Controlled Chaos: Pedro Guerrero

...and in retrospect, I am sad to have had to sell this card a while back. To be fair, I really hated the extremely asymmetrical auto-zone (no affiliation to the car care outlet). Very few of these signatures I have seen fit "well" in the pennant. Pedro's is damn-near out of control but I bet he could point out what letter is represented by what loop. His picture is awesome, and I wish I could see more of it...and how could this signature even exist on a sticker? I heard somewhere that freedom wasn't free. check.
The other complaint I had about this Autograph set is that the base cards looked great with silver embossed accent lines...and they couldn't muster so much as an UD logo in foil for the Autos? Come on.

Controlled Chaos: Elvis Andrus; Introduction with Wright and Ron

Like so many things, on-card autos can go Wright...or Ron (Artest).

Elvis Andrus: Loops and loops ...Then an on-card can be some of each. I have an 08 Threads parallell of his auto that wouldn't scan so I am using this one, nice thing is, thought the other card is a sticker auto, it is almost identical. I was really thrilled to see what Elvis was able to do if he had the whole card to work with. I haven't figured out what the two striking horizontal lines are, but they are bad-ass. I counted...there are 13 top-loops in this wild-style auto. Thank god some people are still working to provide consistent on-card Autographs for us, the consumers. Look at how the whole design of the card benefits from the lack of a plastic, sticky border or make-a-better-door-than-a-window "window" that can cover up crucial elements of the signer's natural strokes. serial numbering looks like it was set after the card was signed so as to try to reassure the recipient that someone up at the top still knows just what the hell the role of progress and quality are in a hobby such as ours.

Does anybody else see a Jeter-esque "s" on the end there? I know I do.

'til I get bored of football on tv...(like 20min),

-peterson

Ones That Speak to Me: Victor Martinez

When I first discovered Victor Martinez's AUTO, needless to say, I was impressed. It had all of my favorite qualities...Repetition, legibility, and the most powerful in this instance; Controlled Chaos. I had to have one to look at often.

I was literally hunting the right rendition of his auto since 2005. In 06 I got a co-signers of Victor and Ryan Garko for a song, but I got sick of the shiny stickers and Garko's lackluster development, and sold it.

I promised myself the "Right" one at a later date. It would be on-card, clear and LARGE. I wanted to be able to see every letter. With this one I got the bonus of it being on what I would call a great card design with a great photo of one hell of a good hitting catcher. All of these things contribute to one of the most favored cards in my collection. Victor rarely leaves anything on the diamond (to borrow a football analogy) and puts the same care into every signature of his that I have ever seen.

Evolution = change/time

I would like this to be a blog that makes people get up in the morning, drink coffee and change their lives, but it is not. I just post scans and pictures of Autographs and then either provide somekind of commentary on the design, signature, significance or the always popular, nothin'. Auto-matic for the People has it down for formatting the exhibition of auto cards, and I try not to bite others' steez.
From now until I make another shift due to pressures unknown, I will be organizing photos and scans in my "blogger" file in "recurring themes". some of the themes I have "brainworked" to date:
The Joy of Symmetry/Repetition
self-explanatory...

Controlled Chaos
What moves the pen...the mind or the hand?

Gentlemen
Percieved anachronisms

Then and Now
Classic, and with a market this big, how could I not?

Craftsmen
Taking Pride in your signature is a sign of confidence (or arrogance).

BIG TIME
Gotta be makin' a statement there pal.

Really!
That's how you're going to be immortalized?

Ones that speak to me.
I can have reasons or not have reasons all day long...

By My Hand
Autographs that I attained myself one way or another.

I think that this will at least give this blog some kind of structure. I jumped in with nothing but passion and basic computer skills. I think evident from all December posts. Also I love the feel of a subset. The categories mentioned above remind me of subsets that I might actually like to see exist.
others for consideration pending storage folder initiation:
Doh!
Cut and Run
Just a bit outside...
Fake as s***.

suggestions and submissions are, as always, welcome.

Peterson

Hockey Players Are a Different Breed.

You would think this guy's name was JJ or something.
This is one of those signatures that out class the card for simplicity and form. I want to meet this guy just to assess the cut of his jib.