Continuing my pursuit of players that I want just represented at least once in my autograph collection, unlike certain Dodgers where I want all I can get, I dipped into a brand that I am not that fond of anymore.
Mariano at this moment will go down as the greatest reliever of all-time with all his accomplishments during the regular season and more importantly the post season. He also is the last player that was and will every wear the number 42 as he was grandfathered in when MLB retired the number. I don't collect the Yankees in general but Mariano is one player I for sure wanted in my collection. Now the question was which card to acquire.
The 1993 Finest issue is still one of my favorite of all-time but recent years have left my desire for it wanting. The 2014 issue had Mariano represented with an on card autograph which was a necessity when trying to lock up his card. Well most of the cards are still not that all attractive to me but the black parallels are an exception and that became my focus for my Mariano autograph.
I could have gone the ungraded route but having the option of having it already in gem mint grade in a nice case was too good to pass. The seller had this card on a BIN auction with no best offer option and it sat on my watch list for weeks with no one buying even though there were 11 watchers. Auction ended but the seller relisted it a hour later for $25 less than the previous auction. I finally pulled the trigger and bought my first and only Mariano autograph. Great looking card of the Yankee great and glad that I scored such a deal on it.
Gem mint goodness
Perfect and legible autograph
