Autograph: $0.21

The Cardinals have had a pretty quiet off-season this year.  They signed shortstop Jhonny Peralta and traded David Freese and Fernando Salas to the Angels in exchange for Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk.  I guess they also signed Mark Ellis, but generally quiet.  One of the things I really look forward to every December/January is running around trying to track down a few new cards of the Cardinals new players.  The last is really short this year.

I already had a few Peralta's before the off-season started and was happy to add a little bit nicer card of the new Cardinals shortstop at a relatively low cost. I also managed to pick up a couple Grichuk cards along the way too.  That narrowed my shopping list down to Mark Ellis and Peter Bourjos.  A qucik check of my card collection shows I already own a Mark Ellis autograph or two, but we might upgrade later this spring.  Bourjos I am a little bit short on.  In fact, I do not own a Bourjos card outside of base cards. 

I priced out his autographs and found two different options out on the secondary market.  One card was a 2007 Bowman which frequently sold for $20 or more and a 2013 Panini Prizm autograph.  The Prizm autograph sells for less than $10.  While I appreciate the player the Cardinals might have landed in Bourjos I am not sure that he is a player worth spending $20 on for an autograph.  At the same time I also do not really dig the logoless cards put out by Panini.  The dilemma. 

Luckily I found a way out of this pickle.  I have been working on pairing down some player lots recently, so most of my Ebay time recently has been spent on the selling side.  Throw in a lack of new releases and I have not really sought out any new cards recently outside of monitoring some of my usual searches.  Like Ray Lankford.  Ebay grew impatient with me and sent me a remainder to spend my Ebay Bucks.  That's like free money.  Sort of.

2013 Panini Prism Peter Bourjos Autograph

Bourjos problem solved.  This bland logoless copy of a 2013 Panini Prizm autograph ended up costing me a whole $0.21 after paying for the card and shipping.  I think it's money well spent and I can now say that I own a Peter Bourjos autograph and did not pay $20 for it. 

Side thought-Did Panini buy the naming rights for the old Pacific card lines?  The Prizm concept seems pretty close Pacific Prism cards.  I noticed while searching around while writing this article that Panini has also put out a set of crown shaped cards and they are named Crown Royale.  Cheap Pacific knockoff?   Anyone know?