As many baseball cards and player autographs I have, my uncle's collection blows mine out of the water. Dozens of cards I own were gifts from him, including two of my favorites:
This Vizquel was one of hundreds of player autographs in his collection, and he gave it to me (along with a card binder) for Christmas one year. I tend to like Topps Stadium Club cards and would be interested in what you guys think of them. At any rate, it's a nice card in good condition, and the autograph is perfectly centered on the front. Vizquel was an outstanding player as well, collecting 2,877 hits and winning eleven Gold Gloves at shortstop.
The best part of my uncle's autograph collection is that he got them all personally signed by the players rather than purchasing them. In my opinion, that makes for the best experience because, in addition to guaranteed authenticity, there are often interesting memories to relate. He has countless stories of how he met players at the stadium, which is getting harder to do these days.
One autographed card I received from him that was purchased, however, came in a box of 2023 Topps Update cards:
Like the Vizquel, this Gore was a Christmas gift. I was really excited to pull this card since I wasn't expecting an autograph or relic in my box. All my brothers received the same box, and mine was the only one with an auto.
It's too bad that Gore's first season hasn't gone exactly as planned. I was very excited when the Rangers traded for him in the offseason, but have largely been disappointed with his 8-11 record and 4.62 ERA. However, with a 3.78 FIP and 24.4% strikeout rate in 2026, there's still reason to believe he can be a solid contributor going forward.
I would like to conclude this post with one of the more interesting stories my uncle told me about his collecting days. In the 1990's, his friend had discount tickets to A's games and the two of them would go to several games per summer. As experienced autograph hounds, they knew where to catch the team as they got off the bus. One day the Indians were coming to town and my uncle was ready, sharpie in hand. When a certain player he wanted got off the bus, my uncle asked him to sign a baseball card, but he took the sharpie and tossed it at him, staining his shirt. My uncle complained to the organization, and a few weeks later he received a handwritten apology note from the player claiming that he was coming off an illness and had thrown up nine times on the bus, so he understandably wasn't in the mood to sign autographs. My uncle showed my brothers and me the note, as well as an autographed card that the player had sent. We were all pretty skeptical of his excuse, but hey, why not give him the benefit of the doubt? My uncle got what he wanted.
