It’s not hard to find hall of fame signatures on cards these days. The price of these autographs has been dropping over the years, partly because collectors have so many different ones to choose from.
But fact remains: If you can get them at a budget price, you’ve got yourself a nice little collectible.
Over the last 10 days, I’ve acquired five hall of fame signatures for the low price of $25.
They may not be the most sought after cards of these players, but they are what they are — autographed.
The Hank Aaron shown at the top of this post is from a special 1992 Front Row set. Some 25,000 sets were created, but 5,000 of them featured a card that was signed by The Hammer. Problem is though that the cards are not certified. Before paying $17 for this Aaron I compared it to others that have been slabbed by PSA/DNA and it looks to have the same characteristics. I have no problem believing this is the real deal. What I like about this Aaron is that it comes from 1992, a time when Aaron signatures were still relatively smooth. Look at any of his newer autos, most of them are pretty jittery.
Before finding this Aaron auto, I found a lot of four 1994 Nabisco autographs for less than the price of three 2011 Topps packs. Nabisco? As in the cracker company? Yep.
In 1994, the cookie, cracker and biscuit manufacturer created a four-card set that was part of a giveaway. In a nutshell, purchasers sent in a few bar codes from Nabisco products along with the cost of shipping and handling, and in return they received ONE hall of fame autograph. I managed to get the whole set for about the same price someone paid for shipping and handling on one card. Awesome.
Duke Snider is a common signature to get through the mail (just add like $10) and he’ll sign whatever you send him. But it’s nice to have a signature from the early 1990s, one that is not as shaky as his latest returns have been.
Jim Palmer autos can be had for $15 these days, but most of them are on shiny stickers that were produced by Donruss in the early part of the 2000s. Hard-signed autos are always a plus.
Frank Robinson’s signature might be one of the most awkward looking legible signatures on the market. I think his autos are more desirable on Reds cards, but there’s no complaining with this hard-signed card.
Gotta love a signature from Bob Gibson. He was one of the most intimidating pitchers in the history of the game, yet has one of the most gentle signatures.
