1986 Mets Game Six Project - My Holy Grail

Finished! Well, at least good enough for me.

This 1986 World Series Game 6 Moment is my Holy Grail. Sure, there are greater moments in sports history, but for me, this is it. I talked about chasing your sports card/memorabilia Holy Grail last week and had some great responses.

The autographs on my 1986 Game Six Moment include:
- Mookie Wilson
- Bill Buckner
- Bob Stanley - Relief Pitcher
- Bill Robinson - First Base Coach
- Dale Ford - Home plate Umpire

It's my Holy Grail because of the chase to get some of those autographs and because of the moment it captures - it was a big part of my childhood. Living in southern New Jersey at the time, I became a Mets fan in 1984 - I hold Doc Gooden and several friends from Logan Elementary School responsible! By the time the '86 season came, I knew the starting rotation, starters, subs, relief pitchers, coaches, checked the box scores daily, and I had my favorite WWOR TV announcers. Even at that age I didn't like Tim McCarver!

I can still remember waking up everyone in our townhouse that magical Game 6 night by jumping on the couch and screaming as Mookie Wilson ran to first and Ray Knight floated down the third base line. It's hard to describe, but if you've had one of those defining moments, then you know what I'm talking about.

The first autograph on my Game Six Moment photo was Bill Robinson. I was lucky to get his autograph just two months before he passed away. The next autograph was Dale Ford. Earlier this year I talked about my TTM success with Dale. Bob Stanley was next. He was very nice and laughed when I asked him to sign. He hadn't seen many of these pictures with Dale Ford's autograph.

Finally, this November I got Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner to sign this 16x20 photo of the moment of the 1986 World Series. Mookie was great. He looked at the other autographs and said, "Yeah, this is how you do it." Bill Buckner didn't say much. He also signed a baseball for me, but he really didn't say anything about signing my Game 6 Moment photograph. (More on Buckner later this week, but I think he deserves more credit than he's given.)

Sure I could get Rich Gedman's autograph if I wanted to head up to New England, but that's a long trip from central Ohio for a Rich Gedman signature.

So now what? Do I start another project? I have a few helmets where I'm trying to get certain teams to sign, but I'm pretty sure those will never be finished. I think I have to start some kind of new project - isn't that why we're collectors? Or does that make us addicts?