The Old Autograph Upgrade

I love all of the cards that I have picked up over the years, but I have been working on a little project for the last two or three years with a few of my autographed cards.  As a person who collected cards in the early 2000s, I pulled many autographs that were on sticker autographs.  It's not just the fact that they are sticker autographs, it's the ugly grey/silver autograph stickers.

There are a few thousand autographs in my collection and I am pretty sure that there are a few hundred autographs with the grey stickers like this Andruw Jones autograph.

Truth be told, the Andruw Jones card actually isn't that bad since the card has a bunch of foil on the face.  The really bad sticker autographs are the ones with the grey sticker on a white card.  So many to choose from as an example, but this is a good one....

I love Mike Montgomery and I really enjoyed watching him throw a no-hitter once, but this is not a cool autograph.  The stickers have gotten better in recent years with the advent of the clear sticker, but there are still a few silvers floating around.  Especially players like Johnny Podres and Gary Carter who signed a ton of stickers before dying and Topps is still using them in sets.

So, here is my project.  I am not trying to replace the autographs of all the players in my collection whose signature appears on a grey autograph sticker.  That would take a long time, would be expensive, and in some cases would not really be possible.  However, there are plenty of really good players who are worth my time, effort, and maybe a slight net loss in the old pocketbook.

My latest autographed card to be upgraded belongs to Astros Hall of Famers Craig Biggio.  I originally pulled a Biggio autograph out of a pack of 2001 Donruss Signature way back in the day.  I loved getting this card.  At the time, Biggio was not a huge signer and he was a fun player to watch.  I am saying that as a Cardinals fan whose team lost many games to Craig Biggio...

This isn't a terrible sticker autograph.  Donruss actually did a good job with the grey/green box around the sticker.  Makes it blend into the background of the card a little bit better.  However, my newest Biggio card is really nice and will make parting with this one a little easier in a week or two....

It's bascially the same autograph, Biggio's hasn't changed much over time, but it's actually on the card.  It's from this year's Finest set, which I believe, has all on-card autographs. Plus, can I throw in the fact that it's cool to see Biggio wearing an older Astros uniform?  It's not the 1980s rainbows, but I am not sure that Biggio was on the team at any point when they wore those outside of some throwback jersey day.

Does anyone else ever trade up for more desirable copies of cards?  I know that I do sticker autographs, but I have seen a lot of collectors do similar things with other types of cards over the years from finding better relic pieces on a memorabilia card, to tracking down a card with a cool serial number (Yes, the dreaded Ebay 1/1).