I have always said that its a shame more companies dont make autographed parallels of their base cards available at a larger clip. I mean, in most sets, the base card is the best designed part of the product, and its stupid not to take advantage of it.

One of the main reasons I love chrome so much is that the autographs are just signed versions of the base cards. In almost every year, with the exception of 2008, I absolutely loved the base Topps design. Therefore, to have an autographed version of said design was at the top of my list.

This year, for both base Topps, Finest, Inception and now Prime, Topps has taken this suggestion and run with it. Not mine specifically, but the overall concept of what I want to see. I could not be happier. In each of the sets, there have been autographed parallels, and in Finest and Inception, as well as the upcoming release of Chrome, the signatures are hard signed.

Because Topps has used the signed base card as a driving chase item in the products, I have obviously spent a lot of money securing the Christian Ponder and Kyle Rudolph cards available this year. My collection now has the Finest Mosaic /10, the Inception /25, and the Topps auto rookie that has a shockingly low print run. They are some of my favorite autographed cards of these players out so far.

When Prime hits shelves tomorrow, there will be another grouping of signed base cards for me to chase. The full game photos look tremendous on these cards, and I was actually sort of disappointed when they werent available last year. Panini should also take notice of the way the labels are done, as the faded white edges of the autograph area look MUCH more stylish than just a big white box like Elite and more were using.

After seeing more of what Prime has to offer, its a definite possibility that the upgrade over last year will be better than originally thought. Now that the signed base cards are also a big part of the box hits, I know I may need to invest more than originally planned.