Therion's All Time Astros Autograph Collection (1,004 Reached!! 25 To Go!)

[mrmopar]

That is the type of card only a true team (or set) auto collector could appreciate. Congrats!

 

[Therion]

Four upgrades.

Jack Daugherty. Obtained TTM. I did a face swap, as this was actually a picture of Jeff Bagwell.

Cameron Drew. This autograph is so rare that I once paid $30 for a minor league card. Got this one for a $5 BIN. Another copy sold for $7 BIN. Go figure. I don't think the seller had any clue how rare his auto is.

Terry Collins. Obtained TTM. I have no idea what took me so long to get a copy of this card to send off.

Ron Washington. Obtained TTM. I thought I had missed the TTM train on him. He returned a ton of stuff and then stopped for almost a year. Luckily I was in the ones he had kept ahold of and returned.

 

[Therion]

One upgrade since my last update.

Roberto Osuna, via private signing. It is an upgrade from a logoless card. I'm glad to never have to think about Osuna being on the Astros again.

 

[Therion]

Three new additions in one post, it may never happen again!

Jeremy Pena. Picked this up for a decent price. He's in second place for ROY right now.

Jose Siri. Picked this up super cheap and JUST IN TIME FOR HIM TO BE TRADED lol

Cy Sneed. He played in 2020 and then immediately moved to Japan. Luckily I found a collector in Japan that was able to get this for me in exchange for some other former Astros that played in Japan and they didn't have. I'm sure he won't be rare in the long term, but for right now this one is impossible to find.

 

[Therion]

And just like that, back down three with the Astros debuts of Christian Vazquez, Trey Mancini, and Will Smith.

 

[MrMet2.0]

Pick em up all at once and you can have back to back three new addition posts


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[Therion]

Ha! Mancini will be fairly simple. Vazquez is 50/50 for getting a card. Will Smith? Middle relievers so rarely get cards unless they were rookies for that team.

 

[Therion]

Three upgrades since my last post. One of them is the type of upgrade only a team-focused collector can love.

Stephen Randolph via private signing. He asked if I would send him a copy, which was cool.

Gregg Olson via Private Signing. I had to make this picture, but the face he was making in the original was too good for me not to use. He signed it! LOL

Chia-Jen Lo and Cody Clark dual-signed. I spent several years hoarding Chia-Jen Lo autographs because I suspect this will become one of the hardest cards in the set to find signed. I risked sending a copy to Cody Clark TTM and he signed it. I likely have the only dual-signed copy of this card. Lo's signature is hard enough, but then you have to have enough knowledge to know who the other player was during an era of very forgettable Astros players.

 

[LWMM]

Very nice! Love the dual-signed card; those are hard to accomplish.

 

[Therion]

I love multi-signed cards.

 

[George K]

Is there a reason why Cameron Drew is a difficult autograph? I remember him being a big-time prospect in the 1980s.

 

[Therion]

I'm really not sure, but he is hard to find. Some guys leave baseball and get bitter they never made it big.

 

[theplasticman]

Amazing progress.

 

[LWMM]

How many of your remaining 31 are active players vs. retired? Or is there some other metric you use when you think about how many of them are missing because they're recent Astros, vs. being difficult autos to track down?

 

[Therion]

30 of the 31 missing are active players. Most of those 30 just don't have Astros cards yet. Greinke is the one that will remain tough because he famously hates signing stuff.

 

[George K]

Grienke has been an interesting character since the day he started, but he's a great pitcher.

30 of the 31 missing are active players. Most of those 30 just don't have Astros cards yet. Greinke is the one that will remain tough because he famously hates signing stuff.

 

[Therion]

Grienke has been an interesting character since the day he started, but he's a great pitcher.

For sure. During the 2020 season, he would sit in the stands with the cardboard fans. Definitely a character. Unfortunately, he was never GREAT for us, but he definitely had his moments.

 

[Therion]

Two upgrades since my last post, one that I wasn't sure I'd ever get.

Chris Coste on one of my customs via consignment. Apparently he was SUPER cool and asked the consigner for a copy. I have one in the mail to him.

Jason Green via personal friend. This is one for those of you that collect team autos and love the obscure guys. Jason Green pitched 14 games in 2000 and then disappeared into the snowy abyss that is Canada. Somehow he managed to have ONE card made of him that is itself limited to only 999 copies. In my pursuit of every autograph from the Astros, I started researching Jason Green and managed to find the scout that originally put Jason Green on the radar for the Astros. He still kept in touch with Mr. Green, but had no idea if he would be at all willing to sign an autograph. He then gave me a phone number.

I'm going to be honest, cold calling someone to ask for an autograph is not something that is in my comfort zone, BUT I have a friend that has done obscure consignments for over a decade and he has no qualms about such things. Fast forward TWO YEARS later, and I now have a card that is likely one- or two-of-a-kind. It will not leave my possession unless Berkman does a private signing that guarantees I can complete the card.

 

[Therion]

And just like that, another step back.

David Hensley has been added to the needs list with his lack-luster debut last night.

 

[Therion]

Added Yainer Diaz to the needs list with his debut last night.