Five New Rule-Following Autographs

As I wrote about last week, I've come across several additional players to add to my Cubs certified autograph collection.  They are all unlicensed Panini cards, which is why I missed them when they first came out.

This one from 2017 Promising Pros will count for both the autograph and relic collection.  Jeimer Candelario is now with the Tigers, so part of me hopes the promise is broken, though he hit over .300 during his time in Detroit.  I had to spend $13 for this card, but if you divided that between the relic and auto binders, it's not an unreasonable price.

Panini issued this in 2015, Tommy LaStella's first year with the Cubs.  He is wearing a Braves uniform, but the card shows him with Chicago, so it follows the rules.  The card was pretty inexpensive, costing me three bucks and a quarter.

Thomas Neal played in just two games for the 2013 Cubs, but that was enough to earn him a certified card with Select Signatures.  I paid $1.93 to add this card.

Brooks Raley was another minimal performer for the 2013 Cubs that got a certified card.  He pitched in nine games and gave up eight runs over 14 innings.  His big league career ended with those games.  He has a certified card and Kyle Hendricks does not.  Brooks set me back just $2.75.

Josh Vitters was one of the crown jewels of the Cubs system when he came up in 2012.  He hit just .121 and never made it back.  I think Theo brought him up to show just how bad the Cubs system was and to buy some time for his rebuild.  I bought the .121 hitter for $2.75

Adding these five now ups my total to 130 rule-following Cubs players with certified autographs.  I'll have a tile with all of them tomorrow