Does getting a player auto IP change how you feel about pack pulled autos?

[VandyDan]

So, over the past couple years, I've made it a point to get as many different player autos as possible at the few minor league games I've attended. I think I have about 215 different autos at this point. I think I've only gotten about 5 doubles, so that is quite a few players, though I am rather indiscriminate about who I ask.

I've noticed though, that once I get a player in person, I feel almost no need or attachment to any pack pulled autographs. As an example, earlier this year, I got Xander Bogaerts to sign just a ticket stub from a game I went to in Binghamton (I think Binghamton--but I've seen XB play all over). As soon as I got that, I basically looked at my mini stash (two leaf autos, woohoo!) of Bogaerts autos and thought 'I should just get rid of these'. And since I've gotten David Price in person to sign, I've bought literally zero of his autographed cards, and never even had thought to (that they are all stickers might play into this, but still).

Funny thing is, I'll still buy pack pulled autos of guys that I have not seen in person. But as soon as I get the IP, my interest just tails off of certified cards.

Anyone else who does IP autos feel the same? Is this just another navel-gazing post?

 

[Lars]

Yes - maybe the worse is opening a prospect product and my certified autograph card is of a player or two that I've gotten in-person just months before.

It's happened with Joc Pederson, Jedd Gyorko and Rymer Liriano...

 

[Juan Gris]

I got Adam Dunn to sign in person in 2002 and again in 2003. Haven't met the man in person in over a decade and I'm now coming up on 100 different pack pulled autos. Different strokes.

 

[jaydub]

It does depend on the quality of the auto to some degree. If I have a real nice IP auto I'd like that more especially since I got it myself. However if the certified auto is much nicer - some guys have a fuller auto for certified - then I'd like that.

 

[Anthony]

Absolutely! I don't have many pack pulled autographs in my collection. I prefer PSA/DNA slabbed autographed rookies. I only buy a box of Draft each year to have a variety of RCs to get signed. If the auto I pull is valuable I sell it (maybe to buy a nice IP/TTM PSA/DNA autographed RC for my collection). If not I put it away until I have a few and then sell them as a lot. Pack pulled autographs mean a lot less to me now that I have ~600-700 IP/TTM autos.

 

[ChasHawk]

I have plenty of Dawson TTM/IP autos, this being one of my favorites...

But they can't touch pack pulled cards like these...

 

[jrinne]

Pack pulled autographs are crap compared to getting them IP. IP you have a story, pack pulled you can tell people you opened it at a shop or your home. Pack pulled are good to make money on, IP are good for your PC.

 

[ChasHawk]

Pack pulled autographs are crap compared to getting them IP. IP you have a story, pack pulled you can tell people you opened it at a shop or your home. Pack pulled are good to make money on, IP are good for your PC.

Sorry, but I whole heartedly disagree...and so would 1,000s of other collectors.

 

[VandyDan]

Sorry, but I whole heartedly disagree...and so would 1,000s of other collectors.

True, but when I talk to non-collectors and I say things like 'Oh, I have Bryce Harper's autograph', they tend to ask things like how I met him, what he is like in person and whatever. and when I respond 'oh, i just bought a pack of cards and it was in it', they lose interest. Whereas when I can tell folks a story about how I met a player and spoke with him for 10 minutes and he signed a ball for me, there's something more to it.

I mean, ideally, each pack pulled auto would just be a blank version of the card (nicely designed) and a ticket to meet the listed player at a given time to get it signed in person.

 

[jrinne]

True, but when I talk to non-collectors and I say things like 'Oh, I have Bryce Harper's autograph', they tend to ask things like how I met him, what he is like in person and whatever. and when I respond 'oh, i just bought a pack of cards and it was in it', they lose interest. Whereas when I can tell folks a story about how I met a player and spoke with him for 10 minutes and he signed a ball for me, there's something more to it.

I mean, ideally, each pack pulled auto would just be a blank version of the card (nicely designed) and a ticket to meet the listed player at a given time to get it signed in person.

Exactly, I have over 5000 different autographs and I can tell you a story for each one. 20+ years of IP autographs brings a ton of great stories.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[Lancemountain]

Exactly, I have over 5000 different autographs and I can tell you a story for each one. 20+ years of IP autographs brings a ton of great stories.

Jeez your making it sound like your getting a nice steak and some Bordeaux with each player.


Almost every single one of my IP autos is a spilt second after waiting in a line/row.

 

[jrinne]

Jeez your making it sound like your getting a nice steak and some Bordeaux with each player.


Almost every single one of my IP autos is a spilt second after waiting in a line/row.

Spring training 5 years in a row and a minor league team in town. Plus the Brewers are a little over an hour away.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Cards are supposed to bring one "closer to the game and its players", but pack-pulled can never get someone closer to a player than an IP auto.

 

[muskiesfan]

It all depends. When it comes to my favorite players, even if I get them IP I still like to add more to my collection. IP and even TTM are my preferred ways of getting autos. Either way, I can chose what card I would like to get signed. If you have a favorite card of a player or favorite set, it's nice to get autos on there.

 

[brian26]

Pack pulled autographs are crap compared to getting them IP. IP you have a story, pack pulled you can tell people you opened it at a shop or your home. Pack pulled are good to make money on, IP are good for your PC.

Many IP autographs look like absolute crap. This is the case most often at games when hundreds of people are begging for graphs and the players just want to get the hell out of there. I've seen some nice cards and memorabilia turn out looking like crap if not ruined.

 

[TBTwinsFan]

I would say 95% of the time, I don't buy autos of the person after I get them IP.

Certified autographs just bore me.

 

[Ty Hope]

IP autos FTW

 

[jrinne]

Many IP autographs look like absolute crap. This is the case most often at games when hundreds of people are begging for graphs and the players just want to get the hell out of there. I've seen some nice cards and memorabilia turn out looking like crap if not ruined.

To each his own, all my IP autographs look 1000% better than company issued cards.

 

[Austin]

I prefer my in-person autographs to my certified autographs by a mile.
In my player collection, I'd rather keep all the Andre Ethier autographs I got from him in person and through the mail than all my certified autographs, including his rookies. They just mean more to me since I met and talked to him more than a dozen times when I watched him at AA Midland in 2005.
My signed minor league cards and base 2005 Topps cards mean more to me than his certified Topps Chrome autographed rookies.
I've even traded and sold many of my Ethier certified autographs because they mean nothing personal to me, even though he's my favorite player.

Same with my other autographs. I have more than 3,000 in person and through the mail autographs from when I lived in Texas. I'll always keep them because they remind me of when I was a kid going to Rangers games hours early in the '80s, when most players signed before games. And how I couldn't wait to open the mailbox to find a TTM autograph of legends like Stan Musial and Charlie Gehringer.

And there's one thing you'll never get when you receive an autograph in person or through the mail: an ugly sticker autograph.
I still love certified autographs, and some look gorgeous, but as someone who got so many autographs in person and through the mail, certified autographs just don't mean anything to me.
But I can understand the importance of certified autographs, especially for collectors who've never had the chance to get their favorite players in person.