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Best active player without any certified autographs?

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mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
I was adding some Dodgers to my collection and noticed that Kenley Jansen doesn't seem to have a certified autograph issue. Perhaps he does and I have just not stumbled upon it, but it seems that if he does, they are all spoken for.

I'm sure he is not the best player without one, but wondering if anyone else has noticed a star caliber player who doesn't have any certified autograph issues (I would include minor league issues as well). I am speaking about an established player, say 5 years or more, but who is still active. I know we can probably create a nice list of retired players without one, but with all the minor and prospect issues and autograph sets in general, it seems crazy that someone who is an all-star type player can get skipped for so long (although browsing a typical Topps autograph set list, I can see how - Deja Vu anyone?), unless he wants to be skipped.
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
Between Bowman and Topps putting out autos of dozens and dozens of prospects every year, and so many releases focusing on autos, having an impact player filter through all that with a single one is probably pretty uncommon.
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
I was adding some Dodgers to my collection and noticed that Kenley Jansen doesn't seem to have a certified autograph issue. Perhaps he does and I have just not stumbled upon it, but it seems that if he does, they are all spoken for.

that would be my answer. I looked for a jansen cert auto a few weeks ago and didn't find any except for IP autos and checked the beckett player database and didn't find any AU cards.

It's crazy that arguably the best closer in MLB doesn't have a cert auto. Maybe Kenley decided not to ink autos for any of the manufacturers. By comparison, every time you sneeze you can probably locate a Mariano Rivera auto. ;)

Every other MLB player with a couple seasons of being on a MLB roster that I've had interest in, I've been able to find an cert auto of some type.
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
I looked at the top 100 current players by WAR and they all have at least one pack-issued, MLB-licensed brand auto. Some haven't signed in five years or more (Werth, Choo, Escobar), at least looking at ebay listings, but they all have had something. For guys like that who came up in the 00s with a million brands from all the different companies, they seem to have been covered pretty well. Jansen isn't in the top 100 yet, and Baseball-Reference didn't seem to have a way to extend the list. So I wonder how far down you have to go to find an inkless player.
 

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