Survey Says…
November 16th, 2011 by slangon
I know I’m a little behind the times on this, but I’d been meaning to do it for a while now. Getting that Craig Swan autograph in the mail a few days ago just reminded me of it. In case you missed it, a week or 2 ago, Nachos Grande posted a questionnaire for all to answer regarding the autographs in your collection.
1. What is the best autograph you own?
This one is a little tricky to answer just because what exactly do you mean by “best”? Do you mean an autograph that gets lots of oohs and ahhs when I show it to other people, or do you mean my personal favorite? Are you talking about certified autographed cards, or any type of autograph? I’m going to go ahead and assume that by asking this question in this format, you’re looking for my personal idea of my “best” autograph. In that case, I’d have to go with my favorite player of all-time, Keith Hernandez.
This happens to be the only autographed card that I have of Mex, which makes it a little more special to me. The fact that it also has a hunk of bat in it makes it that much cooler.
2. What is the best autograph that you’ve ever pulled from a pack of cards?
I bust very few packs these days and even when I was in a much more prolific pack-busting mode, I never busted enough boxes to be guaranteed to get many autographs. I can probably count on 2 hands the amount of autographs that I’ve personally pulled out of a pack, so I don’t have to think too hard about this one.
This might not be some big name superstar or some uber-prospect, but to me pulling a Ginter auto of a Negro Leaguer is pretty damn cool. Throw in that it’s on card and a framed autograph and that coolness is amplified. Plus it has that wacky Allen & Ginter border.
3. What is the worst autograph you’ve ever pulled from a pack of cards?
Again, since I don’t bust enough packs to pull a lot of autos myself, the choices here are few. Apparently, as it turns out, Allen & Ginter happens to be the product that I’ve busted the most boxes of, so it stands to reason that the majority of autographs that I’ve pulled have been from that product. I happen to really like Ginter autos, so even if the subject isn’t the greatest, I tend to like those autographs anyway so most of those are out as far as worst autograph status goes. Outside of those I’ve pulled a Cody Strait autograph that I wan’t too psyched about and a Mat Gamel auto that I could care less for. The did happen to come from Bowman Heritage and Goudey, though, and they’re both on-card, so they’re bearable. By default then, my worst personally pulled autograph goes to this guy:
Between the sticker auto and the smeared signature, which is how I pulled it out of the pack, this isn’t exactly a winner. Add to that the fact that it’s a rookie player that I don’t really care about from a team that I don’t really care about and it pretty much cements this as my worst auto. Plus it’s purple.
4. Do you try to get autographs through the mail? If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?
I do indeed try my hand at through the mail autograph requests. I’ve had some success and some failure. I think I’ve been lucky enough that my successes outweigh my failures. I mostly lean towards sending out custom cards. That started from me being too cheap to send “real” cards out and possibly never seeing them again. Eventually though, I started to appreciate getting cards that I designed myself signed as opposed to actual cards. Here’s some of my bigger successes.
5. Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?
The first autograph I ever got was a signed 8×10 of Keith Hernandez.
6. Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?
Although I do actively collect certain teams (The Mets) and certain players (Keith Hernandez) I don’t necessarily go out of my way to get autographs from them. I usually get them depending on the situation, like if I happen to see a signed card that a really good deal, or if I happen to see one that just looks so incredibly cool that I have to have it.
7. Which is better: Autographs or Relics?
I guess autographs edge out relics, but I’m probably one of the few collectors that still gets excited when I pull a relic card.
8. What do you think of cut autos?
I’m fine with a cut autograph if it’s of someone that isn’t around to sign things anymore. Cut autographs of living subjects however seems really dumb to me. I also think cutting up a card that was signed just for the sake of making into a “cut” auto is really stupid. Why not just keep the card intact and put it in a pack?
9. What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?
Hands down, I think Topps has done a great job with the Allen & Ginter autographs.
10. If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?
- Casey Stengel because he’s awesome and because he is such an integral part of Mets history.
- John Wesley Hardin because I heard tell that he used to shoot out the pips on a playing card from 20 yards out and then sign the card for you. I’d like to have one of them.
- Ty Cobb because he’s Ty Cobb.
- Even though I’m not a huge boxing fan, I would love a Muhammad Ali autograph. He is The Greatest after all.
- Jack Kerouac because he’s my favorite author.
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