A change of heart ... maybe

A comment I just received on a post I made a couple of days ago has made me reconsider my view on collecting autographed cards.

This post was going to be about the fine cards I received from Rod of Padrographs: A to Z, all for answering an off-handed trivia question on his blog. But I'm changing it up a little bit because of the comment made a couple of hours ago on my Cardboard Appreciation post about former Oakland A's player Herb Washington.

But first a little back story: I don't collect autographs. A number of my most favorite card bloggers do collect autos, and I respect and admire them for it. But I possess only a couple handfuls of autos, and no desire to search for more. Don't get me wrong, I do think they're cool, and I'll gladly accept them. But actively collecting autographed cards takes two things:

1. It takes a kind of personality that I don't have. I will never be the kind of person with the tenacity to ask a player for an autograph at a ballpark or event. I just don't have it in me. (This is all very interesting, because I have made a living for years going up to strangers and starting conversations with them). And I'm not one to stand in line for an autograph. I don't have the patience, because I guess I just don't value the signature enough.

2. It also takes a leap of faith. If I'm not going to get an autograph face-to-face, then I either have to purchase the signed card at a card show or on eBay, or make a request through the mail, or get lucky and pull a certified auto out of a pack. But unless you have it on good authority that what you are getting is the real thing, then all you have is hope. Hope is pretty nice, but for me it's not enough.

I purchased a signed 1961 Topps Sandy Koufax card way back around 1980 or so, before the big card boom and before an explosion of forged autographs. The signature looks like Sandy's. But to this day, I have no idea if it's real. I've heard many, many comments, when it comes to autographs, along the lines of: "I was told it was real." I just haven't been willing to pursue a part of the hobby that is that iffy.

But I've just been informed that there are exceptions to the rules, and that this might be one of them. I received quite a bit of reaction on my Herb Washington post, which is great. It's wonderful to know there are baseball fans that can see the greatness in such a fantastic, old card, and the interesting history behind it. The last comment I received was this:

"Ari said:

If your able to get your hands on his card and his address he'll actually sign the card for u and send it back if u send him a postmarked envelop...trust me I know, im his daughter and people constantly send cards to the house to sign."

Cool.

I'm seriously considering looking up Washington's address and sending off the card, which would take a leap of faith, and all kinds of hope, not to mention the fact that if the card got lost or never returned, I'd be out one significant card in a complete 1975 set.

That's not to say I'm jumping into the autographed card biz with both feet. I'll probably take it on a case-by-case basis. But a big thanks to Ari for giving me a good look at what drives autograph collectors.

Now, a little bit about the cards Rod sent. Rod is one of those bloggers who says he's going to send you one card. Don't believe him. It's a fib! He generously sent me six, including two autographed Padres cards, the Chris Young up top, and this one:

I appreciate the card. Too bad the sticker's on crooked.

I also received a night card from Rod and three Dodgers.

I like that this Donruss Threads has the Brooklyn logo on Erskine's cap, as the company was forced to lose the logos on all the current major league teams because of licensing issues (a huge drawback to this product, in my opinion).

A very nice Then-and-Now of Del Crandall and Russell Martin. They tied the two together nicely on the back. Martin caught a whopping 145 games in 2007, and Crandall caught 146 games in 1959.

Many thanks, Rod. And many thanks, Ari. Now, I've got to track down your father's address.