Larry Bird Autograph — 2003-04 SP Signature Gold

There's a long story behind why I wanted to pick this up that isn't super relevant to the card itself, but the reason I picked this one was for a few reason:

• I believed the Larry Bird autograph market was pretty soft after he signed a bunch in recent years for Panini

• This is a great looking large autograph

• Early 2000s Upper Deck are my absolute favorite card designs of all-time and this is a great example

• I prefer the green Celtics uniform and liked that this one wasn't a shooting photo

The market has been a bit slower to increase than I thought in part because he's still signing a good bit (and for Topps now as well), but it's bumped up pretty nicely the past year. As of this writing, it's increased about 50% per CardLadder estimate.

The longer story is after being a big Larry Bird fan, it felt wrong not to have one auto in the inventory after moving a few others.

My mother's family is from southwestern Indiana and they lived not too far from French Lick. I used to spend summers over there to stay with my grandparents get a break from my parents. Of course, everyone loved Larry Bird over there--this was in the mid/late 80s. It was all about Bobby Knight and Larry Bird.

After a particularly rough patch back at home, my grandfather drove me up to French Lick to see the house Larry had build for his mom. The house is big but not super remarkable, but from the road you can see the outdoor court he built with painted with Celtics colors. He told me the story about how Larry left IU quickly and came back to be a garbage man for a bit before enrolling at Indiana State. He said something to the effect that life can throw you some curves but you have to stay tough and get through it. I got the message.

I'm not going to post the photo, but he took one of me in front of the court with a big goofy grin on my face.

Later I learned that was the house where Larry got the back injury that derailed his career, but somehow I think things worked out the way they were supposed to.

I can't say I was a hick from French Lick, but I come from some hicks nearby.