Ever Meet You're Favorite Player And He Turns Out To Be A Jerk?

When your a kid,if you're lucky enough you start enjoying a sport and quickly latch on to a team that you will love the rest of my life. I was. I fell in love with the New York Yankees at the age of 5 and have had a love affair with the Bronx Bombers for almost 39 years. That makes me loyal and old!

When your a kid, if you're lucky enough to find a player who captures your imagination in a way no other player can and he becomes your idol. The guy whom you shower all your admiration for. Buy his jersey. Pick up his bobblehead, Have posters of him on your wall. Trade cards with others to have a collection of cards of your favorite player. And if your really lucky, you will get to meet him and it will be a memorable experience, one that will positively be with you the rest of your life.

I got to meet my favorite player. There's a reason why I don't really have a PC of his.

When I first started watching the Yankees, I didn't have a favorite player right away. My mom, was a massive Reggie Jackson fan, so like a good little mama's boy, I started following him. But there was something about him that didn't appeal to me. Maybe it was I noticed his fielding wasn't that great or that he struck out a lot, but I wasn't down with Reggie as much as my mom was. Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike Reggie, I was thrilled he was a Yankees, but he wasn't my guy.

During that 1977 season, I started to notice one particular player who was hitting home runs and driving in runs at a more rapid pace than Reggie was. Then, one afternoon, I can't remember who the Yankees were playing or when during that year it took place, but a screaming line drive was rocketed down the third base line, sure to be extra bases. Then, out of nowhere, a diving Yankee snared that ball, got up and threw the ball to Chris Chambliss at first base, nailing the runner by a couple of steps. I remember staring at the replay, mouth wide open, wondering what in the Brooks Robinson just happened. It was the greatest play my widdle eyes had seen at that point and I knew I had found my favorite Yankee. His name, as if you haven't guess by now, was Graig Nettles.

From that point on, I was a Nettles fanatic. I watched the Yankees and hoped to see a fantastic play by the man they called "Puff". I prayed I'd see Nettles hit one out of the park. I had a couple of t-shirts made up as I grew up with the Yankees interlocking NY on the front and Nettles name and number 9 on the back. When I played ball, I was always at 3rd, wore number 9 and was diving for every ball, even if it was a routine grounder. Pretty soon, all the kids called me Nettles and it made me proud. When I started collecting baseball cards in 1979, I always made sure I had his card in my collection and traded with other kids to get his other cards I didn't have. Heck, I was player collecting before it became the thing to do.

I started going to Yankee games with my buddies who lived across the street from me around 1982. We used to go to all the giveaway games, which is why I had a ton of Yankee goodies (God, I wish I still had all that stuff). We made sure to get to the Stadium early to watch batting practice in the bleachers (I was a Bleacher Creature before....ah, who cares.) and we would go and try to get autographs when the players would leave Yankee Stadium. I remember getting some good players to sign my program or baseball cards. Players like Lou Pinella, Bobby Murcer, even a young Don Mattingly. But never Graig Nettles.

Then one day, for some reason I was walking between the buses that would take the Yankee players and staff to the airport to catch their flights when out of the corner of my eye I saw him, Graig Nettles was coming at me. It was just me and my favorite player, mano y mano. I was sure he would want to hear how I idolized him and would be glad to sign my baseball card. Boy, how wrong I was. He brushed me off without even looking at me and avoided the crowd and got in the bus. My heart was broken, yet I rationalized that he had to get on the bus and make his flight, so all was forgiven. I would get him again.

The next chance I got was at a card show, 25 years later. I attended the Long Island card show, which is held at Hofstra University. There a few other players I wanted to meet, but to me, the main event was a meeting with Graig Nettles. Now, mind you, I was just getting restarted collecting autographs and didn't even think of having him sign a photograph or baseball. I plucked down my $30.00 to have him sign my baseball card.

When I finally got up to his table, I was more nervous then when I met Gene Simmons. I started telling him how I idolized him growing up. How I used to play third base and wore number 9 and dove for baseballs and how it was an honor to finally meet him. Nettles looked up at me and said, in the most obnoxious way, "Gee, that's great kid. You must have been really popular". I wasn't sure if he was being a jerk, so I didn't say anything but thanked him for making a die hard fan's day and left the table.

After walking around and looking at a few tables, I looked at my buddy and asked him if Nettles sounded sarcastic to him. My friend confirmed this and told me the look on my face reminded him of a child who was told the last showing of Star Wars was sold out. With my fears being confirmed I decided I wouldn't actively collect Graig Nettles like I was planning. In fact, I was planning on picking up his 1969 Topps rookie card that day.

I met Nettles a couple times after to get a ball signed or an 8x10 signed for a friend and each time I barely said anything to him and he never acknowledged my presence. He would just sign the item without a word to me. If I was lucky, I might get a hello from him after I exchanged the pleasantry to him. The "meeting" would take about 2 minutes, tops. Each time, I would get less disappointed and more angry because I would always look for something that would redeem himself to me. A nice remark or a warm smile that would get me to like him again so I can start that PC of his.

It's not like I don't already have a small PC of him already:

Here's the signed card from that first meeting. I wanted to rip up the card soon after, but remembered I paid $30.00 to have him sign it.

Some Nettles Game Used Cards

Some Nettles autographs

Obviously, my personal feelings about Nettles hasn't stopped me from getting stuff signed by him or adding his Yankee cards to my Yankees collection. I just never started a separate binder for him like I have for Tino Martinez, Mark Teixeira, Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter or wanted to for Paul O'Neil. I have toyed with the idea of just letting bygones be bygones and starting a PC for Nettles, but I could never bring myself to do it. As I get older, the anger in me has subsided and I can see myself starting one in time. I just don't think that time is soon. I already have too many player PC's going and to start another may put my collection in even more chaos than it already is in. Maybe after I get my cards in order and I have some Nettles doubles, I will open up a binder for him.

I would really like to remember him for the plays at third base than my encounters with him. I would prefer to remember how he litterly stole Game 3 of the 1978 World Series from the Dodgers with the plays he made at the hot corner or how I used to argue that Nettles was just as good as Brooks Robinson and he should be in the Hall Of Fame (Naive of me. That .248 life time average will keep him out of the Hall Of Fame). Maybe one day I can fully forgive and forget my meeting with him and instead remember how he capture my imagination and helped a young boy fall in love with a game that after 39 years, the love still burns stronger than ever.

My Martin Brodeur Autographs

As an autograph collector, not having any Martin Brodeur autographs in my collection would be like a baseball team not having any baseballs. It would be absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, I do not have as many Broduer autographs as a baseball team, but the ones I do have mean a lot to me.

I have seen some Brodeur collections that absolutely blow mine out of the water. When I started collecting Brodeur, I envisioned myself becoming a Brodeur supercollector, but unfortunately, that neer happened. Instead, I have a couple of nice cards and some pretty cool photos of the greatest goalie that ever played the game.

2007 SportsKings Martin Brodeur Autograph

This was the first Broduer graph I picked up. I grabbed it off eBay for around 30.00. It's not the greatest card. SportsKings couldn't show The Devils logo, but despite that, I am quite fond of this card because it was the very first Martin Brodeur autograph I picked up for my collection.

2007/08 SPx Hockey Martin Brodeur Winning Materials Dual Jersey Autograph #'ed to 25

This card is probably the best in my limited collection of Brodeur autographs. This was a pick up at the Westchester County Sports Card Show a few years back. If I remember correctly, I picked this up at the end of the show for a lot less than the dealer was asking earlier in the day. I mentally noted the card, where it was and made sure to swing by later to see if he would take less for it. Surprisingly, he took a lot less. The card went home with me and to this day I am thrilled to have it in my collection.

2007 Fleer Hot Prospects Martin Brodeur Hotagraphs Autograph

This card was the last Brodeur autograph I have grabbed to this point. I'm always looking to pick up Brodeur autographs, but the prices are at times too high for me. Lucky, I found this card on eBay for a lot less than I paid for the previous two cards I picked up. I would love to have been the guy to thought of the name for this subset. I would have came up with one a lot better than Hotagraphs.

That's all my Broduer certified signed cards. I do have some signed Marty photo's in my collection.

This signed 8x10 was a gift from a fellow collector who was looking to clear out some clutter he had. Now, I don't know about you, but a signed Martin Brodeur picture should never be considered clutter. The only draw back to this picture is the fact that it's signed in black sharpie and most of the signature was signed on he dark part of the Stanley Cup. The guy told me he got this picture in person and I have compared it to other Brodeur autographs and I'm pretty confident that it's a legit Brodeur graph. Despite the placement of the signature I am very happy to have this in my collection.

This 5x7 signed photograph is my pride and joy of my Brodeur autograph collection. The one I'd never ever give up. Why? Because I got this picture signed myself. Marty made an appearance at the NHL Store here in NYC and I waited in line for 2 hours to meet him. I initially wanted to have him sign a puck that I had with me, but the store said he was only signing the picture that was provided. As long as I got to meet my favorite player, I was fine with that. He was nice, smiled and shook my hand and thanked me for the complements and that was it. I do hope too meet him again one day and maybe get that puck signed.

I also have a huge photo of the  Devils 2002 Stanley Cup winning team that Marty signed. I just haven't taken a picture of it as of yet. I will try to do so tonight and show it in tomorrow's blog post.

What about my "holy grail" signed items? The ones I dream of owning one day? Well, I still want a signed puck from Brodeur. That one is the easiest to get. I would also love a signed jersey, goalie stick and maybe a helmet. Those are the "Lotto Money" purchases. I can tell you if I ever did get those items, I would cherish them just as much as I cherish the autographs I have shown you today. There are not that many players I would spend that much on, but I would for Martin Brodeur.

My Five Favorite: Martin Brodeur Game Used Cards

Continuing with my Martin Brodeur week in honor of his career and announcing his retirement, I am showing off my five favorite game used cards in my Broduer PC. Now, bare in mind, most of the game used cards in my collection are pretty boring. One color swatches of fabric that may or may not have been used in an actual game. I prefer to think of it all as game used, just to say I have something that my favorite player wore or used in an actual game. And besides, ignorance is bliss.

Also, the collection is pretty small, like I mentioned yesterday. Brodeur has gotten to be a pretty pricey player to collect. Comes with being considered one, if not, the greatest goalies to ever play the game. When you have 20 records as a goalie in the NHL, then I'd pretty much just hand you the title of greatest goalie ever, with apologies to fans of Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Terry Sawchuk and Bernie Parent.

So, here are my five favorite cards:

5-2001-02 SPx Hockey's Treasures Game Used Stick And Jersey

The reason why this card means a lot to me is because it was my very first Brodeur game used card. I bought it a while back at the Westchester Sports Card show and paid $20.00 for it. I probably overpaid for it, but all I knew was I wanted to seriously collect Brodeur and I was buying as much Brodeur stuff at the show that I could. I think I only bought a few more base cards. But I came home with this gem as well.

4-2006-07 Bee Hive Matted Materials Game Used Jersey

This was an eBay purchase. I always like my jersey cards to have more than one color in them if I can help it. That's what drew me to this card. It's predominately white, but there is a touch of red in it. Plus, the price was pretty low because the seller misspelled Brodeur's last name in the listing. It always pays to check any variations of a player's name you can think of.

3- 2008-09 Upper Deck Ice Frozen Fabrics Dual Jersey

 
Another eBay purchase. And for the same reason as the Bee Hive card. I just love game used cards that have more than one color in it. This one is split red and white 50/50. Hey, I don't have a lot of high end Brodeur cards, so I find joy in my cards regardless of price or piece of material used.

2- 2007-08 SPx Winning Combos Martin Brodeur/ Patrick Roy Dual Game Used Jersey

One of the few Brodeur game used cards I actually pulled or had pulled for me from a group break. This one may be just one color swatches, but they are jerseys from two of the greatest goalies in NHL history. Anytime you can get two of the greatest on one card, it's a win.

1- 2010-11 Artifacts Tundra Trios Martin Broduer/Zach Parise/Patrik Elias Game Used Triple Patch Card

This one is my pride and joy of my Brodeur game used collection. This one was not cheap either. I made a trade with a fellow member of tradingcardcentral.com for this beauty. The price was an Evgeni Malkin autographed card I pulled from a box of Upper Deck Ice. The guy I traded with wasn't sure if that card was enough for what he was giving up, but agreed to make the trade. I am still very happy to have this beauty in my collection. The Elias patch is the only one that's not a triple colored piece, but I really don't care. This would have been out of my price range and I cannot thank the trader enough for trading this to me.

There you have it. My five favorite pieces from my Brodeur game used card collection. Hopefully over time I can pick up more pieces to grow my collection. I'm sure now that he's retired the prices will go up. But when you are a fan of a player, you will find ways to add new pieces to your collection and I'm no exception. Trades, purchasing, it doesn't matter. Anytime I can add a new Brodeur piece, I'm taking the plunge.

New Cards And A Challenge

Whooo Hooo, problems fixed with my laptop. I can now blog again. Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!

Now that I'm done with the cartwheels and screaming, I can continue on with the blog post.

I've been neglecting my Mark Teixeira PC. That's not to say I've done it purposely or anything. I've not been able to add to the collection for various reasons. The other day, I was flipping through the Teixeira box where I keep my game used cards and autographs and thought there was a bit too much room in this box. So, I decided to challenge myself.

By the end of 2015, I want to have at least 100 different game used cards and 20 different certified autographed cards in my Teixeira PC. I decided to give myself an obtainable goal because I know myself. If I don't obtain a goal I may give up on it and woe is me and all that garbage. I mean, who wants to put themselves through that? I have enough going on in my life that makes me want to close my door and wallow in the dark. My card collection is supposed to bring me joy, so I say let it.

So, I have been adding some new cards to the Teixeira PC, trying to inch it closer to the numbers I set. If you read the last blog post, you may have seen that I did add a new certified autograph to the PC:

A 2003 Donruss Signature Series Teixeira autograph. I explained why this card means so much to me in my last blog post. I do wish that the card companies never decided to use sticker autographs on the cards back then. I'm glad we are seeing more on card autographs again. This is autograph number 12 in the PC.

I was also able to add 2 game used cards to the collection as well:

I received this 2007 Ultimate Collection Dual Prince Fielder/Mark Teixeira game used card from a friend in my team collectors group. It's numbered to 75 and I'm thrilled to have it. This is number 64 in the PC

Number 65 arrived today. It's a 2004 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Game Patch. It's a 2 color patch that's numbered to 75. I seem to have a thing for cards that are numbered to 75. Regardless of that, I got this card off eBay for less than seven bucks. I love me a deal. When I find one, I pounce.

I'm hoping that 2015 is a big year for my collection and for Teixeira. I want to see him stay healthy and return to numbers that us Yankees fans are used to seeing. If he can hit .250 30 HR and 100 RBI's and play a gold glove caliber first base, I will be very happy. Having a healthy Teixeira back will help the Yankees immensely in their quest for the AL East crown this season, especially with Boston and Toronto getting better. If I can reach my goals for my Teixeira PC, that would make me even happier.

All this talk is making me want baseball back, now! Hurry up spring!

My First Derek Jeter Pick Up

When I first got back into collecting cards back in 2003, one of the players I wanted to collect was Derek Jeter. At that point, Jeter was already an all time great. He had won 4 World Championships, was a World Series and an All Star Game MVP. He was at the top of his popularity, Which was why collecting Jeter was, and still is quite difficult.

Want an autographed baseball? Prepare to shell out over $300.00. His autographed cardboard routinely goes for anywhere from $100.00 to $300.00. Even his game used cards are priced at a premium these days.

Back in 2003, I went to the Hofstra Sports Card show on Long Island. I was looking for anything Yankees, like I still do. I just went in without a game plan and dove into boxes and looked until I found something I wanted and bought it.

On this day, I found this card at a table that had a bunch of other patch cards. I was pretty uneducated about cards, especially patch cards and paid what the lady asked without negotiating. These days, I would have tried to haggle her down from the 30.00 I paid.

Still, regardless of what I paid, it's my very first Jeter pick up as well as my first patch card and it remains in my collection. It's one of my favorite cards in my Jeter collection and I don't see myself parting with it anytime soon. I have since added cards to my Jeter collection, but this one is my favorite.

My Favorite PC Cards: Chad Pennington

When I first restarted collecting cards back in 2003, I knew I would be collecting players that I admired. I knew I would start a Tino Martinez PC at some point and had ideas on a Roberto Clemente. On the Jets, I like Wayne Chrebet and he was also a player I wanted to collect, but I didn't start a Chrebet PC right away.

My favorite position in football is Quarterback. It's the glamour position in the game and I have seen some great QB's in my time as a fan. Montana, Moon, Bradshaw, Elway, Kelly, Manning and yes, even Brady (hacking) are just some of the greats I have seen play and just enhanced my love of the position.

As a Jets fan, I have seen some good QB's play under center for my team. When I first started watching the Jets, Richard Todd was the teams QB and he took us within a game of the Super Bowl back in 1983 before the Dolphins ground crew and AJ Duhe took us out. Then there was Ken O'Brien, who I don't feel gets the due he deserves just because he was in that heralded draft of 1983. The same draft that had quarterbacks like John Elway and Jim Kelly. The Jets, drafted Ken O'Brien at pick number 24. 3 picks later, the Miami Dolphins picked Dan Marino. O'Brien was still a good quarterback, made 2 Pro Bowls in 1985 and 1991, was the highest rated QB in the NFL in 1985 and was the first QB to pass for more than 400 yards in a game, which he did against the Seattle Seahawks in 1986. We also had Vinny Testeverde who also bought the Jets within a game of the Super Bowl in 1998, even leading the game at halftime. But no one was stopping John Elway and the Denver Broncos, who were on their way to win their second straight Super Bowl. I still hold a grudge against Denver for that one.

But in the 2002 season, the Jets were 1-4 and Coach Herman Edwards decided to start a young player from Marshal University named Chad Pennington. Pennington lead the Jets to a 9-7 record, winning the AFC East Title throwing for 3,120 yards, 22 touchdowns, 6 INT's and had rating of 104.2, a Jets record. He then lead the Jets to a victory over Peyton Manning and  the Indianapolis Colts 41-0. From that season on, I had a new favorite player and since I had just restarted collecting cards, I thought why not collect Pennington, so over the years I picked up a lot of Pennington cards, even sacrificing an Aaron Rodgers autograph card to get a Pennington autograph into my collection. Ok, maybe I could have gotten more for that, but I didn't care. I wanted that Pennington autograph.

When the Jets released Pennington in favor of Brett Farve, he signed with Miami and led them to the AFC East Title. As happy as I was for Pennington, I couldn't root for him due to my hatred of Miami and my Pennington collecting stopped that season.

Just recently, I was looking at my Pennington cards and wondered if maybe it was time to re-start the Pennington collection. My collection has some really nice cards and I would love to add more to it. But before I do, I'd like to show off some of my favorite Pennington cards in my collection:

I grabbed this 2006 Donruss Threads card off eBay for a whopping $4.00. I just love the lettering on the piece of the football in this card.

I love patch cards and this card has a piece of Pennington's name plate off his road jersey.

I just love this card for the picture alone. In a game against the Texans, Pennington scrambled for a first down and decided to let Houston know.

Probably my favorite Pennington card. I love this piece of game used helmet and love that you can see the T and S of the JETS logo.

Simple, but I love this card.

I have always been a big fan of these Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signature cards. I was thrilled to see that there was a Pennington card and added it to my Pennington collection.

My very first Pennington autograph. Of course it was going to make my list.

Looking over my Pennington collection reminded me just how much fun I had hunting down cards on eBay, card shows and trading for them with other collectors. I really wanted to be THE Pennington collector and try to get every Pennington card ever made. I obviously fell way short of that goal, but I loved the pursuit.

I have been a Jets fan since the 1980 season and have seen a lot of great Jets, but Pennington is my favorite. He may not had the greatest arm, but when he played and was healthy, the Jets won. I often wonder had he stayed healthy where he would be among the the Jet QB's in Jet history. I believe he would have been right under Joe Namath as an all time great Jet quarterback. He had the smarts and I really think he could have won a title here. I would love to see him come back here as a coach a I think he would do very well. But whatever he decides to do, I will always be a Chad Pennington fan.

Lets Make A Deal, Hockey Edition

With apologies to the great Monty Hall, Let's Make A Deal! I'm not talking about what's behind door number 1, 2, or 3. I'm not talking about trading in what you have already won for what's inside the mystery box either. I'm talking trades!

I haven't made a trade in a while and I am itching to make a few deals. I have to get a package out to Fuji this week and I would like to add a few more packages to mail as well. I am hoping that I can add some new cards to my collections and I hope I have something you want to trade for.

I am going to post pictures of the cards I have to trade. I am looking for Yankees, Jets, Knicks, Islanders, Mark Teixeira, Tino Martinez, Mike Bossy, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Ewing, David Lee and Wayne Chrebet cards. I would also ask that you mail your end first because I have been cheated a couple of times and don't want that to happen again.

Now, the cards I have aren't exactly high end. I would think this would be a trade for team collectors and player collectors. But, I think I have a couple of things that someone might want.

So, without further ado, here are the cards I have to trade, Hockey first:

Roberto Luongo BAP Signature Portraits signed 8x10

2006-07 BAP Alex Tanguay Autograph

2003 Calder Hockey Tomas Vokoun GU Jersey

2006-07 BAP Todd White Autograph

2005-06 BAP David Legwand Autograph

2002 Titanium Erik Cole GU Jersey

2007-08 BAP Tim Taylor Autograph

2002 Titanium JP Dumont GU jersey

2004 Prism Chris Drury GU jersey

2005-06 BAP Daymond Langkow Autograph

2004 Invincible Fred Brathwaite GU jersey

2006-07 BAP Robert Esche Autograph

2006-07 BAP Mike Sillinger/Trent Hunter Dual Autograph

1998-99 BAP Dave Andreychuk Autograph

2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects Jordan Leopold GU Jersey

2009-10 SPx Erick Karlsson GU Jersey/Autograph- Minor flaw with this one. there is a small ding on the top right corner. It was there when I pulled it out of the box.

2007-08 Upper Deck Ice Peter Forsberg Dual GU Jersey

2006-07 Flair Showcase Zdeno Chara GU Jersey

2010-11 Artifacts Evander Kane Dual GU Jersey

2008-09 BAP Tyler Ennis GU Jersey

2009-10 BAP Jerome Iginla Autograph

2002 Titanium Brett Hull GU Jersey

2010-11 SPx Hendrik Karlsson GU Jersey/Autograph

2007-08 BAP Kris Russell Autograph- I have two of these.

2011-12 Pinnacle Steve Mason City Lights GU Jersey

2008-09 SP Game Used Justin Williams Dual GU Jersey

2008-09 SP Game Used Dion Phaneuf GU Jersey

2006-07 BAP Robert Esche Autograph

I also have a 2003-04 Private Stock Reserve Martin Biron GU Jersey and a 2010-11 Decades 1980's Al MacInnis Autograph that I haven't had a chance to scan as of yet.

If you are interested in any of these cards, please let me know by commenting below with your email address, Google plus account or Facebook and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.