Sunday SIL: a rare autograph

Been a couple week's since I dove into my collection, so let's share something I have wanted, but it pretty hard to come by. We know the autograph card is a big deal in the hobby now. Hell - $500 boxes are sold that contain nothing but autographs. But it's nice that they will still slip them into packs the average collector like you and I can purchase.

Whoa buddy - I don't buy those cheap repack boxes.

It's always nice to find the checklist for a product and see what you may pull, should the gods shine upon your pack. And if they don't, well there is always eBay. When I first posted my most wanted off on the right, I completely forgot to add this player. And who wouldn't, because as much as a star he is in the league, there are very few licensed autograph cards released. Year after year, his name would be left off of the checklist, either because he was never asked, or because he refused. I highly doubt the latter, so I have to assume the card companies just felt to add other White Sox players to their certified autograph list. In fact, search eBay and you will find just 22 autographs of this player, and just 3 are certified card releases. The rest are TTM. So either someone is hoarding, or the card companies are just going a different route. Which is pretty surprising - I think a player with a no hitter, a perfect game, the record for most consecutive retired batters and 5 Golden Gloves should be a far more available pull.

It's not one of the nicer looking cards of Mark Buehrle. It's supposed to look like a painting, with the raised sections to look like paint. And I am not sure why it's off center like it is, but it is. But the back isn't off center.

The interesting setup of this card is that notch you see under the serial. The signature slides out, which reveals the licensing information.

I get that Trout, Harper, Darvish and others are the hot thing. And I guess there still is a market for Byrd, Quentin and Uggla. But give some love to Mark, would ya?