Recent Autograph Hauls

The past couple of weekends I have been fortunate enough to be able to add a few new autographs to my various collections. All have been free sigs, so that's always a good thing for my now light wallet. Like I always say, if it's free, it's for me.

The first autograph signing was about a week ago at Modell's in Time Square. Eric Decker, the new wide receiver for the New York Jets, was making an appearance so, I was absolutely going to be there. I am very excited that Decker is a New York Jet. He gives Geno Smith a target that is proven and I think he's going to help the open up the offense.

Decker was scheduled to start signing at 1 PM, so I made sure I got there early. The first 100 fans were guaranteed autographs. The only catch was you either had to buy something at the store and show the receipt at the front of the line, or take the free picture they gave with the autograph. I opted for buying a Jets mini helmet for Decker to sign. After I made the purchase, I got in line.

 
I knew the wait was going to be pretty long, so I bought a book and spent my time reading it. About a half hour before the signing was scheduled to start Modell's employees started handing out the tickets. I got mine and noticed I was number 76 in line. I was glad I got there when I did because the line got pretty long with Jet fans wanting to meet Decker and wish him good luck.

I finally got inside the store and after a 10 minute wait, I got to the front of the line and got to meet Decker. I welcomed him to NY and wished him the very best of luck. He thanked me and told me he appreciated the well wishes as he signed the mini helmet and I was on my way.

You can see my helmet waiting on the table to be signed.

And here is the helmet signed. The signature is better in person, trust me. Another addition to my Jets collection.

Yesterday, I was able to meet former New York Knicks John Starks and Charles Oakley. The signing was at a car dealership in Queens. It's was in a place I wasn't too familiar with, so I made sure I left my home extra early. I had Googled the directions to the dealership by subway, so I was looking at a hour and 20 minute ride there. Of course, I arrived there in an hour, but it took me a few minutes to locate the dealership. I actually started to go in the opposite direction. But, thanks to GPS on my phone, I found the place without any other issues.

ESPN, which sponsored the event, had set up a tent out back of the dealership. Starks and Oakley sat at a table inside the tent and was signing autographs for the fans that were lined up. The line wasn't too long so I got my stuff ready for them to sign. Starks didn't say too much as he signed for me. Oakley was talking to someone as he signed my items.

Here's where I get on my soap box and rant for a few. I absolutely despise it when the person in line before you or one of the representatives start talking to the athlete while your there, waiting to say something to the person and get a hand shake. I feel it's rude and makes me feel ignored. Needless to say, Oakley didn't really say much to me as he was busy talking to someone else and I walked away a bit perturbed. At least I got my items signed.

 
I printed a 11x14 photo of Starks dunking over Michael Jordan and Horace Grant during Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals in a play that is now known as "The Dunk". This came out great and I cannot wait until I have it framed and hanging up.

I printed out a 8x10 of the Knicks logo and had Starks and Oakley sign it. I want to get as many players who played for the Knickebockers to sign it. I haven't decided it I am going to send it out TTM. If I do, I can try to have Richie Guerin, Harry Gallatin, Dick Van Arsdale, and Kenny Walker to sign it. I would hate to lose it though.

I'm also working on having a Knicks picture book signed by as many players, so I had Oakley and Starks sign pictures of them inside the book.

I had a lot of fun graphing again. I haven't gone out to meet players as regularly as I'd like to, but it feels pretty good when you get the autographs you have been wanting for your collection. I'm hoping I can add more autographs this summer to my growing collection as long as I'm not mushing a dog sled team across the Antarctic, riding a camel through the Sahara dessert or swimming across the Gulf Of Mexico...  OK, maybe for the right autograph.

I Love To Get My Balls Signed...Baseballs, That Is.

One of my hobby goals for 2014 is to get more autographed baseballs in my Yankees collection. In fact, I have made an ambitious goal for myself and that is to get as close to 100 signed baseballs from Yankee players, former and present, for the collection. I say it's pretty ambitious because I'm not what you would call an autograph hound. I don't go chasing players or wait at their hotels or hang out the ballparks before players arrive. Of course that's because I don't know where the player hotels are and it's difficult to graph at Yankee Stadium.

So, how do I add signed baseballs to my collection? Player appearances is one way. That's how I was able to get players like Hideki Matsui, Darryl Strawberry, Bucky Dent and David Cone to sign baseballs for me. Another way is card shows. The card show I go to usually will have 1 free player and if that person is what I deem "ball worthy", I will get them to sign or I will pay for the player if he's not too expensive. Some of the players I have gotten this way is Ruben Sierra, Bobby Richardson and Gaylord Perry. Then there is the TTM route. To be honest, I have lost more baseballs than gotten back, but a couple of the players I have gotten back were Mike Mussina and Jimmy Key.

So, here is the signed baseball collection right now:

I have them on a shelf right over my bobblehead collection. I kind of think I'm running out of room. I probably have just that row to finish and that would be it. Another row might be pushing it.

So, which players do I want to add to the collection? Well, I have more than a few players in mind.

The Core Four

Derek Jeter
Mariano Rivera
Andy Pettitte
Jorge Posada

The Champions

Paul O'Neill
Tino Martinez
Scott Brosius
Orlando Hernandez
Ron Guidry
Sparky Lyle
Cecil Fielder
A.J. Burnett
Mike Stanton
Brett Gardner
Willie Randolph
Tim Raines
Bernie Williams

The Hall Of Fame Players

Dave Winfield
Rickey Henderson
Joe Torre
Reggie Jackson
Rich Gossage
Phil Niekro
Phil Rizzuto (I know he's passed on, but his autograph are still out there)

The Managers

Lou Pinellia
Buck Showalter
Ralph Houk (See Phil Rizzuto)

There are other players I want as well like Aaron Boone, Dave Righetti and Bobby Murcer. Players who may not have had hall of fame careers or won a championship here, but still made a difference in Pinstripes.

So, as you can see, I have some players to chase around if I want to get to my goal of 100 signed baseballs by the end of 2014. Right now, I'm at 42 baseballs, so if I'm going to get to 100, I better get my butt in gear. I consider myself rather fortunate that I am lucky enough to have the autographs that I do own. Hopefully by the end of the year, I will be wondering where am I going to display all the autographs. Then I will know that I reached my goal and can set my next goal. 200, here I come.

Graphing With DodgerBobble

I just returned from an awesome mini vacation in California. I visited cities like Huntington Beach, Anaheim and of course, Los Angeles. I got to visit Angels Stadium and watch a game at Dodgers Stadium. I have pictures I would love to show you all, but for some reason, I am having issues uploading them. That's what happens when your phone company is Sprint and your wifi is Optimum. I guess you get what you pay for.

One of the highlights of my trip was finally meeting Josh, who is known to all of us fellow bloggers as DodgerBobble. Josh and I have been friends for a while now and when I told him I was going out to Los Angeles. he told me to let him know when and we would hang out. I got the chance to do just that when Gina and I went to The Dodgers/Marlins game on Friday, May 10th.

When Gina and I got to the stadium, we were supposed to have met Josh downstairs on the field level. Since  the Marlins were in town, I wanted to try to get Tino Martinez, who is now the Marlin's hitting coach, to sign. Since we were sitting up in the loge level, security would not let us downstairs. Josh came upstairs and chatted with us for a few minutes and then I was able to go downstairs with Josh and his friend. We made our way to the Dodger bullpen to see about last minute autographs. After the National Anthem was played, We were able to get a couple of autographs.

The first auto we got was from Dodgers bullpen coach, Chuck Crim. Crim pitched for the Brewers, Angels and Cubs. He led the American League in games pitched in 1988 and 1989. Crim signed this 1989 Upper Deck for me.

Brandon League was the player I was able to get. League is not having the best season so far. He is 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA, but does have 8 saves. League signed this 2013 Topps card for me.

My final autograph of the day was from Paco Rodriguez. So far this season Rodriguez is 0-1 with a 2.51 ERA. Rodriguez also signed a 2013 Topps card.

After that, it was the start of the game. Before I went back up to Gina, Josh gave me this autograph:

I have been wanting an AJ Burnett autograph for my Yankees PC for a long time. He never had any certified Yankees cards nor did he ever return my TTM requests. I saw on Facebook that Josh had gotten Burnett to sign and I wanted to trade for this card, but Josh just gave it to me for free.

Later on, Josh showed me some awesome things at Dodger Stadium, but I will save that when I am able to upload the pictures.

I want to thank Josh for the cards for the autographs. He picked up the Dodgers team set for me and gave me a few other cards for graphing. I also want to thank him for tour and for being such a great friend. If you haven't checked out his blog, please do so here:http://www.dodgerbobble.com/

By the way, when Gina and I left the ballpark, we saw Josh waiting for players to come out. He suggested we wait to see if Tino Martinez showed up. After a while, I gave up and left with Gina. Then I later find out that Martinez showed up a little later and Josh was able to get him to sign a ball for him.

At least Josh let me keep this cool card for my Tino PC

Someday Tino...Someday...

Kids, This Is Why You Make Sure You're Pen Works

Last weekend, The New York Knicks hosted various rallies all over New York City. They are in the Playoffs, facing the Boston Celtics and they were appearing all over the Big Apple getting New Yorker's excited about the possibility of a long playoff run which hopefully will cumulative in an NBA Title, the first for the Knicks since the 1972-73 season.

Looking on the Knicks official website, www.nyknicks.com, I was able to find out where, when and who was making apperances for the Knicks. The team was sending out former players to meet with fans, sign photos and hand out prizes. I found out that John Stark would be appearing at Traffic Sports Bar in Manhattan, while Larry Johnson, Anthony Bonner and the newest member of the Basketball Hall Of Fame, Bernard King, would be appearing at the Knicks Fan Fest, to be held the next day in front of Madison Square Garden before Game 1. I really wanted to get John Starks on a mini basketball then get King on a full sized ball and LJ on a mini.

I went to Traffic right after work. Starks would be appearing from 7:00 PM to 10 PM. There was a rap contest with bar patrons (some of the worst "rapping" I've ever heard), trivia contests and give a ways  That's was all good and well, but I was there to meet the man who once dunked over Michael Jordan and Horace Grant during Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals and won an NBA Sixth Man Of The Year Award, so I waited. And I waited. And, waited some more. Finally around 9:30, I asked one of the gentleman who worked for he Knicks if Starks had arrived and was told he wasn't showing up. Ticked off, I litteraly took my ball and went home. Not showing up for something you were scheduled to to appear at was so bad. I hope word got back to the Knicks that there was some upset fans who was looking forward to meeting him that night.

The next day, I got to MSG bright and early. I was not only hoping that Bonner, Johnson and King would show up, but I was hoping to get them to sign a couple of autographs.

The Knicks Party Van was parked right outside

You know this is your team when it's your mug that's plastered on the side of the Party Van.

The Garden was decked out in blue and orange on this day. Game One was taking place inside the Garden at 3 PM that day. While there, you could get a Playoff buzz cut with the Knicks logo shaved into your head or have your face painted in blue and orange. A lot of kids showed up with their parents to take part in the festivities. The Knicks did this one right.

You could also shoot baskets for a chance to win Playoff tickets. I tried. I sucked.

There was an appearance by the Knick City Dancers

And by the New York Sticks who usually drum in between periods of games in the Garden to entertain the crowd.

Or, you could try and dunk on this guy

Finally, Bernard King, Larry Johnson and Anthony Bonner made their way to the basketball court area to meet the fans. With all the fans that was there, This could have been a mob scene, but luckily, I was able to get to King first and ask him to sign my basketball.

Now, I had looked high and low for a Deco silver paint pen for this occassion. Of course, I would have a better chance of getting punched by Mike Tyson as he sings "In The Air Tonight" than to find this elusive paint pen in NYC. So, I finally gave up and bought a Sharpie Silver and a Sharpie Gold Paint Pens. I had spent much of the morning prepping the pen, making sure it was working and it was all morning. That is, until Mr. King was handed the pen. After signing the ball, he handed it back to me. This was the signature I got.

Curse you, Sharpie! I have been trying to get King to sign a basketball for years and when I finally get him, the pen craps out on me. Grrrrr. I have King sign my New York Knicks Official 50th Anniversery Book I am working on. He borrowed someone else's Sharpie. Surely, I would get a better signature in the book, right?

Nope. His pen crapped out on him as well. Close up of the autograph.

Sigh.

At least Anthony Bonner's signature came out nice.

He signed the first page of the book, right under the book plate I had another brand new Basketball Hall Of Famer, Richie Guerin, sign. Why did he sign his last name first?

Then I finall got to LJ. I mke small talk with him, asking if we were going to see a return of Grand Ma Ma. He laughed as he attempted to sign the mini ball in the same black pen as King signed the book with. When that failed, he grabbed my garbage paint pen and quickly signed my mini basketball with it.

You may not be able to see it. Nor can I, for that matter. But I assure you, it's there.

At least we finally got the correct pen for him to use in the book.

And that was that. I got my autographs and took off as it was getting more crowded. I couldn't even have taken a picture of the players if I tried. That's the hazard of free appearances. Everyone wants to meet the players, which is what they were there for.

Although I am very happy I met the players, I am quite disappointed at how the autographs came out. One you can barely make out and the other, not at all. So, now what do I do? Do I Goo Gone the autographs and try again, knowing that these players really don't make appearances all that often? Or do I just keep the autos, as is? I'm leaning toward keeping the King auto and cleaning off the mini and trying again for LJ with a better pen or someone different all together.

So, the morale of the story is, hunt down a Deco Paint Pen if you are going to get a basketball or football signed. Leave the Sharpies to photographs only. If you do not heed my warnings, you will end up like me, sitting on the floor of my apartment, wondering where it all went wrong. Shaprie no, Deco, yes!