2008-2009 Topps Basketball Sidney Moncrief

Who is this? Milwaukee Bucks guard Sidney Moncrief.

What is this? An autograph card from 2008 Topps Basketball, card number 177.

Where'd I get it? Out of a retail pack.

How much did it cost? $1.99.

Why is this so special? I liked last year's Topps basketball. I thought the black borders worked well with the basketball photos, and the rookies and the retro parallels looked goood. This year isn't that good for one reason: once again Topps short printed the rookies. I really don't care about basketball cards that much anymore to go chasing after short prints in a set. I have bought a couple of packs out of curiosity and this was in one of them. This pack was lying on some blasters by itself at Wal-Mart. This was in the dead zone between the period after I had mostly finished my A&G set and before Masterpieces came out, so I grabbed it. Apparently a searcher abandoned it or forgot about it, because this autograph was inside. The pack was definitely searched though, because the auto card has a slight crease near the signature due to the pack being bent. That kind of thing is somewhat common on thick relic cards and it doesn't really take away from it, but it has lost the coveted GEMMINT!!1 designation craved nowadays. I don't care, I like the card anyways.

Sidney was one of the all around stars of the '80s. He led the Bucks to tons of wins, but never got past the more dominant Celtics or 76ers for a title. Moncrief could score, averaging over 15 points a game for his career but he was best known as a tenacious defender. He was a two time Defensive Player of the Year and was acknowledged by Michael Jordan as a fierce competitor. After 10 years in Milwaukee he played one last year with Atlanta, so this is a Hawks autograph as far as I'm concerned. This card is using the 1958 Topps baseball design which looks really good with basketball subjects. It's also as thick as a relic card for some reason. The autograph is on a sticker, but the sticker is embedded into the card making the whole thing look better in my opinion. The signature is a minimalist Sid M. but still looks pretty darn good on the card. Good stuff from Topps, I wish they hadn't screwed up the set with those short prints though.