Always Adapting

A baseball card hoarder's collection is constantly changing with additions from trades or purchases and subtractions from selling or trading.  The collector's baseball card piles will always change in numbers.  Binders will become many and some binders may be condensed into other binders.  The baseball card collection is forever evolving for the devoted compilers of cardboard.

My hall of fame collection has been more of a focal point for my collecting habits.  2013 has seen me add more autographs of some of the legends of Cooperstown than in previous collecting seasons.  It is only July so, I will probably add a few more signed gems to my collection.

I am starting to think of some parameters for which to build my hall of fame collection.  I am starting to get somewhat picky when it comes to autograph purchases.  The card companies flood the market with many Cooperstown inductees so, the collector has many options to pick from when choosing signatures to acquire.

One of the parameters that I have set up when I seek out hall of fame autos is the search for on-card signatures.  Sticker autos annoy me for several reasons.  The signer has very little room to sign their name on a tiny sticker.  The sticker may leave out some artistry to the ballplayer's way of signing.  Another bothersome point about sticker autos is that a lot of the player's signatures look the same.  The more room that a signer has to work with the more unique a signature may appear in size, shape and a possible inscription.

This George Kell auto is a perfect example of an on-card signature adding some character to the baseball card.  Kell couldn't sign diagonally on a sticker and he also would not be able to add his HOF induction year.  Also, card companies would not place a sticker auto on a card that is crooked and placed on the player's back.

I am unaware how most of the blog world feels about signatures like this.  The card design has a tiny picture of Bruce Sutter at the top and the logo on his hat is airbrushed.  This may be a turnoff to some collectors but,  I am not one of those collectors.  I place the niceness of the signature over card design.  I also enjoy Leaf trying something new on its autograph cards.  Leaf let Sutter expand his signature and inscription.  I view this as a good thing and the card stands out to me.

I don't have too many hall of fame sticker autos in my collection.  Luckily, I didn't go to deep down that patch.  I am more than willing to pay a couple bucks more for a sweet on-card auto of a legend.  The few sticker auto cards that I have in my hall of fame collection may come up for trade soon.  I may use those to help out my Dodger collection.