Who is this? Indians pitching prospect Jaret Wright.
What is this? An autograph card from 1995 Signature Rookies Tetrad, card number F12.
Where'd I get it? Atlanta Sports Cards.
How much did it cost? A buck.
Why is this so special? I still can't believe the Yankees got suckered into paying this guy. Ha! This is a pretty bizarre looking card. Forget the oh-so-'90s SR FORCE font on the top (teal and purple, brilliant!), There's so much other craziness going on it's hard to list it all. First there's the tilted photo with the three cutouts of various body parts. Another go-to '90s technique. There's several flags for unnecessary use of foil, first in the 'baseball' designation under the SR FORCE just so we know Jaret isn't playing lacrosse, the typical unreadable foil name (in script, no less) and the mysterious "You make the call!" logo which probably meant something in 1995 but certainly doesn't now. The best is the "1 of 6000" foil stamping alone with the hand written 1551/2500 serial number. It's like they printed up the cards, got Jaret to sign as many of them at gunpoint that they could then added the second serial number later. I guess this means the unsigned card is limited to 3500 since we know that no card company during the heady '90's would ever overproduce one of their cards. The back is worse than the front. More purple and teal, more inset photos of body parts, and the utterly fantastic hologram sticker that was stuck on the card by some intern guaranteeing that this card had an authentic sticker stuck to it.
Wright was a bit of a phenom for the Indians in '97 and '98, going 20-13 for the Tribe before arm problems turned him into a reclamation project for the Braves. Reclaim they did, as Jaret went 15-8 with a 3.26 ERA for the Braves. He immediately bolted for the Yankees but left his talent behind in his Braves' locker. Can you say 6.08 ERA? I'm hard on ol' Jaret since he was one in a line of free agents that bolted from the Braves for more money only to suck in their new homes. Jaret did turn one league-average year for the Yankees in 2006 to earn his 21 million dollar contract. He then turned in 10 and a third forgettable innings in relief for the Orioles in '07 and was cut from the Pirates in spring training. Poor Jaret. The signature is interesting though. I suppose I can see "Ja" with a flourish on the end, but I have no clue where Wright is supposed to be. I suppose it could be that bit under the flourish, but with the oversize J it looks more like July. Good month to post this card I suppose.
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1 comment:
I have one of these with Jason Isringhausen. But mine isn't autographed. I could not find these in any catalog I had, but did find them listed on Becket.com. That's how I found out they were Tetrad cards. Tetrad, BTW, means "a set or group of four". Well there are four photos on the front, even though the 3 smaller ones are just parts of the big one.
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