Breaking Mad-dux

I told myself I wasn’t going to buy any cards for a while.  I need to stop the unnecessary spending, cut back on my discretionary items, and focus on the material possessions I already have.

But, I broke.

I almost had to.  When you come across a deal this good, you just have to dive in head first.

Proud owner of this very card

Yes, I bought a Greg Maddux SP Authentic Buyback Autograph.  Now, sure it’s a little faded, but honestly I don’t care too much.  Others I’ve seen from this set (which you’ll be reminded of below) are too, so it seems par for the course.  The corners look great and everything else seems to be in order.

Those of you who regularly follow my blog will recall that my first auto (seen in this post here) cost me nearly $100.  How, in these financially strapped times, can I possibly afford anything close to that much?

I can’t!  I can’t even afford half that!

matching numbers

And I didn’t have to.  I won this auction for a paltry $17.57.  Shipped.  And that’s after paying sales tax, because the seller was in IL.  Actually, the seller was Baseball Card Exchange – supplier of many bloggers’ group breaks.

That was a big reason why I decided to try for it.  That and it was sitting at about $10 with less than a few hours left.

Obviously, it’s tough to know for sure if it is indeed real, but I’m pretty confident once again.  The signature seems to jive with what I know his auto to be.  I have the COA card that comes with and the numbers match.  The hand-numbered sequence also matches up with the buyback number.  But, the fact that all of these wouldn’t be too difficult to forge probably turned a lot of people off.

Not as faded, or as dark of a background

For comparison, here’s my Frank Thomas auto from the exact same set.  I got this for $35.  Twice what I paid for Maddux.  That my friends is a downright steal.

more crazy numbers

And here’s the back of my Frank auto for comparison as well.  The sticker on the actual card isn’t in the same place, which I find odd, but not too much of a deterrent.  If anything the stickers help confirm my authenticity by being so close to one another in sequence.  46551 and 46241.  I don’t believe UD has a way to look these older numbers up online to be sure, but I’m still feeling good about it.

Okay, now I’m done. That was my last hit for a while.  I promise.

I think.