This is the ninety-seventh Blake Snell autograph in my collection and definitely the first with the word "Pentamerous" on the front of the card. Pentamerous meaning something that is arranged in groups of five.
After looking at the card for a long time, I cannot find anything with five groups of anything. There is a five-sided star at the top and two small five-sided stars next to the nameplate, but that's it. That's also three stars, not five. There are not five pictures of Blake Snell, or five autographs of Blake Snell, which might have made this a really awesome card.
Here is the front.
I am going to stop picking on the name of this card and focus on the fact that it is really nice. My latest Blake Snell autograph comes out of the high-end 2023 Topps Five Star product. The card has thick card stock and a nice, glossy finish. The wooden looking parts on the front of the card have some nice gold foil and are also embossed. The gold around the edges is obviously more embossed foil.
A little lost on my scan is the fact that the center of the card is actually translucent. It's hard to tell on the front scan, but you'll see it in a second when you look at the scan of the back of the card.
Here is the back.
The translucent front can be seen here with the reversed image of Snell on the left side of the card, the faded portrait image on the right, and the autograph bleeding through on the bottom. The small print is still on the bottom of the card underneath the picture frame.
I do not write about the Tigers often on this blog, but they have long been a team on my radar. My wife is a Michigan native, so my in-laws are all big Tigers fans. My middle schooler likes the Tigers (not you Javy Baez) and will watch their games. I have been fortunate enough to attend a few Tigers games over the years. They have a great stadium if you are ever in Detroit.
The last Tigers game I attended was two summers ago and I was fortunate enough to see Miguel Cabrera one last time in person. I knew it was likely going to be the last time, so I took a few pictures......
In the end, Miggy walked off the Twins on an odd single that landed between the centerfielder and the shortstop. The Twins had actually been really aggressive with pinch hitting and had Nick Gordon, normally a second baseman or shortstop, playing in centerfield.
On to the cards. I think I have a sneaky good collection of Miggy cards, so I thought it would be fun to do one of my Friday posts featuring some of my favorites of the future Hall of Famer.
5. 2013 Topps Miguel Cabrera Triple Crown Relic
Not sure where winning the Triple Crown ranks on Miggy's list of career accomplishments, but it feels like it should be up there. I also feel like it rarely gets mentioned when people talk about his career. I watched his last few games, not sure it really got brought up. Maybe the accomplishment has lost some of its luster in recent years with the push on using sabermetric stats. Do people really talk about batting average anymore?
I love this card. It's die-cut, has a nice action picture of Miggy with a swatch of his jersey, and is better than anything else I have seen that recognizes him as a former Triple Crown winner. These have gotten pricey and hard to find over the last decade.
T4. 2011 Triple Threads Miguel Cabrera Patch Card
Two relic cards in a post is my limit in the year 2023. I do not really do relic cards, but this one is too good to not post on my list. I went all in on the 2011 Triple Threads set and have some great looking cards from this product. I could easily make a few posts on some of the cards. This is one of my favorites.
I have never really tried to figure out all the patch pieces on here, but there is a lot of blue and orange. I think it's the Detroit script off of a road Tigers uniform, as the home uniforms do not have any orange.....
The patch piece on the LL of the card is white, orange, and then a partial piece of blue. Looks similar to the top of Ts in the word "Detroit" on the road uniforms.
T4. 2011 Triple Threads Miguel Cabrera Autograph
I will fudge on the five card thing a bit in this post and go ahead and share one of the Triple Threads autographs I have of Miggy from the 2011 set while we are here. Yes, it's a sticker autograph, but it's a clear sticker on a really great looking card.
3. 2012 Topps Five Star Miguel Cabrera Autograph
I love Five Star. I don't open any packs of it, because they cost a second mortgage on your house. I just like when people sell their autographs that do not make them a profit on their $250 box of cards. You pulled a Miguel Cabrera autograph and need to sell it? I am listening.
I have several Miguel Cabrera autographs that are not going to be included in this list. They are all really great cards that I am sure the average sane collector would love to have in their collection. This is my favorite Miggy autograph and it's the last one on this list. This Five Star is an on-card autograph and has really thick card stock. Yes, it's got a jersey and some art work, that's kind of an afterthought here. I wish I could scan the side of the card to show off the stock, it's impressive.
2. 2001 Bowman Heritage Miguel Cabrera
Huge fan of the 2001 Bowman Heritage set. Have a ever told you about how much I love the Albert Pujols card in this set? I don't love Miggy that much, but it's close. Is this considered a rookie card? I treat it like it's a rookie card. It's in a magnetic one-touch and everything. This is a great looking card and aesthetically probably my favorite card of Miguel Cabrera on the Marlins.
1. 2000 Topps Traded Miguel Cabrera
The 2000 Topps set is trash, but the Traded set is pretty nice. You've got rookie cards of Adam Wainwright, Ben Sheets, and Miguel Cabrera. That's more checklist depth than the 1982 Topps Traded set. If I had to make a list of the most important 2000s rookie cards, this Miguel Cabrera would be really high on the list. Great card. First ballot Hall of Famer wearing a teal Marlins uni, not sure how it gets better than that.
My latest Snell autograph is from the 2022 Topps Five Star product. I was really worried about the quality of this card when I first purchased it two weeks back, but instead was pleasantly surprised.
Here is the card.
My big worry was that white strip that Snell autographed.
Over the years, card companies have taken steps to fancy up sticker autographs. While Five Star has never had sticker autographs, I would not put it past Topps to do it. When I saw these cards, that white strip reminded me of the Upper Deck stickers from products like UD Etchings and SPX.
Here is an example.
This is a sticker autograph.
Well, after investigating the front of the card for all of ten seconds, I can tell you that the white strip is printed onto the card and is not a sticker. I was relieved, because I have always liked the Five Star cards. The design here is pretty solid, but the best feature is the thick card stock, which does not really show up in a scan. You're going to have to trust me here.
The back is nice too.
I love that Topps ditched the "Congratulations, you've gotten an autograph" form letter on the back in favor of information and statistics. I love that there was some thought and energy put into the design here and that they came up with something that fit the theme of the product. This is a Five Star autograph, and as a Blake Snell fan, I get five career highlights/statistics.
I just wish there was some Kevin Cash shaming here. Something like, "...pulled in the sixth inning of an elimination game in the World Series while throwing a two hitter with nine strikeouts"
Look, they still fit in the disclaimer in really small font.
Blake Snell has pitched an entire season with the Padres. The Rays traded him to the Padres in December of 2020. A whole year later and Topps is still making Blake Snell cards on the Rays. I was going to have a hard time deciding whether to collect his autographs after he started appearing on cards as a Padre. Luckily, it seems that Topps has kicked that can down the road to some degree.
Incredible.
Here is my newest Blake Snell autograph from Five Star.
Five Star is one of those products that is a $200 pack of cards with two autographs. The cards have on-card autographs and really thick card stock. They are really nice. I'm sure if you land a Mike Trout autograph you are happy you spent $200 on a box of cards. At the same time, I can't imagine paying $200 for a box/pack of cards and landing a $20 autograph of Blake Snell. I'd be irked.
Well, I did not open a $200 pack of cards and I was more than happy to take a $20 autograph off the hands of someone who did. The card is not even serial numbered? Bon jour, case breaker.
Back of the card.
At first glance this does not seem all that impressive. However, Topps typically fills the back of their high-end products with some giant note that starts with the word, "CONGRATULATIONS" in all caps. I like the "Five Star Career" with 5 important accomplishments/highlights from Snell's career. Really nice touch by Topps to actually do something interesting with the card back here.
It has been almost a month since I have posted a Blake Snell autograph. Just waiting for a good one to post for number 20. I actually have had some other successes with Blake Snell cards during the past week. Still hoping for a year end total around 25.
Snell actually appeared locally last week in a rehab start.
It was on a school night, so the little man and I watched from the comforts of our sofa.
For my 20th Snell autograph of the year I went with a nice Five Star. Great looking card.
This is a Golden Graphs.
I am not sure that I love the gold pattern around the edges of the card, but I do like the contrast between the gold color and the dark signing surface in the middle of the card. I also like that Snell autographed the pen using gold colored ink.
I have avoided really committing to collecting a Cardinals player in recent years, more of just a general interest in their cards. There will always be Ray Lankford cards.......
There will always be Albert Pujols cards.......
and Stan Musial too.....
The second half of this season really has me contemplating spending a little bit of time and money working on Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty. He has pitched really well......
There are already some Jack Flaherty cards hanging out in my card room that are pretty nice.
They are just kind of cheap considering he is one of the better pitchers in the Majors at the moment. He's right up there with pitchers like Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
I mean he's only won 10 games. Snark.
I found a new Five Star autograph of the talented 23 year old for less than $10 last week. Great looking card of a great pitcher.....
The card stock on these is still super thick, hopefully the edges won't the chip the way that some of the older sets did. Even if they do, this is probably my favorite Flaherty autograph that I have added to my collection this year. Not saying he's going to reach the same status as Blake Snell, but for the moment Flaherty is going to be my go to Cardinals player.
I put a lot of effort into collecting the current players on the Cardinals and Durham Bulls. Sometimes it is nice to stray a little from the norm and find some cards of players who have retired. Whether they are on vintage cards, or modern releases, I am happy with either. I usually have two different types of players I look for when I go after these types of cards: former Cardinals players, occasionally some older Durham Bulls players, and players I watched in person growing up.
I managed to add a pair really nice cards recently, one from each of the aforementioned categories.
Let's start off with the non-Cardinals player first.
I have really enjoyed finding some of the cards of players from the 1980s and 1990s that Topps has put into some of their products over the past few years. The selection of players is obviously limited to some degree, but it's still nice to see the players who were important to the baseball card sets from the 1980s pop up in current sets. Strawberry definitely fits that description.
Strawberry was also in the greatest softball related prime time television episode ever....
This Strawberry card actually was being sold with the other card in this post and I love combined shipping costs. It also helps that this card, which is from a box/pack of cards that sells for more than $100, cost right around $5. I love Five Star cards, as long as someone else is spending the money to open the box. I know, it's not serial numbered and does not have some fancy coloring. Great looking card of the former Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees star.
On to the really important card.
This card was not around $5. However, it is the first Gibson card that I have picked up in awhile. I have two dozen or so different Gibson autographs, and at times I really think about whether or not I should really have another one of his cards in my collection. Inevitably, at some point point every year, I give in and add another autograph. Gibby is now over 80 years old and his autograph has remained sharp over the years.
I try to make sure that whatever card I find is somehow unique, or possesses something that sets it apart from the other Gibson cards in my collection. Not sure exactly how this fits in with the other Gibson cards already hanging out in my card room, but I am not sure I really care in the case of this card. It simply looks great.
The picture on this card is pretty amazing too. Topps can be repetitive on pictures, or they tend to stick with the same era, but I feel like there are a lot more 1970s Gibson photos than 1960s. This is clearly a 1960s card. Add in a nice design with a big empty space for the player's signature, great baseball card.
The Cardinals traded for Randal Grichuk after the 2013, picking him up from the Angels in exchange for David Freese. Peter Bourjos and Fernando Salas were in there too. Most Cardinals fans were excited about the trade. The Cardinals do not really dabble in speedy players these days, quite a departure from the 1980s teams, so Bourjos was an exciting player, and Grichuk seemed like he was a good prospect with a lot of tools.
The tool most often mentioned with Grichuk upon his arrival in St. Louis was his power. Well, also he was drafted one spot in front of Mike Trout in the 2009 MLB draft. As a card collector, I was intrigued. I sipped the Kool-Aid, dipped my toe into the pool, and picked up a Randal Grichuk autograph.
I had some high hopes for this card. He was not the cheapest rookie card floating around out there, and if he were on any other team I would have passed on this card by in a second, but for a Cardinals player I was all in. I am usually really good with buying and passing on Minor Leaguers, I completely missed here. I was thinking as a fan of the Cardinals and not from the numbers on the stat sheer.
It was easy to get excited about Randal. He hits home runs.
His first time up with the Cardinals for an extended period of time was in 2015. He hit 17 home runs in just over 300 at bats. What's not to love about that? Sure, he struck out more than 100 times in those 300 at bats, didn't walk, but I was willing to look the other direction a little bit longer.
Plus, he had even more cool baseball cards.
That's a nice looking card and it cost way less than my Bowman autograph of him. I was still feeling pretty good about the prospects of Randal hitting a lot of home runs and becoming a good player.
Really, he was the same player the entire time.....
even while he was in the Minors.
Randal does hit home runs. Randal does strike out. That's what he does, that's what he has always done, and it's likely what he is to do when he gets to Toronto. It's not the worst thing in the world, but at the moment the Cardinals have Tommy Pham, Marcell Ozuna, and Dexter Fowler as starters, with Harrison Bader and Jose Martinez as reserves. They also have a few good outfield prospects in the high Minors.
It's right there at the bottom of his stat sheet on Baseball Reference where they average out what Randal would do in a 162 games....
which seems to perfectly match what the numbers above say Randal has done during his time with the Cardinals.
Which brings me to one more baseball card.
I feel like this has happened before in the past with Shelby Miller. As I recall with Shelby, I was watching a card that I wanted on Ebay, the seller had an autograph of the former Cardinals pitcher with no bids, so I typed in something just above the minimum $0.99 bid. I won the card. By the time it got to my mailbox, he was traded.
So, earlier this week I was mailing out a few cards to people on Twitter. Cleaning out the closet, take my cards kind of stuff. Sometimes people mail me stuff back, but since I am trying to lessen the number of cards in my collection I usually try to discourage this practice.
Welp, I had someone insist that they had a card with my name on it and it was just one card. You already know who it is....
I must say that this is a really nice card. Five Star cards are always quality and this is actually the Grichuk card that I am most likely to keep in the long run. On card signature, thick card stock, cool picture of Randal with his well groomed facial hair. It's nicer than my other two Grichuk autographs. The card showed up Thursday and he was traded Friday, which is a better story than the other two cards. Not sure if it's even that great of a story.
I was sort of expecting the Rays might trade away long-time third baseman Evan Longoria this offseason, but it was still rough actually seeing it happen last Wednesday. I started following his career after he made an appearance with the Durham Bulls towards the end of the 2007 season. Longoria is easily the best player to have ever donned the Rays uniform and provided some of the best moments in franchise history.
He helped the Rays make their only World Series appearance in 2008 by hitting 6 home runs during the American League Division and Championship Series against the White Sox and Red Sox. My personal favorite moment was his walk off home run on the last day of the 2011 season which put the Rays into the playoffs that year
I have had a good time collecting Longoria's baseball cards over years. There are plenty of nice ones out there, so for this post I am going to stick with a few autographed cards which I have enjoyed having in my collection. Maybe next week I can do another post with the great non-autographed Longoria cards in my collection.
Honorable Mention: 2013 Topps Tier One Autograph/Patch
I have a few Tier One autographs from a few different years. Longoria has appeared in the product in some way every year that Topps has put out the product since 2011. Most years the autographs are on-card, which is one reason why I usually like to pick up an autograph or two out of that product every year. I really like the design of the 2013 Tier One autograph below, but I cannot put it in my top 5 based on the fact that the card is a sticker autograph. I love the patch piece, I love the picture, I love the design, but I am bothered by the sticker. Small thing, but this was a tough list to get down to five. If I made a list of my favorite sticker autographs of Longoria, this card would be first.
5. 2014 Topps Tribute
Tribute is another product that has been a mix of sticker and on-card autographs over the years, sometimes even within a year. Most of the relic cards from this set that have autographs are stickers. I have a few different autographs out of Tribute, but this simple autographed card is my favorite of the group. I like the finishes and design of the card. It has a nice glossy front and a little bit thicker card stock. Tribute is also one of those products that has all sorts of different colored parallels, some of them can look a little goofy at times. I like that this card is low key in background color.
4. 2016 Topps The Mint
The Mint was one of those ridiculously priced products that was something along the lines of a four digit number for a box. There were several autographs that I looked into picking up from The Mint, but I was happy that the cards ended up being reasonable in price after a few weeks of the cards sitting on Ebay. I love the darker background and the on-card autograph. I sort of wish that the autograph was signed in a different color ink, gold or silver would have been a good look, but the blue still is nice on this card.
3. 2017 Topps Five Star Autograph/Patch
This is a recent addition and there is a recent blog post about this card. Bascially, I have really slowed down on the whole relic card scene. I don't go after them, I don't trade for them, I don't spend money on them. I even feel sort of in different when I land one in a pack of cards. However, this card is something a little different. I like the jumbo patch which is from the nameplate of Longoria's jersey. Very nice card that filled a void in my collection of Longoria cards.
2. 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Evan Longoria Autograph
Not the flashiest card. There is no foil or fancy card stock. Allen & Ginter is one of my favorite products every year and I really like the framed autographed cards. Longoria has other Allen & Ginter autograph that are fancy with jersey pieces. He also has another framed Ginter autograph, but this is my favorite one in my collection.
1. 2008 Topps Chrome Red Hot Rookies Autograph
I really love the 2008 Topps set. The little circles at the top are a neat design element that make these cards unique and easy to recognize. There are always autographed rookie cards in the Topps Chrome set, but the Red Hot Rookies set was actually a redemption in this product. Not sure when Topps started these cards, or if/when they stopped. I really hate redemption cards, so this was an early Longoria rookie that was a more recent addition to my collection. Well worth the wait though, this is my favorite Evan Longoria card.
Five Star is one of those products that I won't touch while it is sitting in a pack on a shelf in a card store. I would likely spend the $125-$140 for a one box, with two autographs, and pull something along the lines of a Terry Pendleton autograph.
I paid something like $10 for this card and I love it. I would just be irked if I spent that much on a box of cards and pulled something like this fabulous card of the former Cardinals and Braves third baseman. So, I let other people go ahead and open the packs of Five Star. I just sit here in my office and watch the listings on Ebay.
I am willing to spend for some nice autographs out of this product. I still really like the original set from 2012. This is one of my favorite cards that I picked up that year......
So much to love about this card.
I know that the Cabrera card is a relic/autograph card, but I have really gone away from the relic cards in the past two years. I just really care about the autographs. I usually try to pick up two-three Five Star cards every year: one Cardinals player, one Durham Bulls, and one just generic good player.
I have already picked up a Mark McGwire Five Star card this year, so that might count as my Cardinals card for this year. It was not a current year card, put out in 2014. I am not sure I really feel the need to pick up another Matt Carpenter or Aledmys Diaz autograph. Diaz was actually just traded to the Blue Jays
So this is likely it.....
unless I can find a cool Alex Reyes. I have no desire to touch another Grichuk Cardinals card, let alone spend time money, or trade other cards to get one of his autographs.
So, that really left me with a Durham Bulls player to track down. In the past I have found some nice cards of Blake Snell, Andruw Jones, and Evan Longoria. Again, I usually avoid relic cards, but my favorite Durham Bulls Five Star card that I own is a Longoria booklet that I picked up out of the original 2012 set.
I hate scanning booklets.
There are usually some nice relic cards in the Five Star product, but they often carry some exorbitant premium that goes beyond the point of making them a worthwhile purchase when compared to the price of a base autograph card.
With that being said, I am not against the idea of still collecting relic cards. Which brings me to my Durham Bulls card out of Five Star for this year.....
I actually found someone who had pulled this card on Twitter and was going to post it on Ebay. Always a good way to find cards. The seller doesn't have to mess with listing fees, I don't have to mess with sitting there at the end of the auction hoping not to get sniped.
Not sure that I love the green tint on the outside edges of the bottom portion of the card, but the top half with Longoria's picture and signature is solid. I know the 50/50 serial number is one of those Ebay 1/1 things, but I am rather in different to that. Sometimes a player's jersey number can be cool.
The patch piece on the right side is from the N on his name plate, with the left-side relic being the bottom portion of the O. After scanning the completed auctions on Ebay it looks like Topps only used the name plates off of Longoria's jersey for the relics in Five Star. Some of the relics are blue with white letters, the rest are white with blue letters. The premium patch pieces, low serial numbers, are the MLB logo from the neck line.
I am fine with my Half an N and a sliver of an O. Makes for a nice card and I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it.
I have always really loved the Five Star product. I am not really big on actually opening those expensive boxes myself, but I really enjoy picking off some of the singles from different trade groups and Ebay. There are a bunch of different Cardinals players in this year's set, but with Aledmys Diaz being the highlight of the players available, I have decided to set my sights a little bit lower. As much as I loved these cards, spending more than $50 on a rookie card is not always my style. Especially when the price of his cards seems to be dropping slowly.
Maybe soon on an Aledmys autograph.
The selection of Durham Bulls players in this set is sparse, but I picked up the lone autograph of a former player. This is a great looking card....
The scan does not do much to show off the card stock used on the card, but it is the typical thickness that Topps has used since they first started this brand a few years ago. I really like the light colored frames around this year's cards, the darker backgrounds, but they also did a nice job of giving the players a clear light space at the bottom to sign the cards.
Snell's autograph is not the prettiest, but he has easily been the best prospect to pass through Durham the past two years making him an easy choice to track down in new card products.
I know the season is over, but if you have not seen Snell pitch a game yet, it should definitely be on your list of players to check out next year.
I am down to my last few days of my winter break. Last week I decided to take a little bit of time out of my day to trade with a couple of local collectors. I unloaded some of my extra cards helping one of them out with finishing up a few sets and a Mike Trout Topps Update rookie card. I ended up with a giant box of Cardinals autographs, relics, and serial numbered cards. There is a limit on how many cards I scan on put up on here. Trading 1000 cards for 100 cards can probably be left alone without too many pictures.
I also traded a few autographs away for a couple of nice Longo cards and a pair of smaller cards. Here are the cards I ended up with, going small to large.......
First up is the Yadier Molina saber variation from this year's Topps Update set. Topps has been making these for two years now. I have pulled a couple out of packs, traded for a few, and won a few cheap in auctions. Not the flashiest variation, but still a really nice card.
Next up is a Tim Beckham black border from this year's Topps Chrome. The card is numbered out of 100. I am not sure if he is going to do much with the Rays this year, but hopefully he can land a job on the bench. If not, he is still one of my favorite Durham Bulls players.
Next up is a booklet. I picked up a similar booklet of Longoria last year, also from Panini's National Treasures product. Not the most expensive booklets in the world, but they still look really nice. Plus they do a pretty good job of getting around the whole no logos thing on this card. Last card and my favorite....
Really like the Five Star autographs, always a really good product. This autograph is from the 2014 Five Star. Very nice on-card autograph of the Rays third baseman and former Durham Bull.
Still working on adding some more Five Star autographs. Again, my favorite autograph set this year. I have picked up a Cardinals card, in way of a Matt Carpenter, and have a Rays autograph on the way. That leaves me to find a Durham Bulls related card to round things out a little bit. Here's what I found on a Facebook trading group.....
Andrew Jones was on the Durham Bulls during the 1996 season prior to joining the Braves later in the year. Not a really pricey card in terms of a trade and Andrew has a really nice signature. I also picked up an autograph of Braves prospect Mike Foltynewicz.
Always nice to get a throw-in when you are trading. The Braves would seem to have an infinite amount of pitching prospects, but Folty seems like he could stick in the Majors. He played part of last season in Triple A and has a big arm. This is a great looking card for a freebie.
I have a few more Five Stars on the way to my mailbox and onto this blog space. One of my favorite cards I found was an autograph of Indians pitcher Corey Kluber. I have seen him pitch a few times over the past few years and I am always amazed that he flies under the radar with baseball card collectors. I know, it's really about the fact that he plays in Cleveland, not New York or Los Angeles. One of the best games I have seen him pitch was against the Cardinals last May when he struck out 18 batters. Yes, Mark Reynolds was in the lineup for the Cardinals along with the awesomeness that is Matt Adams and Pete Kozma.......
Pretty good stuff. If baseball cards value and popularity were actually based on what happened on the field then I wouldn't be able to find an awesome high end autograph of a really good pitcher like this for $5. I am not necessarily complaining that Kluber's autographs are that cheap, but he has not signed much of anything before this year.
Great player, a great signature, and cool card design make this card one that I had to add to my collection. I have a few more Five Star autographs to post, nothing too high end, but still nice players on a really great looking product. Kluber also has an autograph in the Topps Tek set, might have to find that one too.
