SoCal Autograph Odysses

 My birthday falls towards the beginning of the year so I usually get a chance to open some sealed product to kick the year off. This year, my wife got me a hobby box of 2023-24 Topps Merlin soccer. There is one guaranteed auto per box, plus a few numbered cards. My box was a total dud with the exception of pulling a Bradley Barcola numbered rookie. My auto was unfortunately a big miss, as I ended up getting a rookie auto of Ajax forward (now with Wolverhampton Wanderers) Carlos Forbs. Even though it's a rookie auto, this is probably less than a $10 autograph. This is what usually happens with hobby boxes for me as I tend to counterintuitively have better luck with retail autograph pulls which are not guaranteed.  Even though 2025 started off with a bit of a letdown of a box, I do think at some point I'll be pulling some big autos throughout the year which I should be posting on here. Happy new Year everyone.

 I know the calendar now says 2025 but there were some cool autographs that helped me close out the waning days of 2024 with some hits.  I hadn't posted about this one yet, but my son was gifted a Jackson Merrill autographed rookie card for Christmas. This was my own numbered rookie card that I sent into a signing he participated in and I received it back through the mail just a couple days prior to Christmas. My son was thrilled with the card. As you can see, the only bummer is that the yellow paint pen I requested the card to be signed in bled a bit so it's not an overly clean auto. The card is numbered /250 and to be honest, I don't think my son minds the slight sloppiness on the signature. The other cool thing about this is that Jackson was giving out much better autographs during this signing than the autos you'll see him sign for Topps products. I think overall that tradeoff is worth it.  Another monster card was the Xavi auto /10 that my son pulled from a hobby b...

 Yesterday I compiled a list of my top five autograph pulls from sealed sports cards during 2024, so today I'm going to do a top ten list of all additions to my memorabilia collection that I added in 2024.  10. Pedro Martinez It was tough for me to come up with the bottom few items that make the list because I added so many big names throughout 2024. In the end, I decided on going with my Pedro Martinez rookie card I sent in to a private signing that happened earlier this year. It was an Upper Deck rookie card and it came out nicely. 9. Erling Haaland Soccer has become my primary focus in collecting and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add the best striker currently playing in the Premier League, Manchester City's Erling Haaland. This card was an auto/game used memorabilia combo from a set I like, Panini Select. Haaland is the first of many huge soccer autos that came my way in 2024. 8. Mark Messier Any time you can add one of the top ten players of all time in their r...

 It's the time of year to post my five favorite autograph pulls from sealed products over the course of 2024. I've made this an annual post for a few years now and have received feedback that it is well received by the people who read this blog.  5. Colton Cowser This card makes the top 5 by virtue of it being a numbered rookie on card auto /99 of the Baltimore Orioles outfielder who got second in rookie of the year voting. This was pulled from a 2024 Bowman blaster by my daughter and was pulled from our LCS.  4. Devon Achane You'll notice a theme here that to make this list, the autograph pretty much needs to be numbered or a hard to find insert auto that makes it more rare. In this case, it's the latter. Up until this birthday pull, I'd never pulled an on card Prestige Passport auto. This Devon Achane was pulled from a mega box my dad purchased for my birthday, and is a rookie card. The on card nature of the autograph as well as it being a rookie gets it the four ...

 My wife came to the (correct) conclusion a few years ago that for Christmas, getting me hobby boxes is a sure fire way to get an A on gift giving. This year, she went with a Panini Select Premier League hobby box as well as a Serie A (Italian League) Select hobby box. Both boxes are products I love and guarantee three autograph or memorabilia cards. The Serie A box in particular ended up being a great box as I actually got two autographs as well as two memorabilia cards. I got six numbered cards all numbered /49 or less as well.  The first autograph was of Italian legend Franco Baresi, who was one of the top 20 players of the 20th century. I now have autographs of Baresi, Maldini, and Cannavaro, all three Italian defensive stalwarts.  The other auto was a tie dye /15 autograph of former Roma forward Edin Dzeko. The reason for getting soccer many low numbered cards in this box is that the print run is much lower than it is for Premier League cards.  The Premier Leagu...

 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.