Donruss Recollection Resurrection Perfection!

Take a knee, Jeremy... take a knee.

Very difficult not to add “erection” to the title of this post. Also difficult to not use the word “hard” instead of “difficult” both of those times there.

Moving on.

Buyback autos: some people love ’em, some people hate ’em. Me? I’m in the middle. First of all, I have to add some of them to my Royals collection because they’re usually on-card. That’s a big addition to the plus column for me. For the most part, whatever it takes to put on-card autos in packs is fair game with me. Take that Affeldt up there. It’s on-card and clearly marked as a buyback (kind of… if you know to look for it). Plus, Jeremy didn’t have any on-card autos in his rookie years, so here’s an “official” way to get an on-card RC auto of a guy on your team. I’m all for that.

I don’t collect in-person on-card autos for a couple of reasons. Primarily, there’s the issue of legitimacy. I used to try to sign my ’89 Topps cards to see if I could forge something resembling the player’s signature. I never tried to sell or trade them as legit or anything, but it’s a simple enough idea for an 8 year old to figure out, so a 45 year old card show scammer has certainly perfected the technique by now. Secondly, (and this applies to collecting in general for me), the list of in-person on-card autos is literally never-ending. I can’t “collect” something that isn’t finite. It’s daunting enough just collecting everything Stadium Club- that’s something like 20,000 cards right there. That’s massive enough for me. So, for now, these officially-licensed and limited Recollection Collection (and Topps/Bowman Originals) are the only way for me to get cards like this.

Hey guys, remember 2001 or whenever this card was originally released? I love too-soon nostalgia!

But here’s the problem. It’s a problem with the Affeldt too, but it’s more obvious here: It’s ridiculous to “Recollect” a card from like 5 minutes ago. This card is from 2001 and the signature is from 2004. Silly. I think 2001 Donruss was actually released in 2002 or some equally silly BS. It’s extra silly on the Beltran because dude had like 20 autos before this one. No need to recall it- he’s got tons of autos in 1999 and 2000 products. Many of them on-card and much better-looking than this one. (Boy, I’m sure going nuts on the hypenates today, aren’t I?). Still, it’s on-card, so it has a place in my collection- if begrudgingly. I do wih the numbering was on front as well, but I digress.

Now THIS is nostalgia. "The pain from an old wound," indeed, Don Draper.

And here’s the real reason for this post. Sure, my frst Jeremy Affeldt auto in the collection is cause for a post on its own. And who can argue with the awesomeness of a Carlos Beltran auto in a Royals uniform (other than Astros fans)? This is Frank White. It’s a 1988 Donruss Frank White. And it’s autographed. It’s numbered to 47, which is hilarious to me because there must be 500, 000, 000 of these in circulation. But not with an autograph. And a stamp. It’s the second Frank White in my collection and by far the better of the two. The good news is that there are versions spanning most of Frank’s years on Donruss cards. Some of them are numbered obscenely low, but since he’s not a Hall of Famer, even the rarest only sell for $15 or so. They wll all be mine. Oh yes. They will all be mine. Oh, and why is Frank not yet a member of Night Owl’s Badass Club? Get on that!

I haven’t tried to do a legitimate poll on the site yet. I should probably get a plugin or whatever for that. In the meantime, leave a comment with your take on buyback autos. I’ve not heard much chatter about them recently since they haven’t popped up in many products. Any news of some on the horizon?