Featured autograph - Brooks Robinson

I was thumbing through '2 for $1' old school / vintage bins of a seller I stumbled upon at a card show - I thought this might be just another card, but took a closer look and it looked like it was faintly scribbled on.

It looks like an autograph of Robinson, who passed away on Sept. 26 - maybe it's a testament of how generous he was about signing, where I might find an autograph card of his in a relatively unlikely place.

Featured autograph - Rhys Hoskins

This certified autograph card was the centerpiece in a small stack of cards I picked up at a card show - Hoskins doesn't quite register as a perennial all-star type, but he's more of a real solid power hitter who ends up having his share of hitting highlights over the course of a season.

I ended up picking up Hoskins and a Vladimir Guerrero [serial #'d to 99] card [$5] and a few more odds and ends - nothing mind shattering but more cards to squirrel away.

Featured autograph - Tim Salmon

I grabbed this card because it has an old-school 1975 Topps design and it's a certified autograph of 'home team' great - I'm generally content with my PC of miscellaneous Salmon cards, but I might see a newer looking card when browsing on ebay.

Because I don't pay attention to baseball card products year-to-year, where I scan checklists to see which team related guys I can look for - I might see a card like this as the newest, coolest 'must have' card, even if there have been other pack pulled Salmon autograph cards over the past 10 years that may as well be out of sight, out of mind.

Playing around with a reverse negative effect - it might be cool to have an actual double sided card that gives you this view.

A card show trip recap - feat. Tim Raines

Went to a card show and it was sort of a blur with all the foot traffic and commerce going on - I nearly had an anxiety attack because the room was packed and it was getting stuffy, especially spending too much time at one table trying to conjure up the right combination of cheap-o cards making up the bulk my '3 for $1' and '6 for $1' finds.

I stumbled upon one last table with some boxes of various odds and ends [autos / relics / otherwise 'hit' cards] - maybe a couple of other collectors were going through the other [non-baseball] boxes and giving the seller cards they had flagged.

The seller was literally pricing cards out and telling them to come back in an hour [to presumably finish their purchase] - maybe I'd stop at a table, grab the cards I wanted and see about paying for them right there and then.

Though it may be standard operating procedure, I find the concept of stacking cards for later somewhat odd - maybe I need to actually get to know the seller first before having a relationship where I can pull cards to reserve them.

The seller was looking on dealing for a handful of cards from this one guy [$500-$600 range] and I don't even know if I would be interested in anything - I found a Tim Raines certified autograph for $20 sticker and while Raines isn't quite that popular Hall of Fame legend, it maybe a no brainer picking up a HOF auto on a acetate card printed to be a little more unique.

Besides finishing his big deal, the seller was looking briefly at other cards that some flippers were showing him - he also finished up another deal where he was looked up a card on eBay and charged another collector $3 for a random card pulled from one of the boxes.

When I finally showed the Raines to the seller, he might have looked at for a moment and asked $15 for it - I relented to dig out the required cash out of my wallet and pay up, being able to take this card home for less than a blaster.

Featured autograph - Minnie Minoso

I don't think Minoso registered for me other than a MLB fan favorite who had the feat of appearing in five different decades - I picked up this 8x10 photo from the 2006 National for about $20 [or less] just because it represented a little bit of diversity out of the autograph photo choices from a dealer's table.

With his election to the Hall of Fame along with other greats like Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva - it might be time to give them a second look.

Featured autograph - Eddie Rosario

I got this card of 2021 NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario signed when played in the Arizona Fall League back in 2014 - this was loose somewhere for the longest time where just kind of 'hung out' as a misfit.

Despite the small sample sizes, maybe the outfielder's postseason outburst with the bat elevates his status just a little past just being another good big league player - who can do some things well [hit for a little power, run the bases a little] but maybe overvalued for his age and the potential salary might be making.

Featured autograph - Rene Gonzalez

Off a Facebook f/s listing, maybe it was easier to pick up a signed card [$5] of the one-time Angels utility infielder from the early 1990s - without worrying about sending an autograph request to some address and not getting a response, where I have to look somewhere else to add to my all-time Angels autograph collection.

Whether certain guys would actually sign if I just took the time to send them a request - there are countless rank-and-file guys that don’t seem to get any TTM traffic reported over the years, so I assume they don't sign or perhaps might do so through an autograph middleman of sorts.

Featured autograph - Harold Baines

Maybe purchases are answers to my droughts TTM - to give me something to look at when there isn't always going to be an incoming return from autographs requests I've sent out.

It's different beast however, especially when it comes to expecting a SASE or two to come back on a random day - it’s not as big of a thrill when results in the mail end up being someone else’s envelope.

My request to Baines last year was returned in my SASE with my money [$10] back and card unsigned - I ended up picking up this uncertified autograph card off a Facebook listing.

I assume the seller got the autograph TTM when Baines was generally less picky about taking people’s money to sign - the autograph is on a copy of the 2019 Topps Allen and Ginter I sent out, so with Baines hit or miss, I figured to grab it to knock off a card for my ongoing, perpetual set projects.

Featured autograph - Duane Ward

Off a Facebook post, I saw some extra signed cards offered f/s, presumably from a past signing with the former big league reliever - I saw there was a 1990 Leaf pictured and picked it up for $11.

It probably doesn't work for everyone, but rather than deal with the hassle of sending in a smaller item like a trading card to an organized signing - I would rather take my chances seeing if there are leftovers where I can take a look at how an autograph comes out for a card from a particular set [when available].

While I don’t think Ward has been considered a historically tough autograph to get - he seems more likely to do something for pay than for free and I don't know if there was ever a period of time [maybe over the past 15-20 years] where he regularly responded to through the mail requests.

I remember Ward as a hard throwing weapon out the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen through the early 1990s - he pitched a lot of innings in his prime and while his postseason pitching totals were a little shaky, he did his part during the Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

I mostly forgot about him through the mid 1990s, though he missed all of the 1994 season and his MLB career was basically done the next year - he was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Featured autograph - Masahiro Tanaka

This is a card I probably didn't need in the 'here and now,' but even though Tanaka's stardom has devolved ever since he came over as a super hyped import from Japan back in 2013 - there was still some lingering scratch the itch allure with his autograph as some thing I've never gotten.

I like the card because it looks old-school cool, but then again maybe it needs a little ‘pop’ factor - the blue ink autograph gets my stamp of approval.

When he first came over, Tanaka was one of the autographs I've had to get because of his stature overseas - he might have been considered one of the best pitchers in the world.

As it goes, despite being a successful big leaguer for the New York Yankees, he's been more of an unspectacular innings eater - who has never pitched 200 innings in a big league season.

His stuff is good enough to get big league hitters out during most outings - but perhaps not good enough to consistently dominate with the lights out stuff he possessed in his first couple of big league seasons.

I don’t know how Tanaka is ever going to gain a higher level of prominence in the United States, especially if he ends up returning to Japan - but I like the feeling of adding the autograph of big leaguer who has been a ‘pro’s pro’ to my personal collection somewhere.

Featured autograph - Gordon Beckham

From a f/s listing in a Facebook group I belong to, this was 1 of 3 IP/TTM autograph cards I picked up for $2 each - while I made sure to get a certified autograph of Beckham early in his pro career, he did not seem like he was an easy player to get an autograph from IP/TTM.

Coming out of college, I thought Beckham was going to be a big league star, but despite sticking around for 12 years - he was more of an up-and-down disappointment than a player to build around.

Featured autograph - Vic Davalillo

To add another autograph to my Angels all-time collection, I grabbed this autographed card from Facebook - Davalillo was a Venezuelan outfielder who played 16 years in the big leagues and spent parts of 2 seasons with the Angels back in the 1960s.

The card was descibed as a custom but looks a little fancier with an actual, detailed card back - I'm not sure what the details spell out, but there is a serial #'d notation on the back [36/80] and the cards may have been whipped up by a collector in Venezuela specifically for a card show event.

Featured autographs - a certified quartet

These aren't the greatest big league players, but to quench my thirst for new autographs featuring current guys I don't expect to see - I picked these up so I can say I have their scribbles squirreled away somewhere.

Austin Hayes - the outfielder had a breakout minor league year in 2017, fell back a bit in 2018 and has spent the past couple of years trying to stick in the big leagues for good.

Dakota Hudson - the righthander gave the St. Louis Cardinals another good, young starter to build on besides Jack Flaherty until he needed Tommy John surgery towards the end of the shortened 2020 season.

Sean Reid-Foley - Foley might have been the No. 1 pitching prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system before the emergence of Nate Pearson as that No. 1 guy in recent seasons.

Parker Markel - I wouldn't have noticed he already made his big league debut in 2019, but the Angels signed him last off-season and I jumped the gun, hoping he would make a big league appearance with the Angels in 2020.

Maybe I was inspired to put this post up when I saw Markel had moved on and was just signed by the San Diego Padres - to show I buy my share of random things for reasons that don't actually play out in reality.

Featured autograph - Derek Bell

On forums or other social media, I see other autograph collectors' 'brag posts' as far as what they get - there maybe more purchases and/or private signing stuff mixed in with the usual TTM successes.

Perhaps I want to fall in line and condition myself to accept a new reality - where I end up purchasing more autographs ‘here and there’ as a viable option to get some new scratch the itch curiosities in my collection.

I turn my nose at most of the send-in signings for the rank and file or semi-stars I've gotten TTM or in-person at some point over the past 20 years - but 'Operation Shutdown' was someone whom I never had the opportunity to get, a decent player through the 1990s, with a bunch of cards that made me familiar with him.

A promoter on Facebook was selling extras from a past signing and I thought about getting a card - I was looking for a more unique card, maybe a rookie issue and one of the cards shown in the F/S post was a 1988 O-Pee-Chee.

I realize no one really cares, but I'm vaguely familiar with the odd draft pick card only included in the Canadian version of Topps - if I had to break the bank [$10 plus $1 PWE shipping] to purchase a random signed Bell card, the OPC would the one I wanted.

Go figure, I might have actually liked to send into a Bell signing - he’s on a 2001 Fleer Tradition, a set I'm still trying to get cards signed from, in-person or TTM.

Featured autograph - Cal Ripken Jr. and Tim Salmon

Both of these guys are baseball 'heroes' and coincidentally they share the same birthday, 8 years apart - while it may sound a little corny, over the past 30 years, they were among the pros I considered larger than life.

Though Salmon was never the national baseball icon Ripken Jr. was as the latter chased The Streak - Salmon may have reason I was paying closer attention to Angels games during his first full season as a rookie in 1993.

Featured autograph - Jason Castro

The former Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins catcher homered in his debut with Angels - despite unimpressive career batting numbers, hopefully he is a guy to kind of provide stability behind the plate.

Featured autograph - Jim Kaat

The former MLB pitcher who made his debut in 1959 and pitched through the early 1980s signed a pair of cards blue Sharpie for a $10 donation - I went on a two week vacation to Venice and Milan in February [just before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked those places hard] and this was a successful request waiting for me when I got back home.

I got Kaat's autograph in-person 25 years ago when during the pre-Internet days, I might get a glimpse a guy on TV and bring his card to my local big league ballpark in case he might show up with a particular team [Kaat was a broadcaster with the visting New York Yankees] - I don't think I ever saw him again, but must have gotten another autograph [through the mail] in the early 2000s.

I'd gotten Kaat's 1973 Topps card from COMC [?] because few vintage pitchers hitting cards exist otherwise - I don't think 'image dominant' mini-collection cards particularly need an autograph, but I thought I might as well send my card to the 81-year old, who presumably is still able to sign in the here and now.

Featured autograph - Larry Harlow

The former big league outfielder from the 1970s and 1980s signed my two cards in black Sharpie - like my recent featured autographs, this was a TTM request I sent early in the year and got back as part of the mail that piled up when I wasn't home for 5 months.

Admittedly, just like about all the rank-and-file players in team history Harlow wasn't a familiar name to me - but against the Baltimore Orioles [his old team], Harlow was a Angels postseason hero for a game back in the 1979 ALCS, when his game-winning base hit gave the Angels their first playoff win.

Featured autograph - Bob Bolin

The former MLB pitcher from the 1960s and 1970s signed my card in black ink - like my recent featured autographs, this was a TTM request I sent early in the year and got back as part of the mail that piled up when I wasn't home for 5 months.

"Post office sent this back to us. Hope everything OK."

This was sort of an odd success where my self-addressed stamped envelope was returned to Bolin even though I only use my address on the 'from' part of my SASE - someone must have put their address over mine instead of my mail being sent to me outright with postage due [if that was the problem in the first place].

For what it's worth, my SASE was re-sent in its own envelope, postage paid as well - I appreciate that gesture from the 81-year old and presumably whoever helps him sort through his mail.

Featured autograph - Jack Nicklaus

The golfing icon supposedly signed my two cards in black Sharpie - this was a request I sent early in the year and got back as part of the mail that piled up when I wasn't home for 5 months.

This was one of those requests where I assume someone of his stature and age doesn’t bother with actually going through his mail - but I took a chance in case the autographs might be the real deal compared to being an Autopen or a ghost signer.