A Trade With Myself?

2 or 3 weeks ago you may recall a post about my contemplations over selling some decent cards that I didn't much care for in order to raise enough capital for a hobby box or 2. Well... I did end up selling 2 certified autographs of non-baseball or football subjects, and ended up with a decent chunk of change, but not really enough to buy a box of anything decent. Since my payments were all via PayPal, and there's no way in hell those people are ever getting my banking information (it's scary enough they know my credit card info), the decision to just spend the money on cards was pretty easy, since it wasn't "real" money anyway.

Why is this post titled "At Trade With Myself? Because 2 autos sold netted me 2 new autos for my collection, so it is almost like I just traded them for each other. No, not really? Fine. I was just trying to be clever.

2004 Fleer E-X #ST-CR Cal Ripken Signings of the Times jersey/autograph

This first card officially makes me an Orioles collector. I have wanted a Cal Ripken Jr. autograph for years, but they're generally too rich for my wallet. This card was purchased via private sale, from a seller who happened to pull 9 of them during his case break. The price was right, as was the timing, and I could not be any happier with this card.

2008 TriStar Signa Cuts Bobby Thomson cut autograph

Believe it or not, there was enough left after acquiring Cal to also pick up this card? Bobby hit the "Shot Heard Round the World", it says so right there on this card. I'm a fan of the Staten Island Scot for a couple of reasons; not only am I part Scottish, but my mother and grandparents (the Scottish side) are also from Staten Island, NY. Bobby did play for the O's during his twilight years, but this appears to have been cut from a card of his Giants days. Does anybody know exactly which card this is? I can't believe how ridiculously cheaply these Signa Cut autos can be had. They certainly aren't the nicest looking cards out there, but if you want to pick up a cut, they can be found for $10 and under on eBay (auction format).

Thank you for tolerating me showing off my collection. A Cal Ripken autograph is something far too beautiful not to share with the world, so it had to be done.

My $7 Cut Autograph

You may recall from reading THIS post, that I won an eBay auction for a cut autograph while I was away at the beach. Well.... it arrived yesterday.

There is it, my $7 Bob Feller cut autograph. Unfortunately, it's put out by TriStar, and is from the Signa Cuts set. I say unfortunately for a few reasons. The first is that the back of this card is EXTREMELY vague and there isn't even an attempt at authentication. Here's the exact verbiage from the back of this card:

"You have received a Signa Cut^® featuring an authentic hand-signed autograph"

What exactly does that mean? I could have signed this card, and that verbiage would still ring true.

My second issue with this card is something that should be pretty obvious to all of us. Bob Feller is still alive! This set is actually FULL of players who are still alive. Granted, Bob Feller is 90 some-odd years old at this point, and is widely considered one of the best pitchers of his era, along with being a first ballot Hall of Famer, but the question still remains.... Why are companies releasing cut autographs of players who are not deceased and could otherwise sign a regular card?

My third and final issue with this card I'm not even sure is actually an issue. Originally, I thought the card was pretty bland looking, but to tell you the truth, the more I think about it, the more I like the fact that this is just a plain, white index card instead of a recycled autograph bit from an autographed card that was previously released years ago, ala 2009 Legendary Cuts. Those cards are just plain ugly! TriStar did manage to put some sparkles on the border, so they've got that going for them. I will admit though, it's still a pretty dull looking card overall, and a photo of the actual player would have been a nice addition.

Despite the fact that it MAY be a fake cut autograph of a player who is not deceased that also happens to be sort of boring, I still got a freakin' Bob freakin' Feller cut autograph card for SEVEN FREAKIN' DOLLARS! The freakin' heater from Van Meter, and hurler of 3 no-hitters, including the only one to ever be thrown on Opening Day! That's pretty freakin' awesome!