I have talked before about how terrible cut autos have become in this hobby, even to the point where I believe they are completely useless in most cases. Where as cuts used to be the cards people chase, they have instead become an exercise in futility over them featuring unworthy and even living subjects. Topps recently took this to a whole new level with their Mickey Mantle cut from the recent t-206 release, and currently it sits on ebay at a very unimpressive price with a sum total of zero bids.

Its no secret that this card is not going to be worth as much as another Mantle cut, mainly because of the way it is cleaved before Mantle’s last name, but it brings about an interesting question of whether or not the card is worth anyone’s time. Personally, I would neve consider this card to be one that I would even consider to be complete. Because its missing half of Mantle’s infamous signature, the only merit of the card is that its numbered 1/1, at least to me. I mean, Mantle’s signature is not rare by any means, and to tell you the truth, neither are his cut autographs. So, when you consider that you can probably have a pretty nice Mantle for the same price, maybe even a signed baseball, why even bother with this franken cut?

The other problem is that this isnt even the only frankenstein Mantle card Topps has offered. Who can forget this masterpiece from 2008 Triple Threads? Yes, Topps actually had David Wright and Alex Rodriguez sign an existing Mantle ball so they can put it in their set. Factoring in that Wright’s signature barely tops 100 bucks these days, and A-Rod’s is incredibly common, why destroy a perfectly good cut by adding two living players with signatures that do not add to the piece?

Its rare that card companies even try to incorporate the cut into the card’s design like they did in the olden days of the early 2000s, instead opting to forgo player pictures and design so that a signed piece of paper or even another cut up baseball card becomes the focal point. That is complete crap. Hopefully someone wises up and starts giving us cuts worth talking about.