Shredded Cut Signatures Need To Go Away

2011 SP Legendary Cuts Traynor cut signature

Tonight while trolling the Upper Deck blog I read the story about the recently released 2011 SP Legendary Cuts product and the Pie Traynor cut signature caught my attention. I am just amazed at the ability that someone was able to hack in to this signature with a chainsaw and still be able to make a card out of it.

2005 SP Legendary Cuts Traynor cut signature

Compare the 2011 version to a 2005 version, there is no question as to which card most collectors would want. I realize that companies put out big money to purchase authentic autographs to use in these sets but when a signature is going to be mangled to make it work maybe the best decision is to remove the player from the set all together.

Back in 2008 Upper Deck put a mangled up Jackie Robinson cut signature in the 2008 SP Legendary Cuts product so this is an on-going problem. I know collectors like pulling big name/high dollar cuts but this is just ugly. Don't collectors deserve better?

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Robinson cut signature

Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Is Back!

Upper Deck has just announced that SP Legendary Cuts will be back and they are changing the way the set is built. Gone are the base cards, gone are the Mystery Cuts and gone are the redemption cards. This release will consist of a 200 person checklist featuring 91 Hall of Famers all numbered to 35 or less.

I have always been a huge fan of the Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts releases, actually my best box ever was a box of 2001 SP Legendary Cuts where I pulled a Babe Ruth bat card and a Joe DiMaggio cut signature and to follow that up I pulled a Mickey Mantle jersey relic from the 2002 SP Legendary Cuts.

Upper Deck is adding some extra value to the release with multi cuts booklets that will be themed including a 1919 Black Sox quad cut (pictured below), a 1927 Murder’s Row eight-cut and an All-Time Home Run Kings cut. There will also be political cut signatures including the first 43 Presidents. Hopefully the Upper Deck 1927 Murder’s Row cut signature booklet looks better then Topps attempt with the Topps Tribute Legendary Lineup.

George Washington

I have to admit, George Washington had a beautiful signature.

Camelot

The Camelot booklet includes Ted Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.

1919 Black Sox

The 1919 Black Sox booklet is of interest to me, I have always been enamored with the team and this is a nice collection of people associated with the scandal. My favorite player, Buck Weaver, is not included along with Joe Jackson. This set includes some very important cogs in the scandal: (Left to Right)
 
Chick Gandil- Gandil was the first player approached by gamblers in their attempt to throw the World Series. He was sort of the "ring master" of the fix.
 
Eddie Cicotte- Eddie was the Go-To pitcher for the White Sox winning 29 games in 1919 but after being screwed over by owner Charles Comisky he eventually gave in and fixed the 3 games he pitched. Eddie was also the first player to turn himself in following the World Series.
 
Charles Comisky- The White Sox owner, a notorious tight wad and all around asshole, and probably them main reason why players like Cicotte gave in to the gamblers.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis- Landis became the first Baseball Commissioner in 1920 and one of his first acts was to ban the 8 players involved with fixing the World Series games. He included players like Weaver and Jackson, who both played well in the Series, in the ban because they supposedly knew about the fix.

Legendary Pioneers

I was reading through a recent announcement from Upper Deck regarding their 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball set. The first collector who completes the entire Cut Signature set will receive a 1 of 1 Legendary Pioneers Quad Cut signature card containing the signatures of Abner Doubleday, James Naismith, Knute Rockne and Fredrick Stanley. This card is no doubt an amazing and interesting card.

The Cut Signature set consists of 321 cards this year and Upper Deck announced that there are at least 5 autograph cards of each player. They did this to entice collectors to attempt to put together the entire set. I love the Legendary Cuts set, the best box I ever busted was a 2001 SP Legendary Cuts, but this promotion seems a bit ludicrous due to the seriously limited availability. Out of 321 total cards, 138 cards have less then 10 copies. That is 43% of the entire set is limited to less then 10 copies. To make it even worse, 75 cards are limited to 5 copies making it a whooping 23% of the set is limited to just 5 copies of each card.

I do have to say that at least UD is being realistic about the contest, they set a deadline of December 1, 2009 and if nobody has collected the entire set they will be awarding the card to the collector who is furthest along in completing the set. Good luck to all you cut signature collectors and happy hunting.

While I do like this card, I have some problems with it too. I prefer to have an image or photo of the player because it adds some visual appeal to the card. This card does have some strong signatures though, only the Stanley signature is illegible. The smeared “e” in Knute Rockne’s signature really detracts from the card too, I am sure they could have found a better specimen to use for such a special release.