2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 8

The 2011 Bowman Sterling Autograph is the 83rd Blake Snell autograph in my collection.  

Not many 2023 Blake Snell autographs, so maybe it's time to circle back and check a few older cards off my list. The Bowman Sterling card in this post was a bit of an odd hole in my Snell autograph collection. I I already own two 2011 Sterling Snell's, but both are parallels and I was missing the base autograph.  

Here is the front of the card.....

Snell was selected by the Rays in the 1st Round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school. Topps put Snell in two end of year Bowman products, Bowman Draft and Bowman Sterling. Both Snell autographs are stickers. Both cards are relatively cheap considering that Snell has won a Cy Young and is in contention for a second Cy Young.

Fresh out of high school Blake Snell had a better autograph than the current version of Blake Snell. A few more letters in this signature compared to more recent cards. The picture is a little goofy with Snell wearing a t-shirt and cap, most likely on a back field of the Rays training facility. However, I am sure the  Topps people were also busy trying to squeeze in photos for all ten of the Rays 2011 First Round selections.  

That's not a typo. The Rays had 10 first round picks in 2011 and they botched all of them outside of Snell. Some flamed out in the Minors, some made it to the Majors and weren't that good, and another is serving a life sentence for murder.  

The back of the card features Snell high school stats, which is better than typing "Congratulations" in giant font across the back. Nice write up too. The effort was definitely there on this card.