SoCal Autograph Odysses

 This happened over a month ago but I forgot to post about it. I bought one of the Bowman baseball mega boxes off the Target website and I've had relatively good success with Bowman in the past. Last year while on the road in New Mexico my kids and I hit a huge  Julio Rodriguez  green auto out of 99 out of a Bowman cello pack. It was a big hit then, and even bigger now since he looks like a legitimate super star. In this particular box, I hit another Mariners prospect auto, this time a green chrome on card auto also out of 99 of prospect Harry Ford, one of the Mariners' best prospects. Oddly enough, about a week before I pulled this card, my son and I attended a game in Lake Elsinore, California to see the Storm play the Mariners affiliate, and we both noticed Harry had a good approach at the plate. Hopefully down the road he ends up being a good major leaguer and this card will gain value like the Rodriguez did.  Sitting first row behind home plate.

 Six months ago, perhaps a bit longer, I received a return from Jack Youngblood that had been ripped open and the card missing. Last week I opened the mailbox and saw an envelope that had a huge rip down the middle of it, so you can imagine my surprise when I felt that there was still a card in it. As you can see, Mr. Smith signed the card in what looks like ball point pen and also included his HOF 94 inscription. The fact this card was still in the envelope with the card intact makes this a win regardless of what the autograph itself looks like. 

 I've been slacking a bit with my posts so wanted to catch up on a couple of things that came back through the mail in the last week that I haven't quite gotten around to posting about yet. The first was a return from Detroit Red Wings and hockey Hall of Famer Alex Delvecchio, who spent all 24 years of his career in Detroit and was a 3x Stanley Cup Winner. I've mentioned in the past it's fun to get the retro guys on their older cards when possible, and that's what I did with Mr. Delvecchio, whose NHL career started in 1950!. As you can see, he was kind enough to also add his HHF 70 inscription. He is definitely one of the older players I have gotten to sign an autograph through the mail, as he is just about 90 years old. You have to appreciate the old timers still signing for people that had no chance of seeing them plat. Honestly, his signature itself still looks pretty strong as well. 

I think it's pretty universally accepted by collectors that pulling Panini Rewards points from a pack of cards is a bit of a disappointment, especially when you're expecting to get an actual autograph. However, on their website they do actually release some pretty cool cards. One such card that I found was a Justin Jefferson Legacy Rookie Patch autograph. This particular card is numbered /199. I went on their website right at 8am the day this was released and used 900 of my 1000 Rewards points. It's a good thing I was on there right when it was available because they were immediately gone once I picked it up. As you can see below, it's a pretty cool card and the patch seems to be part of his number because you can slightly see some purple cloth next to it, which is game used. I was also debating on whether to get the Aaron Donald or John Stockton auto cards that were also released. Overall, I like my choice.  

 I've received a bit of an influx of returns lately, especially with how dead it got for me for a couple months with the through the mail requests. One request that came back a couple of days ago was from former Cowboys cornerback and football Hall of Famer Mel Renfro, who was kind enough to also include his HOF '96 inscription. Mel played in the 60's and 70's and was apparently quite the ballhawk, as he totaled over 50 career interceptions at a time where the ball was thrown a lot less than it is today. Even though I'm not old enough to have seen some of the guys that I request autographs from play, it's still cool to send a vintage card in and get an autograph from them. 

 Back when I started this blog, and for about 15 years prior to that, I hawked autographs at Petco Park in San Diego and Qualcomm Stadium. The first ever in person autograph I got was Ken Griffey Jr at one of the very first interleague games ever played in Major League Baseball, while hanging over the old dugouts at Qualcomm. The funny thing is, it took me years to figure out who it was that signed the baseball because I was just in my early teens at the time. Over the years I obtained a lot of great autographs but one guy I never seemed able to get was former Brewer Ryan Braun. I know his allure has long been wiped out by the PED scandal and him blaming someone else for it, but the guy was an outstanding player and for some reason I always just missed him when he'd sign in San Diego. I saw that Waukesha Sports Cards was having a private signing with him recently, so decided to send in a 2005 Topps Draft Pick card. I like the way the card came out.

 There's always a little something extra cool when you get a through the mail autograph request back from an athlete that you actually saw play, which happened this past weekend when NHL Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine returned a signed card to me.  Part of sending theses requests in to these retired athletes is including a very brief (and for me hand written) letter in which you request an autograph. Part of these letters usually include saying nice things about the person or whether you saw them play, what you liked about how they played, etc. Sometimes when I send to older players that I never got to watch myself, I just get straight to the point and explain that I collect Hall of Famer autographs and that I would like the enclosed card to be signed. In the case of Mr. LaFontaine, I could actually talk about his style of play and what I appreciated about his as a player, which makes it far easier to write something. 

 I received just my third golf autograph back in the mail yesterday, and this time it was from former Masters Champion and World Golf Hall of Famer, Fred Couples. Fred was also a two time PGA Tour player of the year, so for those lacking any knowledge about the world of golf, the guy was an elite golfer back in his day. This return took just a bit over two weeks, so it was a very good turn around time and I am glad to add yet another great into my collection. 

 One of my bigger recent through the mail returns came back in the mail yesterday, over two months over I initially sent it in. Former Bills QB and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly returned the card signed in black sharpie.  This card came out very nicely with a clean signature on the Topps 1987 rookie card. This was one of the situations where my preference of a light background and a not too expensive card came together for me to me to choose the rookie to send.