Recent Autograph Additions

I recently had the opportunity to add some new autographs to my Yankees, Knicks and Baseball Hall Of Fame collections and I jumped at the chance to do so. I have been cutting back on adding any new cards to my collection because I want to be able to clean up the mess of cards I have before I go out and add more to my collection. I have about 30 plus boxes filled with cards, so if I can make some room before adding more to my collection, it would be great.

But autographs are different. 

I don't think I could stop collecting autographs. Along with baseball cards, I have been collecting autographs since I was a kid. I remember waiting outside the players entrance at the old Yankee Stadium and getting players like Lou Pinella, Roy White, Bucky Dent to sign. I also had to deal with rejection when my favorite player at the time, Graig Nettles, turned me down flat. I was 12 years old, you mook. No, I harbor no ill will toward Nettles especially since I got him to sign a bunch of times later in life. 

I recently won 2 auctions on eBay and added 2 autographs to my Knicks collection. 

I've been wanting to add an autograph of Steve Novak for a while now. Surprisingly, I had seen some autographs cards of his finish in the 12.00 to 15.00 range and I really didn't want to pay that much for him. I waited until I could grab this one for less than 3.00, shipped. Novak was pretty dangerous from behind the arch and now Novacaine will be bringing his "Discount Double Check" to Toronto. I wish him the best, just not against the Knicks. 

I didn't really need a Dick McGuire autograph since I got him a few times through the mail before his passing. But anytime I can see a Hall Of Fame player's autograph for around the same price that I paid for the Novak, I'm jumping on it. He was a seven time All Star, played in 3 NBA Finals in the 50's and had his number 15 retired by the Knicks. I have been wanting to collect the autographs of some of the early Knicks stars and McGuire was certainly one of them.

I recently made a deal with my good friend and fellow blogger, Dodgerbobble for some autographed baseballs I needed for my Yankees and Baseball Hall Of Fame Collections. Thanks to Josh, I was able to add these two autographs to my collections:

Vernon Wells came over to the Yankees in a trade with the Angels to play left field when Curtis Granderson went down during spring training. Wells, even though he had a good spring, was thought to be nearing the end when the Yankees got him. He's currently platooning in left field with Alfonso Soriano and is hitting .246 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI's. Although his number is not 10 with the Yankees, I'm still glad I could add this autograph to my Yankees collection.

Here is an autograph I didn't think I would have in my collection. Josh was kind enough to trade me this Tommy Lasorda signed ball for my Hall Of Fame collection. It's got a Steiner hologram and Steiner certification to go along with it. Even if it didn't have it, I would have still pulled the trigger on the deal as I trust Josh. Thanks for the deal, buddy. 

This past Saturday, I went to the East Coast National, which was held at the Westchester County Center. Gaylord Perry was doing a free signing at the show, so I went early because I knew that there would be a long line to get a free autograph of a Hall Of Fame pitcher. 

And I was right. Lucky for me, I was closer to the front of the line then the back. And after about a 2 and a half hour wait, I scored Perry's signature on a baseball

He didn't put the HOF inscription on the ball because that wasn't free. I would have had to had paid 10.00 for it. Since it doesn't have the inscription, I am counting this toward the Yankees collection. This is number 35 in the Yankees signed baseball collection.

Being able to add 3 signed baseballs to my collection made me hungry for more. I will be keeping an eye out for player appearances and I may even try to wait outside Yankee Stadium and hope a player may actually come out and sign. I'm sure I have a better chance of Derek Jeter inviting me into the ballpark as his guest than that happening. But if it did, it would take me full circle to when I was a kid, clutching my bag full of baseball cards, hoping for a Yankee to come over and sign his name on my card. 

My Day At The Westchester County Sports Card Show

Sunday I decided to hit the Westchester County Sports Card show, which is held at the Westchester County Center every few months. My main goals, aside from getting autographs from the guests, was to add to my Yankees PC, to my Teixeira, Tino and Clemente PC's and find pocket schedules and pins. I wasn't able to add to the player PC's on this day, but I got some nice goodies for the Yankees PC.

It's usually a busy day of thumbing through boxes for gold, looking at dealer tables and trying to make deals when attending the card show. This day was no different. When I first got there though, I made sure to pick up an 8x10 of Ron Hansen and  jump on his autograph line. He was the free autograph for the day, so the line was sure to get long fast. My plan was to get Hansen and then jump on the line for Bobby Richardson. Then spend the rest of the afternoon looking at tables.

The Hansen line was long, but it went by pretty quick. I was able to meet Mr. Hansen and get my photo signed by the former Rookie Of The Year.

After meeting Mr. Hansen, I looked at the time and saw that I had about 10 minutes before Bobby Richardson would start signing, so I went over to his autograph line and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Apparently, 1pm is more like 1:30pm to the promoters, who no doubt had Bobby signing the mail order stuff. I don't understand why not have him sign those after signing for the fans who were actually on line waiting. 

I passed the time talking to the people who were waiting on line as well. We spoke about the Yankees and other autograph shows that were attended and how they stack up. Finally Mr. Richardson came out and started signing.

When I got to him, we discussed the final out of the 1963 World Series when Willie McCovey lined out to Richardson, who was playing out of position, for the final out of the Series. Richardson told me that every time McCovey sees him he always asks if his hand is still hurting. I was so glad I met Bobby Richardson as he is one of the nicest athletes I have ever met.

I got Bobby to sign a baseball for me. It was the Yankees 100th Anniversary ball. The one time I wanted a side panel auto, I get the sweet spot, lol. Not complaining. I'll take it everyday.

After meeting Mr. Richardson, I hit the dealer floor. The problem I faced was, by the time I was done with my autographs, it was after 2 and some of the dealers were closing shop. I had to rush to look at the tables, which I don't really like. I like to take my time and look at what the dealers were selling. I may circle the floor about 3 times before I make up my mind as to what I would buy. Today, I had to make up my mind a lot quicker.

I saw a table that had vintage cards for about 35-50 cents a piece. He had a lot of vintage cards going back to the 50's. Knowing I needed to fill some holes in my Yankees team sets from these years, I grabbed a spot and started cherry picking through packs looking for Yankees I needed. I bought these cards for the sets I am working on:

Love that card of the future Yankees and Royals manager.

Future Batting coach for the Mets and Yankees.

This won't be the last time you'll see this family swapping son of a gun in this post.

That took a while. Maybe I should have scanned the cards in groups, lol.

Trying to put together the 1971 Yankees set as that is my birth year. (No age jokes, please. I'm like fine wine :P)

Then  I saw a booth that was selling 8x10's of past guests for $5.00 each, so I bought 2 photos.

I told you you would see Peterson again. I needed his autograph in my Yankees collection. Now I can cross off ole Fritz off the list. Love the vintage shot in Spring Training. I think that's in their old Fort Lauderdale camp.

I grabbed this Johnny Mitchell autographed photo because not only did I need his auto, but I loved this throwback uni he's wearing. I will admit, when the Jets wore these throwbacks during the 1994 season  which was the NFL's 75th Anniversary, I was puzzled by the green helmets instead of the white ones they wore during the 60's and early to mid 70's. Now I know that all the Jets did was take the decals off the current green helmets they were wearing at the time and put these decals on. They weren't the only team to do it. The Bills wore a red helmet and not the old white ones also. I kind of like the helmet and wouldn't mind seeing it again.

I then wandered over to a table and saw a 11x14 picture of Don Maynard signed with COA for only 10.00. I know Maynard's signature and it was legit. Problem was there was no one manning the table. I waited for a bit and when the seller didn't return, I left without the picture. A friend of mine asked why didn't I just take the picture. Not my style, plain and simple. I'm no thief. I would have loved to own the picture, but it just wasn't in the cards. Maybe next time.

I then made a major purchase, but there was a mix up and I am not currently in possession of what I bought. As soon as it arrives, I will post a blog about what happened and show off what I bought.

I leave you guessing what it could be.