My desire to collect as wide of a range of Baseball cards has possible has both benefits and drawbacks.
While this doesn't always allow me to zero in on a particular part of my collection and devote all of my attention to it, my willingness to collect almost anything that interests me strengthens my collection as a whole.
Furthermore, it allows me to branch out into various parts of the hobby, from vintage sets to brand new releases.
I tried to maintain this openmindedness at The National this year and focus on all parts of my collection. In some instances, I'd focus solely on vintage sets from my want list. Other times, I'd branch out into stuff like oddballs and, in this case, retired player autographs.
Whether I purchase the cards at the show or pull them from packs, I've acquired my fair share of relic cards and autographs, particularly over the last 3 few years.
As much as I love the major hits that I've pulled, most of my auto/relic inventory consists of modern-day jersey relics or cards of semi-stars from the 70s.
Though my Dad initiated this mini-project, I helped him choose some of the retired player autographs that he purchased during our time at the show. The budget that we set for ourselves forced us to make some tough decisions regarding which cards to purchase and which to leave behind.
No matter how hard I try, I could never steer the focus of my collection in just 1 or 2 directions. Rather, my curiosity inspires me to venture out in multiple directions, specifically the retired player autographs that we picked up at the show.
Because I have more Boston Red Sox autos and relics than any other MLB team, we boosted this part of our collection by adding some new players' autographs to the mix.
Earlier this week, I mentioned how surprising it was to see Red Sox cards priced reasonably which certainly isn't the norm at the Boston area shows. Though the selection of Sox cards isn't as great, I'll take lower prices any day of the week, especially if I can land some nice cards, like the Bernie Carbo auto above.
One of my parameters when deciding on which autographs to purchase was whether the signature is on-card or on-sticker. Like many collectors, I try to steer clear of sticker autos, especially if I'm considering spending big money on a card.
Thankfully, most of what we purchased featured on-card autos. Whether the cards are scanned or shown in-person, on-card autos simply blow sticker signatures out of the water. Thankfully, Topps avoids sticker autos nowadays, for the most part, though I can't say the same about Panini.
As I mentioned, a reasonable portion of my relics and autographs are of semi-stars and All-Stars from the 70s and 80s. Because I collect cards of many guys from that era as well, this seems to translate into the hits that I purchase at the show.
They might not be as flashy as a rookie phenom's autograph from Topps Chrome, but I'm perfectly happy with autographs of Dave Parker and Dave Concepcion, both of whom were very well-respected semi-stars who played for championship teams in the 70s.
Better yet, the cards are both on-card, and these 70s players have must better signatures than today's stars. Dave Parker's auto, in particular, is much easier to decipher than today's stars like Chris Sale.
Generally, I lean more towards Panini cards that hide the logoless caps and uniforms to the best of their ability. It's hard to cover this up completely, but they did a decent job with this Rollie Fingers autograph.
I think I'd have less of a problem with Panini as a whole if they decreased the number of sticker autos in their sets. However, the combination of logoless uniforms and sticker autos often turns me away from their hits. I'd rather stick to base cards and parallels from sets like Chronicles and Prizm instead.
Nonetheless, this is my first Rollie Fingers autographed card, and his signature, like Parker's and Concepcion's, is beautiful and clear.
The black borders make the cards challenging to scan, but I'm incredibly impressed with the 2004 Topps Retired Signature autographs. The 2 autos above are my first pickups from this set, though I've seen many collectors praise this product over the last few years.
The Bruce Sutter auto is a great addition to my Cubs PC, especially since this is my first auto of the Hall of Fame reliever. As much as I love everything about this card, Cepeda's on-card auto with the Atlanta Braves is spectacular, especially since his entire signature fits in the designated space.
The black borders only enhance the cards and make the blue ink pop even more. The fact that both of these guys are in the Hall of Fame is even better, especially since it allows me to enhance my collection of autographs even more.
In the long run, I could see myself trying to complete this autograph set, though I'd have to put a significant portion of my funds towards these cards. Though I haven't examined the checklist, I assume there are some expensive cards to chase.
As much as I love the retired player signatures of Sutter and Cepeda, my favorite autograph of the group is the 2014 Topps Tribute card above of Fred Lynn, a sepia parallel numbered out of just 35 copies.
He may not have achieved the HOF status that most assumed he would, especially following his historic 1975 season, but Lynn had some fabulous years with the Red Sox and even the Angels. If he hadn't left Boston, I'm sure he would've ended up in Cooperstown.
The last autograph of the haul follows the same pattern as the others; a fabulous on-card signature of a terrific player. This is also my first Baseball card autograph of Lynn, though, with a gorgeous signature like that, it may not be the last.
