Unfortunately, I was not in tune to the issue when it first came out and I had missed out on some really cool autographs. These cards tend to hide away not long after issue, so if you don't grab them agt issue time, good luck finding them later. I have been able to track down a few older ones after the fact though, like the Bill Harris. I will also apologize for the borrowed scans, as I wanted to write this blog entry to share, but I either didn't have all the cards featured or was not able to scan my actual copies.
Bill Harris appeared in 2009 Topps Heritage on a replica of his only MLB card, which is a pretty neat card in itself. I missed this one on the first pass, but later I was quite excited to find out that such an obscure player actually had a certified autograph to collect! He was one of many Topps star rookies that year who received the fancy, framed ribbon rookie card. Most of that rookie class was pretty low impact on the hobby world, but it did feature a nice rookie card for future Hall of Famer, Carl Yastrzemski. Harris, on the other hand, never made much of a splash. He only pitched two MLB games in his career, one for the Brooklyn Dodgers and later one for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A neat trivia side note is that during his MLB debut in 1957, he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the 7th inning and a young Sandy Koufax come in for him in relief and also that Roy Campanella played in his final game that day as well. Harris was awarded the loss in that game, his only decision. I did learn later that he was a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and only after he passed away did I also learn that he lived in my home state and owned a popular bar in Kennewick for many years. Had I known this prior to his death, I would have tried to make it by one day, although Kennewick is a lengthy haul from where I reside.
I had also later found out that Irv Noren appeared in Heritage and had a certified autograph featuring him with the Dodgers. Once more, how cool for a Dodger autograph collector to be able to add one of these to the collection. Noren ended his career in LA in 1960, playing in 26 games for the Dodgers. He didn't have a regular Topps card showing him on the Dodgers when he was active, so this was a cool bonus as well. I had to grab one of these as well. Of course, the red parallel issue makes for a very tough variation to these cards. I will add those when I can, but seem to miss out mostly.
Even later still, I stumbled upon the fact that Norel also shared an interesting autographed Hertiage card with Andre Ethier that same year. I had never seen it or was even aware of it at the time, but found an image while doing some sort of Dodger related ebay search. This dual autograph card is in the design of the multi-player special subset cards, is called Past & Present and was numbered to just 25 copies. I would love to add one to my collection, but have never actually seen one for sale yet. The two players also share a jersey and autograph card as well, this one numbered to just 10 copies. Another card I would someday like to own.
You'd think I'd do a little homework after finding out about these sweet gems, but nope. I went about my business until a couple weeks ago when I found out that there was yet another dual Dodgers autograph in that Heritage set, which brings me full circle back to Bill Harris. Harris was also featured on a Past & Present card with none other than Clayton Kershaw. This card is numbered to 25 copies and would have been one I probably never had a shot at when they were new anyway. Well, I guess my time had come because I tossed out a bid that I figured would be easily beaten and ended up the winner! I have to admit that I am more excited about the Harris part of this card than the much better Kershaw, given that Harris was so obscure and Kershaw has signed plenty. Definitely a great card that fits nicely in my collection. Now there are not two, but three different Bill Harris certified autograph cards that I am aware exist, one more than all the games he played in!
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