SLAP SHOT Saturday: Marc Staal STYLE

CHICKEN SCRATCH: Blake Snell

Blake Ashton Snell is a MLB pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays who made his MLB debut on April 23, 2016 and managed to compile a 6-8 record in his first year with an ERA of 3.54 and amassed 98 strikeouts. Blake was drafted by Tampa Bay in the first round of the 2011 MLB draft.

This is Blake's 2011 Bowman Chrome prospect rookie auto which I obtained opening one box after another during the "great hunt" for Bryce Harper rookie autograph cards. Blake's signature is very legible and you can make out all of the letters in his first name and his last name without any eye strain effort. I like how he makes both of the L's in his last name the same size as the "S". It's a very clean autograph and it's very well balanced and the signature does not dance all over the place.

For his efforts Blake receives 5/5 sharpies!!!!!

 

 Big Kahuna approved

CHICKEN SCRATCH: RODNEY HOOD Edition

Today, your eyes will gaze upon the autograph of Rodney Hood who is a shooting guard for the Utah Jazz in the NBA.

 

Every year I buy a few packs of basketball cards just for giggles and when you pull an autograph from that pack it does make you feel like you just won the lotto.......in a small kind of fun way. I pulled this card from a feeder box at target and was literally surprised because the pack didn't seem very thick or heavy. This is a Rodney Hood 2014-15 Panini Excalibur Basketball Rookie Rampage patch auto card serially numbered 21/25.

The first thing that I noticed in Rodney's signature is that he signed his first name with a "Lasso"effect. It's in my opinion that you can make out an "R" if you already knew his name was Rodney. However, when I showed the card to a few friends and asked them for their thoughts on the autograph, their first thought was that it's an "A" more than an "R" that he signed. 

With his last name (Hood), it looks like it's spelled, "Nid" or "Mid". If you look really hard at the card you will see these letters: A N D. So I guess his signature name is "and" perhaps?

Either way Rodney's signature is better than most of the NBA player signatures in the last 5 years and while it may be barely legible the tribe has decided to give him 2 sharpies for his efforts. 

THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN!

 

Chicken Scratch: Jarrod Parker Edition

In this lovely edition of "Chicken Scratch", we are looking at the autograph of Oakland A's Pitcher Jarrod Parker. Jarrod was drafted 9th by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of the 2007 MLB Draft and then was traded to the Oakland A's in December 2011.

When you observe his rookie card from 2008 Bowman Chrome you can clearly see on this card

that he signed, "his" version of his full name on the card . Although his name cannot be fully recognized by his signature, for the most part you can make out the "J" and the "P".

The card that you're looking at for this edition of "CS" is from 2013 Topps Baseball series one "Chasing the Dream" insert. Allow your eyes to gaze upon the signature. Now, move ahead five years later after the Bowman Chrome card and his autograph seems to have a bit of change in its presentation.

This may be in part due to a limited amount of signing space because of the type of sticker that is used for signing or he's getting older and has signed his name a hundred thousand times and does not care what it looks like.

Once again another "on card" version of his autograph:

  

Honestly this card almost looks like it was signed in Japanese to a degree almost. You can make out the "J" and not a whole lot of other letters. It almost looks like the initials of HVE or HVX. Either way it's hard to make out his name.

The TRIBE has spoken:

Chicken Scratch of the Day

Joe Mauer was the 2009 American League's MVP. Joe was the best catcher in all of baseball for 2009 in my opinion. Joe has a MVP style signature as well.

Chicken Scratch of the Day

Mr. Harry Douglas. Oh how I was surprised when I pulled this lovely little 1/1 last year from Topps Finest. I don't mind printing plates all that much but it is nice when it's a rookie one. AS for his signature...well that seems a little bit like a backward "N" with a loop and three lines. I've pulled three of his auto's and this one is the best by far. His SPX autograph version is pretty consistent with his other signatures. For this Harry gets 2 sharpies.