30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Sweet Signatures

As an autograph collector, one of my favorite products are the Sweet Spot Signatures from back in the 2000's.  Damn.  I miss Upper Deck producing MLB products.  Oh I know that some of them have issues with fading (see below).  But looking at the big picture, Upper Deck kinda solved the entire sticker autograph issue.  Instead of sending sheets of stickers, they sent athletes sweet spot swatches from baseballs that were signed and eventually embedded into cards.

But that's not the topic of today's post.  Today I wanted to showcase my collection of Tony Gwynn Sweet Spot Signatures that I've accumulated over the years.  Let's start with my most recent purchase:

2005 UD Sweet Spot Classic SS Signatures #TG

I was the lone bidder on this card back in November.  I think the high starting bid of $49.99 scared people awayCan't blame them.  Had I known that I'd have to pay $59.05 after shipping and taxes, I probably wouldn't have bid on it either.

Regardless, it's still a good looking card and either my 20th or 21st autographed Gwynn card.

Next up is one of my favorite Sweet Spot Signatures designs:

2008 UD Sweet Spot SS Signatures #S-TG

Unfortunately, 2008 was also one of the years that have fading issues.  I haven't pulled this card out of my box in quite some time.  Half of me doesn't want it to accelerate the fade... while the other half doesn't want to discover that autograph is already gone.

2003 UD Sweet Spot SS Signatures #TG-AU

How do I know that Gwynn didn't hold these cards and actually sign them?  One look at the autograph above should explain everything

2003 UD Sweet Spot Classic Greats Autographs #CG-TG

Gwynn had some centering issues when he signed this particular swatch.  It just shows that this product line wasn't perfect.  However for every fading or off-centered signature, there's a beautiful looking Sweet Spot Signature like this:

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic SS Signatures #SPV-TG

This is my other favorite Sweet Spot Signature design.  This card also has some fading issues, but seeing Jack Murphy Stadium in the background takes my mind off of the problem.

Well that's all I've got for today.  Here is your question of the day:

What Upper Deck baseball product do you miss the most?

I wish I had the tech skills to create a sidebar poll like Dime Box Nick, but I don't.  So share your thoughts down below and I'll tally the results up in a few days.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Dennis said...

Beautiful signatures of Tony! Sweet Spot is as good a choice as any for a UD product to miss.

night owl said...

Upper Deck was OK, can't say I miss them. I'd like to have Masterpieces around again, but even UD couldn't keep that going more than 2 years.

Collecting Cutch said...

Awesome sigs of Mr. Padre.
I wouldn't want it every year, but I loved the design of Baseball Heroes.

Sean said...

I only ever collected Upper Deck in their first 3 years of existence. I mainly have fond memories of the 1990 set and those Reggie Jacksons!

I sympathize a lot with your faded autograph concerns. In 1991 I got Juan Marichal's autograph on an 8 by 10 photo. I pulled it out of storage a few years back at my parent's place and discovered that my "autographed photo" is no just a "photo" - the autograph had faded so much you can barely detect it is there anymore!

SumoMenkoMan said...

I miss the unique photography of the early 1990s.

gcrl said...

40man or victory. Just like topps total, those sets featured full rosters. Also, legendary cuts.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Who's this Tony Gwynn guy? Oh yeah, he played for the Braves, right? hehehehe. Happy Holidays.

Lee Hero said...

Amazing Gwynn collection!

As for what UD product I miss the most... gotta go with Collector's Choice. The price point, plus the absolutely amazing photography work for those were top notch.

Nick Vossbrink said...

Collector's Choice is definitely a set I miss but as a product I honestly miss the Denny's Holograms most.

Matt said...

I've been going to Spring Training games with my father-in-law for a few years now, and have a collection of signed baseballs. One thing we learned from another autograph hound is to never have a ball signed with a regular ink pen. The ink gets absorbed by the leather over time. Unfortunately my father-in-law has a Yogi Berra auto that is succumbing to this and is barely legible now. Ballpoint pens are best!

CaptKirk42 said...

Sweet Gwynn auto collection.

Peter K Steinberg said...

This is a great collection; sorry about the fading. I wonder if the horsehide/cowhide of the ball is absorbing the ink or something?

sg488 said...

I miss the great photography of Upper Deck when they made all 4 sports, only Hockey the last ten years, wish someday they can get back the other 3 sports.

Adam Kaningher said...

I think I'd have to vote for Masterpieces as well.

Matt said...

I like these but they seem to fade over time so I have avoided them overall

The Snorting Bull said...

I really miss Masterpieces. That was a really good looking product.

Fuji said...

Survey says...

Masterpieces 4
UD Heroes 1
40 Man .5
UD Victory .5
Collector's Choice 2

Although this post was Sweet Spot based, I added my vote to Masterpieces. Beautiful product.

dennis - thanks dennis!

night owl - i definitely think there's too much of a good thing. for example, i love stadium club. and this year's sc was exceptionally beautiful. but there's a point where even that product will lose its shine. i think masterpieces if a classic product, because upper deck didn't drive it into the ground like topps tends to do with some of their product lines

collecting cutch - lol. i just commented to night owl about overdoing certain products

sean - sorry to hear about the marichal photo. i'm scared to dig up some of my autographed photos sitting in boxes now

sumomenkoman - me too

gcrl - it was nice to see topps bring back topps total this year. shame they made it an expensive online product

johnnys trading spot - yeah... and chipper jones is mr. padre ;)

lee hero - i've really grown to appreciate collector's choice in recent years. i had the opportunity to buy some of those 90's sets for a few bucks each, but passed. major hobby regret.

nick vossbrink - denny's holograms rule. i miss the days of hanging out with friends eating grand slam breakfasts and collecting my pack.

matt - yeah, that's what i've been told as well. shame upper deck didn't know that. i also think some of the sweet spot swatches they used were fake leather or something. that probably played a role in the fading as well

captkirk42 - thanks! i'm kind of on a gwynn roll right now. picked up another autograph on black friday

peter k. steinberg - i think that the leather or fake leather definitely played a role in the fading.

sg488 - me too. if i had one hobby wish, it would be no more mlb, nba, nfl, or nhl license monopolies

adam kaningher - if i could only pick one... that's mine as well

sport card collectors - yeah. it's a shame. because the idea behind them was awesome

the snorting bull - i know. i'm especially fond of the matted/framed parallels