SoCal Autograph Odysses

 It is pretty clear if you have taken a peek at this blog that my hobby obsession has altered a bit over the past few years and become more focused on soccer. I still think it is the most undervalued of the sports by people in the US, and though it is growing in popularity, much of the product can still be had at cheaper prices than sports like football and basketball. Therefore, when I splurge on a hobby box I have been going more often in the soccer direction. There is also a propensity for bigger names on the hits, as many products like Panini and Topps have all time soccer legends in the auto checklist like Pele, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Beckham, Maradona, etc. I don't think you can hit autos of that magnitude in most of the other sport card products.  One of the products I've purchased around ten blaster boxes for has been the 2024 Prizm Copa America product. I've gotten quite a few numbered cards but overall in terms of bit hits it has been pretty dusty for

 As has become my family's custom, we have been taking one road trip a year for the last five or six years.  While on the road trips, I've made it a point to try and find sealed boxes of cards at Walmarts and Targets that I have a harder time finding since I live in southern California. The second biggest pull of my life happened four years ago in New Mexico when I pulled a crazy Julio Rodriguez prospect auto  numbered to 99.  This year our trip again took us to Northern Montana (and this time into Banff, Alberta Canada) but unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything as big as the Rodriguez card. I pulled a Max Duggan Contenders rookie auto from a mega box found in a Polson, Montana Walmart. This kid will probably get cut by the Chargers in the next few days so it's not the best pull though I am a Chargers fan. I pulled this Charles Bediako rookie auto out of a Contenders basketball blaster that I found at a Target in Kalispell, Montana. I don't know much about th

 As a Padres fan, it's been watching the maturation and success of their potential rookie of the year winner, 21 year old Jackson Merrill. He is currently one of the two favorites to win the NL rookie of the year, but I did not have many of his cards in my collection, nor did I have any autos. An interesting note about this card is that I am not sure whether to consider this his "1st Bowman" as his technical 1st Bowman was in 2021. However, the photo of the player used in that version of Merrill's card was not actually Jackson Merrill but some other random prospect. The kid in the photo even bats right handed while Merrill is a lefty. I do know for a fact that the 2022 Bowman, pictured above, is his first autograph in Bowman sets regardless of what you consider to be his first actual Bowman. All of this is to say that I do think there is some big time profit potential with the 2022 version of his card potentially being considered his actual 1st Bowman as opposed to th

 A third return on signings I've participated in came back through the mail today, this time in the form of former Atlanta Braves elite center fielder and potential MLB Hall of Famer Andruw Jones. This was a very cheap signing and I found a 1st Bowman on eBay that I thought would look good signed. I suspect if he does make his way into the hall it will bump his price up even if he is kind of a borderline candidate. I believe that with the way his candidacy has been voted on, with the percentage of votes he gets going up every year, he will sneak in on his 9th or 10th (and final) year of eligibility.  As far as the autograph itself, I think this one came out nicely.

 When I got back from my recent vacation, one of the first things I did the next day was go to my local card shop and see if they had any single cards I was interested in. They had a signed National Treasures auto of NBA hall of famer and one of the all time greats, former Jazz player Karl Malone.  This autograph is a sticker auto but is numbered /49 and from a pretty high end set. I had been considering sending a card into a Malone signing since I did not yet have an auto of his in my collection and one of the benefits of finding this card was that it was only 1/3 the cost of the signing I would have submitted a card for. 

 The second of my recent private signing submittals came back to me through the mail last week in the form of a signed 1995 Upper Deck rookie card of Jaguars left tackle and NFL Hall of Famer Tony Boselli.  As you can see, this is a clean signature that came out sharply on the card and included Tony's HOF 22 inscription. Tony was one of the preeminent offensive lineman of his era so I was happy to add this to my collection. 

 One of four signings I am participating in came back while I was on vacation in Montana and Canada, and that was of Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Pudge was arguably the best catcher of his era, and probably one of the top five to ten catchers to ever play the game. I had not previously had a Rodriguez autograph in my collection despite his entire playing career happening during my baseball fandom. I sent in a Topps Tiffany rookie, and I like the way the card came out signed. 

 As I posted about a couple months back, I pulled a really great pull from Bowman baseball when I got a Paul Skenes chrome auto when opening packs with my son. I recently decided to flip that card for a player I've been wanting to add to my collection for awhile, Man City forward Erling Haaland. The hype surrounding Skenes is such right now that I was able to sell the card, get the Haaland auto I coveted, plus still make a tiny profit in the process. This is not something I typically do but I really thought the card above looked great, I feel like I'm getting an elite player in Haaland that has more long term value, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Skenes prices come down in a year or two to a point where I can buy the same card back at a fraction of the cost.