A Surprise Autograph of Larry Bowa: Update, and Ken Howell

I mentioned in a previous post that I happened upon a Larry Bowa autograph in a box of my cards.  I had thought that my autographs were all in my binders, but it turns out this 1978 Topps Larry Bowa was mixed in with the rest of my non-binder 1978 Topps cards.  I sent it off to PSA (I only have a few autographed cards, and I'd like to have them all authenticated and protected), and it's back now.

Autographed 1978 Topps Larry Bowa.

The card grade turned out to be VG 3, and the autograph grade was quite a bit better, at 8.  This joins the other autographs I've gotten back from PSA already, including a 1981 Donruss Larry Bowa.

This seems like an appropriate place to mention that I found another surprise autograph.  I posted recently about my unopened packs of 1990 Topps Traded, and in preparing that post, I dug through my stored cards looking for my loose Traded and Update cards.  I found a 1989 Topps Traded Ken Howell, autographed.

Autographed 1989 Topps Traded Ken Howell.

I knew that I had a Ken Howell autograph -- it's on a Phillies Team-Issued Photo Card, the kind I've been posting recently (such as in this post and this other post).  The autographed Team-Issued is in a binder, but I didn't send it to PSA because it's oversized, and I've only sent regular-sized cards so far.  It's not a big surprise that I got Howell to sign two cards; an autograph ticket for him at a card show probably wasn't too expensive; it may even have been included with admission, in which case, Dad and I would have both gotten autograph tickets, and thus two autographs.  I'll send this card off to PSA before too long, along with another autographed card I recently purchased (more on that one after it arrives).

Howell pitched in the majors from 1984-1990, with the Dodgers and Phillies.  His career record was 38-48 with 31 saves and a 3.95 ERA.  I guess you would call him the ace of the 1989 Phillies; he had a 12-12 record, and the only other pitcher on the team with as many wins was reliever Jeff Parrett with a 12-6 record.  No one else had more than 6 wins.  The Phillies went 67-95 that year, but made trades that would eventually pay off in winning the 1993 NL pennant.