Bargain Prices for Top Prospect Autographs

I collect baseball autographs.  I enjoy compiling these lists of prospects so I can buy autographs of future stars before they become famous.

To put my money where my mouth is, back in 2016 I went autograph bargain-hunting at Check Out My Cards.  I set a price limit of $3 and went through my list, buying every prospect autograph I could for under $3.  I ended up buying 28 cards ranging in price from $1.06 to $2.98.  Sure, there are a lot of duds in there (Nick Weglarz anyone?), but also some already-proven players and a few that still have potential even after the hype surrounding them had died down.  I did something similar several years ago and netted a Clayton Kershaw autograph for only $5 (it easily sells for over $50 on eBay these days).

Six of the autographs I bought were of already-proven All-Stars, and all under $3:

1. Dan Haren (3-time All-Star)
2. Jhonny Peralta (3-time All-Star)
3. Asdrubal Cabrera (2-time All-Star)
4. Howie Kendrick (1-time All-Star)
5. Yovani Gallardo (1-time All-Star)
6. Rickie Weeks (1-time All-Star)

Then there were 17 autographs of players who were not All-Stars yet, but still have a good shot at doing it someday.  I’ve listed them with the best potential on top:

1. Wilmer Flores
2. Chris Parmelee
3. Dan Straily
4. Hernan Perez
5. Zach Walters
6. Neil Ramirez
7. Taylor Jungmann
8. Tim Beckham
9. Jesus Montero
10. Delmon Young
11. Tony Sanchez
12. Matt Garza
13. Alexi Casilla
14. Josh Fields
15. Brad Lincoln
16. Jeff Francis
17. B.J. (Melvin) Upton

Finally, for the sake of completeness, I went ahead and bought some autographs of players with little or no chance left of becoming an All-Star (yeah, waste of money I know, but at least they were cheap):

1. Matt Bush (surprisingly, he’s making a comeback)
2. Fernando Martinez
3. Nick Weglarz
4. Joel Guzman
5. Vinnie Catricala