Signature Sundays - Jim Palmer

This week I've got another awesome HOF baseball autograph queued up for my Signature Sundays post, none other than the legendary Jim Palmer!

I think I'm so drawn to these Baseball Heroes autographs just because they hark back to the original Baseball Heroes inserts Upper Deck released in the early '90s.  Those inserts, featuring players like Ted Williams and Nolan Ryan, came at a time when I was full-on into collecting as a kid.  Pulling one from a pack of Upper Deck was one of the more rewarding collecting experiences one could have back then.

I've been plugging away at the emerald autographs from the 2005 Baseball Heroes set over the years since I got back into collecting, whenever I can find them within my budget that is.  Jim Palmer here actually makes a dozen of them in my collection now, which is more than I ever figured I'd end up with.  As usual, the on-card autograph is very nice here.  It's a little tough to make out what's going on with Palmer's signature, but it's certainly interesting in style, bold and smear-free.

I think even most young baseball fans today probably have an appreciation for how good Palmer was.  I certainly never saw him pitch live in person or on television (I was just one year old when he threw his final MLB pitch), but it doesn't take a genius to look at the stats and see how dominant Jim could be.  Three World Series championships, three Cy Young Awards and a nice collection of Gold Gloves and All-Star appearances to accompany them.  More wins than any other pitcher in the '70s, and still the all-time wins leader for Baltimore by a long shot.

My favorite thing about Jim might be that his entire career, spanning three decades from 1965 through 1984, was spent with the Baltimore Orioles.  I miss the days when you'd see superstars like Jim, or Ernie Banks or Roberto Clemente, play their entire careers for one franchise.  Don't get me wrong, I understand all the positives that came out of the development of the Player's Union, and free agency, etc.  On the other hand, there's something kind of cool about knowing that the Orioles had either Jim Palmer or Cal Ripken Jr. on their roster every single year between 1965 and 2001!

This is my first Palmer autograph of his five that are on the checklist for this set.  It seems insane to me, but I paid a few bucks less for this card than I did for the Target Holiday Mega Box I busted here a couple days ago, and that includes shipping.  Here's hoping I can track down the other four someday at bargain prices like that!