Finally! We make it to the really good stuff - autographed baseball cards. These are cards which are signed by the player, and are amongst the most popular and valuable baseball cards out there.
Certainly from a UK fan perspective, even with the occasional holiday to the US, the prospect of obtaining an autograph from your favourite player is slim - even more so with very limited international travel at the moment. There are a few options to explore that can help maximise your chances though, like visiting Spring Training or posting an item to be signed to the team directly. But neither of these are particularly reliable.
Thus, autographed baseball cards are a great opportunity to easily add the autograph of your favourite player to your collection.
There are 3 different types of autographed cards that you'll need to know about in order to decide which is best for you.
First up are sticker autographs. These are cards where the player signs a bunch of stickers, which are then placed onto cards at a later time. Because the stickers can be signed ahead of time, this gives manufacturers the ability to include more player autographs in their sets and for more cards made which are autographed by more than one player.
However, some feel the these sticker autographs seem less authentic than the other options and they are missing the personal touch.
Next we have on card autographs. These are cards where the player signs his autograph directly onto the card. These are considered to be among the most desirable autographed cards because there is a personal link - the player held the card and signed it directly. They also have more freedom in regard to the size their autograph can be, with some choosing to include personal touches such as their number, or favourite bible verse.
In a similar vein, there are also cut autographs which we're planning on looking at in our next post in this series.
Finally there are in person autographs. These are cards that weren't signed when they were released, but have been autographed - usually in person - at a later date. If you have been lucky enough to have met a player and they signed a card for you, it will likely have pride of place within your collection. The memories and personal link to the card can make them hold tremendous personal sentimental value.
However, problems can arise if you ever look to sell it or indeed look to buy a card which has been signed in person. There are risks involved when buying in person autographed cards because you can't be sure of its authenticity.
Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous people around looking to make some quick money so be sure you are getting what you pay for if you're looking to buy a second hand in person autographed card.
There are highly respected autograph authentication services, like PSA, JSA and Beckett, available who can authenticate in person autographs for a price. But be wary of just accepting any old "authentication certificate" because these can easily be made up and hold little value within the hobby.
As mentioned previously with relic cards, there is small print on the back of sticker autographed & on card autographed cards which says something like "This autograph is guaranteed by *insert manufacturer here*".
This on card guarantee is fully accepted as confirmation that the autograph, either on a sticker or on card - is authentic and genuine.
Autographed cards used to be difficult to come across but are now much more common. A quick online search for your favourite player and "auto" will likely get you to where you want to be.
Autographed cards are a great way to add something to your collection which would otherwise be very difficult to obtain.
Do you have any autographed cards in your collection?
Share them with us in the comments or on twitter.
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