On-Card Disappointments (All for Sale!)

I have very few card collections given my limited resources and space, but I did decide some time ago to begin collecting on-card Royals autographs. It’s been a blast so far trying to track these things down and this is the latest addition to my collection. To view the cards currently in the collection, take a look at the Gallery or the other posts in this series. I’m working on getting a legit want list together on my trade page but, in the meantime, if you have any on-card Royals autos that it looks like I don’t have, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

So stoked. Then... so not.

In every type collector’s collecting life (and yes, I’m considering on-card-pack-pulled autos a “type”), there are, to paraphrase Ethan Hawke, smiles and cries. Since there’s not some log of what cards and/or sets that included on-card autographs and because some sets contain a mixture of both, I’m at the mercy of eBay scans for the most part when trying to determine if a particular card meets my exacting standards. Some sticker autos are pretty convincing as on-card autos in a weak eBay scan. Take this 2005 Upper Deck Classics auto of Mr. Bret Saberhagen- a childhood hero for his dirt stache, RBI Baseball awesomeness, and sidearm pitching style. I was very excited to find that he had an auto as a Royal and from all the eBay research I did, it looked like this one was on-card. My superior scan above shows the seams of the dread sticker.

Somewhat stoked for Sanchez Star Signings signature... sigh.

This is an example of “I should’ve known better.” Upper Deck base is no place for on-card autos and this Angel Sanchez from 2007 should’ve been a no-brainer. Alas, I bought it anyway. And, double alas, it came in one of those ultra-hard clasp cases covered in Scotch tape. Ugh.

Not quite as stoked... then even less so.

Now, SPA should have some on-card autos. Of course, if this one had been, surely Devon Lowery up there would’ve taken up the appropriate amount of space with his signature instead of one little weird corner. Then again, maybe not since his signature is tiny anyway. If I had paid whatever a pack of SPA had cost in 2005 and pulled this, I’d have been pissed.

What a nice blue hat you have, young Royal! Hey, wait a minute...

I just realized that all of these disappointments were made by Upper Deck. It really is a coincidence, since I’m simply more familiar with the on-card offerings of Topps (and I know from experience that anything Donruss or Playoff simply didn’t have on-card autos in it). This one is a different problem though. Dee Brown (listed as Dermal here) had major league autos (I promise- I’ll show one soon!). But this isn’t one of them. This is a minor league card from 1998 UD SP Top Prospects. Note the lack of logo on the cap and the team name. I don’t collect minor league cards, no matter how hilariously over the top the on-card auto may be. Sorry, Dee!

I’m selling these, along with a bunch of Royals doubles for which I didn’t have an trade offerings here. Take a look and let me know if you’re interested in something. If it doesn’t have a bid, we can work something out. Otherwise, happy bidding and farewell to my on-and-off-card disappointments!

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