Friday Five: My Five Favorite Autographed Longoria Cards

I was sort of expecting the Rays might trade away long-time third baseman Evan Longoria this offseason, but it was still rough actually seeing it happen last Wednesday.  I started following his career after he made an appearance with the Durham Bulls towards the end of the 2007 season.  Longoria is easily the best player to have ever donned the Rays uniform and provided some of the best moments in franchise history.  

He helped the Rays make their only World Series appearance in 2008 by hitting 6 home runs during the American League Division and Championship Series against the White Sox and Red Sox.  My personal favorite moment was his walk off home run on the last day of the 2011 season which put the Rays into the playoffs that year

I have had a good time collecting Longoria's baseball cards over years.  There are plenty of nice ones out there, so for this post I am going to stick with a few autographed cards which I have enjoyed having in my collection.  Maybe next week I can do another post with the great non-autographed Longoria cards in my collection.  

Honorable Mention:  2013 Topps Tier One Autograph/Patch

I have a few Tier One autographs from a few different years.  Longoria has appeared in the product in some way every year that Topps has put out the product since 2011.  Most years the autographs are on-card, which is one reason why I usually like to pick up an autograph or two out of that product every year.  I really like the design of the 2013 Tier One autograph below, but I cannot put it in my top 5 based on the fact that the card is a sticker autograph.  I love the patch piece, I love the picture, I love the design, but I am bothered by the sticker.  Small thing, but this was a tough list to get down to five.  If I made a list of my favorite sticker autographs of Longoria, this card would be first.  

5.  2014 Topps Tribute 

Tribute is another product that has been a mix of sticker and on-card autographs over the years, sometimes even within a year.  Most of the relic cards from this set that have autographs are stickers.  I have a few different autographs out of Tribute, but this simple autographed card is my favorite of the group.  I like the finishes and design of the card.  It has a nice glossy front and a little bit thicker card stock.  Tribute is also one of those products that has all sorts of different colored parallels, some of them can look a little goofy at times.  I like that this card is low key in background color.

4.  2016 Topps The Mint 

The Mint was one of those ridiculously priced products that was something along the lines of a four digit number for a box.  There were several autographs that I looked into picking up from The Mint, but I was happy that the cards ended up being reasonable in price after a few weeks of the cards sitting on Ebay.  I love the darker background and the on-card autograph.  I sort of wish that the autograph was signed in a different color ink, gold or silver would have been a good look, but the blue still is nice on this card. 

3.  2017 Topps Five Star Autograph/Patch 

This is a recent addition and there is a recent blog post about this card.  Bascially, I have really slowed down on the whole relic card scene.  I don't go after them, I don't trade for them, I don't spend money on them.  I even feel sort of in different when I land one in a pack of cards.  However, this card is something a little different.  I like the jumbo patch which is from the nameplate of Longoria's jersey.  Very nice card that filled a void in my collection of Longoria cards. 

2.  2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Evan Longoria Autograph 

Not the flashiest card.  There is no foil or fancy card stock.  Allen & Ginter is one of my favorite products every year and I really like the framed autographed cards.  Longoria has other Allen & Ginter autograph that are fancy with jersey pieces.  He also has another framed Ginter autograph, but this is my favorite one in my collection.  

1.  2008 Topps Chrome Red Hot Rookies Autograph

I really love the 2008 Topps set.  The little circles at the top are a neat design element that make these cards unique and easy to recognize.   There are always autographed rookie cards in the Topps Chrome set, but the Red Hot Rookies set was actually a redemption in this product.  Not sure when Topps started these cards, or if/when they stopped.  I really hate redemption cards, so this was an early Longoria rookie that was a more recent addition to my collection.   Well worth the wait though, this is my favorite Evan Longoria card.  

A New Longo To Celebrate the Longo of Old

We have reached the end of the regular season for baseball, and with it, the Rays have thankfully played their last game of the year.  There was potential for this team headed into the year, but 2016 was a complete disaster in Tampa.  While the Rays are not my primary rooting interest, they are the parent club of the Durham Bulls, so obviously there are many of my favorite former Minor Leaguers hanging out on their roster.  

Evan Longoria has long been a favorite, but over the last few years the All-Star third baseman has started to slide in terms of performance.  I still love watching Longo play and still will always enjoy collecting his cards no matter than state of his stat line.  

However, while most of the Rays were flopping all over the field this year, Longo looked like his former self from a few years back. The former Durham Bull set a career high in home runs and extra base hits.  Longo made it worth checking out the Rays games this year...

The enjoyment of watching Longo on the field has made me flip through his cards a few times this summer and keep my eyes open for some new cool cards.  I think my latest one is pretty nice....

Yes, another card from the $1,000 per box Topps Mint.  This is my second card from the product, but the Longo cost me a little bit more than my $9.99 Andres Galarraga autograph.  I seriously do not know who is opening boxes of these cards and finding cards that are between $10 and $20.  I'm sure that there is something high end in there....maybe.  

I love the looks of this card and the card stock that it is printed on.  The dark background is cool and the signature is clean and on-card.  Overall, a nice addition to my collection of Longoria autographs.  

The Minty Big Cat

This is seriously a card product that people buy?  5 cards for $1,250?

That's steep, so the cards have to be incredible right?  Absolutely.  I love how they look.  I also love the fact that I bought one of a really good player for $9.99.  Considering you have to average $250ish per card to break even I am not liking the odds of getting anywhere close to your money back if you buy a box of "The Mint"

Sounds kind of snooty.

Well, the cards are really really good looking at least.  This is my $9.99 autograph.

There is a little chipping on the bottom of the card, but for $9.99?  I am really happy with this card.  I know in yesterday's post I promised an autograph of Andres Galarraga in a Cardinals uniform which this is not, but I promise the next time I write the words Andres Galarraga and autograph in the same blog post it will be accompanied by a picture of an autographed card of him wearing a Cardinals uniform.