Blog Bat Around: The All-Autograph Team

Let me start this post by stating that I am, by no means, a major autograph collector. Sure, I send a few cards out a year for TTM autographs and pick up the occasional autograph at the show. But autographs are far from the highest priority of my collection. I have them, I love them, but I don't constantly seek them, and I certainly am not going to become a prospect chaser and try to know all the big names before overpaying for a box of Bowman.

Despite me not actively seeking out autographs, I knew I wanted to complete my second Blog Bat Around, this one created by Torren' Up Cards. The task was to create a lineup with 9 positions (I'm including a DH and a rotation) showing the best autos of your collection. I chose not to stay limited to cards because I had some other autographed memorabilia that would improve my starting lineup, and I feel very good about every position with the exception of 2B.

And now, I present my All-Autograph team.

Catcher: Johnny Bench

This is why I chose not to limit my All-Autograph team to just baseball cards, because of fabulous pieces like this framed Wrigley Field scorecard from the 70's, signed by legendary catcher Johnny Bench. It was actually my aunt who attended the game that day way back in the mid 70's when the Cubs played the Reds. She got Bench's autograph and sent it to my dad who eventually had it matted and framed many years later. Even all this time after the autograph became part of my collection, I still hold it in high regard as one of my greatest autographs.

First Base: Pete Rose

I actually have 2 autographs of Pete Rose, one being a simple 8x10 picture and the other being this awesome Wheaties box I picked up at the card show a couple years ago for $20. The autograph came with a certificate behind the box, so even know it's wasn't signed in person or included in a card set, I am certain it's a genuine auto. Rose played at first for most of his career despite playing a couple years at second base. This is part of the reason why I chose to put Rose at first base instead of 2B, but my other 1B candidate wasn't too great, so either way, I'd be stuck with one position that was a bit worse than all the others.

Second Base: Jean Segura

Yes, the best autograph of a second baseman I have is Jean Segura and yes, I desperately want to change that. Don't get me wrong, Segura is not a bad player, but I was hoping for a more exciting autograph to be in the same lineup as Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. He's currently playing well in Seattle and has been hitting around .300 for a couple years now. He's pretty good, but he's not great and in this lineup, there's a whole lot of great. Maybe enough to get me to buy a new auto of a star second baseman.

Shortstop: Corey Seager

If Corey Seager can play his whole career like he's played in his first 2 full MLB seasons, he will definitely find himself a spot in Cooperstown. That's really great for me to hear because I have 2 different rookie card autographs of the Dodgers' star shortstop. The first one is from a loose hobby pack of 2016 Panini Donruss that I bought soon after the set was released (takes a mental note that Panini actually has good stuff) while the other is from my 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen hobby box. Both are serial numbered, the Panini out of 199 and the Gypsy Queen out of 99 copies.

Third Base: Brooks Robinson

The photo may be bad quality and logoless, but I could care less about that. This is a certified (with a certificate on the back) autograph of the greatest defensive third baseman to ever live, Brooks Robinson. This card was also bought at the baseball card show, but by my dad over a year ago when he went by himself. He ended up picking up another Robinson auto that I'm struggling to find out how to take out of its case along with a nice number of bat relics of the 16-time Gold Glove winner.

Outfield: Billy Williams, Duke Snider, and Andre Dawson

2 Cubs highlight the outfield that shows off some of the best autographs in my collection. The Billy Williams is an on-card auto that my dad sent TTM a couple years ago. I don't recall him having to pay for it, and we got it back fairly quick. The Duke Snider card is from the 2005 Team Topps that I believe my dad pulled in a pack, though I don't really remember and neither does he. Finally, the Andre Dawson is a recent card show acquisition that's numbered to just 200 copies on the back. The only guy in the outfield I actually have another auto of is Billy Williams which was done by Leaf and purchased at the same card show as the Dawson.

Designated Hitter: Vladimir Guerrero

You must've known I had to find a way to get Vladdy in here, even if it meant adding a DH. I picked up this sticker auto of one of the greatest hitters in recent memory at a card show late last year. It was going for $40, but I ended up getting it for about $30 after everything was added together. But I would've paid $40 for this, hell I would've paid $50 or maybe even more than that. He's one of my favorite players and one of my dad's favorites as well. The only thing that could make this card any better is if he was on the Expos, but I'll have to keep dreaming if I think I'll ever see that card for an affordable price.

Rotation: Nolan Ryan, Fergie Jenkins, Dennis Eckersley, and Rollie Fingers

I went with a 4-man rotation because I wanted to show off 4 autographs of players who are all somewhat equally legendary. And no offense to J.R. Richard, but he's simply not at their level. But back to the autos which you can see are all very different. 

The Nolan Ryan is a plaque commemorating his lengthy and illustrious career on 4 different teams. It's signed towards the bottom of the picture and came to my house via, you guessed it, the card show. The Jenkins card may be miss-cut, but this TTM autograph is one of my favorites in this whole post. It's part of a project my dad and I took on a few years ago to accumulate an autograph from every member of the 1969 Cubs, and I haven't checked recently, but I think we're pretty darn close.

The Dennis Eckersley is my favorite autograph of the whole post because of the fact that I actually pulled this card from my box of 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen back when I didn't mind the product. I remember being so disappointed that Gypsy Queen didn't have relics other than the super rare Autographed Garments cards only to pull one numbered 45/50. Finally, the Rollie Fingers is a photograph bought online that is authorized with a little sticker in the bottom left corner.

I have to say that I had a lot of fun doing this because of how excited this post made me about collecting autographs in the future. It kind of put the fun back into autographs, something that they lacked for many years, probably because of the price.