As you can see, the cards are real nice looking, but the odds of either of these cards being worth anything down the road are very low.  Shawn Davis was a safety taken in the fifth round by the Colts, while Osa Odighizuwa is a defensive tackle taken by the Cowboys in the third round.  The other drawback to the draft cards is that every player you get is in collegiate uniforms, which probably helps understand why these are easier to procure than the NFL based sets.  People tend to favor the NFL

 Towards the end of last week, I got the most somber return I'd received on any of my through the mail autograph requests.  Towards the end of last month, I had sent a card to NHL Hall of Fame goalie Tony Esposito.  On Tuesday of last week, I had heard that he had passed away.  I knew that he still had my card at the time, so expected not to see that card again after the news of him passing.  Two days later, on Thursday, I actually did get the card returned to me, and it was signed.   One can't help but notice the timing of this return, between his passing on Tuesday and receiving the card on Thursday.  This card came from Wisconsin based on the USPS stamp, which is about three days of shipping.  That would mean that Mr. Esposito signed this very shortly before his death, which is very sad to think about.  It could very have been the last autograph he signed.  I checked Sportscollectors.net to see if anyone else has received anything in or around this time, and the last return

 While going through my collection of cards when the pandemic hit in 2020, I came across some rookie cards of early 80's players from sets like Topps and Fleer. My uncle handed these cards down to me years ago but I'd never really perused them to see what I had.  One of the cards I did find was a Barry Larkin Topps 1987 rookie card.  Recently, I saw that Barry was going to be doing a private signing so I decided to find that card and send it in to get it autographed.  I think the result is a great looking card. As you can see, I also paid the $15 extra for the HOF 2012 inscription.  $15 for an inscription is a price I will always pay.  When we start getting into the $150 plus range for an inscription is where I really start to question whether I'm going to request one. 

 Hall of Fame major league pitcher Steve Carlton returned a through the mail autograph request to me last week.  This, like all these other requests, came courtesy of the information I found on  Sports Collectors.net .  For the hundredth time, I really recommend anyone that is in the hobby to check that site out and pay the annual fee of $15.  It's more than worth it.  Based on the info posted on my  TTM Tracker , this request took about two weeks to get back.   I realized after I'd already purchased it that the card was off centered, but to me it didn't really matter because the card has a very light background which makes it very obvious to see the signature.  That is almost always my number one priority.  Also, his signature is starting to get a bit shaky, especially when compared to the baseball he signed for me in person at the 2012 TriStar show in San Francisco.  That baseball is pictured below.

 A guy I hadn't seen do a private signing in the time I have been looking, former reliver and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter, had an affordable send in signing.  He is a member of the 300 saves club, and pitched parts of his career with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves.  I bought one of his rookie cards off Ebay and used that to send in for the signing.  It's signed over the 'Chicago' portion of his jersey, so it's a bit harder to see.  That's the thing about getting rookie cards signed.  Technically they are probably worth more money than having a non rookie card signed, but sometimes the card itself doesn't lend itself to as visible a signature you could get on a different card with a lighter background.  

 The NFL offensive lineman trend continued earlier this week as I received not one, but two signed Anthony Munoz cards back through the mail.  I only sent one card to him, and neither of the cards that came back was the card I sent, but that's okay.  While the card I sent was definitely more of a light background than the two I got back, I think the tradeoff worked in my favor.  He inscribed HOF 98 on both of them as well.  It has been an interesting week of returns, as I got three Hall of Fame lineman in the mix, including two members of the NFL's Greatest 100 players, offensive tackles Walter Jones and Munoz.   

 The through the mail requests continued to come in thick and heavy last week as I got yet another elite NFL offensive lineman.  When I say elite, I mean one of the NFL's greatest 100 players of all time, Walter Jones.  The former Seattle Seahawks great was also kind enough to put his HOF 14 and T100 inscriptions.  I had originally sent this card back in March, so didn't really expect it back.   I like the colors on this card.  It's a Donruss press proof blue version of his base card.  I'm happy with this hit, and I have yet another offensive lineman to post about here in the next day or two.  

 The second of my recent through the mail request batch came back last Friday in the form of NHL Hall of Famer and former Blackhawks great Bobby Hull.  You can tell by the signature that his signature is starting to get a bit shaky.  Also, I'm not going to celebrate this one too much because I've heard the stories of his personal life.  He included the HOF 1983 as a bonus. I've had a few returns coming through quickly, so will be posting quite a bit this week. Thank you for reading. 

 I realize that it has been pretty quiet on the through the mail returns over the past few months, but that's due to me already getting a lot of the big names and sending out less requests overall.  The good news is that I recently did some research to find some more Hall of Famers that I had not yet added to my collection, and it lead to me sending out a new batch of requests.  The first one to come back from this batch was Chiefs Hall of Fame center Dermontti Dawson.  This guy was a stalwart on the Steelers line during the 90's.  He lives locally to me, so this request took around a week to go out and come back.  Remember to check the Through the Mail tracker on this site for details on every request I have sent.   This particular card was from the old school Pro Set that people my age might remember.  This is Mr. Dawson's rookie card as well.  Keep checking back over the next couple of weeks because I fully expect to be getting an influx of returns over this period.