Since I don't prioritize autographs in my collection, I don't have a lot of them that aren't Dodgers.
The ones I do have sit in the back of my autograph binder, filled with 99 percent Dodger scribbles. There are a handful of Bills and Sabres scribbles, too.
But those autographs have meaning, too, and every once in awhile I will come across one that I need to include in my collection.
One of those times happened yesterday. I went to the monthly card show -- I'll have a post all about it tomorrow. The last card I picked up there was an autograph card. I saw it at the first table I was at -- and I told myself that if I still had money left and the card was still there -- I'd add it on my way out the door.
And that's what I did.
I had to -- it's The Mad Hungarian! This is one of the exceptions. Al Hrabosky is from my early days as a fan. I remember seeing him when the Cardinals played the Mets in the mid-to-late 1970s. Hrabosky, as you may know or have heard, had the habit of going to the back of the mound, turning his back to the batter and rubbing up the ball before pounding his mitt and storming back to the rubber.
This was a topic of discussion among broadcasters and it was controversial, but I often think about how much social chaos would be created if Hrabosky was doing this today. It'd probably break the internet for a week.
Anyway, he is one of those characters from my formative time as a fan and -- gee whiz, an autograph card of him is a no-brainer.
He falls into the category of "non-Dodgers who were 'my guys'" -- a.k.a., played in the mid-to-late 1970s or early '80s. Here are the others that fall into that category and are already in the back of the binder:
These are all guys I'd watch on TV when I was a kid (including umpire Doug Harvey, who seemed to be working every game). I was lucky enough to pull the George Foster, all the remaining cards were supplied by others or I found at a card show (I would love to replace the Gorman Thomas with a signature card of him in his more familiar facial hair look).
That is the best non-Dodger autograph category and if I put any effort into this at all, I could fill a whole binder with nothing but these guys.
Another category is guys I've interviewed. Those are automatics. If I come across one, I will buy it and accept it into the binder. Even La Russa, who was kind of jerky.
Then there is the "generally cool" category, which is a completely subjective box that I check. A card of a Hall of Famer that is worn thin and contains an autograph that could be a fake created by a teenage boy or COULD BE FROM BROOKS ROBINSON is definitely going in the collection. A guy named Jim Greengrass is an automatic, too, so is Bobby Thomson, no matter what he did to the Dodgers. And the Tom Murphy cards that I've gotten -- he grew up close to where I live -- are still fun.
But that's about it. Autographs in general are maybe 3 percent of my collection and I don't see it climbing higher than that.
But if a signed card from Garry Maddox or Bernie Carbo pops out at me, I'll be adding it.
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