Category Archives: Autographs - Page 9

10 Lee Mazzilli Autograph Cards Every Fan Should Own

Posted by on 24 September 2012 Comments Off on 10 Lee Mazzilli Autograph Cards Every Fan Should Own

Shamelessly pandering to Mets Police

It’s been a rough nine months here at Collect The Mets as I realize just what is involved in scanning and presenting thousands of cards, especially when I keep buying more cards faster than I can process them.  It doesn’t help when I go off on tangents like game recaps.  The content just isn’t going up as fast as I would like and the readership suffers as a result.  The Twitter followership is doing well by comparison, but that’s probably because I don’t tweet often enough to be annoying.

So it wasn’t too much of a shock that I didn’t make the Mets Police Twitter 86 list.  If anything, I probably owe 86% of my Twitter followers to Mets Police.  I knew what I needed to do to get more attention though – more cowbell, er, I mean more Mazzilli.  And so I reached back into my extensive archives to put together this piece.

Longtime readers will know that Lee Mazzilli has been in my autograph collection since the early ’90s, when I met him at an autograph signing in Filene’s.  When certified autograph cards became all the rage, Mazzilli was sadly absent amid all of the Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Davey Johnson, Mookie Wilson, and even Kevin Mitchell autographs.

2003 Sweet Spot Classic

Presumably, there are no more than 25 Mazzilli fans. Otherwise, this could be a problem…

Fans would have to wait until 2003 for the first Lee Mazzilli certified autographs.  Upper Deck finally ended the drought with three Yankee Greats autographs in 2003 Sweet Spot Classic.  This was a three-tier parallel autograph set featuring blue autographs (not numbered), black autographs (numbered to 100 or less), and red autographs (numbered to 25).  Other notable Mets in this insert set include Dwight Gooden and David Cone.

2003 UD Yankees Signature

It wasn’t a long wait for Mazzilli’s next autograph appearance in 2003 UD Yankees Signature.  The Pride of New York autograph insert set featured just about every notable person ever associated with the Yankees, so finding Mazzilli in there wasn’t a big surprise.  Also featured in this set are Don Zimmer, Dwight Gooden, David Cone, and several other Mets whose first names do not start with D.

Mazzilli was also featured on the Pinstripe Excellence dual autograph insert set with fellow also-Met Mike Torrez.  Like Mazzilli, Torrez was also on the small-town autograph circuit in the early ’90s, though for some reason I have two of his autographs from back then.

Upper Deck was on a massive Yankees kick in 2003.

But that’s not all!  Mazzilli was featured two more times in 2003 Yankees Signature, this time on a pair of Yankees Forever triple autograph insert cards.  Triple autographs are common these days when you can just slap three sticker autos on a card and call it a day, but in the olden days, you had to get three different people to physically handle the card for these sort of things.  With guys like Paul O’Neill and Dave Winfield on these cards, Mazzilli clearly wasn’t the main draw.

2006 Fleer Greats of the Game

Surprisingly, Mazzilli did not have any autograph cards in 2004 or 2005, when products like UD Timeless Teams, UD Past Time Pennants, Topps All-Time Fan Favorites, Topps Originals, and Donruss Timelines went heavy on players from the ’86 Mets.  His next appearance would be in the UD-produced 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game.  In addition to the base Greats of the Game Autographs card, Mazzilli was featured in the Nickname Greats insert set with the inscription “Italian Stallion.”  These would be Mazzilli’s first sticker autographs.  At least he was finally shown as a Met.  Other Mets featured in one or both of these sets include David Cone, Sid Fernandez (“El Sid”), Howard Johnson (“HoJo”), Tom Seaver, and Rusty Staub (“Le Grand Orange”).

2007 Sweet Spot Classic

Things came around full circle when Mazzilli made his final autograph appearance in 2007 Sweet Spot Classic.  Unlike the 2003 version, this one shows him as a Met.  Also unlike the 2003 version (as well as just about every Sweet Spot autograph from the era), only one version of this card was produced, numbered to 199.  Other Mets in this set include Tom Seaver and Keith Hernandez, all with cards numbered to 16.

And that’s all there is.  Mazzilli has never had an autograph card in a non-UD product and has never had a game-used memorabilia card.  If you’re looking for a premium Mazzilli card, these ten are the only ones you have to choose from.

Update: Two more Lee Mazzilli autographs for the obsessive collector

What a difference a year makes.  After not having any certified autograph cards for five years, Lee Mazzilli was back in action with more autographs and not just for Upper Deck.  Still nothing from Topps though…

2012 SP Signature

Technically, this 2012 SP Signature Mazzilli autograph existed back when I originally wrote this piece.  However, being from the unlicensed Upper Deck and featuring no player photograph, it was an easy one to overlook.  Upper Deck didn’t even release a checklist for this product, instead letting the product “speak for itself” and encouraging collectors to check out YouTube and eBay for more information.  So yeah, this exists, Lee Mazzilli’s autograph on a sticker stuck on a generic card.  Mazzilli’s autograph also exists on a 6-player autograph card (numbered to 10) and an 8-player autograph card (numbered to 2).  I will almost certainly never own these, so we’re done having all of Mazzilli’s autographs here.  Oh well.

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes

It only took a decade, but the Upper Deck monopoly on Lee Mazzilli autograph cards has been broken!  Panini included Mazzilli in 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes, their response to Topps Archives.  Hometown Heroes / Fan Favorites, get it?  Already without team names or logos because of that other baseball card monopoly, Panini went with a rather uninspired design and color scheme on Hometown Heroes, one that brings back memories of 2005 Diamond Kings, one of the ugliest products in recent memory.  Blue ink on a light green background just doesn’t work.  At least there’s an actual picture of Mazzilli this time…  Though it doesn’t look like he’s in a Mets uniform.  Parallel versions numbered to 25 and 1 also exist, but what’s the point?  A different border color isn’t going to save this card.

So there you have it, two more autograph cards (plus four low-numbered variants) for you to chase if you need to have everything Lee Mazzilli.  Ball’s in your court, Topps.

Update 2: A long overdue conclusion

2014 Panini Prizm

So I might have skipped an update in 2014 and neglected to add Mazzilli’s 2014 Panini Prizm autograph to the list in a timely manner… Panini’s back with a second helping of Mazzilli after his appearance in the (thankfully) one-off 2013 Hometown Heroes. It’s a sticker autograph and shows him in what apparently started as a Mets jersey before Panini’s crack Photoshop team sucked the soul clean out of the iconic racing stripe jersey. This time around, there are no parallels, just a lone abomination. Still waiting on you, Topps…

2020 Topps Archives

Eight years after I started this post, it has finally happened – Topps has released a Lee Mazzilli autograph! It only took them to the, um, 72nd Mets Fan Favorites Autograph (and 79th base Mets Archives autograph overall) to get him into Topps Archives. Still, it’s a beauty – portrait orientation, on-card autograph, full MLB licensing, and a proper Mets pinstripe jersey. An early ’80s Mets pinstripe jersey from his first stint with the team and not the iconic mid-’80s racing stripe jersey… It’ll have to do, we might not get another one of these. Well, other than the multitude of parallels. Four parallels join the base version, including a gold border 1/1 not shown here. That brings our total to 22 different Lee Mazzilli autographs, five of which I may never see. And I’d say that’s enough.

A Major Thanks to the Minor Leaguers

Posted by on 9 September 2012 Comments Off on A Major Thanks to the Minor Leaguers

Bringing my autographs into the 21st century

One of the things I missed as a kid, not having attended any Mets games except that one time with my brother’s Scout troop, was the chance to meet the players and get autographs before the games.  It never even occurred to me that this was a possibility, it always seemed like something only the lucky few up front got to experience.  The first time I was able to see such things firsthand was at Yankee Stadium in 2000, where it was only kids getting autographs and the general atmosphere made anyone without baby teeth feel like a selfish monster for wanting to interact with the players.  Stars like Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Alex Rodriguez, and Edgar Martinez were right there just a few feet away, but my place was taking pictures from the other side of the screen.  I was too old now to take part in the things I missed out on as a kid.

Screw that, I’ll do whatever I damn well please, age-appropriate or not.  I watch cartoons, collect action figures and baseball cards, and ask baseball players for autographs before games.  It beats getting drunk and passing out naked on the side of the road, that’s for sure.

My autographed baseball collection began back in the ’90s when autograph signings were plentiful at every card show or random event (or non-event).  Even with over 1,000 certified autographs on baseball cards now in my collection, it’s the ones that I got in person that mean the most.  I’ve got a pile of Gary Carter 1/1 autographs, but how about this Lee Mazzilli autographed ball, with the ink faded and bleeding into the cover?  I never met Carter, but I did meet Mazzilli in Filene’s in the Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown, NY.

Almost 20 years later, that stack of signed balls was looking a bit outdated.  Ed Kranepool is still the longest-tenured Met, but he hasn’t played since the ’70s.  Tommie Agee, Catfish Hunter, Enos Slaughter, Bob Feller, and Bobby Thomson have passed on.  It was time to do something to breathe new life into this collection and this year’s minor league games looked like the perfect opportunity.

Let me just say that doing this sort of thing does not come easy to me.  I would prefer it if there were some designated off-field spot to get autographs, like a holding pen for the players to mill around in before being let onto the field.  I think there are laws against that sort of thing though, so the only window of opportunity is from the time the players enter the dugout until they are done with warmups.  Even this wouldn’t be so bad if there were a place set aside for autographs, but in most cases there isn’t.  I hate to get in anyone’s way, but the only place to wait for autographs is either in front of someone’s seats or in the aisle that people use to get to their seats.  Some people are polite and understanding when they ask to get by, but others react to any perceived wrongdoing with outright hostility.  And if that weren’t enough, you have to make a spectacle of yourself to get the players’ attention to ask for an autograph when they’re trying to warm up for a game.  If I had tried to do this as a kid, I probably would have run off to hide in a dark corner out of embarrassment.

Binghamton Mets, 11-13 May 2012, Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, Manchester, NH

11 May 2012 Game Recap
12 May 2012 Game Recap
13 May 2012 Game Recap

This would be my first test and the early results weren’t very positive.  After arriving too late for autographs to the first of the three games I had tickets to, I only managed to get the autograph of Juan Centeno before the second game (and even then only after someone else called him over to the edge of the dugout).  I did get the lay of the land though and arrived on day three ready to ambush the players as they entered the dugout from the clubhouse.  My approach worked and I got Mark Cohoon, Matt den Dekker, Reese Havens, Jefry Marte, and Raul Reyes to sign the remainder of the six baseballs I had brought to this series.

Brooklyn Cyclones, 7-8 August 2012, Lelacheur Park, Lowell, MA

7 August 2012 Game Recap
8 August 2012 Game Recap

My next chance for autographs was three months later when the Brooklyn Cyclones came to town.  This team was loaded with recent draft picks and day one went about as well as coud be expected – Brandon Nimmo, Phillip Evans, and Kevin Plawecki all spent plenty of time signing on the field next tot he dugout.  With all of the big signing bonus picks out of the way, I had plenty of options for the last three balls I had with me on day 2 (should have brought more…).  Jayce Boyd’s solo home run provided all of the offense the night before, so he was an obvious choice.  Boyd’s 2012 draft classmate Stefan Sabol is also a promising prospect, but I was more interested in the autograph itself – just look at it.  Never pass up a chance to get Stefan Sabol’s autograph, it’s a thing of beauty.  Julio Concepcion rounded out the day’s autographs.

Buffalo Bisons, 18 August 2012, Fenway Park, Boston, MA

18 August 2012 Game Recap

Down to my last chance for autographs this summer, I brought 12 baseballs to Fenway when the Bisons came for Futures at Fenway.  With so many future and/or former Mets on the team, it was impossible to prioritize who I was after.  And, based on my experiences to date, opportunity would dictate wh I would be able to have sign for me.  When Wally Backman appeared in the dugout, my first target became clear.  I absolutely was not leaving without Backman’s autograph; this was just the third time I had met someone from the 1986 team.  Unfortunately, getting to him was a problem, as was the person in front of me who started a long conversation with Backman when I finally got within arm’s reach.  After waiting politely for a while, I forced my way in for the autograph.  I hated to do it, but nobody seemed to mind.  Mike Nickeas, Val Pascucci, and a few other players were nearby at that end of the dugout, but the crowd around them was just too thick to get through.  Reluctantly, I left that area to take my chances in the outfield.

Things started out slowly at the edge of the outfield, but eventually Lucas May, C.J. Nitkowski, and Robert Carson came over for autographs, while many other players passed by in one direction or another.  With the outfield emptying out, I went back to my seat behind the dugout in pursuit of one final player – Josh Satin.  When I got there, several players were milling around in the dugout, but few were visible enough to identify.  Lucas Duda, too tall to miss even in a dugout, didn’t hear when I called to him.  Neither did Satin a few moments later.  Rather than stand there like an idiot shouting his name over and over, I chose to stand there like an idiot holding up a ball and a pen until he looked in my direction while scanning the crowd and motioned for me to throw the ball and pen over.  Hey, whatever works.  After that, I probably could have shouted random player names and gotten someone’s attention, but I decided to just be satisfied with the five autographs I was able to get.  And then I saw this directly in front of me as the player introductions began:

Jeurys Familia had been right in front of me all along!

And so ended my first season of hunting for autographs at baseball games.  The final tally of 17 autographs in 6 games was better than I would have expected, but less than I could have gotten knowing how everything works.  Still, it was enough to fill a shelf up with 32 autographs, all but three of which were obtained in person (which three should be obvious).  With the top two rows filled with prospects, there are bound to be a few changes in the years to come, with some of this year’s autographs inevitably getting shuffled off to another shelf with guys like Dave Telgheder, Mike Torrez, Willie Randolph, and Lou Piniella.  Hopefully some of the ones who stick around will start a second championship row above the players from 1969 and 1986.

Oh, and a note to the 17: check your mail.  A small token of my appreciation was mailed out at the end of August, I don’t know if it made it there in time for some of you.

CTM Mailbag – July 2012

Posted by on 8 July 2012 Comments Off on CTM Mailbag – July 2012

Time for a break

The All-Star break is just hours away, the Mets are sitting in Wild Card position (well, tied for the second one at least), and the hobby is in full swing with new product releases almost every week.  It’s a good time to be collecting, until you see the credit card bill (Yikes!).  With so much out there to cover, I’m off on a trip and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.  Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the Museum Collection review, the text has been done for over a month…

juliana-herron  wrote:

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Gary Carter is a special case in the hobby, one that I expect we’ll see more of as time robs us of our heroes one by one.  Carter has the unfortunate honor of being the first major hobby fixture to die in the era of widespread autograph and memorabilia cards.  Since 1999, Carter’s autograph has been found on countless thousands of baseball cards.  His last on-card autographs were released last year, but he continues to have sticker autograph cards released, the most recent being in Museum Collection, Archives, and Topps Series 2.  It’s anyone’s guess how many sticker autographs Topps has stockpiled and I’m sure Topps isn’t going to reveal that information.  There is no precedent here, but Carter’s condition was known for long enough to allow Topps to load up on autographs, possibly by the thousand.  We’ll just have to wait and see how Topps handles this going forward; this could set a precedent for how recently-deceased player autographs are treated.

Bigas wrote:

Value the particular democratic tactic but the conclusive solution should be open sooner or later. Nevertheless several essential stepping blocks had been established directly into location.

Aside from Wright getting beaten out for the starting role by San Francisco’s ballot stuffing efforts, the Mets did well with their All-Star selections.  Wright is back in top form and Dickey has been dominating, so those were a given.  Santana would have been nice to see, but there are a lot of deserving pitchers in the NL that didn’t make the cut and he is kind of rehabbing from major shoulder surgery.  On the Ex-Met front, Carlos Beltran managed to hold on to his starting spot while Chris Capuano joins Santana on list of not quite All-Stars.  The AL is once more devoid of former Mets.  Three current/former Mets is the norm for the All-Star Game, but having first-timer Dickey on the list is what makes this year special.  This should guarantee that Dickey gets a jersey card this year, though his pinstriped pants are also in the mix.  If you don’t want to wait for some game-used Dickey jersey, you can buy your own Dickey All-Star jersey and have people behind you wondering why there’s Dickey on your back.  Shop via the link given here and you’ll be helping out another Mets blog (I, um, forgot about this when I ordered mine, then I found out that the link doesn’t load in my browser…).  Speaking of Dickey…

Mister Mandarin wrote:

the govt secret black budget ELF towers and 02 towers are radiating the planet and beaming microwaves into peoples heads (causing deaf people to hear sounds or voices in their heads) its actually sick when you think JAPAN FUKISHIMA tsunami was 100% man-made caused by an underwater nuke, google it and research if you don’t believe me…… don’t expect to hear it on the BBC though ;)

I’m surprised nobody called me on the omission of Dickey’s Team USA autograph card in the Player Spotlight I did for him.  Back then, that card was impossible to find, but now it’s insanely overpriced ($150 seems to be the going price on eBay).  While having his first certified autograph card would be nice, now is not the time to buy.  Phil Humber’s perfect game conveniently spurred sales on eBay by people hoping to cash in but couldn’t overcome the reality that he’s Phil Humber, which was enough for his performance and card prices to tank.  Dickey is no Humber, but prices should settle down a bit once the novelty of a 37 year old knuckleballer having the breakout pitching performance of the season wears off.  It could happen, right?  Eh, I think I’ll wait for a certified autograph card with Dickey in a Mets uniform.

jeremy butts wrote:

hi i was wondering if you where willing to sell the josh edgin red wave card

Unless specifically noted, cards shown on this site are not available for sale or trade.  If you wanted one of those cards, you should have gotten one when several were available for less than $10.  Timing is everything.

2012 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Posted by on 19 June 2012 1 comment

Bowman signs the firsts, Panini fills in the rest

Full list of 2012 Mets draft picks

With 2012 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects and 2012 Panini Elite Extra Edition now out, six of the 2012 draft picks have new autographs. Gavin Cecchini and Kevin Plawecki made their debuts with Bowman, while Matt Reynolds, Matt Koch, Branden Kaupe, and Logan Taylor had to wait for Panini’s clock to strike 2012 in January 2013. Reynolds did have redemption cards for Bowman Black autographs, but those have yet to ship. Panini had to settle for redemptions for Kevin Plawecki in Elite Extra Edition, leaving Gavin Cecchini as the only player with live autographs in both products.

1 Gavin Cecchini 1S Kevin Plawecki 2 Matt Reynolds 2 Teddy Stankiewicz (DNS)
3 Matt Koch 4 Branden Kaupe 5 Brandon Welch 6 Jayce Boyd
7 Corey Oswalt 8 Tomas Nido 9 Richie Rodriguez 10 Paul Sewald
11 Logan Taylor 12 Robert Whalen 14 Chris Flexen 17 Stefan Sabol

Previous Entries:

Gavin Cecchini leads off the era of capped draft spending

With new rules limiting spending and a rather unspectacular draft class, it was anyone’s guess how this draft would play out. Would the top talent fall to late in the first round or beyond? Would teams risk losing future picks to sign this year’s picks? Would signability dominate the early picks in the absence of a consensus top pick? Will players opt for college or football over the diminished bonus pot? The results won’t be known for a few years, but for now it looks the Mets are playing it safe with signable known quantities over signing, injury, or talent risks. You can’t really fault them for that approach in this draft. And Cecchini looked pretty damn good in Mets pinstripes while getting giddy over the thought of playing alongside David Wright.

When it comes to cards, you can’t really expect much from draftees on draft day, especially high schoolers. It was a surprise seeing three players in this year’s draft class who already had Team USA certified autograph and game-used memorabilia cards (first-rounder Gavin Cecchini, second-rounder Matt Reynolds, and 34th round pick Mikey White), plus two more with cards from the AFLAC/Perfect Game All-American game (Corey Oswalt and Stefan Sabol) that may show up signed in packs of future products (and are available now without certified autographs). Of those listed, only Stankiewicz and White remain unsigned (White is said to have declined to sign in favor of college). The early signings resulting from the earlier signing deadline mean that several of this year’s draft picks are already playing with Kingsport and Brooklyn.

Previous Editions:

2011 Mets Draft Class Autographs

CTM Mailbag – June 2012

Posted by on 15 June 2012 1 comment

Jerseys, autographs, no-nos, and boxes overflowing with cards, oh my!

I’m sitting here with about half a dozen pieces about 90% finished, so of course I skip over all of those and crank out another mailbag feature! It’s been a big month or so in the hobby with new releases every week, so here’s an update on the important issues facing Mets collectors.

Tilly wrote:

I am also writing to make you know what a fantastic encounter my girl obtained viewing the blog. She noticed many issues, most notably how it is like to have a wonderful teaching spirit to make the mediocre ones completely gain knowledge of a variety of advanced issues. You undoubtedly exceeded our expectations. I appreciate you for producing these warm and friendly, dependable, informative as well as cool thoughts on this topic to Julie.

Don’t get too excited about the Matt Harvey jersey cards in Pro Debut, they aren’t from the Mets jersey Topps obtained in Spring Training. Remember last year’s Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects, which featured Futures Game jersey cards for Matt Harvey and Jefry Marte? Only the primary color of those three-color jerseys made it into the cards back then, so what happened to the rest? The good news is that you can now get all three colors for both Harvey and Marte in 2012 Pro Debut; the bad news is still no Mets jerseys for either of them. For Harvey, it’s clearly only a matter of time.

Segota wrote:

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Things have turned around a bit from last month in the Mets representation department. Archives and Pro Debut each featured eight players in their respective small base sets, plus several more in insert and parallel sets. Topps Series 2 increased the diversity of Mets featured in the insert sets, though most of them were still either retired players (Seaver, Ryan, Carter, Strawberry, and Gooden), former Mets (Pagan), or David Wright; the only others were Museum Collection holdovers Dillon Gee and Ike Davis, plus a few Jose Reyes 1/1 letter patches. While the base set situation seems to have sorted itself out and the inserts are getting there (some game-used from new players would be welcome…), the lone remaining area of concern is prospect autographs. Between Bowman and Pro Debut, two sets that focus heavily on prospects, only Jordany Valdespin and Brandon Nimmo have been featured on autograph cards. Adding in Panini’s “2011” products from this year gives you Chris Schwinden (playing for [insert team here] this week) and a few more 2011 draft picks. That leaves a huge gap between the 2011 draft class and the Buffalo-to-Flushing shuttle, or basically all the hope for success in 2014. While a lot of them had autographs last year, guys like Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Matt den Dekker, Jeurys Familia, Jefry Marte, Wilmer Flores, etc. are no-shows (no-signs?) so far this year; heck, Matt Harvey still hasn’t signed his cards from 2011 Bowman Platinum! I had to go to a game to get an autograph from Jefry Marte (many thanks, Jefry!) and that’s not practical for a lot of fans.

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Don’t expect much of a hobby reaction to Johan’s no-hitter. Between the lead time to produce cards, two perfect games so far this season, and Santana losing a bit of his luster with a couple of sub-par starts following the no-no and being outshined by a more dominant but imperfect R.A. Dickey, there’s not much hope for a big celebration of the Mets’ first no-hitter in this year’s products. If you want something to commemorate the occasion and don’t want to spend big bucks on reproduction tickets or whatever else the team is selling, I would recommend The7Line’s HI57ORY shirt.

SWLVguy wrote:

I might have a few of these….got any doubles of decent 90+ Gary Carters?

Oh, you have no idea… And, frankly, neither do I. I likely have a lot of base cards from Topps and Upper Deck, but I wouldn’t know where to even start looking. Too many old cards around here… I could always use some help thinning out the collection a bit, but even charities that give out cards to kids don’t want stuff as old as my excess commons. Anyone willing to give some old cards a good home?

Collect the Mets Fundraiser

Posted by on 25 May 2012 Comments Off on Collect the Mets Fundraiser

Six boxes of Topps Archives and all I got was this lousy Bryce Harper autograph

Here at Collect the Mets, we strive to bring you the best coverage of Mets baseball cards and collectibles past and present.  We never quite get there, but we try.  And by we I mean me.  And the army of spammers commenting on my posts.  I’m telling you, it’s like they never sleep.

Every card image you see on this site is scanned from an actual card that I have in-hand – no promotional images, stock photos, or pictures grabbed from eBay are ever used (unless I decide to change this, at which point anything I did not personally scan will be clearly noted).  This would probably be more impressive if I had posted a few more of the thousands of cards destined to appear on this site…

The main factor keeping this blog from achieving greatness is time, but money comes in real handy too.  I sunk a lot of cash into Topps Archives in the hopes of pulling a few of the 19 former Mets autographs in that product, but only got an Olerud out of it (in a Blue Jays uniform unfortunately; Topps seems to have ignored my suggestion to show him as a Met).  And while Bill Buckner should be considered an honorary Met for his Game 6 heroics in the 1986 World Series, I already have all I need of him on a dual auto card with Mookie Wilson.  That means 11 autos headed for eBay to bring in the cash to get the haul I was after.

Well, 11 autographs and this thing.

I mean look at it, they didn’t even bother to have a proper front printed, it’s just a crooked sticker.  Everyone hates redemption cards, right?  And Bryce Harper, he hasn’t even played a full season in the majors!  He’s no Jack Clark, that’s for sure.

All this and more can be yours, just put your bids in here and hope for the best.  All proceeds will go towards increasing my backlog of great Mets game-used and autograph cards to scan and post.  I think we can all agree that this is a worthy cause.