Thursday, June 11, 2015

Card of the Day - 2006 Allen and Ginter : John Wooden Mini Frame Autograph (#/200)


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U,C,L,A... 8 clap.

The wizard of Westwood has finally found a place in my collection.

When it came to college athletics as I grew up I gravitated towards the Bruins of UCLA as they were dressed in blue like my beloved Dodgers. I never went to college there but I had a lot of friends that did. As I grew up I became friends with and had co workers who went to USC which made me even love the Bruins more. While the basketball program has had its fair share of superstars come and go as they left their mark and created the legacy of UCLA basketball the one name that will always be associated with the program is John Wooden.

John still owns the record of most titles won by a coach (10) as the next closest is only half way there with 5. I do not collect coach/manager autographs (other than past baseball players) but when I re entered the hobby I knew at some point I wanted a Wooden autograph to call my own. I would have gone the COA IP route but found out that Wooden had an Allen and Ginter issue that had his on card John Hancock. Problem though was that these did not pop up on eBay very often and when they did they were snatched up before I could get my hands on them. Though these are not numbered the reported print run is only 200. How many would I ever see at a reasonable price?

This copy came up by the same seller that had been selling off her whole collection of Wooden's the past few months but she put up a note stating it was her last one. I could have waited for another but I wanted to nail this autograph down once and for all and I was all in. 7 days later I finally was the proud owner of a John Wooden autograph and as stated in her auction she thought it was one of the finer copies in her possession and when I received it in hand I can say she is correct. Looks great and it's earmarked for BGS. John was/is the gold standard for college coaching and hopefully his card here earns a gold banner from BGS.


A closer look of autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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