Autographs back from PSA (Brooks Robinson, Granny Hamner, and more)

When I sent a few important cards to PSA to be protected/slabbed (and graded, but protecting them was more important to me), I also sent most of my autographed cards.  PSA takes longer with the autographs, so they came back a few weeks later.  Here they are now, six autographed cards newly authenticated and slabbed.

Autographed 1976 Topps Brooks Robinson.

All of these cards were autographed in front of me, at card shows that my dad took me to.  This Brooks Robinson was from our first show.  I can search online for some parameters of the show, and of course there aren't a lot of internet records of 1980s baseball card shows, but I believe I found a newspaper advertisement for the correct show.  Brooks Robinson was signing autographs at a show at Concordville Inn on November 5, 1988, and this must be that first show that Dad and I attended, and where we bought my all-time favorite card, my 1973 Roberto Clemente.  PSA gave this card a NM 7 grade, and the autograph a 6.  This makes some sense to me -- I put the card in a toploader and tacked that to my bulletin board in my room, where it was exposed to the sun over many years.  The card should be in decent condition, but the autograph surely faded.  I remember that we bought one autograph ticket, and bought both an 8x10 photo of Robinson and this card.  I decided at the last moment that it was the card I wanted autographed, not the photo.  I have a binder of some autographed photos, and the un-autographed Robinson photo is in there, too.

Autographed 1954 Bowman Granny Hamner.

At another show, Granny Hamner was signing.  I don't remember if that was also at Concordville Inn, but that was our main venue for shows.  Hamner was one of the Whiz Kids, the 1950 Phillies team that won the NL pennant, and that Dad was a fan of as a kid.  We bought a Bowman card of Hamner for him to sign; the card just got a grade of Good 2 from PSA.  It's possible that it was in better shape when we bought it -- the slightly larger size as compared to the modern standard made it difficult for me to store, and it may have gotten a bit roughed up in my possession.  The autograph is in good shape, I guess, receiving a grade of 8.

Autographed 1981 Donruss Larry Bowa.

Larry Bowa was signing one day, and I must have gotten two cards of him signed, this 1981 Donruss and also a 1978 Topps which I didn't originally send to PSA.  The 1978 Topps is actually at PSA right now, sent with a second batch of cards.  Here we got a grade of NM 7 for the card and 8 for the autograph.

Autographed 1989 Donruss Gregg Olson.

While the Phillies were our local team in Newark, DE, the Orioles weren't much further away.  Gregg Olson came to one of the shows to sign, and I had him sign his 1989 Donruss Rated Rookie card.  You can see that his autograph, really, just says "GOL."  PSA grades the card EX-MT 6 and the autograph as a 7.

Autographed 1990 Topps Len Dykstra.

For the handful of cards I've sent to PSA, my only grade of 10 comes on this Lenny Dykstra autograph.  The 1990 Topps card it's attached to was rated NM-MT 8.  I won't get into what I think of Dykstra as a person, but I'll just say that he was an important part of the Phillies 1993 pennant-winning team.

Autographed 1991 Score Mickey Morandini.

Finally, we have this 1991 Score Mickey Morandini, in which he is leaping in the air and marked as a Rookie Prospect.  Adam at Wax Pack Gods had a post not too long ago about this card, Morandini, and the unassisted triple play.  I commented that I had it out for grading, and there was no population report at PSA for the card, indicating that I am the first to submit it to them.  Now that it's back, the population is 1.  The card was graded MINT 9 (my highest grade for a card of the handful I've submitted), and the autograph is graded 8.

The actual grades don't matter much to me -- I wanted these authenticated and protected.  The Robinson is really the only one that's very important to me, since it's a good card I got at the first show Dad and I attended.  All of these are part of my childhood, though, and good time spent with Dad.