I only have a couple-dozen or so autographed Padres cards, and until yesterday just two of them were of current members of the team. Now Kyle Blanks stands alone as Anthony Bass moves to Houston and the card pictured above gets refiled under former Friars.
I got this card about a year-and-a-half ago in exchange for a numbered insert of Matt Kemp that I pulled from a pack. I'm glad I noticed that it would have trade value before I ripped it in half like I usually do when I inadvertently get a Dodgers card. This card is also numbered, #445 of 500 copies, and has a real mouthful of a name: 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractor Certified Autograph Issue BCP212. I already went off on my old-man rant about how I hate Topps and therefor Bowman's penchant toward multiple redundant parallel cards back when Brad Brach got traded, so I'm going to focus on what I like about this card.
It's a very clean design. Bowman cards tend to be a collision course of unnecessary graphics and 2010 was mercifully a break from that. As for the autograph, it was signed on the card itself as opposed to being on a sticker that was placed on a card at a later date. It might not sound like much, but it makes a world of difference to most collectors. The sticker autographs give cards a tacky look while on-card signatures give the end-user the bonus satisfaction of knowing that the player pictured touched the same card at one point. It's like a vicarious handshake.
Setting aside the appearance of the card and getting back to the man on it, Anthony Bass will be missed. From everything I've seen, he seems like a great guy and I'll be rooting for him in his new chapter with pitching coach Brent Strom and senior pitching advisor Doug Brocail. Except, you know, when he's pitching against the Padres. Sorry, man, that's just the way it is.
