Odo offers his thoughs on card collecting

I recently found myself looking at the Blowout Cards specials and contemplating the purchase of a box of 2008 Razor Signature Series Baseball. (I’m not sure what Blowout was selling it for, but the local card shop was asking more than twice that price last year when it came out.) Less than $4 per autograph plus some free base cards didn’t seem like a bad deal; then I remembered how little fun I had with a couple of half-price Tri-Star blasters. Baseball cards are usually only fun for me if I recognize the players.

Then I clicked on the non-sports section for some reason, and saw this. The ‘Quotable’ Star Trek Deep Space Nine? How could I resist a set of cards featuring some of the best lines from my favorite incarnation of Star Trek. For just over $50 shipped, I was promised an autograph and two costume cards, plus I could reasonably expect a complete 108-card base set out of a box with approximately 200 cards. Sold.

Just in case you thought there wouldn't be any baseball connection

The box arrived today, so I had the fun of opening them after I got home from work. As you might expect with the theme of the set, each card features a (more or less) memorable quote from a particular Deep Space Nine episode. The longer the quote, the smaller the photo.

What surprised me is that all the cards were double-sided – there was a quote and photo on both the front and back. This was a nice bonus — I rarely look at baseball card backs, but I made sure to flip all of these over to look at both sides. The only drawback? It was a little difficult to sort the cards because I had to keep looking for the number.

I was able to make a complete set, plus I have a nice pile of doubles (and a few triples) left over.

Adrienne Barbeau as Cretak

I didn’t get the autograph I was hoping for — somebody from the main cast would have been nice. Adrienne Barbeau only appeared in one episode, and I had to look up her character at Memory Alpha to recall anything about her. On the other hand, Barbeau has had a nice career and was the voice of Catwoman on the 1990s Batman cartoon show, so that’s kinda cool.

The costume cards more than make up for it. Two main cast members; one featuring a swatch from a Starfleet uniform, the other featuring an interesting fabric from the vest Captain Sisko wore in the episode “Explorers.” I don’t know what it is, but I’m much happier with them than I’ve ever been with any of the baseball relics I’ve pulled.

There were a handful of other inserts, too. My favorites were the TV Guide Cover Cards, which were inserted at the rate of 1:20 packs. The scans really don’t show it, but they have a refractory effect going on. I remember having the actual TV Guide with that hideous Quark cover, so it was cool to see it again.

There is also a 9-card double-sided photo montage puzzle, with cards inserted at the rate of 1:8 packs. I got the expected five cards in my box; I’d like to track down the other four at some point because it seems like a nice set. And there are these horrid mini-foldout comic cards, which are thankfully inserted at a rate of 1:35 packs. Unfortunately, I got two.

This is the most fun I’ve had opening a box of cards in a long time. If you’re a card collector and a Deep Space Nine fan, you should definitely consider this set.

 I wrote out my first autograph requests of the month today. Ricky Nolasco and Henry Owens of the Florida Marlins, Pat Neshek of the Minnesota Twins, Eliezer Alfonzo of the San Francisco Giants and Nook Logan of the Washington Nationals will all be getting letters, as will Star Trek: The Next Generation actors Suzie Plakson and Ken Thorley.

My final autographs today came from actor Christopher McDonald, who portrayed Lt. Richard Castillo in the fan-favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” I wrote to him on Feb. 5, so this was a pretty quick (and much appreciated) response.

I spent the weekend at the New York Comic Con, where I seem to have picked up a cold. So I’m a bit behind in posting my newest autographs.

I had a fairly large (if expensive) haul from the convention.

On Saturday, I got autographs from:

Heroes: Hayden Penettiere ($25)

Buffy / Angel: Nicholas Brendon ($25), Juliet Landau ($20, since I was getting my own photo that I had taken with her at last year’s Chiller Theatre convention signed), Bianca Lawson ($25),Dennis Christopherr ($20), James Leary ($20, and $40 for a photo of Clem & Spike already signed by James Marsters), Larry Bagby III ($20), Jonathan Woodward ($20)

Anime: Jason Liebrecht, Monica Rial, Chris Sabat, Vic Mignogna and Colleen Clinkenbeard all on a Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle poster (free, but I spent almost an hour waiting on line),

Authors: Timothy Zahn (free – I also got a free signed book), David Mack (free) and Keith R.A. DeCandido (free).

On Sunday, I got autographs from:

Comic creators: Gail Simone (free), Brian K. Vaughn (free), George Perez (free), Greg Horn (free)

Anime: Sarah Natochenny and Michele Knotz- both on a poster for the latest Pokemon movie (free)

Author: Jim Butcher ($10 for two signed paperbacks).

I’ve still got to scan the comics and photograph the posters, but I probably won’t be posting images of the signed books since I’m afraid of damaging them.

I had more success with veteran actor Alan Oppenheimer today. I wrote to Mr. Oppenheimer at the address on Star-Collector.net on Feb. 6. I asked him to sign a Star Trek: The Next Generation game card and an index card for me.

I’m sending out anther batch of autograph request letters tomorrow.

Baseball:

• Brook Fordyce
• John Olerud

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

• Elizabeth Anne Allen
• Eric Saiet
• Kristine Sutherland

Star Trek: The Next Generation:

• Christopher McDonald
• Alan Oppenheimer
• Suzie Plakson
• Ken Thorley

Baseball addresses were obtained from either SportsCollectors.Net or SASESportsSigs.com. Actor addresses were obtained from Star-Collector.net or Fanmail.Biz.

The Big Apple Comic Con will hold their fan appreciation show, complete with free admission, this weekend (Friday & Saturday only.)

Classic television stars Soupy Sales, Larry Storch and Joyce Randolph are scheduled to appear along with former wrestler King Kong Bundy and horror movie stars Kane Hodder, Tom Morga and Warrington Gillette. Bill Sienkiewicz and Dick Ayers are among the comic artists scheduled to attend. (Check the website for the full guest list.)

It should be a lot of fun, but I’m not sure I will attend. The weekend weather forecast is rather unpleasant, and Tom Morga is the only guest who’d fit in my autograph collection — he did stunts for the various Star Trek films and played aliens in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Still, with free admission, I might head over anyway.

2007 is less than ten hours away in my time zone, and I’d like to wish everyone a happy & safe new year!

I’d like to post a statistical summary of how I did collecting autographs this year, but my records are so disorganized that it’s not worth the effort. One of my new year’s resolutions is to do a better job of keeping everything organized, and to that end, I’ve already set up a new database to keep track of next year’s through-the-mail autograph requests.

Some of my favorite autographs that I added to my collection this year included 1986 Mets Ron Darling and Howard Johnson, 2000 Met Edgardo Alfonzo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members Juliet Landau, Camden Toy, and Scott L. Schwartz.

I will comb through my disorganized data to post a summary for December:

I got 17 autographs from 10 requests to 10 different people this month: six actors, three baseball players and one author. The longest wait was for Darren Daulton to sign my baseball card (Jan. 3 to Dec. 30), the shortest wait was a tie between baseball player Mark Eichhorn and actor Malachi Throne (Nov. 20 to Dec. 1).

My favorite response came from voice actor Kari Wahlgren, who signed two pictures for me and wrote a short letter in response.

I also received two purchases from OfficialPix this month (not counted in the previous total.)

I also had one “return to sender” from former baseball player Johnny Pesky, who has seemingly stopped signing through the mail.

I only sent out three autograph request letters in December because I was busy with holiday preparations at the beginning of the month and was without an internet connection to research addresses for much of the second part of the month, so the mailbox likely won’t have too much waiting for me in January.

I did not acquire any in-person autographs this month due to lack of opportunities, but next month features another Big Apple Comic Con and Chiller Theatre Convention, so I may have some in-person additions to offset the (probable) lack of mail.

Chiller Theatre’s January convention has been cancelled. (o1/01/07)

I’ve not been able to update much lately (see my previous post), but here’s what I’ve gotten in the mail this month:

On Thursday, December 14, I received a personalized, signed picture and a signed index card from actress Felicia Day (best known for playing Vi in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and a pair of signed baseball cards from San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. I believe I wrote to Ms. Day on Nov. 20, and Mr. Peavy on April 18.

On Monday, December 18, I got my Tom Kane photo from the OfficialPix private signing earlier this month. Mr. Kane has done voices for a number of cartoons and video games, including the voice of Yoda in Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: Clone Wars micro series.

On Wednesday, December 20, I got my Star Trek: The Next Generation Collectible Card Game card back, signed and personalized by actor Cameron Thor. Mr. Thor portrayed Narik in the two-part episode “Gambit.” I wrote to him on Nov. 20.

On Friday, Dec. 22, I got my Grey DeLisle photo from the OfficialPix private signing earlier this month. Ms. DeLisle voice Asajj Ventress, Padme Amidala, Shaak Ti, and Adi Galia in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon. It was a difficult choice, but I ultimately chose the Shaak Ti photo for my collection.

Today, I got a signed card of former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton. I wrote to him on January 3.

I’ll try to add photos for the other autographs in the near future.

I wrote to actor Eric Menyuk on Nov. 20 and asked him to sign a Star Trek: The Next Generation Collectible Card Game card featuring his character, The Traveller. Today, he returned my signed card and also included a note at the bottom of my letter, thanking me for writing.

I used the address on star-collector.net.

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