Shades of Pat Burrell

Long ago, the Phillies selected Pat Burrell from the University of Miami with the first pick of the Major League Baseball draft.  All the baseball card companies rushed to throw his cards into packs.  I actually managed to pull a few Pat Burrell cards when they were popular and I also felt like I had somehow been ripped off.  It was not really the quality of the baseball cards that were disappointing, but Pat Burrell's signature made them hard to love.  

I still cringe to this date.  

It's hard to believe that Pat Burrell was popular at any point based on the quality of his autograph alone.  

Fast forward twenty years into the future.  

The San Francisco Giants selected NC State catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round of the Major League Draft. I was excited to see the former Wolfpack player play for the Giants and appear on a few baseball cards.  The baseball cards were actually slightly anticlimactic.  Bailey had been playing for USA Baseball for several years and had appear in all kinds of different Panini products.  

Not the best signature, but he was also in high school when this card was made.  Still, I was on the look-out for his cards right up to the moment when I saw his signature.  

It changed. 

Bailey has now been in professional baseball for over a year. Topps and Panini have cranked out a decent number of Patrick Bailey cards.  I am just getting around to adding a few of his autographed cards.   They weren't expensive or hard to find.  They just have an uncanny resemblance to the old Pat Burrell cards.  

This is a Bowman Chrome autograph of Bailey.  

I actually think Bailey has a worse signature than Burrell.  This card is actually the better of the two Patrick Bailey signatures in this post.  It's really hard to quantify, but this is a really bad signature.  This autograph feels like it's in the neighborhood of Geronimo Gil, who was an Orioles catcher in the early 2000s.  

Last Bailey card is from Bowman's Best.  

This one is even worse.  I feel so unsatisfied.  

I cannot wait to see Patrick Bailey in the Majors and I hope he has a long career.  I also hope he takes a little more time to sign his name in the future.  Bailey's autograph can only get better.  

I think.