Just....WOW. Topps Archives Autographs

[the 'stache]

Good afternoon, gentlemen (and ladies, if we have any on the vintage side),

I have to ask you all for a little bit of indulgence, please. What I am going to be discussing here are technically modern baseball cards in that they have been released well after the year 1980. But if the topic title rang a bell with you, well, you understand why I am putting it here. The players that we will be showcasing came from the vintage era of baseball, for the most part. And, again, for the most part, the card designs we will be seeing here are from that vintage era, too.

You know how sometimes you see something that catches your fancy for just a moment, but inexplicably, you don't really dig any further? Well, today I am scratching my head. Usually, I am the most inquisitive person you will ever meet. If something catches my eye for even a moment, I will usually race to the computer, bring up Wikipedia, and get an overview of whatever has caught my attention. Wikipedia.com certainly isn't The Harvard Law Review. But I spend a lot of time utilizing that site because I feel it is always a great first step on any journey of knowledge I might take. Any article on the site provides countless links to other related articles, and in just a few minutes, I can bring up a plethora of articles to read, things that will interest me, and get my creative fires burning. And those articles will provide links to more in depth information located elsewhere on the web.

Well, I have seen a few of these Topps Archives Autographs in the past on eBay, and while I might have been momentarily interested...very interested in what I was looking at, I never dug further. Well, today, I saw another one of these cards, and this time, I decided to investigate further. And I am so glad I did. I know some of you guys already know about these, but for those that do not, I hope this little journey serves as an epiphany of sorts.

I love baseball cards.

Duh.

We all love baseball cards. But I would love nothing better than to have autographs of my favorite players, Hall of Famers, and just my favorites from my teams, and not have to worry if they were legitimate. And since traveling the country to card shows is an impossibility for me (heck, going to a local card show is almost impossible for me right now), this leaves me buying autographs that have been obtained from other people, or, it means I have to send something off to a player, hoping for the best. And, it means for players that are no longer living, I am S.O.L. You guys know what that means.

I could always get autographed baseballs, relying on the "guarantee" from companies like PSA/DNA, or JSA, but I've seen too many goofs from them in the past. It's not to say a lot of the time they don't get it right, but I want to know that if I plop down a good chunk of change for an autograph, it is the real deal.

What if I wanted to send a nice baseball card to somebody like Hank Aaron? What if I had sent my 1968 Topps Ernie Banks to Mr. Banks asking for an autograph? We know now I'd probably never get that card back. No biggie, as it was a nice card, upper-mid grade, certainly not the best example out there, nor the most expensive. But it would mean I'd have to replace the card. That would be the chance we take in sending something to any older player. A card we send can always get lost, stolen or damaged en route, either way. Or, the player in question just might not feel like signing, or returning the card. Or, God forbid, they may get sick, or worse. So, sending a real card of any value through the mail is a pretty significant risk. Sure, I could always send an index card, but as a collector, I would really like a card, or a ball, signed. I'm funny that way, I guess.

When I started pulling up the information on these Topps Archives sets today, I was a little overwhelmed. Topps has done these Archives sets in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Three years of these beautiful little autos floating around. I looked at the checklists, and I smiled from ear to ear. But when I dug a little deeper, it turned out that the Archives set was a revival of something Topps had done earlier, starting in 2001. Suddenly, the list of certified autographs from players of the past got a whole lot bigger.

2001 Topps Archives autographs
2002 Topps Archives autographs
2003 Topps Fan Favorites autographs
2004 Topps Fan Favorites autographs
2005 Topps Fan Favorites autographs
2012 Topps Archives autographs
2013 Topps Archives autographs
2014 Topps Archives autographs

I'm sure there will be a release in 2015, too.

So, this is really cool! The 2001 and 2002 autos are on reprints of the original cards, the difference being the gold foil archives stamp on the front, and the wording on the back bottom of the card that it was indeed a reprint, and an archives card.

The first two years were small prints, it turns out. 50 or so of players like Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, to Red Schoendienst, Hank Bauer, Preacher Roe. There was quite an extensive list of players. I think the 2001 set has some 154 players that signed. And, as an article printed on the PSA website in 2013 showed, several of the players that had signed in that 2001 release have since passed away-Phil Rizzuto, Warren Spahn, Hank Bauer, Dom DiMaggio, Willie Davis, Clete Boyer, Mark Fidrych, Bobby Murcer, Kirby Puckett, George Kell, etc. How neat is it that these men signed authentic reprinted cards from Topps, cards that have near impossible to reproduce stamps identifying these cards are certified to have authentic signatures. If I want a Dom DiMaggio signature, that is what I'm hunting for. These cards are beautiful. And if any of the sets produced in modern day are worthy of being collected by vintage hobbyists, these are it.

I'm going to post pictures of a few. I encourage you guys to share pictures of cards you own, as well as your general impressions of the cards, the concept in general, etc.

I am taking a short hiatus from collecting to stash away a little more money (I will still be here posting, however, and encouraging you guys to go for the cards you want, and sharing in your excitement as you add them). Once I have done that, then I will be able to go full steam ahead. And rest assured, I will be pursuing some of these cards for my collection. They are beautiful!! These are pics I found from the web, not the scans I'm used to doing. They will have to do. But, I think you guys will get the point.




These cards, as you can see, can go all the way back to the 1952 set. There are all sorts of Hall of Famers with more coming. More greats that didn't make the Hall, but entertained us all.

Let's see what you guys have.