Hall of Fame Auto - Rod Carew

One of my favorite parts of my collection is my Autograph collection of Baseball Hall of Famers.  I love thumbing through the cards and reflecting on the baseball history the guys who signed the cards (or stickers) represent.  I set a goal this year to add 6 new cards to this collection and so far I have just shared 1, HOF Reds and Tigers manager Sparky Anderson.  I decided it was time to show off my 2nd pick up of 2015.

I have 2 LCSs that I frequent and I am pretty excited because one of them has started picking up some nice singles. He lists them on eBay at around book value but will sell them to me at or slightly lower than the best offer that he has received.  If there have been no offers, he will look at past sales and give me a good price.  In comparison, the other shop always lists at book value or above and rarely gives much of a discount.  So shop #1 gets my single card buying business.

When I set my goal for 6 new HOF autos, I set up some eBay notifications so I could start tracking what the prices are going for to make sure I get a solid deal.  One of those players is the feature of this post, former Twins and Angels 2B/1B Rod Carew.  Carew is a member of the 3,000 hit club and I remember him most for his time with the Angels.  For some reason though I am always drawn to him cards with the Twins.

When I saw this card in the display case I was very excited as it hit on several of my likes in a good auto card.  First it is an on card auto.  I also like the gold ink used although the thickness of the pen makes it look a little sloppy, I still like the gold.  The design is quite nice, Five Star is a high end Topps product and this card would not disappoint if pulled out of a high end pack.  It is numbered 21/25 which is cool, I never complain about low numbered cards.  And probably the best thing to me is that the photo is a great looking picture of him in the 1st half of his career as a Twin.

This card originally carried a $50 or $60 price tag in the display case but I was able to get it and another HOF card I will show off later for just $60 total. I am pretty happy for such a high end card of a HOFer for just $30.