Early Weekend Cardshow Haul and Contest Winnings: Two Autographed Manufactured Patch Cards

In fact, these are my first two. The letter patches are probably my least favorite of the manufactured patch cards, though I do like the more original ones like this one. Yet, I do like the autographed letter patch cards especially when the letter is a meaningful one. Now, I agree that the autographs themselves can come out poorly, and that is an important negative.

Let's take a look at my first two autograph patch cards and examine the highlights and lowlights of each.

The first, which I received first, was a carryout from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. Thanks very much to Mike for a fun, though grueling, contest. I was really excited to win and scored this wonderful Jemile Weeks card.


Jemile Weeks is posting a very respectable .859 OPS in AA this season so it would be awesome to see him make it to the majors eventually.

The cool thing about this card: the autograph is legible and nicely signed on two separate lines. Less cool is the fact that is an "S." Does anyone out there really collect each letter of an autographed patch? I can see the fun in collecting non autographed ones, that is doable and would look good in a binder, but five autographed patches seem like overkill to me.

So, let's take a look at the one I got at the card show today: a Jon Niese.


I like Niese. He is on the DL for the second time in two years, but it is not an arm issue. When he has pitched he has shown promise, and this Met fan hopes he can develop even further and perhaps top out as a good number two starter or great number three starter.

The cool part of this card is that it is an "N," this makes sense as it is the first letter in his name. What would I want with an "I" or an "S"? I wouldn't have bought it unless it was an "N." The not so cool part of this card is that the actual autograph is less than stellar (to be kind).

Despite the ups and downs of each card, I am really glad to have both in my collection. I'll be rooting hard for both players!

For those of you in the Illinois area I got the Niese card at a card show that ran from today through Sunday at the Hawthorne mall in Vernon Hills IL. I was a bit worried at first since there were only two underwhelming tables on the bottom floor, but the show got a lot better on the second floor. As luck would have it the last table I visited was the best. Michael, a White Sox fan, from Field of Cards in Richton Park IL and I had a fun talk about prospects and he gave me a sweet deal on some Mets Finest and Bowman stuff. He also gave me a couple of prospects' card to go after. He was awesome and ensured that I left the show with a smile.

Also, it is nice to go to a card show in a city other than the one your team plays in. I got several Mets cards for a good price that I wouldn't have been able to touch had the show been in New York. That includes the Niese which I scored for a very reasonable $5.

I'll probably get around to posting some of the others in the next few days.