The majority of Blake Snell autographs that are missing from my collection are either really low print runs or they are from unlicensed products from Panini and Upper Deck. I am generally not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on cards with giant patch pieces that are more or less one of ones and will also not pay Topps prices on cards with the logos airbrushed off the card.
I don't even bother to search out cheap Blake Snell autographs most days, but I did last week and I found a few cards that I decided deserved a spot in my collection. I might also have a soft spot in my heart for Upper Deck.
Here my latest Blake Snell autographed card, which is out of 2015 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions.
Snell was in Double A and Triple A in 2015, so just a prospect at this point.
The overall design of the Goodwin Champions set is fine. I dig the gold and light blue border and the design feels like it belongs with the original Champions cards from the late 1800s. The autograph is well placed on the front and the design allows a nice dead space for the signer.
The photo is a disaster.
This photo is from Snell's time in A Ball with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. In fact, the same non-airbrushed photo is on his 2014 Topps Heritage card. Upper Deck just did a little editing, changed some colors, and voila!!!!
The Bowling Green Hot Rods have terrible uniforms, maybe it's better that Upper Deck airbrushed Snell out of that yellow jersey. It's one of those attempted oddball Minor League team names gone wrong.
Back of the card........
I like that Upper Deck still put stats on the back of the autographed cards in Goodwin Champions.
I also like that they kept Richard McWilliam around after he passed away. He was instrumental in Upper Deck's glory days as a card manufacturer regardless of how his story ended.
I was hoping maybe this card was going to look a little better in-person. In the end, it checks off an autograph that I do not own and was less than $10 shipped. That's a bargain for a Blake Snell autograph these days.
Save for the glove, his photo, which makes him look like a player of yore, would look right at home on an old-timey card.
ReplyDeleteI see it, but I also question why Upper Deck did not do that on all the baseball cards. Would be cool if that's what they tried to do across the entirety of the product.
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