Caitlin Clark Instant Collection

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was accumulating a stack of Caitlin Clark cards for a small player collection. So far everything I've picked up comes from Topps' Bowman U Now line of cards, a print-to-demand set that focuses on the exploits of college stars.

I've bought a few direct from Topps during the ordering windows, and a few from eBay resellers who buy in bulk hoping for parallels and offload the base cards at a slight discount.

My current boss grew up in Iowa, and says that the whole state is pretty caught up in Clark's career to date. I reckon that with the print runs on these being what they are I won't be making any money on my collection, but profit has never really been my driving force when it comes to collecting. A card that enters my collection rarely leaves it. My collection really is a story about my life, but unfortunately it's a story my family won't appreciate when I'm dead and gone, because they won't be able to read it. Hopefully my blog will be there still for them to read and put some of the pieces together if they want to. I'm not planning on going away anytime soon, but I sometimes contemplate what will happen to the stacks of 5000-count boxes in the shed when the time comes. It's a valuable collection and a record of my life and interests, but it won't likely be worth the labor of sorting through it all and disposing of it for money.

That took a dark turn for a second there. I imagine it's something many collectors think about from time to time, as our collections grow larger and we get a little older. Another thing I've been contemplating recently is what my next hobby project should be. I have been feeling a little directionless lately. A lot of the projects I used to work on each year have run out of my price range, and I don't want to work on projects that just require me to throw money at them. I'd maybe like to build a set the old-fashioned way, through busting packs and collating the cards myself. The problem is picking a set that is compelling enough for me to chase it, and cheap enough to be worth the hassle. I haven't come up with a solution yet. I had some fun sorting some Donruss Racing cards today. That would be an option, but I'd want to wait for boxes to go on sale at one of the big online retailers before I committed to that. Another option might be to wait for Topps Heritage this year and try to put that one together. Something to think about, I guess.

Today's Mail, and an Autograph Authenticity Question

One of today's cards from the mailbox raises a question I've posed on Twitter before as to the authenticity of the autograph on the card. I'll present evidence later in the post.

I finally got this Jeremy Peña Topps Now autographed base relic card from the 2022 World Series. The paperwork says I ordered it on November 4th, 2022, so I've been waiting a bit over a year for it. It's a pretty cool card, with a patch of base from the Astros' 2022 World Series win.

The hologram sticker pulls up a result on MLB's authenticator which says it's part of a 3rd base used during game 5 of the World Series, the game featured on the card.

The autograph matches pretty closely with another Topps Now autograph I received bearing Peña's signature, this one from the ALDS. He had a pretty good run in the playoffs, proving to be a key figure in the Astros' eventual win. I've tried to gather all of the Topps Now cards featuring the Astros through the regular season and playoffs in recent years, although I limit the collection mostly to base cards and the occasional autograph or relic if I can grab them.

Here's where things get interesting with the signature. His prospect cards seem to feature this squiggle on them, which looks nothing like the neat print on the Topps Now cards. Could he have updated his signature once he hit the big leagues? Did he have some help signing cards at some point? If so, which ones are real autographs? This is not my card, it's just an image I pulled from eBay a while ago when the question first came up in my mind.

Further muddying the waters is yet a third variation of his signature, found again on a card I do not own, but pulled an image of from the internet. The 'J' and the 'P' especially do not match the prospect auto or the Topps Now autos that I've seen. Could they be signed by the same person? It's hard for me to say. My signature changed a little from young adulthood to present, but not to the degree that his has over a much shorter period of time. Again, what does Peña's real signature look like, and could he have signed all 4 of these cards himself? Maybe, but maybe not. The variance between them in a relatively short period of time casts doubt in my mind about them, but I haven't done enough research to know what his real signature looks like, or whether he has changed it over time.

My other card for today features Caitlin Clark, the player who is lighting up the college game lately with her heroic performances and getting regular appearances on Bowman U Now cards from Topps. I've started a small collection of her easily-obtained cards, which means mostly Bowman U cards and the occasional base card from other releases, as any parallels or inserts are outside the budget I have for this player collection at the moment. Maybe she will go on to play in the WNBA, but in reality her star will probably peak in the college game as it gets a lot more airplay than the WNBA does. Even if she goes on to win accolades in the WNBA, it's an uphill battle to achieve real stardom in that league from a collecting perspective. I still chase WNBA cards, and really cards from several women's leagues, as I think women's sports are important and fun to watch and follow. I realize there are a lot of people who write them off as inferior products, but I'm in the opposite camp and try to support the major women's leagues where I can.