Thursday, January 24, 2008

1997 Best autographs - Andrew Vessel

1997 Best Andrew Vessel autograph. This card combines the two categories of a pack inserted autograph and minor league cards.

Andrew is shown here in his Charlotte Rangers uniform as he toiled away in A+ ball. An outfielder in the Rangers farm system for six seasons Vessel never got above AA ball and played one more season in the minors for the Cubs before hanging it up at the end of the 1999 season. Obviously not a high demand auto.

This begs the question, why would anyone want this card? For that matter what about the cards of a plethora of other minor leaguers who never got the call? Well, if you are related to any of them or are a fan of the local team that makes sense. In my book it also makes sense if you are a collector of the parent team. I try to get my hands on any Rangers minor league cards I can get. It doesn't matter to me if the guy never played in Arlington, he played for the organization and that's good enough for me. Of course not all team collectors go that far. That doesn't make them any less a fan of their team, everyone has to have a limit and a focus.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another great thing about Minor League cards is checking out all the cool Mascots and Logos.

Bay Rat North West said...

I enjoy going to the parks on Card Set days. Living between New Orleans and Mobile gave me plenty of opportunities. I even made 2 trips to Jackson,MS just for the sets. Having some signed by the players is a neat experience also. I have the 2007 Salt Lake Bees set in a wall display as a reminder of the day I met my fiance at the ballpark. On the card give away night.