I collect baseball autographs. I enjoy compiling these lists of prospects so I can buy autographs of future stars before they become famous.
To put my money where my mouth is, back in 2016 I went autograph bargain-hunting at Check Out My Cards. I set a price limit of $3 and went through my list, buying every prospect autograph I could for under $3. I ended up buying 28 cards ranging in price from $1.06 to $2.98. Sure, there are a lot of duds in there (Nick Weglarz anyone?), but also some already-proven players and a few that still have potential even after the hype surrounding them had died down. I did something similar several years ago and netted a Clayton Kershaw autograph for only $5 (it easily sells for over $50 on eBay these days).
Six of the autographs I bought were of already-proven All-Stars, and all under $3:
- Dan Haren (3-time All-Star)
- Jhonny Peralta (3-time All-Star)
- Asdrubal Cabrera (2-time All-Star)
- Howie Kendrick (1-time All-Star)
- Yovani Gallardo (1-time All-Star)
- Rickie Weeks (1-time All-Star)
Then there were 17 autographs of players who were not All-Stars yet, but still have a good shot at doing it someday. I’ve listed them with the best potential on top:
- Wilmer Flores
- Chris Parmelee
- Dan Straily
- Hernan Perez
- Zach Walters
- Neil Ramirez
- Taylor Jungmann
- Tim Beckham
- Jesus Montero
- Delmon Young
- Tony Sanchez
- Matt Garza
- Alexi Casilla
- Josh Fields
- Brad Lincoln
- Jeff Francis
- B.J. (Melvin) Upton
Finally, for the sake of completeness, I went ahead and bought some autographs of players with little or no chance left of becoming an All-Star (yeah, waste of money I know, but at least they were cheap):
- Matt Bush (surprisingly, he’s making a comeback)
- Fernando Martinez
- Nick Weglarz
- Joel Guzman
- Vinnie Catricala