The Legend

The Legend

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Autograph Evolution (Andrew McCutchen)

After a month of work mayhem that included me going in on the weekends, I finally had time to mess with my cards. Between organization and blogging it was the most love they've gotten since before Christmas. It's the little things in life!

Also as an extra bonus my wife kicked me out of the house to get some "me" time today. That usually includes me going up to Target to buy some cards. This time around I was able to get some 2015 Topps blasters. I also ate some unhealthy food and drank a beer at one of my favorite bars in town. Got to check out a documentary about the 1980 USSR Olympic hockey team. Quality alone time!

Back to blog business...

When looking through my McCutchen autos I thought it would be neat to show a progression of how his autos have changed over the years. Check this out.

 2005 Bowman Sterling Auto/Jersey


 2005 Bowman Heritage Red Auto /51


2007 Bowman Auto
In the early Cutch autos he would sign most of the name. This is probably due to the fact that he really didn't have many releases. At this time he had the three shown above plus a Topps Chrome and Aflac rookie. I'm only missing the Aflac version. It is by far his most rare and expensive release.
 2009 Upper Deck SPX Auto

The auto starts to get a little faster in 2009. You can see the first name shortened and the last name is rather sloppy. This 2009 SPX card took me a while to track down.  I don't think I actually bought it until 2011.
 2010 Allen & Ginter Auto

As Cutch made his debut in 2009 his auto demand went way up. Thus the shortened version of his auto was born. All things considered it is not a bad auto considering the length of his name and the amount of times he has to sign. Much sharper than the 2009 version.

This A&G card is one of my favorites in my collection.
 2011 Topps Marquee Auto/Jersey/Patch /70

He tends to keep his stickers and on card autos pretty close. 
 2012 Topps Museum Collection Auto /299

On card version.

2014 Donruss Series 2 Auto

This is the newest auto I have, although it was probably signed a few years back since it is a sticker. It has been a while since Andrew has singed anything on card.

Kind of neat to see how things change as a guy gets more popular. Time permitting I would like to do this with some of the other Pirates.

Thanks for reading!

14 comments:

  1. Definitely an interesting look at how signatures change. Cutch definitely had a nice one earlier. My best comparison is Steve Breaston, who went from signing his whole name to "SB" before long.

    Anyway, that there is a collection to be jealous of, very nice!

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    1. I think the worst auto I've seen in baseball is Wil Myers. I just assume he is an asshole.

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  2. It's usually always a devolution in the graphing game as they go from good to BAD and most times illeligible over time!

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    1. Thankfully, Cutch has a little technique left in his. Not great, but for a star player I'll take it.

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  3. Those are some great cards you have Matt.

    As the years go by, a lot of athletes's signatures change, a lot for the worse. At least with McCutchen, you still get a decent autograph. I have seen a check mark as one guy's autograph.

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    1. Thanks Mike! You are right....It could be a lot worse.

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  4. I think I can still see a C in there.

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  5. As you know, I've been reading some old Beckett issues. And in one of them, they explain that the craze in 91 and 92 were autographs. They were usually the same card as an existing insert, but with an auto on it.No special stamp, no nothing. Anyway, they were saying how players would sign a couple thousand to be inserted in packs. They (the card producers) wanted more, but players would refuse, because of the time it took to sign 2 000 (about 8 hours), and how the signature would change after several hundred

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    1. Even since McCutchen went to the short version of his name he has been pretty consistent. I really need to look at Gregory Polanco. He was in every set last year so I'm sure he did a mass signing at one time for Topps and Panini.

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  6. I don't think Topps gives production numbers on non SN autos, do they ? They seem to pop up everywhere. I wonder how many are signed at a time. Probably around 500, I'd say. In 93, they stopped inserting autos, because some States make it mandatory to give odds of pulling them. And manufacturers were afraid that people would extrapolate production runs (and once you know that in reality, there are 3 gazillion Griffey base cards out there, you don't start chasing them the same way)

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    1. I think a lot of times it is figured out once the cards hit the open market. Topps doesn't usually release anything on print runs. My guess is some resourceful person on a message board just tries to estimate between odds listed on the wrapper and overall print runs.

      I think 500 is a good guess.

      The card business was very shady in the early 90's. They wanted you to believe your Griffey Donruss rookie was worth $50.

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  7. Your McCutchen PC autos are going off!

    I especially like the A&G and the Marquee.

    Sick cards.

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    Replies
    1. Most were had before he blew up which kept costs down. I've probably only added 3 autos in past couple of years because of price.

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