• Home
  • Enroth Card Gallery
  • Game-Used Memorabilia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Wantlist
  • Collections
    • Set Collections >
      • Upper Deck Win Club
      • 2018-19 Synergy Last Line of Defence
      • 2008-09 Artifacts
      • 2006-07 Fleer Netminders
    • Player Collections >
      • Martin Brodeur
      • Ed Belfour
      • Carey Price
      • Marc-Andre Fleury
      • Mike Mole
    • Vintage Collection
    • Personal Collection
    • Cards For Trade Or Sale
  • Blog
  • Contact
creasecollector

Beyond The Crease: A Hockey Card Blog
focused around Hockey, The hobby, and my Jhonas Enroth card collection (Among other things)

Why did Sidney Crosby Autograph cards with Himself?

3/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
If you've been around the hobby long enough, chances are you've seen a few dual autographed cards - including the ones where Crosby signed with.... himself. Have you ever wondered why? Let me explain.
Being around this hobby for over a decade, I've see a lot of cardboard over the years. 

One cardboard memory that I have is seeing the first Sidney Crosby's dual autograph cards during the earlier part of his career. While dual autograph cards aren't abnormal, these cards stood out to me because Crosby had signed these cards with....himself. 

If you've ever wondered why or how those cards came to be, I wanted to solve that mystery here on my blog. 


Going back to the 2005-06 season, Sidney Crosby was starting arguably one of the highest profile careers in all of hockey history at the time. He was the next Great One, and people were paying attention. Every since Crosby has been able to lace up his skates, it seems like the hockey world had anticipated this season. 

Off the ice, there is a lot more than meets the eye with professional athletes than just hockey, especially for these soon-to-be all-time greats. For Sidney Crosby, his image had to be flawlessly constructed now that he has finally reached the NHL.

On the hockey card side of things, it was no different. From the image, written text, and especially any autograph deals, there was always an approval process to go through when dealing with Crosby's camp, which was mainly handled by his agent. However, on the autograph front, a key person present for these dealings was Troy Crosby, Sidney's father.

Apparently, Troy Crosby played a main factor in limiting his son's autograph involvement between him other players. Now, before the uproar starts, they didn't want it to come off in a negative light.

Even though Crosby had a higher ceiling than many of the other prospects of the time, the main idea theorized behind this was to not takeaway someone else's spotlight on a card, even the veterans of the league at the time. I would also theorize that they also wanted to limit or preserve the amount of autographs Sid had to sign at the time. 

So due to this agreement, Sidney Crosby was only able to sign autographs with himself. In his rookie sets, you'll notice his 2005-06 Rookie Inspirations Dual Autographs /199, normally a dual autograph card, Crosby had signed and inscribed "2005 #1 Pick" instead of having another player on the card.

Picture
2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update - Rookie Inspirations Dual Autographs /199
During the same time period, there is one instance where a card did not follow the "Crosby only" rule, and that was on a single set is 2005-06 SPx in the Winning Combos Dual Autograph Memorabilia subset, pictured with Wayne Gretzky. 

Apparently, this card was never allowed to exist due to the initial autograph agreement, but was made anyway. 

​I suspect that because both of these autographs were on a sticker, UD assumed this combo would be acceptable and placed these stickers on the card. After this card was made, the door was slammed shut and no other dual autograph card with Crosby was made at this early stage of his career. Only 25 copies exist of the only true dual autograph card featuring Crosby.
Picture
2005-06 SPx Winning Combos Autograph Jersey /25
Since this point forward, if Upper Deck wanted to put Crosby in a dual autograph set, he was only allowed to sign autographs with himself. With those rules being strictly enforces, these autographed cards looked something like this:
Picture
2010-11 UD The Cup Honorable Numbers /87
Picture
2010-11 SP Authentic 2 Sign of The Times
In 2011, however, collectors were overjoyed when Crosby's camp had presumably reached a new autograph deal around this time which now allowed dual signatures with other players.

While no doubt this list of players Crosby will sign with is limited and very exclusive, the anticipation of more card combos was fun to speculate on. 

For 2010-11 Upper Deck The Cup, there was an agreement in place to permit Crosby's first (allowed) Dual Autograph & Memorabilia cards was with Mario Lemieux. A very fitting combo no doubt. I still remember the hype around these awesome cards at the time.

​Though Upper Deck was unsure if the cards would be signed or returned on time, they were included via redemption cards inside 2011-12 The Cup. Better late than never as they always say. He also had a dual with Mario Lemieux in 2011-12 SP Authentic, too.
Picture
2010-11 UD The Cup Signature Patches /35
Picture
2010-11 UD The Cup Signature Swatches /15
Though Crosby's autograph is limited (and expensive to acquire, I'm sure), he has since been featured on various hard-signed dual autograph/memorabilia cards with other star players since 2011.  

I've included some more examples below:

Picture
2011-12 SP Authentic 2 Sign of The Times (SP)
Picture
2011-12 UD The Cup Dual Scripted Swatches /15
Picture
2011-12 UD The Cup Dual Stanley Cup Signatures /25
Picture
2018-19 UD The Cup Dual Signature Materials /5
Picture
18-19 UD The Cup Programme Of Excellence Dual Autographs /5
Picture
19-20 Upper Deck Chronology Dual Autographs /25
Picture
19-20 Leaf Superlative Hockey Collection - # 1 Draft Picks 1/1 Lemieux/Crosby/Ovechkin/Lindros. This is Crosby's only set he is featured on a Quadruple autograph hockey card known to date. The autograph was a sticker autograph leftover from his ITG autograph days (pre-NHL).
Picture
19-20 Parkhurst Tallboys Achievement (ePack) Dual Autographs /10
I've accumulated some images of Sidney Crosby's dual autographs over the years. I know I'm missing quite a few in this blog post, especially with the rise of achievement autograph cards on ePack, but if you know of any I'm missing, please leave a comment below or send me a quick email.

I hope this blog post was informative and you learned something new about this awesome hobby.

Happy Collecting, 

Aaron

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author - Aaron

    ​I've been collecting Hockey cards since the late 90's. Mainly the goalies since 2005. I also Co-Host a Hockey Card Podcast.
    ​
    Not-so-secretly searching for every Jhonas Enroth card on earth. ​Let's enjoy this hobby together!

    ​Connect with me to talk hockey cards, goalies, collaborations, or any article ideas you may have.

    About
    Contact

    Picture
    Picture
    C&C Collector Of The Month
    Picture
    My Featured Article in Beckett Hockey

    The Podcast

    Picture
    A Hockey Card Podcast for collectors, by collectors.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Picture
    The History of Trading Cards
    Picture
    The Early History of NHL Cards
    Picture
    The Tale of 2 Gretzky's
    Picture
    Finding a "White Whale"
    Picture
    Why did Crosby Autograph cards with himself?

    Categories

    All
    Card Of The Week
    Collectors Corner
    Mail Day
    New PC Additions
    Podcasts
    Product Previews
    Random
    Set Collecting
    The Hobby


    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018


    Picture
    Marc-Andre Fleury​
    ​Daniel & Henrik Sedin​
    Roberto Luongo

    Larry Murphy
    Trevor Linden

    Marty Turco
    Nathan Horton

    Arturs Irbe
    Arturs Irbe (2)
    Matt Belesky
    ​Sean Burke
    Tuukka Rask
    ​Mike Smith
    ​Niklas Hjalmarsson
    Lee Stempniak
    Cal Clutterbuck
    Jarome Iginla
    ​Chris Osgood
    Ondrej Pavelec

    Justin Abdelkader
    Ryan O'Reilly​
    Eric Lindros
    Paul Kariya
    ​Carl Soderberg
    Curtis Joseph

    Anze Kopitar
    Pavel Bure
    Mikhail Grabovski
    Taylor Hall
    Kevin Shattenkirk
    Niklas Bäckström
    Ed Giacomin
    ​
    Jaccob Slavin

    Martin Biron
    ​Patrick Roy
    John Tavares

    Cam Atkinson
    Jaromir Jagr
    Jimmy Howard​
    Antti Raanta

    Picture
    The Pro Set Fanatic
    Picture
    Goaltending Museum & Memorabilia
    Picture
    Puck Junk
    Picture
    Pre-War Cards
    Picture
    The Marc-Andre Fleury Collection
    Picture
    Hockey Ink In The Mail
    Picture
    Penguins Chronicles

    Send me a message to get your collection or website showcased here

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Enroth Card Gallery
  • Game-Used Memorabilia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Wantlist
  • Collections
    • Set Collections >
      • Upper Deck Win Club
      • 2018-19 Synergy Last Line of Defence
      • 2008-09 Artifacts
      • 2006-07 Fleer Netminders
    • Player Collections >
      • Martin Brodeur
      • Ed Belfour
      • Carey Price
      • Marc-Andre Fleury
      • Mike Mole
    • Vintage Collection
    • Personal Collection
    • Cards For Trade Or Sale
  • Blog
  • Contact