SoCal Autograph Odysses

 I tried my hand at a hobby box of 2023-24 Panini Select Premier League. The thing that caught my eye was that these boxes come with three autograph or memorabilia cards. They also come with five numbered parallels, which is a nice bonus. I ended up hitting a case hit team badge (of Nottingham Forest), a Mo Salah tie dye /49 (great because I'm a Liverpool supporter), and a few cards numbered /99 or higher. I ended up getting two autographs and one memorabilia card, but neither of the autographs was anything to write home about unfortunately.  I got my hopes up quickly on this Micah Richards because when I saw the back of the card facing up (something Panini does for all hits) I immediately saw the Man City blue as the outline. Erling Haaland is a big chase for me in this set, so I was a tad disappointed to see it was the Manchester City and England international right back. Pretty good player, but not what you're hoping for in a hobby box necessarily.  The other auto was ...

 It has been a long, long time since I've written a post like this. My blog started in this very way in 2012 when I used to wax poetic about my trips to Padres games and trying to "graph" players in person. I retired from this game years ago because it involves a lot of effort and preparation, long hours, and frankly, luck. The dreaded Omni Hotel bridge (more on that later) altered the strategy to such a degree that it actually made it less fun to try and obtain autographs in this way.  I got some of the coolest items in my collection from getting autos pregame, during batting practice, and post game outside the ballpark as players leave the game and head to their team hotels. Names like Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr, Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell, Randy Johnson and many more were obtained by me asking them in person for autographs. But then I got old. I got busy. I found it easier to get autos via signings that you pay for. And oh yeah, that damn Omni bridge.  One thing I ...

 I don't know whether I have pretty good luck with Bowman or if Topps just loaded these boxes this year, but in the ~12 or so blasters I've bought in 2024, I pulled six autos and numerous good numbered cards. Since this is an autograph blog, we will concentrate on those. I've already covered the Paul Skenes and Colton Cowser pulls, so we'll start with the other four.  Clearly the bigger names here are Skenes and Cowser because they are already in the big leagues and doing well. The Cowser is a Rookie auto /99 which makes it even better. The other four autographs are all 1st Bowman cards, so if any of these kids ends up being a great player, the card gets much more valuable. Prospecting in baseball is a fickle thing so even though I didn't hit any 1st Bowman autos of the nig names (Dylan Crews, Walker Jenkins, etc.) the fact is no one knows how good any of these guys will be. All six autos are also on card, which is another cool thing about Bowman. The Douglas Glod a...