finally a better Greg Maddux autograph (though the signature still isn't great)

Greg Maddux is a fun guy to collect. He's high up on the list of best pitchers of his era, if not all-time. And he gets bonus points in my eyes for being a Pad in the Hall (former Padre in the HOF). I've got a solid PC of his cards, but a sore spot for me was that the lone autograph I have is an ugly, unlicensed stickergraph.

A couple years back, I bought a nicer Maddux auto specifically to turn around and trade it for a shiny Rafael Devers auto-- I generally don't do buy-to-trade deals, but Devers was hot at the time and I really wanted to score the card, so I made an exception-- a swap that I may have second guessed a few times since as Devers struggled a bit last year, but he seems to have bounced back, so it might still work out for me yet. But anyways, since then I've been keeping an eye out for a nice Maddux auto for myself. Had to be licensed, on-card signed, and since I wasn't in a rush, I wanted to hold out until I found a card that fit this criteria and was numbered 12/25.

Eventually a viable candidate popped up at $100 Or Best Offer. I watched it for a while hoping the price would drop into a more reasonable range after the seller realized he was asking too much. Months went by with no change, so I went ahead and made a fair offer of $70.. about what a similar Maddux auto sells for these days. The guy flat out rejected the offer. No meeting-in-the-middle counter-offer (say around $85, which I likely would have accepted). Oh well, screw that guy, I guess, I thought to myself. If eBay allowed you to block sellers, I probably would have blocked him right then.

Well, cut to a couple weeks later, the seller decided to list the card at auction with a starting bid of $75. I ended up winning it as the only bidder. Joke's on him, as his unwillingness to compromise cost himself a few bucks. I figure I still overpaid a little, but you know me, I put a premium on Christmas Cards because I'm silly like that.

That's a nice looking card! It makes for a fine crowning jewel atop my Maddux PC.

No hard feelings with the seller. I will give him credit for being super fast (though perhaps USPS deserves much of the credit). I won the card on Friday and received it the next Monday (yesterday). I might expect that if the guy was local, but he's way out in South Carolina, so it was a surprise for that quick of a turnaround. And it was not sent via Priority Mail either, just regular First-Class.

That's all for today.