What eBay Hath Wrought 8: Auto-Matic

I found a few autographed cards on eBay over the last couple of weeks. These were generally acquired as parts of bigger lots of attractive cards that had no bids, but I lumped all the autographs together into one post. First up are a couple of Panini Past & Present Elusive Ink cards of Gheorghe Muresan and Muggsy Bogues, respectively the tallest (7'-7")and the shortest (5'-3") NBA players in history. It is somewhat disappointing that both autographs run off of the stickers a little, and especially on the Muresan auto there is a little smearing where the signature meets the edge of the sticker. I have seen better examples on eBay, but the sellers are asking way too much for them. That makes 3 of the 13 autographed cards that Muresan has issued for me, basically the three that are readily seen for sale. I don't know how many autographed cards Bogues has out there, but I am not really seeking a comprehensive player collection for him like I am for Muresan.

 

 



I also picked up Bowman Sterling autos of a few young players. It's nice that the first two are on-card. Daniel Straily is a decent pitcher in the Oakland organization, and Anthony Gose is looking to get a little more playing time now that Jose Bautista is on the DL for a while. I got an Anthony Gose auto from the 2-box Allen & Ginter break over at My Cardboard Habit, so I pretty much have an Anthony Gose autograph collection now. I believe he deserves a spot on The Squiggle Squad.

 

 

 

Tommy Hanson seems to have regressed each year he's been in the league, but I still remember him as the hot young arm coming in to the Braves rotation. The card is pretty busy, but the design helps to minimize the presence of the sticker autograph instead of an on-card signature.

 

J.R. Towles played a few stints on the Astros between 2007 and 2011, when he was let go by the Astros, and appears to still be toiling away in the minors as part of the Dodgers organization after short runs in the minor leagues with the Twins and the Cardinals.

 

 

Outside of sports, I also got this card signed by Peter David, famous mostly for his long runs writing the Incredible Hulk and X-Factor comics for Marvel. He is just finishing up his second run on X-Factor, with that series coming to an end (again). I am not entirely sure why they had him sign a card featuring Ultron. As far as I know, he doesn't have a strong connection with the character. Oh well, at least I have a Peter David autograph. His name is even pretty legible, unlike the athlete signatures above.