Thursday, February 26, 2015

Card of the Day - 1996 SPx : Mike Piazza Die-Cut Hologram Autograph



One of the most important autographs to reacquire on my checklist has finally been secured and is now in hand and damn if it wasn't a long time coming.

Even though Mike will most likely enter the Hall of Fame at some point it will be with a New York Mets hat on the plaque. He still has resentment towards the Dodger organization and I don't blame him. It can be argued that his best years on the field were with the Dodgers but he meant more to New York when the city needed him and I am okay with him going in with the Mets logo. His autograph though had to be as a Dodger and more so I wanted it to be on card and not a sticker.

Having Mike's autograph while in Dodger blue is hard enough. Being an on card variety is near impossible as I believe this is the only one that fills those requirements. Looking at releases from multiple years Piazza's autographs are always shown with him in Mets gear. Well a few 2014 releases have finally shown him in Dodger gear. I went to look at the selection but they are stickers not on card. I was bummed but that was going to be my back up plan. I then saw that he was going to be featured in Five Star which is on card and I hoped it would be of him in a Dodger uniform. Found out he wasn't.

Well with plan B as an option I went searching for the one card I knew that he was in Dodger blue and the autograph being on card, this one. One big obstacle was that this card's autograph at times can have streaking and/or fading issues. There was a BGS 9.5 one up for sale but that ended up going for $200. Didn't have enough in the til for that one. I was okay with minor streaking but fading would not be acceptable. Picky much? This one came up one day as a BIN with a best offer attached. I sent the seller 3 offers and each one either was rejected or never responded to. A pet peeve of mine, please respond don't just ignore. Anyways, the auction closed and I moved on but then I saw it pop up again on a traditional auction with a starting bid of LESS than my offers. Uh...okay. Anyways, back onto the watch list it went and as the auction was coming to a close there were no bids so I put mine in and won the card.

With the "funniness" of the auctions I wondered if the card would arrive and if it would be in good condition. A week later it did and no harm was done to the card. I knew there would be minor pen streaking and that is okay.

Finally able to add Piazza back into my collection and its a beautiful card of him in glorious Dodger blue,

3 comments:

  1. I was able to sneak a Piazza in my collection as he was featured on a triple auto with Neil Walker and Johnny Bench back in 2004.

    That is sweet looking card my friend. I'm a big Piazza fan. It is a joke he hasn't been voted in the Hall of Fame yet.

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    1. Hasnt been voted on as he is "associated" with the PED era. He should be going in next year and at the very latest 2017. He is going upward when it comes to votes. That is a great trifecta that you have. Though I like this card tomorrow's beats it hands down. Thank you as always

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    2. man i want that card! lol how much you want for it????

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