OzCardTrader
Site Admin
We deal with a voluminous amount of autographs here at Panini America.*In fact, literally not a day goes by that we’re not on the receiving end of some of the most sought after signatures in all of sports. And we’ve seen it all. Quick scribbles. Occasional check marks. Carefully crafted, attention-to-detail works of art.
The point is, we know impeccable penmanship when we see it. And when we saw Michelle Beadle’s recently returned Fans of the Game cards for 2011-12 Pinnacle Hockey, we fell madly in love with what must be considered the sexiest autograph in sports.
Beadle, the bubbly, beloved co-host of ESPN2′s popular SportsNation, is no stranger to signing autographs for Panini America products. The Italian-born, Texas-raised beauty (sound familiar?) first put her drop-dead gorgeous signing skills on display earlier this year in the company’s 2011 Americana product on cards that are valued at a robust $50 each by Beckett Media.
We should’ve noticed her scintillating signatures then. But something about the way her bold, vibrant autograph pops off the white Fans of the Game signing area spoke to us. And we like what it said, perhaps even more than we like what the back of the card says:
“There’s a term for the skyrocketing popularity of the co-host of ESPN2′s SportsNation with Colin Cowherd: ‘Beadlemania.’ A fan of the New York Rangers and all things Alex Ovechkin, Beadle had more than 350,000 followers on Twitter and another 25,000 fans on Facebook as of the show’s second anniversary in July 2011.â€
From the first Fans of the Game card Beadle signed to the last, every signature is just as pristine and near-perfect as the one before it. Clearly, Beadle took great care to accentuate every pretty little letter, creating a captivating keepsake for each collector lucky enough to pull one when 2011-12 Pinnacle Hockey releases later this week.
Read more over at the Panini Blog...