Card of the Day: 2006 Sweet Spot Update Signatures Ken Griffey Jr.
I’ve owned a few Ken Griffey Jr. signatures during my collecting career, two of which have been of the Sweet Spot version. But none of them have looked like this.
This is a 2006 Sweet Spot Update Signatures Griffey card, but as you can see, the autograph here is anything but normal. It’s got the inscription “92 AS MVP,” a reference to the most valuable player award he won during the 1992 all-star game.
I’ve seen a fair number of Sweet Spot signatures over the years, but have not seen one bearing an inscription like this. Has anyone else? This Griffey is not a parallel of an insert set, and the serial number here is not abnormally low, so I have no idea if UD asked Griffey to add an inscription, or if he was feeling a bit generous when he signed this one.
I remember seeing a post on the Beckett Message Boards last year in which Phil Hughes, a fellow collector, showed BMBers how the process of signing UD cards. In Phil’s case, the company sent him a box of cards with little sticker arrows telling him where to sign. And if memory serves be right, Phil added a few inscriptions of his own to a few cards.
As is the case with the majority of the Sweet Spot signatures in recent years, these are “manufactured” baseballs as opposed to actual Rawlings Major League Baseballs, so I do not suspect UD took an older UDA ball with an inscription and used it here.
Lastly, I just checked my Beckett and eBay again, and it looks like these Griffey autos are supposed to be in BLUE ink. Hmm …
UPDATE: One similar one ended recently. (link)
cardboardicons.com 
March 30, 2011 at 11:58 am
I was googling the Ken Griffey Jr. 2006 UD sweet spot update autograph when I ran into this article concerning the same type of card that I also have but the difference being that my autograph is in Red Ink on a red stitch cowhide and numbered 33/359. According to Beckett listings there is no red ink autograph on a red stitch leather. Back in December 2010 I sent an email along with an attachment file that has a picture of my card to Beckett looking for any answers about this card but to-date have not received any response. It appears that ole Kenny Jr. made some different autographing methods to this batch of cards that he signed, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some other different ways that he signed that do not conform to what was supposed to be done according to the Beckett listings. Thought you would like to know that your not alone on this one.