Random Ray - 2023 Panini Flawless

It turns out that Ray Lankford had two autographs in Panini Flawless. I added one a few weeks back and won the other in an auction on Ebay last week. I was really excited to say the least. 

Here is the front of the card, which is from Panini's high end baseball product.  

Panini Flawless is roughly $1,500 for a box. Can you imagine pulling a $20-$30 autograph of Ray Lankford in a box that costs that much? Thank goodness other people are willing to spend the money to open these boxes and resell their cards on Ebay for a huge loss.  

I'm excited.  

Back of the card.  

There is no write up on the back, only a Certificate of Authenticity. Well, there is a giant "STL" in the middle of the card, which is something different. I actually don't miss the write up that much, but they should have made the Certificate of Authenticity a little larger.  

Random Ray - 2023 Panini Flawless Autograph

Ray Lankford became one of my favorite Cardinals players after watching him hit for the cycle against the Mets during his rookie season in 1991. Over the years, a few different baseball cards have referenced Ray's cycle game, but today's card might be my favorite of the group.  

This is from the high-end Panini Flawless release and from the autographed insert set "Flawless Achievements". Note the small banner under the autograph and serial numbering labeled, "Homers To Complete Rare Rookie Cycle".  I knew the second I saw this card that I needed a copy for my collection.  

Yes, it's a "high-end" Panini card without logos and the most expensive Ray Lankford card I have added to my collection in the past year.  It was still less expensive than plenty of other modern autographed cards, so some perspective on it being an expensive Lankford card.  I kind of dig the design on the card too.  

I like the color scheme on the back with the gold writing on a white background with red trim.  Panini also did a really good job with the write up on the back of the card describing his cycle and the rarity of the feat by players in their rookie season.