My Vince Coleman Autograph Request

Former Met and friend of firecrackers, Vince Coleman, is signing autographs.

Vince is signing at the Mounted Memories November 21 show in Chicago, IL.

What are the chances Vince signs a firecracker for me?

If you don't remember Vince's little problem . . .

eBay Auction for Dana White to Tweet You

Twitchange is a celebrity twitter auction that is raising money for aHomeinHaiti.org.

You can bid to have Eva Longoria, Dana White, Jim Rome, Pierre Garcon, and others follow you on twitter for at least 90 days and retweet one of your tweets.

The auction raises money to build the Miriam Center, a home for children with cerebral palsy, severe autism and other disabilities.

How long until TriStar, Mounted Memories and others start selling tweets and followers at card and memorabilia shows?

Emmitt Smith's Autograph Price Dropping

It's not where it should be, but the price of Emmitt's autograph is dropping.

Next month Emmitt is signing at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Mounted Memories show. His price for a Premium Autograph is $299 plus $189 for an inscription.

In September, Emmitt is signing in a Plano, Texas mall for a bit cheaper. His price for a premium autograph is $269, plus $150 for an inscription.

It's not a ton, but it is $69 cheaper.

$500 Panini Autograph Session at Football HOF

Panini is partnering with Mounted Memories and the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a $500 autograph session. Whoa!

$500 is a bit much if you ask me. In the session you get an autograph of every member of the 2010 Hall of Fame class which includes: Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Randle, Floyd Little, Dick LeBeau, Rickey Jackson and Russ Grimm.

Panini is also offering individual autograph tickets for Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. Emmitt's prices are the most expensive I've seen: $299 for a full size helmet and $189 for an inscription. This is nuts. $189 for Emmitt to write "HOF 2010."

I'm a big Cowboys fan and have all the other HOFers (sans Landry), but I won't be going for this one.

Click here for details.

Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010 Autograph Session

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a Class of 2010 autograph session on their calendar. The Festival Schedule has Sunday, Aug. 8 (time TBD) on their site.

I think the details are in the fine print. Under the listing it says: "Members of the Class of 2010 will participate in a special autograph Session. Time TBD. Class of 2010 participants TBD."

This Sunday session is separate from the Mounted Memories session on Saturday, Aug. 7.

Does this mean that Emmitt Smith, one of the most expensive players for autographs right now, may not show up?

Last year, there was one flat fee for one autograph per HOF class member. Considering Emmitt's prices, this flat fee will have significantly jump or will will occur without him in the line-up.

Rollback Pricing with Mounted Memories and MAB

The struggling economy continues to affect the autograph show industry. Mounted Memories and MAB have been cutting the fat pricing structures and are offering more rollback prices for their guests.

The Mounted Memories autograph area at the November Chicago Sun Times Show will have several rollback pricing offerings. Some players are $20 and $30 cheaper now. Gary Carter's prices have dropped down to $49 per autograph baseball.

There are also some great football HOFers for $29 and $39!

MAB has lower pricing for several players at their November "Backstop Boys" show. Johnny Bench, Ivan Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, and Don Mattingly are about $20 cheaper.

Do the cheaper prices tell us how much the hobby is struggling? Or does it tell us how over-priced it was?

Super Bowl XII Cowboys Roger Staubach Autograph

The Super Bowl XII themed helmet was the last piece I needed Roger Staubach's autograph on.

This is a picture of the full-size helmet with the player signatures. Staubach also signed this at the Mounted Memories show during Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, OH.

One side of the helmet is offense with the following autographs included:

- Roger Staubach

- Tony Dorsett

- Drew Pearson

- Preston Pearson

- Rayfield Wright

The other side is defense with the following autographs:

- Mel Renfro

- Randy White

- Hollywood Henderson

- Ed "Too Tall" Jones

- Larry Cole

- Jethro Pugh

Super Bowl VI Cowboys Roger Staubach Autograph

I added Roger Staubach's autograph to my Super Bowl VI themed helmet.

This is a picture of the RK style helmet Roger wore in Super Bowl VI game when he earned the game's MVP award.

Staubach signed this at the Mounted Memories show during Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, OH.

One side of the helmet is offense with the following autographs included:
- Roger Staubach
- Forrest Gregg
- Walt Garrison
- Rayfield Wright

The other side is defense with the following autographs:
- Bob Lilly
- Mel Renfro
- Chuck Howley
- George Andrie
- Jethro Pugh
- Herb Adderly

Here's a picture of Roger signing my Navy football helmet the same day.

Roger Staubach Beat Army Autograph Navy Helmet

I have been waiting for this autograph a long time!

Roger Staubach came back to the Mounted Memories Canton Hall of Fame show on August 15. I got the helmet pictured here, and two other helmets signed by Roger last Saturday.

The full-size helmet pictured here is from GridIron Memories. Navy wore this helmet during the 1963 Army/Navy game. Navy Coach Wayne Hardin put the "Beat Army" and the players' names on the back of the helmets for this game. Hardin also added "Drive for Five" on the back of the players' jerseys - winning the 1963 game would be the 5th win in a row for Navy.

Navy won their 5th Army/Navy game in-a-row and Staubach finished the '63 season with 1,474 yards passing, 418 yards rushing and 15 total touchdowns to win the Heisman Trophy.

At the autograph session, Roger added the '63 Heisman inscription and the "Drive for Five" inscription. He was really cool about it, talked about the game a bit, and seemed happy that someone knew about that particular Army/Navy game.

It makes all the difference when getting in-person autographs if you have some different knowledge about the player when you meet him/her. On Saturday, Roger was cool to share stories about a game that most autograph seekers don't ask about. Another example is when I met Joe Namath at an autograph session a few years ago and talked about Alabama football, instead of the normal Jets discussions that most autograph seekers do. He talked about the Alabama/Tennessee game for 10 minutes with me. It was an awesome experience.

I'll have pictures of Roger signing my other helmets in the next few days.

Mounted Memories Football Hall of Fame Show

Say it ain't so! Mounted Memories is once again running the autograph session at the Football Hall of Fame this summer.

Their shows web site has "Canton Induction Weekend" listed as an "upcoming signing." Mounted Memories has run the autograph shows the last 4 years and in the process, has priced out the average collector.

The football HOF previously had "tent sessions" where you could you buy one ticket and get multiple autographs of Hall of Famers in the tents. Since MountedMemories was outsourced as the autograph vendor, the tent sessions have ended and prices have spiked. Fortunately, some Canton malls have autograph sessions throughout the weekend with prices for the average collector. Two years ago, Art Donovan was signing at one of the malls where he signed my 1952 Dallas Texans helmet. He was awesome and worth the $25!

Hopefully, the local malls will come through again with some great guests.

Collector's Stimulus from FansEdge

Instead of complaining about the economy and increasing show prices to cover for lack of attendance, Schwartz Sports and Mounted Memories are making a fresh, bold move.

The FansEdge show on July 17 will have a rollback autograph pricing special. Autograph prices have been slashed up to 50%! The best deal - Gordie Howe autograph. It was $129, but on Friday, July 17 it will be $69 with a free "Mr. Hockey" inscription.

Bill Buckner Autograph Baseball

This is one of my Bill Buckner autographs from the Chicago Sun Times Show. I wanted an autograph baseball with "1986 AL Champs" inscribed.

Bill didn't say much. He just signed the pieces and hardly looked at me. And no, I wasn't wearing my Mets jersey!

Later this week I'll photo the other Buckner autograph I picked up - I finally finished my Game 6 Moment autograph piece.

Card and Memorabilia Show Weekend

I went to this weekend's Chicago Sun Times Show this weekend. I thought it was run pretty well, there were a lot of dealer tables with good cards, and the autograph pavilion area was nice. I spent most of my time looking at the cards and tables, but I did get a few autographs too.

Bernie Kosar made a rare signing appearance. For being one of the most popular Browns in the last 25 years, he hasn't appeared much on the autograph circuit. I got him to sign my 1990s Cowboys Helmet. Bernie played a minor role and was signed mid-way through the Dallas' Super Bowl XXVIII run. Of course he signed his name like he was the player on the team. Look at how big that signature is! On a helmet with Troy Aikman, Darryl Johnston, Michael Irvin and more... Bernie's signature is biggest! Ah geeze.

Bernie was very cool to everyone though. He talked to us for about minutes discussing Browns football. It's conversations like that which really add to the autograph experience.

Chicago Sun-Times Show

Two memorabilia shows this month! I'm off to Chicago tomorrow for the Chicago Sun Times Show.

I'll post some Flickr photos of the event this weekend. I plan on getting autographs from Doc Gooden, Bernie Kosar, Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner.

I'm looking forward to the Mookie and Buckner signing. Chasing their autographs has been my personal River of Doubt with all of the twists and turns.

For those that I've already talked to, I'll see you there on Saturday. If anyone else plans on going, send me an email or post a message to the blog. Hopefully we can catch some good college football games after the show on Saturday.

The Sports Cards Hobby Needs a Virtual Trade Conference

Have you ever been to a virtual trade show? They are awesome and this is something our card and memorabilia hobby need.

You can get so much information about the subject without leaving your PC. With all of the growth our hobby has seen in blogs, trading forums, and memorabilia sites - the time is now to bring it all together for a yearly showcase.

Of course this doesn't replace "The National." A virtual trade show would bring more information to more people for free!

You won't leave this show at the end of the day with a new Upper Deck card, a set completed, or an autograph baseball, but you will leave more information about what ideas card companies have for the future and make more connections in the hobby.

How would you like to attend a virtual trade show (for free) and get to hear Upper Deck and Topps talk about their products for next year. What do they plan on doing that is different? How are they going to earn our collecting dollars next year?

How would you like to hear from Tri-Star, Mounted Memories, CSA, and MAB about autograph shows they plan on having next year

How would you like to ask your questions directly to the card and memorabilia companies? Collectors would get to hear this via live webinar and get to ask all of their questions.

Wouldn't you like to win a Box of Bowman Chrome or an autograph mini helmet just for attending one of the presentations? This can all be done in a virtual trade show.

Beckett or SCD could have a presentation to discuss how they price cards or the future of card grading. Beckett could use the space to talk about the change of their web site and new magazines.

McFarlane can have a webinar on their newest products and who's going to be in the next series.

The virtual trade conference also has the ability to have a virtual lobby where you can trade information with collectors from other blogs and web sites.

The possibilities for information sharing and gathering are endless. The digital age is done with "finding" information - we've found it and now we're in a time of "connecting."

How does this work?
I have put these together for my work - they are a lot of fun (and work) and you make some great connections. If you are a collector, lets start making some noise about having one of these. If you are a card or memorabilia company then lets get to work. For some examples, check out Unisfair and Design Reactor, and talk to people who have "attended" virtual trade shows.

I know, this blog entry wasn't about a certain card or autograph I just picked up... I'm guilty of being in a marketing mood today and I think our hobby can really grow and get more connected with something like this.

HOF Weekend or The National?

Which do you choose?

Next year, the National is going back to Cleveland, OH. This is also the same weekend the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducts the Class of 2009.

Who will get your autograph dollar?

Unless MountedMemories improves on their guest list next year, my money is heading to Cleveland. A couple of years ago, MountedMemories made the HOF weekend an incredible 3-day event with plenty of autograph sessions. The guest list was great.

Prior to that, the Hall of Fame had their very popular "tent sessions" where you could get all the autographs you wanted in a tent for a flat fee.

This month, MountedMemories had one day of autographs with a small players list:

• Fred Biletnikoff
• Len Dawson (at CSA Show the previous month)
• Dick Butkus
• Tony Dorsett (at CSA Show the previous month)
• Jim Kelly
• Deacon Jones
• Gayle Sayers

Unless something changes at the Hall of Fame, I'll probably keep driving past Canton on my way to the National in Cleveland.