A Pair of Nostalgic Autographs

Meant to post these yesterday, but between cooking, going for a long run, household chores and NFL football, the day got away from me.  Anyway, I enjoyed my recent Marquis Grissom Topps Kids autograph so much that shortly after it arrived I decided to see what other Topps Archives Signature Series autos I could grab on the cheap.

Today I've got a pair to show off from the 2016 release that really take me back to my collecting roots...

There are two sets that I distinctly remember as being the first that I collected heavily as a kid.  The first was 1989-90 Topps hockey.  My dad would bring home packs of this for my brothers and I after work, and collecting and trading these cards is really what planted the seed that for me is still growing all these years later.  On the baseball side of things though, it was all about 1990 Topps.

I know this is viewed by many as one of the ugliest sets Topps has ever released, but you can't control the era that you're brought up in, and this set will always have a special place in my heart.  When I found out there were a few of these signed as part of this year's Archives Signature release I was pumped.

I ended up winning a pair of them, the first being Ozzie Guillen here.  While I'll always remember Ozzie more as the manager of the White Sox, this on-card autograph was just too cheap to resist.  Felt pretty good adding the first signed 1990 Topps card of any sort to my collection for just $6 and some pocket change.

The other '90 Topps autograph that I was able to snag at a bargain basement price is even nicer than this one in my humble opinion...

Sweet!  Tom Gordon had a very long and successful career, and this one is particularly interesting to me given the success he had as the closer for my hometown Red Sox in the mid to late '90s.  Besides, you can never go wrong with the Topps All-Rookie Team Cup!  I didn't realize until it showed up that I have the final card in the run, number 53/53.  This Gordon card was even slightly cheaper than the Guillen, setting me back all of $6.16.

I'm not enough of a gambler to take a shot at a box of this stuff (1 card) for $50, but I'm more than happy with the three singles I've managed to pick up so far.  When you add up my costs for the Grissom and these two (including shipping), I still haven't spent even close to half of what a box would cost me.

I'm not planning to go crazy with these, but I do have one or two more on the way and will also be keeping my eyes peeled for any others that feature the '90 Topps or '92 Topps Kids designs in particular!