SoCal Autograph Odysses

 There aren't too many local card stores in my area, and the ones I do go to tend to be on the pricier side. That being said, I did mosey on over to one on Black Friday to see if they had anything discounted. When I walked in, I saw that they had a bunch of cards for 50% off, so I stocked up on a bunch of that. I bought two Panini Score 2022 Football H2 boxes, I bought four 2021-22 Topps UEFA Champions League Hobby boxes, and one 2005 Topps Baseball Hobby box.  I hit nothing in either of the football boxes from an autograph standpoint, but I did hit a big autograph out of one of the four Champions League boxes.  This is Barcelona youngster Ansu Fati, who has an immense upside, and it's numbered /99. I'll take a Barcelona hit every time when it comes to soccer, especially a numbered version. I also hit quite a few big numbered cards, including some rookies that have values well into the hundreds.  Out of the baseball box, I pulled my first ever redemption. However, the redem

 I was participating in another private signing recently and got the return back late last week. One of the few modern Major League Baseball Hall of Famers that I did not have in my signed card collection, Eddie Murray, was doing another signing that I became privy to via Sportscollectors.net.  This time I actually sent a rookie card, and the placement of the autograph by Mr. Murray was perfect. As you can see, I also ponied up for the HOF 2003 inscription as well. 

 For a recent signing I participated in, I decided to send a somewhat different style of card. One thing about Ray Bourque and the Bruins is that it is difficult to find cards of theirs that have a lot of signing arear. Since black is a major color of the team, quite often a big portion of the card has black and that doesn't lend itself to a visible signature. As such, I went the Upper Deck route this time and chose a card from the Masterpieces set. Masterpieces are artwork cards and I thought getting one signed might look pretty good.  To be honest, I do like the way it ended up looking. The blue signature pops on the background, and it does look like a little piece of art with gold bordering. 

 I wanted to combine some product I recently opened into one post. I bought a retail blaster of the 2021/22 Topps Merlin Premier League, and hit what I thought was a big autograph. I was happy when I pulled a Manchester City midfielder (and one of the best players in the world) Kevin de Bruyne signed card. To me, getting any autograph out of retail is a good thing, especially when it's one of the elite active players in world soccer. Last week I also bought a masters box of 2021/22 Topps Finest Bundesliga. For those not familiar, the Bundesliga is the German professional league which is home to teams like Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. The master boxes have two guaranteed autographs and they are very affordable as far as cards go due to the Bundesliga not being as popular a league as the English or Spanish leagues. I have to say, it was a really fun rip. I hit twelve numbered cards which includes both autographs I pulled being numbered autos. Neither was a big name, but the cards lo