SoCal Autograph Odysses

 Cheap eBay adds are always fun and recently I made another pickup in the form of Rafael Devers, third baseman for the Boston Red Sox.  The fact that this is also an on card autograph makes it a bit sweeter as well. This is a Topps Tribute auto numbered /25 and appears to be acetate as you can see through it. Devers' picture also has a slight 3D feel to it, so all in all it's a decent looking card. Devers has been one of the better hitters in baseball for the last four or five years so he is on a decent path towards potentially being enshrined in the Hall of Fame though the odds of that happening are still relatively low.  I do have a card coming in from a signing in any day now, so hopefully I get to post about that on this blog shortly.

 I'm not a fan of MMA, that being the UFC, or any of the affiliated organizations with mixed martial arts, but while at Target last week I did see that they had Topps Chrome UFC mega boxes that come with a guaranteed autograph. It was intriguing enough for me to get a box and check it out. My autograph was someone I had never heard of, which is not surprising because there are only probably six or seven names I know in that world.  Belal Muhammad was the autograph I pulled. Maybe someone that knows something about the sport could tell me something about this guy? On a side note, my review of the cards themselves were that they are alright. 

 A couple of months ago I added a couple of  numbered Prizm autographs from two of the better players at their respective positions in NFL history. First, Antonio Gates should be a slam dunk Hall of Famer even though he somehow got skipped on the initial ballot he was eligible on. The Gates is numbered /75. Tim Brown, the Raider's Hall of Fame receiver is the other auto and is numbered /49. I like the look of Prizm parallel autographs. 

 It has been a few weeks since I last posted on this blog because my autograph collecting has slowed down a bit as there was a gap between signings that I sent in to. Breaking the drought is a return from a signing I sent in to for NHL and hockey Hall of Famer Denis Savard. I decided to send a Topps rookie card to have signed with his HOF 2000 inscription, and I am real pleased with the result.

 Fred McGriff is a player I remember watching as a kid when he played for the San Diego Padres, so he was a guy I was curious about as to whether or not he would get into the Hall of Fame. He fell just a few homeruns shy of the coveted 500 homerun hitter threshold which usually guarantees enshrinement, but after being on multiple ballots and not getting in, the "Crime Dog" was elected to Cooperstown. He was one of the few living Hall of Fame baseball players of the modern era that I did not yet have a signed item from, so a couple months ago I sent (another) 1987 Topps card in to a Tristar signing. 

 I made it a personal goal for 2024 to open way less sealed product this year. That includes both retail product as well as hobby products. I feel like the companies are mass producing cards at such a high rate that it lowers the odds for the hits you want to get. Also, I just don't think I'll ever pull a card as good as the David Beckham cracked ice auto I pulled a couple years ago. That being said, I hadn't purchased anything in just under two months when I came across some Premier League Prizm at a local Barnes and Noble. I bought two blasters, and was excited to hit this legend auto. Yaya Toure was a beast for Manchester City back in the day. I believe that autos only are two per case in Premier League blasters so it's only a 1 out of 10 chance of pulling an auto. When you consider how big a star Toure was when he played, this autograph is an even better pull. It is an early contender to make the 2024 best auto pulls I post at the end of the year.