Barack Obama Cut Autograph Added to Sportkings Series C

Less than two weeks before the product hits, Sportkings officials announced late Friday afternoon that they have added a Barack Obama cut autograph to Sportkings Series C’s First Pitch Cut insert that honors American presidents who have thrown out ceremonial first pitches.

Obama’s highly publicized heave to Albert Pujols in Tuesday’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game provided Sportkings with the photograph it needed to add the country’s 44th president to an already-loaded insert set. Obama joins an absolutely history-drenched First Pitch Cuts checklist that also includes Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the originator of the first pitch, William Taft.

First Pitch is one of five cut signature sets in Series C (the others are PaperCuts, Vintage PaperCuts, Eight Men Out and Owners’ Box). Sportkings Series C releases July 29 at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.

— Tracy Hackler