My First Autograph . . . that wasn't

Do you remember how nervous you were the first time you asked for your favorite player's autograph? Do you remember the cold sweat collecting under your team hat and your hand shaking uncontrollably as you extended your autograph pen?

In 1983, I was about 8 years old, when I went to the Spectrum to see the greatest player (in my mind) come to Philly since Julius Irving - Moses Malone was there! It was the thrill of a life-time for a Jersey kid to get to see the "The Doctor" and Moses play at the Spectrum.

My Dad and I arrived at the game pretty early. Actually we arrived before the Spectrum doors were open. Why? If you grew up in my house, there were a few things you learned before turning age ten:
1) No one talks during 60 minutes,
2) Democracies only exist when you move out of the house, and
3) You should do everything in your power to avoid traffic.

Due to this third virtue, we arrived at the Spectrum before most soft pretzel vendors had prepared their coin changers.

Once we walked in with the cleaning crew, and found our seats, I saw Moses warming up for that night's game . . . by himself! It was that moment that my Dad came up with the most brilliant idea my 8 year old ears had ever heard, “you should ask for his autograph?" Brilliant! Who knew this was even possible?! I thought he must have learned this concept on a Sunday night watching “60 Minutes” when I was trying to choke down my mother's meatloaf.

I grabbed my newly purchased GameDay program, borrowed a pen from my father's pocket-protector, and proceeded to race down the Spectrum steps faster than I had ever come downstairs on Christmas morning.

As I approached the freshly waxed Spectrum hardwood I could feel my body temperature getting warmer, the oxygen starting to leave my bloodstream, and the collar on my 76ers t-shirt beginning to strangle me. I quickly collected my thoughts as best I could, took a deep breath, and asked Moses in my best Peter Brady puberty cracking voice, "Mr. Malone . . . can I get your autograph?" I reached out with a pen in one hand, my program in the other, and both arms shaking as if I were holding 50 lbs in each.

Mr. Malone walked up to me, sized me up as if I was the opposing team's center, and in most booming, deepest voice that I’ve heard since hearing Darth Vadar at the drive-through, he said, "$2!" All I could squeak out was, "what?" Moses this time offered a more insightful explanation than his previous response to my autograph request, "Kid, if you want my autograph, you need to pay $2." Gravity pulled my pen and program back to my side, my shoulders sulked, and I began the greatest walk of shame back to my seat. How was I going to explain this humiliation to my best friend Joe? How bad was I going to get made fun of in Miss Barrett’s class? Mr. Kling, our school gym teacher, would probably give me the biggest wedgies of my life! I was devastated, nervous and scared all at the same time.

I know, $2 for an autograph doesn't seem like much, but when you're 8 years old and you're anxious to see the greatest player to lace them up for your team since Dr. J., then two bucks is a big deal! I was crushed and never again asked for his autograph.

The following year I ended up getting my first 76ers autograph. Leon Wood was gracious enough to sign his name on my GameDay program for free!

I can't remember if the 76ers won that Moses Malone game. But I remember asking for his autograph, having fun at the game, and leaving to go home at the end of the third quarter to beat the traffic.

*thanks to Beckett.com for posting this on their site*

Tiger Stadium Has a Pulse

As Lee Corso would say, "not so fast my friend!" Thanks to the Shysterball Blog for pointing out this story. I've been watching this Tiger Stadium drama unfold almost as long as Brett Favre has debated the retirement question.

Right now it seems Tiger Stadium has a pulse!

I don't know how much to have faith in this "Need More Time" plan. I mean, how long has Tiger Stadium been closed? And how many years have different groups tried to come up with the money to save it?

I hope they can make a deal to keep Tiger Stadium alive. I'd like to see this part of history preserved.

Baseball Trade Deadline Nears

As the baseball trade deadline nears, I thought I'd remind Red Sox and Mets fans how close Manny Ramirez was to being NY Met a few years ago?

This promotion was leaked from the NY Mets office (surprise) while negotiations were still on-going. I don't look for the Mets to go for Manny this year. . . and who needs Manny when you have Fernando Tatis!

Fantasy Olympics Anyone?

I'm really not an Olympics fan, but since this is going to be the main sports story (once Brett Favre decides where he's playing), I thought I'd try to have some fun with this.


Does anyone know of a place to play Fantasy Olympics?

Mounted Memories - Hall of Fame Autographs

Mounted Memories has been hosting Pro Football Hall of Fame autograph sessions the past few years and this year they're asking for your input.

You can vote for who you'd like to be the last guests added to the session. If your athlete wins, you are entered into a drawing for a free autograph. Not a bad deal!

The autograph session is a bit smaller this year. I remember when they first started doing these about 3 years ago and the sessions were Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Vote today!

MAB-Thank Shea for the Memories

MAB is selling a Shea Stadium Tribute publication. They are selling it with or without Tom Seaver autographs on it. 100 of the magazines were inscribed with "Shea Goodbye" by Tom Seaver. You have to call 973-808-1740 if you want one of those.

I saw them advertising this at an MAB show last year by PressBox Legends. They didn't have any copies that were ready to look at, but they did have some of the photos that were used. It looked like it could be be pretty nice - it was just released this month.

It has 72 full-color pages with great photos and stories. If you like those kind of publications, $19.95 isn't a bad price. If you buy their autograph versions it's about $100 which is still a good deal considering Tom Seaver charges about about that same amount for his autograph (depending on your item).

$25K for a Steve Bartman Autograph

Would you go to a sports show, in America's 3rd largest city, where you are you tagged as the reason their favorite sports team hasn't won a championship in 100 years, and sign an autograph for $25,000?

That's the question Steve Bartman needs to answer. Bartman is wrongly (in my opinion) accused as the reason why the Cubs lost game six of the 2003 NLCS against the Florida Marlins.
UPDATE: Steve Bartman has turned down the offer.

SportsBuy.com is offering Steve Bartman $25,000 for his autograph at The National Sports Collector's convention next week in Chicago, IL.

According to the SportsBuy.com press release:
“All Steve has to do is show up, prove he is in fact the real Steve Bartman – not some earphone-wearing imposter – and he’ll move to the top of the autograph value list,” said Wesley Hein, CEO of SportsBuy.com.

The photograph that The National organizers want Bartman to sign is, of course, the infamous image from Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins. Once the picture is signed, it will be auctioned on SportsBuy.com to the general public with net proceeds being donated to a Chicago-based charity. This photo, signed by Steve Bartman, would be, arguably, the most sought-after collectible in the history of sports memorabilia.

A couple of other blogs have already mentioned the Bartman $25,000 offer. Sports Cards Uncensored has a great list of what Bartman could do with $25,000

I hadn't heard of SportsBuy.com before this promotion. It's the auction site formerly known as Naxcom. The Sports Collectibles News blog aka Sports Lizard has a review of the name change of Naxcom to SportsBuy.

I haven't been able to dive too much into SportsBuy.com yet, but with eBay raising fees every quarter, destroying their feedback system, and not treating their best customers correctly, I'm anxious to find a new place to look for sports memorabilia.

October 1964 - It's more about the season and less about October

I really didn't like writing this book review because I'm a big fan of David Halberstam and have enjoyed some of his other books.

I read and really enjoyed Halberstam's "Teammates" and thought "October 1964" would be another great read. Halberstam is one of the greatest author's of this generation, and I really looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't deliver as I had hoped.

Reading this book was like watching a minor league baseball player develop into a 5-tool professional who only stays in the big leagues for a cup of coffee. He builds the story with plenty of background on the Cardinals, on the Yankees, on some of the players and you get the feeling that it will all come together with an edge-of-your-chair ending in October. Instead, this book provides great detail about the 1964 season, and rushes through the month of October. It ends in a whimper, instead of a bang.

"October 1964" takes just a few chapters... but the previous 27+ chapters deal with the build-up of that month. It's like the girl you wanted to date all through school, and when you finally take her dinner, you find out she's a vegetarian and isn't that interesting. I was hoping for more information on October, but this book never delivered.

Tim McCarver plays a large role in this book. Personally, I think there is a bit too much of Tim. McCarver's views and quotes are chronicled throughout the season. While I believe that Tim's on the field performances are over-shadowed by his announcer booth performances, I think Halberstam relied too much on McCarver's perspective. I would have preferred to have more Bill White, Curt Flood, and Lou Brock perspectives.

My problem with the end of the book is Halberstam's desire to dip his toe in the pool of politics. Look, I don't want politics in my baseball books. This country is divided enough along political lines that we don't need to discuss politics in sports books. If I wanted to read about politics I'd get a book by Ann Coulter or Paul Begala.

Halberstam blames the 1972 Supreme court Decision against Curt Flood (a 5-3 margin) on Richard Nixon. He implied that it was Nixon's appointments that caused the decision to be against Flood. Halberstam writes on page 366, ". . . the more conservative Nixon appointees tended to vote against him . . ." By pointing out that three judges voted against Flood were Nixon appointees, Halberstam implies that it was Nixon's fault. Look, I'm not here to defend Richard Nixon or JFK, I am here to read a sports book and David Halberstam crossed that line on page 366 of this book.

The justices that voted for Kuhn in Flood v. Kuhn, include:

• Blackmum (Nixon) - Hardly considered to be conservative since he wrote the majority opinion in 1973's Roe v. Wade.
• Stewart (Eisehnower) - Widely considered to be a centrist judge who also instrumental in Roe V. Wade and was instrumental in Furman v. Georgia which invalidated all death penalty laws.
• Rehnquist (Nixon) - Future Chief Justice
• Burger (Nixon) - Chief Justice who led the 8-0 vote against Richard Nixon in 1974 in the United States v. Nixon
• White (JFK) - It was hard to find a definition for White. It seems most scholars have a hard time defining him, but he frequently supported a broad view of governmental powers ie. 1992's NY v. US.

The justices that voted for Flood include:

• Douglas (JFK)
• Marshall (LBJ)
• Brennan (Eisenhower)

If Halberstam wanted to dive into Supreme Court records about the Flood v. Kuhn decision, he should have checked into the individuals who ruled on the case, and not who nominated them to the court. Looking into Justice White's career seems to be a good place to look since he seems to be all over the political map on decisions and is the one appointed by a Democrat that voted with Republican appointed judges.

Halberstam continued his political labeling in the following paragraph by describing Bobby Richardson as a "seriously religious Christian fundamentalist" and a "conservative Republican." Again, I don't care who people vote for or what party they prefer. Halberstam's injection of politics didn't have anything to do with "October 1964" and this bothers me because I want sports in my sports books... not the author's political views.

If you want a book about the 1964 season that details the rise and fall of the St. Louis Cardinals and NY Yankees, then this is a great one. You really get to see the game's culture change throughout that season and in the immediate seasons that follow. Halberstam does a great job of putting you in the game, in the press box, and in the fan's environment.

I loved the end of the book when he talked about how the Yankees seem to change with the firing of Yogi Berra and how the Cardnials continued their run.

I know Halberstam has plenty of other great sports books that have sold millions of copies and spent almost as long on best seller lists. David Halberstam was a fantastic writer and I'd recommend "The Teammates" to anyone. But after reading "October 1964," it might be a while before I take the chance on reading another one.

Make Video Box Breaks Better - At the National

Beckett card box breaks have been a target for nearly everyone in the blogosphere. Did anyone forget how bad Beckett was beat-up during this winter's Adrian Peterson 1/1 auto patch box break?

Beckett, Topps, SCD, UpperDeck, and others can take steps to improve collectors morale and their perception of companies like Beckett, Toppss, etc. Improve these video box breaks by doing them at next month's National. The steps are easy:

• Create a raffle. Have people who come up to the Beckett, Topps, or whatever table and enter their name/info on a card and put it in a box.
• Set a time to pull a name from the box (you have to be there to win).
• Pull a name from the box with everyone gathered at your area.
• Have that person be the one to open the box on the video (with the surrounding audience)
• The person who was selected also gets to keep all of the cards they opened
• Post the video on your site, blog or YouTube.

Doing this gets more people involved, an audience gets to see the new cards, and a random winner gets to walk away with new cards and an appreciation for the company that provided them.

If the company wants to get more from people who enter, then have them sign up for a mailing list, try a magazine subscription, or submit cards for grading in order to enter the raffle.

Following this process is an easy way to bring an audience to your table/booth, get more people involved in the process, and create happy customers along the way. It's time to spread some good will and give something back to the collectors.

Oklahoma City Thunder - New NBA Name, Same Rules

It appears that Oklahoma City has decided on a team name for the once Seattle SuperSonics. The people of Oklahoma City have voted the "Thunder" as their team's name.

The Thunder follow a growing trend in professional supports to drop the plural "s" in team names. Remember when professional sports only had three names (that I can think of) that didn't end with an "s?" Red Sox, White Sox, and Jazz. Since the NBA expanded more than 15 years ago, the trend has been to drop the "s." The NBA did that with their Miami Heat and Orlando Magic franchises.

The NHL continued the trend with move of the Avalanche and expansion Wild. Then the US Major League Soccer teams continued the trend with the Columbus Crew, New England Revolution, and Chicago Fire... to name a few.

The WNBA has taken a page from the NBA's team name marketing chapter and turned it into their own style sheet template! The WNBA team names without an "s" include:

• Atlanta Dream
• Detroit Shock
• Connecticut Sun
• NY Liberty
• Indiana Fever
• Chicago Sky
• Seattle Storm
• Minn. Lynx
• Phoenix Mercury

Is the Thunder a good team name? Or will the people of OKC want to impeach the Thunder when the next team name marketing trend comes up?

Move over Mookie - Jose Reyes is Coming Through!

Jose Reyes is running through the NY Mets team record book and is taking another step to becoming the Mets all-time lead-off man. Well, at least statistically speaking he is.

Sunday's game against the Reds showcased Reyes' speed as he collected his 63rd triple in a Mets uniform. His 63rd triple passes Mookie Wilson on the NY Mets all-time triples list. It took Mookie 10 years and over 4,027 ABs to get 62 triples. Reyes has now done in 6 years and 2,921 ABs.

Prior to Jose Reyes joining the Mets, the team had only two seasons in its history where a player had double-digit triples in a season. Lance Johnson 21 triples in 1996 and Mookie Wilson had 10 triples in 1984. In Reyes 6th full season with NY, he's had double-digit triple seasons in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Reyes is on pace to lead the team in stolen bases for the 4th straight season. That would also tie Mookie Wilson for the number of seasons leading the team in steals. He'll also pass Mookie later this year with the Mets all-time stolen base record. He needs 15 more stolen bases to achieve this milestone.

After the stolen base record, the next stop for Reyes is the runs scored record. He's probably two seasons away from that mark (171 behind Darryl Strawberry).

Jose Reyes is statistically leaving his mark on the NY Mets, but unless he helps bring a championship to Queens, Mookie will still be #1 in the minds of Mets fans.

Ironclad Legends Auction

The Ironclad Legends Auction runs until July 27. There are some pretty cool items including:

• Babe Ruth Signed Contract
• Ted Williams Signed Baseball
• Sandy Koufax Signed Baseball

Ironclad has a great reputation - let me know if you win an auction! I know you can find a lot of this on eBay, but personally - I'd rather buy directly from Ironclad than deal with eBay.

Another Great CSA Show

Last weekend was another great CSA Show. CSA does a great job overall with their shows. They are able to get great guests to each show (about three per year) and draw collector's from 100s of miles away. Here are some of my observations.

Times

• You can get in the show Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday.
• I was able to pick-up my will-call tickets on Friday evening and take a quick peak at the show.

Autograph Pavilion

• There were a couple of cancellations, but that's to be expected.
• The autograph guest list didn't have as much variety as the March show, but that was primarily because there were not any ex-Boxers signing. Football players rule these show.
• The people calling the autograph numbers were organized and kept things moving.
• The front autograph pavilion was a little less crowded than before. I think they removed some of the deal tables in this area to make room for the autograph guests.

Memorabilia Tables

• Great variety for everyone at the tables.
• There were current card vintage cards, autograph items, programs/yearbooks, ticket stubs, and other memorabilia for collectors.

Admission and Will Call Tickets

• This area was still an issue. I picked my tickets up on Friday, but there problems for a lot of people on Saturday.
• Again, I think the will call and admission ticket booths could be outside before you go through the two sets of doors.
• This could clear up space when you first walk in and around the 2nd autograph pavilion. Of course, this is all weather permitting.

Autograph Tickets

• The autograph ticket area was improved - it seemed like there was more space to have the lines.
• If you order your tickets ahead of time (I definitely recommend), this line isn't a problem, but for others this became the longest line of the day.
• The main problem is still the combination of buying things to get autographed and buying autograph tickets. Some people just need the autograph tickets, and some people are choosing which 8x10 photo to get. This causes a congestion problem.
• As I discussed in the March show review, I think there should be multiple registers at this area. Mounted Memories generally sets it up like this. They have just one big table with 5 or so different registers.
• This makes each line smaller and allows for people to do one-stop shopping and to just get autograph tickets. This could prevent one long line snaking through the ropes.

Online COA

• There seemed to be more people working this line - I didn't notice too much congestion.

Their next show begins on Halloween - check it out if! http://www.csashows.com/

Tony Dorsett Autograph - GET OFF THE PHONE

Well, Tony Dorsett lived up to his reputation as a difficult autograph person.

For the second straight time, while getting his autograph, TD thought it was more important to take phone calls than to display common courtesy. I guess its another case of a pampered athlete doing whatever he wants.

During Sunday's CSA Show in Chantilly, VA, Dorsett took a phone call while he was signing the item of the person in front of me in line and he continued his chatty-cathy conversation when it was my turn.

Dorsett first did this to me in Canton at a Mounted Memories Show. TD was signing my Cowboys HOF helmet with one hand and held his cell phone to his ear with the other hand. This time he discovered the Blue Tooth technology.

But at least I added him to my Super Bowl XII helmet. My list of names on this helmet now includes:

• Tony Dorsett
• Rayfield Wright
• Drew Pearson
• Preston Pearson
• Ed "Too Tall" Jones
• Randy White
• Hollywood Henderson
• Mel Renfro
• Jethro Pugh
• Larry Cole

Beat Up BGS Beckett Contest

Beckett has launched a cool, new contest on their blog, "Beat Up BGS."

I think this could be a pretty cool contest and it is taking their BGS Slab test pictures to another level.

The winner gets 10 free graded cards - that's a pretty cool prize!

• How high can you drop a slap and still keep the card protected?
• How fast can you run over it and still keep the card protected?
• How long can a dog chew on it and still keep the card protected?
• Will firecrackers destroy it? (does that count as explosives)
• Can you skip it across a pond?
• Can you hit it off a tee?
• Can it survive a gorilla jumping on top of it like the old suitcase commercials?

Thanks to Eric & Beckett for running the promo! I can't wait to see the winners.

Links: Making Beckett Blog Ideas Better

1952 Dallas Texans Autograph

My other Dallas Texans Autograph from the CSA Show was Gino Marchetti.

Gino is a Colts Hall of Famer that played on the 1952 Dallas Texans a team. Gino and fellow HOFer Art Donovan played for the Texans in '52 before they moved.

Gino gave a real nice signature. This time, I used a silver paint pen instead of a sharpie. The silver paint pen has a bit more metallic in it and it seems to stand out a little better. He signed his name under Art Donovan's autograph which I obtained last year in Canton, OH. This helmet has the plastic face mask like Donovan wore in '52 and during other times in his career.

If you ever get the chance to get Art Donovan's autograph, ask him about the 1952 Texans! I did last year in Canton and he went on for about 10 minutes about how bad they were, but were still able to beat George Halas' Bears in Akron, OH.

Len Dawson Dallas Texans Autograph at CSA Show

Here's a picture of my Len Dawson autograph from Saturday.

Dawson signed an RK 1962 Dallas Texans Helmet at the CSA Show in Chantilly, VA on July 12. This is the helmet I bought from RealSports.com.

In the 1962 season, the Texans won the AFL Championship (which Dawson also inscribed). Following that season, the Texans decided to stop competing with the new Dallas Cowboys for the hearts of Texas football fans. Lamar Hunt moved the team to Kansas City and became the Chiefs.

Dawson signed the helmet with a silver sharpie pen. I had seen a few KC Chiefs helmets with black sharpie signatures and I didn't think it jumped out enough, so I decided on silver.
I'm pretty happy with this piece. The silver autograph stands out better than what this picture indicates.

Len Dawson appeared to be in great shape. He didn't talk much, but he shook my hand and smiled when I said thank you. I know, it doesn't seem like much, but compared to what other ex-atheletes do, I'll take Dawson's reaction any day.

CSA Autograph Show - Saturday

I went to the CSA Autograph Show in Chantilly, VA this weekend. Saturday was a slow day for me at the autograph area, so that made it a great day to check out the tables.

I found a cool Dallas Texans' Flash Back card. It's a 2006 Topps Heritage card of Art Donovan with his 1952 Dallas Texans' photo and Texans logo. It's not a high value card by Beckett book standards, but I've been collecting more Texans pieces and this one looks pretty good.

I also picked up a 1986 World Series Game 3 ticket. It's the complete ticket and Game 3 is largely over-shadowed by the Game 6 events. After dropping the first 2 at home in the series, the Mets needed Game 3 to get back into it. It's a great game, if you're a Mets fan. The ticket looks good, so I was happy with that pick up.

In my opinion, Chuck Noll was the biggest name at today's autograph area. Noll hasn't done a public signing in a few years, so Steeler Nation was out to get his autograph. Originally Noll was only going to do 45 minutes at a time, but he didn't take any breaks. I didn't get his autograph, but saw a few others that did. It looked great. I was really surprised with how sharp it was. All I've been hearing for weeks is about Noll's health, how good his autograph will look, and other doom/gloom - but I think his autograph looked better than a lot of current signers!

Earl Campbell was also here today. I've seen some Earl autograph pieces at sports shows and on eBay and they didn't look sharp at all. I had even heard that in Canton last year his autograph was looking real sloppy and that his health was in decline. Not today! Earl's autograph was very sharp compared to what I've seen. And he appeared to be in good spirits. Somebody was telling me that he was trying to buy someone's memorabilia piece that he was signing! Now that's a great compliment when a HOFer is offering to buy your memorabilia!

I got Len Dawson's autograph today, I'll blog more about that on Monday when I can download a picture of the helmet.

Football Night in America - Too Crowded

"NBC's show will be so bad that about the only thing that could be worse would be if ESPN decided to team Stu Scott, Jay Mariotti and Emmitt Smiff in the Monday Night Football booth." - Jason Whitlock, FoxSports.com/Kansas City Star

I didn't blog about the "return of Dan and Keith" because I think the idea is stupid, the set is over-crowded, and Dan and Keith aren't the same personalities they once were. Dan's turned his attention to radio and Keith has turned into a political hack that can't wait to tell you how much smarter he is than you.

Anyway, check out the article written by Jason Whitlock - I think he's exactly right.

Thanks to the Awful Announcing Blog for linking to this.

Tiger Stadium - Good Bye Old Friend

The Tiger Stadium Wrecking Crew punches in at the time clock today. It's a sad day for baseball.

To think at the end of this baseball season we will have lost old Tiger Stadium and Yankee Stadium.

The amazing part of the article is that their seems to be seats and other pieces still left inside of the stadium. What the heck? Why aren't the auctioning off a lot of those pieces? I think they had an attempt to auction pieces off last year, but the auction company had problems with their web site.

And did it really have to come to this? Earlier this week Wrigley Field was announced as a location for a Wings/Blackhawks outdoor hockey game. Why wasn't this done at Tiger Stadium? Not that Wrigley isn't a great place - but wouldn't it make a lot of sense to give the city of Detroit and Tiger Stadium a revenue shot in the arm by having this event at old Tiger Stadium?

thanks to Shysterball for the heads-up.

CSA Autograph Show This Weekend

I'm headed to this weekend's CSA Show in Chantilly, VA. I usually catch one of these a year, but this will be my second one in 2008.

CSA does a great job with getting quality guests - mostly NFL HOFers. The show always seems to run smooth and there are plenty of tables to find cards, programs, and other memorabilia.

The biggest appearance this weekend is Chuck Noll. The 4-time SB Champion coach hasn't been around the autograph circuit lately and pre-sale ticket numbers have been #1 on the list since the show was announced.

I'll be picking up a few on Saturday and Sunday:

• Len Dawson - Texans Helmet
• Tony Dorsett - Dallas SB XII Helmet
• Gino Marchetti - Texans Helmet
• Doc Gooden - '86 Champs Baseball

Yankee Stadium Wrecking Ball Bobble

There have been some good Stadium Give-aways this season (see the St. Paul Saints bobble foot promotion), but this one brings in a great sports rivalry.

The Brockton Rox - a Mass. minor league baseball team is giveaway a Yankee Stadium Wrecking Ball Bobble (see picture).

The SGA is in early August. A quick search on eBay Sunday night didn't show anyone taking pre-orders for Yankee-haters.

Here's a link to the Rox web site.

Autograph Hunting Adventures

Before there were MAB, CSA, and Triumph shows. . . there were guys like this!

"If I had to pick the true highlight of my autograph-hunting days, it had to be the brief encounter with Honus Wagner, probably the greatest shortstop in baseball history. At the time, he was a popular coach with the Pittsburgh Pirates, after playing 17 years as their shortstop.

When I walked over to him, he appeared to be sleeping or just dozing off in the hotel lobby. Smiling, he wrote his name, J. Honus Wagner, on the bottom of a tiny photograph of his craggy face. I still recall his big ears and exceedingly large nose. I suspected he might have had a mouth full of false teeth. He thanked me for asking him to sign."

Check out the rest of this great story - this guys needs to have a book deal.
The Baseball Think Factory Blog first reported this.

Ticket Collectors Have a Real Piece of the Game

I mostly collect sports cards and autographs, but lately I've been getting more and more into tickets. I like the cards because it gives you a piece of the athlete - but the tickets and game programs give you a piece of the specific event!

Chris @ the Gavel Chat blog has a great story on collecting tickets and has a few top 10 lists from some of the best ticket collectors in the industry.

I've grown a little jaded to the sports cards industry because of some of the gimmick stuff that's been going on. Maybe this is something to get a little more into - having a ticket or a game program is a great way to actually have a piece of the historic event.

Stray-Rod Strikes Again

Ah, another good A-Rod story - the cover of the Daily News was better than the NY Post.
First he sticks to the fans by backing out of the all-star game home run derby. Then he sticks it to Madonna?

At what point does Stray-Rod stop going after Jose Canseco's women? Remember Canseco's latest book claimed that Rodriguez went after Jose's wife!

All Star Game Brings Steiner Marketing

If you are unsure about the location of this year's MLB All-Star game, then you aren't on Steiner's mailing list! Yesterday I received my about my 3rd Yankee themed All-Star Game Steiner marketing piece through the mail.

Steiner is promoting their All-Star game baseballs with mostly Yankee autographs. The biggest surprise price: Robinson Cano signed All-Star game baseball = $149.99 vs. Yogi Berra All-Star game baseball = $110!

I know there are some kind of price/demand metrics that probably determine this to be the most profitable for Steiner, but are people really paying $40 more for a Cano baseball than they are for Yogi?