40 Man Roster

[swarmee]

Not all players on the 25-man roster automatically get cards each year either. The checklist is determined by the card company, who has the discretion to never make a card of a person they don't want to (or have under contract). Matt Wieters never signed a contract with Topps so he doesn't have cards with them. If he was a league leader in something, I wonder what they'd do for that card? ;-)

[Econteachert205]

In the case of van Slyke, a rookie card or autograph might have a premium, but other than that, he's a common.

[Romahawk]

OK on Andy being considered common (he won't like that) ..

On the subject of an autograph making him a bit more of a collectible are the cards that come in the packs that have a printed signature considered autographed or does it have to be a card he actually put a pen to?

[Econteachert205]

Van Slyke would have had to sign the card in person, either as a special insert in a pack or at a game or show signing.

[swarmee]

Printed signatures have no increase in the value of a card, unless the signature is a limited print issue like this:

1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Gold Signature #340 - Ken Griffey Jr.
Courtesy of COMC.com

The normal version of the card might be 50 cents, but these versions have sold for $10 for this Griffey Jr card.

Autographed cards in packs come in two flavors: on card autograph and sticker autograph. There is a premium for having a signed card compared to a sticker. Sticker sheets are mailed to players and they can sign 10,000 in a row; then the manufacturer (Topps, UD, whatever) can apply the sticker to all upcoming cards of said player. Topps recently included sticker autos of both Tony Gwynn and Oscar Taveras after their deaths, since they still had them available.

Cards hand-signed were actually touched by that player, so they are worth more to collectors.