And the Award for the Worst Cut Signature Ever Goes to...

...2007 TriStar Signa Cuts Paul Krause.

Since the advent of cut signature cards, there have been plenty of autographs that have been butchered. From dead presidents to Hollywood legends, the list of cropped cuts is long. But nothing like this abomination.

Not only is the autograph indecipherable, but to add further insult is the fact that there's a huge chunk of white space being wasted. Is it really too much to expect these cuts to be moved to fit the window?

Not surprisingly, the auction for this card ran its course without getting anyone to bite on the $5.99 opening bid.

Prospecting Gone Wrong: Grant Desme

Normally it's an injury or simple lack of elite-level skill that causes a prospect to leave baseball. As of today you can add a new reason: priesthood. Grant Desme, a 23-year-old prospect in the Oakland A's system has retired to join the ranks of the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict approves.

The A's second-round pick in the 2007 draft, Desme was the only 30-30 player in the Minors last year, racking up 31 homers and 40 stolen bases for Kane County and Stockton. Desme also struck out 148 times.

Desme has appeared in a handful of Minor League sets (including autographs):2007 TriStar Prospects Plus, 2008 Just Autographs, 2008 TriStar PROjections and, most recently, 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. I wouldn't be surprised if Desme gets a bit of a following due to the move, but anyone holding out on him becoming a star are bound to be disappointed.

Although not a Catholic myself, I've always admired athletes for sticking to what they believe in, Muhammad Ali being the biggest example. Would Jose Canseco fit in this category too, in some twisted way?

Heavenly Metal

Last week I received a package from Mario at Wax Heaven that had some good ole' wrasslin cards and this thing of beauty:

 

Bon Jovi in trading card form. It comes from Impel's 1991 Mega Metal set, which after doing a little research has a Skid Row hologram. There's boxes on eBay for under $20 so I think I may have to dip in and get my 80s hair metal nostalgia going one of these days.

The big finds of the box were a trio of hits from TriStar's recent TNA: Cross the Line set.

 

 

The dual event-used card and the Dutt autograph are both numbered /50. I haven't seen a lot of TNA wrestling yet but I do know that all three of these guys featured do have some good moves. Whether or not they become stars on a bigger stage remains to be seen.

Here's some more TNA:

 

We've got old man Foley who just won TNA's big belt last weekend over Sting (no, this isn't 1997). Then we have a funky art card of an all-time favorite of mine, Christian who recently returned to his WWE roots and even more recently (yesterday) won the ECW Championship.

Oh, yeah, there was also this:

 

That, my friends, is Don West captured in a rare moment where he was at a loss for words.

Mario didn't neglect the wrestling big leagues either. He also sent me some WWE cards I hadn't seen in person yet: a handful of Topps' UK-exclusive Slam Attacks. They're a CCG that are meant to be played with. Topps recently brought the line over to North America with a baseball set that I haven't seen or played. Here's a sample:

You can never go wrong with Jimmy Snuka and the Ken Kennedy is a foil - not sure if it's a parallel or just something fancy. These have a nice clean look to them.

Thanks a bunch, Mario!