An Alternative To Sticker Autographs

Yesterday Dr. Price from In The Game posted on his blog, According To Dr. Price, that he is looking in to a better way to deal with autographs that would normally end up being on stickers. Obviously most collectors would rather have an on-card signature any day over a sticker autograph but when companies are pumping out set after set each year they end up dealing with schedules that just don’t sync up with the athletes who are signing for the product.

Now there are a couple of options to this time table conundrum. First would be to get the athlete to sign a ton of sticker autographs and the company use them throughout the year on their various products, which is kind of sucky for the collector. Second is to insert a redemption card, so when the athlete signs the cards can be shipped out to the collector at a later date, I don’t think I need to talk about the frustration we feel about redemption cards. Third is to remove the player from the checklist, which sucks for player collectors. The final answer could just be the next step for the card companies, the idea that Dr. Price will be trying in an upcoming release.

When ITG Past, Present and Future baseball is released in March we will see how this program works. Essentially the cards are produced in three layers; a front, a back and an insert. The insert, which appears to be significantly larger than a sticker, is printed first and sent to the athlete to sign. Meanwhile the front and back are printed and when the inserts are returned the card is put together with the insert sandwiched between the front and back, visible through a die-cut window in the front of the card, sort of like a relic.

The insert that will be sent to players to sign

The front of the card with die-cut window

The completed card with insert in place