collecting k's

i don't usually write about this stuff, but work has been really great the last couple of years, and i decided to direct some of my rewards towards expanding my collection in a very specific way.

i started following searches for sandy koufax autographs.

since he rejoined the hobby in 2000, there have been a significant number of releases that have featured koufax in the checklist.  however, the only koufax signed card i owned before this year was his 1998 donruss signature series card.

i waited and watched for a while to get a sense as to what koufax autos were selling for, and then made a move on a couple of cards.  first, a 2002 upper deck sweet spot legendary signatures card

and then a 2001 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate signatures card

people seem to avoid graded cards sometimes, which means they sell for less than they should. i don't mind, as i can either free the card or keep it slabbed (which is how this card remains).  i will say i passed over some slightly cheaper koufax autographed cards due to either a poor design (in my opinion) or a shaky/smudged autograph.  these two cards are pretty good in that regard.  i think i did well, and i will likely try to pick up at least one more card signed by the left hand of god.

while i was at it, i decided to do the same for another dodger lefty, clayton kershaw.

over the past few months, i've picked up a few different on-card autos of the future hall of famer, but i'll only show two of those cards here.  first up is a 2015 topps museum collection archival autograph card

not sure if it's a blue parallel or if that is the base design, but it looks good.

i wasn't quite sure about the next one as it looked a little gaudy at first, but i did wind up buying this 2017 topps five star card

in the hopes that it looked better in person.  it did.

this foray into specifically targeting these sorts of cards is not necessarily new to me, but it has led to a more widely scoped angle to my collection. i'll get in to that in my next post.