Top 10 Items in my Collection
As we creep toward the 50,000 page views mark on this blog, I thought I'd take the time to contemplate what my personal favorite pieces of my collection are. This is going to be a list consisting of items that are not necessarily ranked by value (though some of them are among the priciest items I have), but ranked as my favorites because of different factors. These factors can include things like the provenance of how it was obtained, my like of the athlete, their ranking among the world greats, etc.
1. Lionel Messi
Of course I have to start the list with one of the all time greatest players in their sport. When you are talking about a GOAT among the GOATS, that guy is going to make the list. This is a numbered /100 art piece signed by Leo for Icons, the foremost soccer/futbol associated autograph company in the world. Signed by both Messi himself as well as the artist.
2. TOOL Posters
The only non-athlete autographs on this list, they have to make my list because it's my favorite band and obtaining autographs from these guys is extremely difficult. Both are concert specific posters signed by all four members, with very low print runs. People will wait in line from 7am to be one of the 250 or so to get one, so how I've managed to wrangle two at concerts I have attended, I'll never know. Both have permanent homes on the walls in my bedroom and will always be in my collection.
Of course my all time favorite player in any sport makes the cut. It might be cheating to list this whole piece as one, but I'm doing it anyway. Tony was our guy in San Diego, and he will forever be that. I do not see a bigger sports icon for the city ever taking over that mantle. He was a better person than player, and that is saying something. I met him so many times and had so many things signed that I had to list this piece as one. Everything I own from Tony Gwynn was obtained in person.
Beckham makes the list because not only is he a world famous global icon, but because this card remains the single biggest card I have ever pulled out of any packs of cards I have opened. The print run is said to be 20 or less for this card, so finding one has infinitesimal odds. I defied those odds, and pulled this whopper anyway. It's value is easy four figures, and over my lifetime of collecting cards I have never hit anything bigger and it is highly doubtful I ever will. It's also a really nice card to look at.
5. Shaq
Shaq makes this list because this was a public signing event in LA along with Dr. J, and I got to meet both of them that day and get two awesome autographs. Not only did the photos come out superbly, but Shaq was such a massive personality during my youth that he makes it onto this list, even if the value is less than the rest of this list, it is personally very cool to have met the man. He was massive, and he was really cool.
Hockey makes the list with one of the NHL's Mt. Rushmore players. I have mentioned previously on this blog that I used to attend the annual celebrity golf tournaments held locally, and got a lot of autographs from some major celebrities while doing so. The one that sticks out to me, however, is Mario Lemieux. I grew up watching this guy dominate the NHL, and the cool thing was I walked a few holes with him while he played. He wasn't overly friendly like some, but he was polite and signed a photo I had brought with me, as well as a card. This was the among the first of the GOATS I ever obtained.
The Albert Pujols was a public signing he did in Orange County in 2015, and I don't think it was something he did very often. It was pricey, but the ball I got signed with his ROY '01 inscription is still one of the coolest baseballs I have ever had signed. Luckily I am not greedy and only paid for one thing to be signed, unlike others who ended up getting his crappy signature if they got autograph tickets for multiple items. It was a cool day for me personally, and I ended up with an all timer's beautiful auto.
This is definitely skirting the rules, but I'm going to list all of my Trout stuff as one. If I had to pick one, it would be the jersey but I also have a game model bat, an 11x14 photo, and two baseballs signed by Trout. The photo has his ROY of the inscription while one of the baseballs does as well, and the other was signed during his rookie year so is actually a rookie year signed baseball.
My current favorite NFL player, Justin Herbert gets onto this list because of the timing of this autograph signings. I sent this 11x14 photo into a signing and asked for the Rookie of the Year inscription before we knew for sure that he had in fact won the award. Clearly he signed it after he won the award, but it was a gamble I was happy I made because I ended up with an awesome piece. This ended up being a rookie year autograph with a rookie of the year inscription, so it's rare. If he continues on his career trajectory, this piece will go up in value as well. The color I framed it with make it pop. I also later sent a rookie card to a different signing.
The autograph that kicked off my obsession of course makes it onto my list. I got this ball signed by Griffey when I was a young teen at Qualcomm Stadium. I hung my arm down above the visitors dugout and did not realize for years who it was that signed the ball until I knew more about the autographs. At the time, if players didn't want to be seen, you couldn't see who signed something. I had no idea of the rarity of this happening, and it matches the baseballs that were sold on either HSN or QVC at the time, so the time period also matches. I was extremely lucky that day, and did not even know it! I will also include the Griffey Jr. rookie card I had signed at a recent signing because it's also very pretty.
Some of the names that just missed the cut for me, and could have snuck in if I was in a different mood that day.
- Ted Williams
- Mickey Mantle
- Hank Aaron
- Julio Rodriguez
- Tom Hanks
- Kareem Abdul Jabbar
- Emmitt Smith
- Jr, Seau
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