The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge: Day #5

Tony, the wonderful writer of the “Off Hiatus Baseball” blog, started a fun activity based off the “30-Day Music Challenge” that Twitter users were taking. The list of challenges looks like this:

Today, we’ll continue with Challenge #5: A certified autograph card of one of your favorite players

While I was attempting to answer this challenge, I noticed something. I don’t have a whole lot of certifies autographed cards. For whatever reason, they were nothing I’ve been actively pursuing. I guess the main reason is that if I’m going to have an autograph of my favorite player, a baseball card wouldn’t be my first choice to get it on. I’d prefer a baseball, or an 8x10 picture. Not only do those tend to display nicer, they’re often cheaper. The “rarity” of having a specific card or parallel card signed doesn’t mean much to me. An autograph is an autograph whether it’s on the most plentiful 8x10 ever, or a 1 of 1 printing plate. So, while I have acquired a few certified autos, they tend to be people/players I’d have trouble otherwise getting. (I loved the Bowman autographed set of scouts they did a while back. The prospect of picking up the autograph of a Red Sox scout was hard to pass up.

One exception was the 2001 Fleer Red Sox set. That was a masterful set. A small 100-card base set of Red Sox stars past and present was the basic idea. But, the inserts really hit the spot. Autographs and relics of Red Sox greats were a lot of fun to chase. Every once and a while I wonder if prices have come down far enough to consider a master set. But, those Ruth and Williams guys tend to keep things out of my budget.

But, some of the other autographs are easily within my price range. Like this one.

Jim Rice was one of my favorite players growing up, and this is a beautiful certified autograph card. I love how the smoky bottom makes a perfect spot to put the autograph. It’s a well thought out design, and I couldn’t be happier with it. 

Now, about the Carl Yastrzemski...