Featured Post

A TCDB Surprise Card from mpdillard25!

Autograph Week: Audience Participation: A Questionnaire

In honor of autograph week, I thought it would be fun to begin with some audience participation.

Here is a short questionnaire - feel free to answer in the comments or, if you prefer, via email to the address listed in my profile.  I will, of course, provide my own answers to these questions later in the week.

Autograph Questionnaire:

1.  What is the best autograph you own?
2.  What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?
3.  What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?
4.  Do you try to get autographs through the mail?  If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?
5.  Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?
6.  Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?
7.  Which is better:  Autographs or Relics?
8.  What do you think of cut autos?
9.  What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?
10.  If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?

 If anyone feels like using the above list of questions to spur their own blog entry, by all means do so - and leave me a link in the comments so that I can check it out when I get home from class and work late tonight!

Comments

  1. "Mr. Fader, you sure do ask a lot of stupid questions for a guy from Pennyslvania".

    --Roseanne Roseannadanna

    Just kidding. I'll answer later.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Best autograph would have to be a collection for me... The Big Red Machine! Took some time to put that together, but that's my favorite. 90% of my autographs are through the mail. Just something about writing a letter to a player and waiting to see if the SASE comes back with a signature on the card. Strictly Reds autographs here. As for pack pulls, there's only one auto I pulled from a pack and that was Frank Howard back in 2002. I quickly traded that at my local card store for a couple of vintage Reds cards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here is my contribution:

    http://cardboardcatastrophes.blogspot.com/2011/11/nachos-grandes-autograph-survey.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. "Best" could mean a lot of things. I'll interpret it as "favorite": I like all my Ron Cey autographs the best.

    2. Johnny Podres from a rack pack at Target in Buffalo.

    3. Autograph of some scout. Made for some great blog posts though.

    4. I used to TTM. It was exciting for awhile. But it got to be too much work and there's too much disappointment for me. Cey was my first TTM try and success. He's always been reliable.

    5. Think I just answered that.

    6. Not actively. But I'll take any Dodger autographs.

    7. Autos > relics.

    8. Cut autos are almost always hideous. There's some philosophical issues there, too, but mostly they're just hideous.

    9. Favorite design, although it's not in the last 5 years: Topps All-Time Fan Favorites.

    10. Koufax. That's about it, although I have one of his autos already. I don't seek autos, so I don't have a real desire to "own" certain people's autographs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. That could be left for interpretation. My Nolan Ryan autographed card is my favorite baseball autograph, but I have a 1/1 "2005 Absolute Memorabilia Marks of Fame Autograph Swatch Double Spectrum Prime" (yes, that's the official name) of Luis Aparicio (if I remember right, I haven't even looked at the card since 2005). And my favorite autograph, period, I mentioned today on my blog: the Kirsten Dunst autograph from Small Soldiers.

    2. The Luis Aparicio above.

    3. Most of the autographs I pulled from 1996 Signature Series.

    4. I used to go after celebrities. I got Hayley Mills (mailed to GB!), Christina Ricci and Melissa Joan Hart, among others. I want to start again.

    5. Mickey Mouse, on some limited edition Disneyland poster. Real people? A *bunch* of players on the 1989 San Jose Giants.

    6. Yep! Several specific teams, players, subjects (perfect game pitchers, for example), and the type collection.

    7. It depends on the relic. While I'm usually happier with an autograph, I enjoyed many of the relics from last decade that included batting gloves, catchers gear, and other pieces of memorabilia other than a white piece of jersey.

    8. For someone who never signs anymore (deceased, too old, etc), it's fine. But I don't want a cut sig of some player who jumped into the big leagues in the past 5 years. Some of the manufactured cut autos (signing fake checks, etc) look decent, but really that's a way of doing sticker autos (better) without stickers. I have one of those "stone" autographs from 2011 Leaf, and while I'm happy to have a Greg Maddux, I'd rather he sign a white space in the middle of the frame than some leftover bathroom tile.

    9. Any good regular design with an autograph on it, like the on-card autos in Lineage, are great. Gypsy Queen looks good too, with the fade-to-white signature area. I don't like a big shiny silver sticker placed over the card, though.

    10. Of people I don't have a signature for?
    a) Elisha Cuthbert, I adore her
    b) Albert Pujols, expensive pick-up on my want list for years
    c) Tom Hanks, one of my favorite actors
    d) Robin Williams, likewise
    e) Babe Ruth, on a baseball (not a cut paper on a card), because it's an icon, the *one* autograph that makes a baseball memorabilia collection important.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My answer key linky:

    http://cardhobbyist.blogspot.com/2011/11/nacho-usual-questionnaire.html


    word verification = biant
    "Different orientation than a straight ant"

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1.Hard to choose but I'll say, 2000 UD Legendary Signatures #S-NR Nolan Ryan.
    2. Haven't
    3. Ditto
    4. Not in a really long time. I got a number of things signed by Ron Santo right after he retired.
    5. A bunch at the games in the early 1970's. Dave Winfield was one. He signed my gammar school autograph book, "David Winfield". It was his first month in the bigs.
    6.Yes, any Ron Santo's, 69 Cubs, Big Red Machine, Miracle Mets, Swingin A's, HOFers etc.
    7.Autographs are better.
    8.Cut auto's of live and available people are stupid. If that's the only way you can get a deceased person's auto then it makes some sense.
    9.2005 UD Signature Decades.
    10. Albert Einstein -- E=Mcsquared
    The Marx Brothers --guess
    F.Scott Fitzgerald -- so good
    Babe Ruth -- he still means baseball to me
    Claude Monet--nobody did it better

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:20 PM

    I turned mine into a post. Great idea.

    lifetimetopps.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/autograph-q-a/

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1. What is the best autograph you own? George W. Bush on the program from the first game at the Ballpark in Arlington.
    2. What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards? Cal Ripken Jr.
    3. What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards? Too many to list.
    4. Do you try to get autographs through the mail? If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have? I've only recently tried with baseball and had about a 25% success rate with a limited sample.
    5. Who was the subject of your first ever autograph? Walt Williams on a '76 or '77 card.
    6. Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)? Any Rangers or Will Clark.
    7. Which is better: Autographs or Relics? Autos, unless they are stickers. Those suck.
    8. What do you think of cut autos?
    Cut autos of deceased players are fine. Cut autos of living and current players especially are stupid.
    9. What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)? I like the A&G Mini autos and just got a Neftali Feliz that looks nice. I have a Jarrod Saltalamachhia that looks awful though. It's too cramped.
    10. If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)? Abraham Lincoln, US Grant, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. I'm a history buff and like Presidential stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1. The best autograph I own is a signed Phil Rizzuto card.

    2. The best auto I ever pulled was a basketball card. I pulled a Joe Smith (NBA) auotgraphed card his rookie year from a pack of Signature Rookies. He was the #1 overall pick that year. It's clearly not worth a ton now, but when I snagged it as a kid it was booking for $60-$80.

    3. The worst would probably be a Chris Gomez auto from UD Choice.

    4. Yes, I'm pretty active with TTM. I have a lot of successes to list, but I'd say my most memorable include Tino Martinez, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto.

    5. My first autograph was probably Tommy Kendall, a Trans Am racecar driver.

    6. I actively collect Yankees autographs.

    7. Autos trump relics. They seem a lot rarer these days, especially of good players.

    8. I don't own any cut autos, but overall I don't mind them.

    9. My favorite autograph design is probably the'52 Topps autos in 2011 Lineage.

    10. The five autos I'd want are Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for giving something fun to post on what is really a miserable sports Tuesday in the Philly area.

    http://phungo.blogspot.com/2011/11/nachos-grande-survey-autographs.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. 1. I'll interpret "best" to mean "favorite" and say the late Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy

    2. Johnny Cueto

    3. I'll limit this to actual major leaguers, and say Darren Clarke. (Otherwise, I'd have to try to remember some Signature Rookies guys that never made it.)

    4. Yes. I've got a success rate of around 50 percent. Some of the older retired guys & first year pros seem to enjoy being remembered or recognized & will include a short note or maybe an extra bonus item. It's a hobby for the patient, though - this spring I got a card back from Steve Springer that took more than a decade to find its way back to me.

    5. At the time, Mets minor league prospect Terry Bross. For some reason, I had an extra card & decided to write to him and ask him to sign it. I believe he's now a player agent.

    6. I'm trying to obtain an autograph from every player in Mets history.

    7. If we're talking baseball cards, give me the autograph. If we're talking actual memorabilia, give me the vintage game used jersey or bat.

    8. They're fine if the cards are being used as a way to display otherwise unattractive autographs. They're an abomination when they're made by destroying a nicer item.

    9. The Stroke of Genius cards from Upper Deck Masterpieces

    10. Joan Payson, Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, Willie Mays, Mike Piazza - the original Mets owner, two of their greatest managers, and two of the best baseball players who wore a Mets uniform.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Turned mine into a post. Thanks for asking all the right questions.

    ReplyDelete
  14. coulda swore i linked my post ...but seems i didnt...."you know autograph week aint autograph week without me !

    http://alltradebait.blogspot.com/2011/11/ok-nachosill-bite.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:25 PM

    A belated new challenger appears!

    http://lonestarr.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/autographs/

    ReplyDelete
  16. 1. Tug McGraw
    2-4. no
    5. Carl Hairston, Eagles
    6. Nope
    7. Autos can be cool...relics creep me out. One thing to pay for a millionaire's signature, but for a scrap of his laundry?
    8. autographs are better uncircumcized.
    9. n/a
    10. Helen of Troy, Jesus, John Wilkes Booth, Shakespeare, Alexander the Great

    ReplyDelete
  17. 1. Tug McGraw
    2-4. no
    5. Carl Hairston, Eagles
    6. Nope
    7. Autos can be cool...relics creep me out. One thing to pay for a millionaire's signature, but for a scrap of his laundry?
    8. autographs are better uncircumcized.
    9. n/a
    10. Helen of Troy, Jesus, John Wilkes Booth, Shakespeare, Alexander the Great

    ReplyDelete
  18. Posted at http://thecollectivemind.blogspot.com/2011/11/questionnaire-from-nachos-grande.html

    Feel free to comment on the custom designs in the other posts!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment