SoCal Autograph Odysses

 Anyone following along with this blog knows by now that the primary focus to my collection is obtaining Hall of Fame autographs from Hall of Famers in any sport. I have so many of them already, and the announcement of today's MLB inductees was a welcome sight, as I've already gotten autographs of the three players elected. They are Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer. I actually obtained Beltre's autograph in person after a game at Petco Park years and years ago. He signed a ball for me on the sweet spot. I did not realize at the time that Beltre would turn into one of the all-time best third basemen. He struggled for a bit while on the Dodgers and there was no notion then of what he would turn into, particularly when this was obtained circa 2004 or 2005. Todd Helton was another autograph I got in person, only this time it was inside the ballpark at Petco Park and while his team was taking batting practice. He was a bit of a curmudgeon so getting him to sign anything...

 2024 has been off to a flying start with the consistency of the autographs I've been pulling from sealed sports card products. I have not been pulling a bunch of huge names, but none of them have been bad autographs to get either.  I did try my luck with the newly released Panini Prizm football mega boxes. I ordered three off of Target and one of the three boxes contained this hit. This is Titans rookie running back Tyjae Spears on the pink parallel version of the Prizm autographs. I also hit another running back in a Prestige box I opened randomly the other day. Baltimore Ravens former Pro Bowl running back Jamal Lewis was another solid hit. It's not a highly priced autograph but Lewis was a good player and had a good career. He was the 2003 player of the year, a member of the all 2000's team, and has over 10,000 career rushing yards. He would be considered one of those guys that ends up in the Hall of Very Good. 

 After the New Year, I opened some products for my birthday. I was given a mega box of some 2023 NFL Panini Prestige, and hit a pretty rare autograph. I had opened a handful of these boxes over the last couple of months and gotten skunked, so it was nice to find an on card NFL Passport Signatures card of Miami Dolphins rookie running back Devon Achane.  I had seen that many other people were pulling some pretty big autographs out of this product so I was happy to get this. It's the same product I had a lot of success with in 2022 when I pulled five autographs out of only like eight boxes, including two autographs in one box. I live in northern San Diego County, and we don't have a lot of local card shops, nor do we have much in the way of collectibles stores. A few months ago, a collectible exchange similar to the one you'd see at Frank and Son's in LA was opened and while perusing the sports card vendors, I found an H2 Panini Prizm Breakaway box of English Premier Leag...

 My second through the mail success of 2024 has arrived and it is another autograph I have obtained in the past, only this time in the form of another 1987 Topps. I've sent to Wade Boggs three times, and all three times have gotten my items returned very quickly for a nominal fee. I've received two very early returns on through the mail requests to start the year, and although I don't send many out anymore, it's always nice to get them back quickly.  Reminder, to see all the requests I have sent and how long they have taken, please check out my through the mail tracker on this very site. 

 We are kicking 2024 off with a return that came back yesterday from Brewers/Twins/Blue Jays and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, Paul Molitor. This was actually the second card I have sent to Paul, the first being during the summer of 2020. I don't often send the same athlete multiple requests, and have never sent more than one item at a time. However, I've become really into the look of the 1987 Topps cards being signed, so I recently decided to send a couple more requests out to guys I've gotten returns from in the past with the intent on getting them on the 1987 set as well. The previous card mentioned above was a Diamond Kings 3000 Hit Club card with a nice artistic look.  Here are the 1987 Topps cards in my collection;