Hall of Fame Auto - Sparky Anderson

I set a goal this year to add 6 new autographs of Hall of Fame baseball players to my collection.  I have set up a few eBay searches for players like Rod Carew, Robin Yount and Eddie Murray.  Other than Craig Biggio, who I picked up last year prior to his induction, I will wait a couple years on the new guys.  There seems to be increased interest in the new HOFers autos each year and I like to try and get deal when I add these cards.

I was looking through auctions on Sportlots a little while back and a card of a Hall of Fame manager caught my eye.  The design was solid, a must when I look for HOF autos to add as I don't just want a card but one that I enjoy looking at, so I put in a bid.  A little bidding war ensued but I was lucky enough to pull it in for a reasonable price.  Check out the newest edition to my HOF Autograph collection:

Here is my new auto of George "Sparky" Anderson, Hall of Fame manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers.  He was elected to the HOF in 2000 and has 3 World Series titles to his credit, 2 with the Big Red Machine and one in Detroit.  Sparky passed away in 2010 and has quite a few autographs on the market.  Beckett lists 93 different cards although quite a few of them are limited to 10 or less including several cut signatures since his passing.  This one is numbered 246/375 as of the cards with an announced print run it has the highest.  I am sure that helped keep the price down.

Some of the things that drew me to this card, I wanted a Reds card. While I better remember him as the manager of the Tiger, his time with the Reds is what makes him an immortal manager in my mind.  I like the design of this card, the gears are a unique design and Sparky sitting in the middle one prominently looks very nice.  His autograph is pretty clear, it looks like it is on a sticker but you get a nice view of his autograph.  Ultimately it just caught my eye and I was happy to add it to my collection.

This card brings my collection to 71 different Hall of Famer Autos.  If I meet my goal by year end, I should be at 76.