The look of a Major League autograph has definitely changed over the years. You once could look at a signed baseball and be able to read each name as players usually took enough time to craft an identifiable signature. These days, not so much. Players raised in an electronic age quickly scribble some often illegible letters and most of us are left to guess the name. Some think … [Read more...]
Notes: Shows in Toronto, Chicago; Tech Changes in the Hobby; Illegible Autographs
A couple of shows brought out autograph signers and collectors over the weekend. Some social media activity from the Sports Card Expo in Toronto and the Fanatics Authentic event in Chicago... Having a blast at the Sport Card Expo in the International Centre. #sports as far as the eye can see! We're representing #Barrie folks! #FanCave @sportcardexpo A post shared … [Read more...]
Four Letter Word: Some of McKinley’s 2017 Panini Autographs Not Real
Like many younger athletes, his “autograph” isn’t much: the first four letters of his first name. Collectors have gotten used to weak ink on their trading cards in recent years but now comes word that Atlanta Falcons’ first round draft pick Takkarist McKinley left Panini America with someone else’s four-letter word on many of the stickers used to produce his … [Read more...]
No Arms; No Problem: Amazing Matt Stutzman Signs for Topps
Matt Stutzman signed autographs for one of Topps’ upcoming products recently. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s OK but watching him do it will make you want to know more about him. An archer who competes for the United States as one of the most accurate archers in the world, Stutzman is an athletic hero in every sense of the word. A Paralympic medalist in 2012, he’ll … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: Time to Cut the Auto-Relic Cord?
It seems almost impossible to fathom now, but back in the 1970s collecting sports cards meant piecing together one main set. Topps did football, baseball, basketball and hockey. You bought packs (boxes or complete sets if you were an adult) and that was was pretty much it. If you lived in the right area, you could buy something like the 1970 or ’71 Supers,’72 Posters or '77 … [Read more...]
Notes: Star-Trib on Berkus; Mantle Musings; Love to UD; Awful Autograph Story
When dealers at the 1994 National Sports Collectors complained angrily about an unexpected overflow crowd being kept out of the show, director Mike Berkus was ready to turn the tables. "You think you had a bad day. Let me tell you about my day,” he told them of his day-long duel with the fire marshal. Berkus, who died of brain cancer last month at age 69, had a way of … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: Out of the Mouths of Babes
There was a brief discussion on Twitter Sunday morning about the declining quality of player signatures as a whole. It started when collector Rob Bertrand posted this about a hockey patch card signed by Marcus Kruger. I responded: Topps joined briefly... Yes, it is a somewhat complex problem. Quantity, of course, is an issue. Card companies … [Read more...]
Gallery of Awful Autographs
You try to picture the scene in your mind. A giant box of trading cards shows up at a player's home. He opens it up and his first expression is probably one you can't put in a respectable hobby news outlet (or even ours). There is a stack of 200, 300 maybe even 500 or 1,000 cards, all in need of his signature. He has to do it. He agreed to it. He's getting paid for it. … [Read more...]