SoCal Autograph Odysses

 I actually had two cards I sent into a recent signing via SportsCollectors.net, the first of which I posted about a few days ago. This card was also a rookie card and is of former NHL goalie and hockey Hall of Famer Ed Belfour. The card I sent in for this signing was an Upper Deck rookie card, and what makes it cool is I watched the entirety of Belfour's career. 

 I sent a rookie card into a signing of hockey Hall of Famer Jari Kurri. This was a guy I watched play for the Kings when I first got into the game as a kid but he's best known as being an Edmonton Oiler. Arguably the best Finnish player of all time (sorry Teemu Selanne) and member of the NHL all time greatest 100 players list, I'm glad to add this autograph to my collection. As you can see, Jari also added the 2001 HOF inscription which I appreciate.

 I mentioned this in the Kobe Bryant post, but I've recently been given the green light to add a couple GOAT level autographs to my collection. One was clearly the Kobe, and the other name I decided to land on was getting soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.  My intent was not to add two autographs of Ronaldo, but some eBay shenanigans (not of my own doing) lead to me thinking I was getting a refund on one due to lack of shipping. Once a claim was opened, the original ended up being delivered to the authentication company the same day I was due to get a refund. Meanwhile, I'd already moved on a contingency card. I may be open to selling one if interested.  The first card is from Panini Select and the second auto is from Panini Mosaic and both the card and auto itself are graded as 9s by PSA as you can see in the photo.

 Today marked the return of a through the mail request I sent out back in July, so it totalled over four months of wait time. This request comes back to us from MLB Hall of Famer and former Chicago Cuba great Billy Williams. I sent a 1970 Topps along with Billy's requested fee during the summer so it was a pleasant surprise to open my mailbox and see a self addressed stamped envelope waiting for me. He was one of only a few outstanding requests I've sent so when I saw the envelope postmarked from Illinois I had an inkling it might be this card. I'm happy with how this turned out as it's signed in blue and is very legible, plus the signature placement is exactly where I'd want.   

There has been a bit of a shift to my rankings of my top 10 autographs as my newest addition is sure to push some others down a peg or two. I've always made it a point to keep an eye toward the direction I really would like my autograph collection to go and that is to try and consolidate some of what I have into obtaining autos from some of the greatest players in their sports. Chasing the GOATs if you were. That is definitely an overused term but you get what I'm trying to do here. Recently I added a Pele /10 auto and the newest arrival which I just signed off the delivery for came today. This is a 2017-18 NBA Hoops auto of Lakers great and NBA legend, the late Kobe Bryant.  As you can see this one has been slabbed by Beckett and the card itself was given an 8.5 grade while the auto got a 10. I shopped around in the Kobe world for a couple of weeks before deciding to go with this card and I'm happy with the choice I made.

 The second of four private signings I'm participating in was recently completed and the item sent back to me. I sent a 1991 Upper Deck rookie card to a signing being done with MLB Hall of Famer and one of the best pitchers all time, Pedro Martinez.  I like the way this card turned out, with a bold blue signature that stands out against the background.

 I'm going to compile all of the soccer autos that I've not yet posted about into one blog entry as there have been a lot over the past five to six weeks, some coming from direct buys of the single card and others coming from packs I've opened, etc.  The first card was a single bought off eBay of arguably the best defender of all time, Italian and AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini. The card itself was goofier looking in person than I originally anticipated so I'll know to avoid Merlin sorcerer's auto cards later. I liked the price though when I bought it to add someone of this stature.  Anyone that plays FIFA (now EAFC) or watched soccer during the 90's will undoubtedly know the next card. Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoichkov who was most known for his days playing with Barcelona and at one time was the Ballon d'Or winner as the best player in the world. Contrary to the Maldini card, I really like the way this card pops in person. Another eBay add comes in the for...

 I've recently sent a few cards through the mail to private signings that are going on and the first one of those came back to me yesterday in the form of NFL Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith, of the Buffalo Bills. I sent a rookie card in for this signing and I am happy with the way it turned out.

 Another autograph came from Canada recently as I got an autograph return from Norm Ullman, hockey Hall of Famer. He is an old time hockey player that played from 1955 through 1975 for some huge teams like the Maple Leafs and Red Wings. He was kind enough to include his HOF 1982 inscription. I love getting autograph returns from these guys that played back in the day and on vintage cards.

Posting this new addition to my collection has to be one of my personally most anticipated blogs I've ever written. A couple weeks ago I pulled the trigger on an absolute monster of a card, soccer legend and one of the all time greatest players in his sport, Pele. One word name. One word title to this post. That's all it needs because just about anyone with a pulse has heard of this guy. What makes this card even bigger in my mind is it is a jersey number match 10/10 and Brazil team color match. Yes, that means there are only 10 of these cards in existence and I've got number 10 of 10, which is his jersey number. The gold also looks good with his Brazil shirt. This comes from the Copa America prizm set that I pulled the Rivaldo green wave prizm auto out of. I have really enjoyed opening this set but no, I did not pull the above card from a box. I purchased this from some other lucky person. It went through the eBay authentication process which is where PSA validates that it...

 I had a third TTM success come back to me not long ago. David Duval, former number one overall PGA tour player and winner of the Open Championship signed an Upper Deck card for me. It has been nice getting back into the mail game again as I've recently found a few athletes that I'd not yet sent to that I wanted to add to my collection.

 Last week I had two through the mail requests returned to me on the same day, both from NHL Hall of Famers. I already discussed the Mark Howe but the other card came back from Frank Mahovlich. Mahovlich played for the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings over his career and accumulated 1103 points, good for 66th all time on the leading scorers list. This request went out to Canada and came back with Mahovlich's HOF 81 inscription. Any time I can get an old timer's autograph on an older card I am happy with the success. Thanks Frank!

 A hockey through the mail success came back earlier this week on the same day as another one, but this post specifically is about the card I got signed by Mark Howe, hockey hall of famer and Gordies' son. Mark was a Hall of Fame defenseman who played for the Flyers, Whalers, and Red Wings throughout his career. This request took about a month to come back to me and as a reminder, you can check the TTM tracker on this blog for any and all information on requests I send. Thanks for reading.

 One of the best hockey players of all time, former Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers center Mark Messier recently had a signing. I saw this one advertised months ago and decided to participate and send a rookie card to get signed. I think the result was really solid, and I'm always glad to add a huge name on a rookie card.

 We're going on a bit of a throwback journey with this post in the fact that this autograph harkens back to the earlier era of this blog when a lot of the additions to my collection were acquired via the through the mail part of the hobby. As I've added most of the active Hall of Famers that sign through the mail to my collection already, I've had fewer opportunities to send to athletes that I don't have in my collection yet. The athlete I'm about to discuss here isn't a Hall of Famer but does play goalkeeper for the US Women's National Team as well as her club team, the Chicago Red Stars. Alyssa Naeher, one of the better keepers in women's US soccer history was kind enough to send an autograph back on a Pitch Queens card I got out of a pack. This card will go straight to my daughter's collection of soccer autographs, and I appreciate Alyssa taking the time to respond to fan mail. 

 I recently talked about Topps not having the license for the NFL, and the same holds true for the NBA as well. That didn't stop people from buying up products and trying to hit a Victor Wembanyama rookie auto since Topps is the only company that had his autos in it. I'm not much of a basketball fan so don't buy a whole lot of the product but on a recent trip to Target I did see they had a mega box, which is rare to find locally. I tried my luck and ended up pulling a rookie auto of Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson. I heard it's hard to pull autos from this product, so I am happy to have had luck this time around. I don't know much about the player, so here's hoping he has a good career.

 Some more soccer autographs came through the pipeline recently, all colored autos, two of which also happen to be numbered. The first is another legend auto from the really nice Copa America set. It is another Green Wave auto. This is Javier Mascherano, Argentine midfielder who spent a good amount of time playing for Liverpool and Barcelona. The second auto is /199 from the new Topps Chrome set of former Liverpool forward Michael Owen. He was considered among the very elite goal scorers for a short period of time and still talked about often by Liverpool supporters. Lastly, I made a trip down to my local card store over the weekend and tried my hand at a hobby box of Topps Chrome. It was a dud of a box overall and my auto wasn't a huge hit, though Jarrod Bowen is someone I'm very familiar with in that he plays for West Ham in the Premier League and is actually a good player. This auto is numbered /199 as well, same as the Owen above. 

 Collectors of sports cards tend to have arguments over whether or not they think unlicensed products are worthy of purchasing or adding to collections. Some say yes and don't care that there are no team logos or names, others are steadfast in their belief that you need both team logos and team names on the cards to make them worthy of collecting. For me, I don't lean too hard one way or the other as long as I think the card looks good and I personally think this new set by Topps called Topps Composite looks great and has an insane hit rate in retail products.  Some background first; Topps is now owned by Fanatics. Fanatics has the contract for a lot of the huge athletes in terms of autographs, however Panini has the NFL license. Using 2023 as an example, the rookie QB class of CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young, etc only had Richrdson signing Panini products. That means if you bought Panini Prizm or Mosiac or anything under Panini's umbrella at all, you would not b...

 I've really enjoyed Prizm Copa America, and pulling the Rivaldo auto a couple of weeks ago got me into the mode where I wanted to try a few more boxes. Any time I go to Target I'll buy a box or two of the stuff, and it paid off again with this Cafu auto. This is another Brazilian legend on a green wave auto and as I mentioned in the Rivaldo post, the green looks good with the Brazil kit. Topps has recently released a football product called "Topps Composite" in their first foray back into the NFL game in a number of years. If you look closely, it's unlicensed so the below card doesn't have team logos or names though it's kind of hard to tell. I found one mega box of this stuff on the shelf and was able to pull this Doug Williams on card auto. Not a huge hit but he made NFL history by being the first black QB to both play in and win the Super Bowl and that's a cool distinction to have.  For the first time ever I bought one box of a tennis product. Topp...

 Another cheap eBay auto was added to my collection, as I decided to pull the trigger and purchase a Prizm blue shimmer autograph of NBA Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd.  With Kidd wearing the Dallas Mavericks jersey in this card, it really makes the blue shimmer pop. I could have paid $99 to send a rookie card in for a signing with Kidd for less than half of that after tax and shipping. This auto (although a sticker) is a much prettier card than a rookie would have been as well. I've mentioned many times previously that if I can get a signed card off eBay (Panini, Topps, Upper Deck, etc) at a cheaper cost than sending in for a signing, I'll do that more often than not. 

 It is pretty clear if you have taken a peek at this blog that my hobby obsession has altered a bit over the past few years and become more focused on soccer. I still think it is the most undervalued of the sports by people in the US, and though it is growing in popularity, much of the product can still be had at cheaper prices than sports like football and basketball. Therefore, when I splurge on a hobby box I have been going more often in the soccer direction. There is also a propensity for bigger names on the hits, as many products like Panini and Topps have all time soccer legends in the auto checklist like Pele, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Beckham, Maradona, etc. I don't think you can hit autos of that magnitude in most of the other sport card products.  One of the products I've purchased around ten blaster boxes for has been the 2024 Prizm Copa America product. I've gotten quite a few numbered cards but overall in terms of bit hits it has been pretty dusty for ...

 As has become my family's custom, we have been taking one road trip a year for the last five or six years.  While on the road trips, I've made it a point to try and find sealed boxes of cards at Walmarts and Targets that I have a harder time finding since I live in southern California. The second biggest pull of my life happened four years ago in New Mexico when I pulled a crazy Julio Rodriguez prospect auto  numbered to 99.  This year our trip again took us to Northern Montana (and this time into Banff, Alberta Canada) but unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything as big as the Rodriguez card. I pulled a Max Duggan Contenders rookie auto from a mega box found in a Polson, Montana Walmart. This kid will probably get cut by the Chargers in the next few days so it's not the best pull though I am a Chargers fan. I pulled this Charles Bediako rookie auto out of a Contenders basketball blaster that I found at a Target in Kalispell, Montana. I don't know much about th...