2024 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 4

This is the 94th Blake Snell autograph in my collection and my first from a Topps Dynasty Collection product. If you are not familiar with Dynasty, it is basically a one pack per box autograph product that costs upwards of $200 dollars. The cards are generally an on-card autograph with a large patch piece. Blake Snell has signed for the product several times over the years, but I have never forked over the money to purchase one of these cards.  

Even the really good Blake Snell autographs with cool patch pieces and really low serial numbers sell for way less than $200. More common patch pieces are typically under $50. When I set out to find a Dynasty autograph, that was the top end of my budget for this card and I did not even spend it all. I have no idea why someone would buy a pack/box of Dynasty, but their loss is my win.  

Here is the front of the 2019 Topps Dynasty Blake Snell autograph card, which is encased by Topps.  

The blue is patch material and the white is jersey material, making this a Rays home jersey. Too generic of a jersey piece to figure out where on the Rays logo this was cut. The serial number is also on the front with this card having a print run of just 10 copies. The autograph is Snell's standard form and effort.  

This is the most high-end Snell autograph in my collection by product, but I am not sure it would even rank in my Top 20 in terms of style, design, and collecting appeal. It's just a card with a high SRP, that's it.

Honestly, a little disappointing now that it is in my hand. I guess it's cool to own one Topps Dynasty card, but I think this is likely my last. Although, I imagine the person who pulled this $40 card out of a $200 box of cards was even more disappointed than I might be feeling.  

I am surprised that the back does not have a huge "CONGRATULATIONS" stamped across the top. I actually like that they mention his first Cy Young, as well as Snell leading the American League in a bunch of different statistical categories. I would say the back is better than expected.  

Snorting Bull Awards: Worst Card of the Year Part 2

WORST CARD OF THE YEAR PART 2 

There are some really nice high end products that come out every year.  Personally I do not touch them.  Yes, there is a chance that you could pull some really incredible once in a life time pull that will more than pay for the box.  On the other hand you could pull a $5 autograph and completely go backwards on the box of cards.

The highest of high end card products this year was the brand new Topps Dynasty product.  The boxes cost just a little more than $300, but you get an encapsulated autographed card in every box.  Each box has one pack.  Very high end sounding and check out these product fliers......

Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Ted Williams make this product all feel so high end.  So, how could you possibly get the worst card of the year out of this set?  I mean at worst you pull some low end autograph and are out a few hundred dollars, right?  I would love to say that the answer to these questions is yes, but unfortunately it's much worse than low end autographs.  My other Worst Card of the Year is appearing here because of credibility issues.  

Really it's sad to have to make a post like this, about a card like this, but Topps continues to have major issues with quality control.  Their latest example probably just further erodes collectors trust in the whole "game used" label that has been attached to hundreds of thousands relic cards over the past twenty years.  Several recent fraud scandals and over production had already eroded the value of relic cards greatly, but this latest example is just terrible.  Cue Sir Charles.....

Again the card is out of the high end Topps Dynasty product and features a "relic" piece from Red Sox and Yankees third baseman Wade Boggs.  There are a ton of his cards in this product and most of the relic pieces look like they could be a piece of a Red Sox or Yankees jersey.  Lots of navy, some red, and even a few pinstripes.  Then there is this gem.......

There were several long discussions about this card around the internet.  Twitter, Facebook, and Blowout Cards all had lively discussions about this card.  At first the conversation started out with a few collectors asking if they had missed some brief appearance by Boggs in Anaheim.  We all remember Steve Carlton as a Giant or Joe Namath on the Rams.  No, Boggs was not on the Angels, but he did make an appearance at the Pepsi Celebrity All-Star Softball Game during the 2010 All-Star Game Festivities in Anaheim.

The All-Star Game Logo used by the Angels that year.  Sadly this card sold on Ebay for more than $200 right after the product released.  I would have to question whether this card would have fetched that price if they buyer had known that the patch piece attached to the card was used in softball game.  Some collectors debating this card had speculated that perhaps the patch piece was actually from a Pujols, Hamilton, or Trout jersey which would still add value to the card.  However, the halo piece on the Boggs card is silver.  The regular Angels jerseys feature gold halos, like this.......

This card is not an error.  It's just a really cheaply made card that Topps should have felt really embarrassed to put out into packs of cards.  I am sure that Topps would pass the buck onto a third party vendor, or some garbage like that, if they were asked to comment on the card.  Really though, have you ever seen that website that Leaf assembles to show every patch they make in a print run of cards?  It looks like this....

Why can't Topps do something like this?  The quality control is very disappointing on the part of Topps and there is no excuse for a card like this Wade Boggs Dynasty card to ever see the light of day.  This card is everything that is wrong with bad modern trading cards: Indifference towards the collector.  Both of my Worst Cards of the Year winners show that Topps is either woefully incompetent with their editing work or they just do not care what ends up in the packs as long as it is shiny and bright.