Eddie Mathews Autograph and 1959 Topps Card

A few years ago, my family took a road trip to the Northeast, starting from Texas and riding the East Coast all the way to Maine. It was an amazing trip, and it was my first time visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Early on in our journey, in North Carolina, we stopped by an antique shop where I found this: 

These are old photos so they aren't the best, but I can't take better ones because, sadly, I seem to have misplaced this. It's annoying, to be sure, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere. 

At any rate, I love autographs, and I have a decent collection of them that will show up on this blog over time. Eddie Mathews is particularly cool, as he formed a one-two punch with Hank Aaron that hit more home runs than Ruth and Gehrig (1,267 to 1,207). Mathews led the Majors in home runs in 1953 and 1957, finishing second in the MVP race each season, and hit 512 dingers in his career. 

I thought it would be funny to close by noting that, at the antique store, they were selling a similar photo of Ernie Banks, autographed and framed, for $48, exactly double the $24 they were charging for this Mathews. When my dad asked me what I thought, I said that I preferred the Mathews because it was half the cost of the Banks when they both hit 512 home runs. 

Any thoughts on who was better? 

At Long Last

    Hello, my name is Damien, and if any of y'all know me it's probably as one of two things: the author of The Cooperstown Advocate, or as a guy who reads a handful of card blogs and sometimes mooches free cards during contests. Maybe both. Whatever the case, I've finally joined the card blogging world. Unlike most card bloggers, I don't really know what I'm doing. More of a historical baseball blogger than anything, I collect baseball cards, but I don't typically know much about what I'm opening, so you'll have the additional pleasure of hearing me bumble about cards and how they might appear to the uninitiated. I just know what I like, and I think it would be fun to have a card blog from that perspective. While I expect to primarily feature baseball cards, I will also share other collectible cards that interest me, as well as player autographs. So, without further ado, let's go!