Meeting the Iron Man.

Hey guys, Drew back here! It was a great day today, as we got to leave school early due to a few inches of snow! I spent most of my afternoon indulging in my latest book for English, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", however I found a little spare time to finally update the design of the blog, and well, write this post! Before I get to it all though, I want to say rest in peace to my dear old blog logo, as it is no longer present on the site. I went with the new Blogger template, and I'm yet to see if it'll actually keep the same template without automatically changing like last time. Let me know if you like what you see with the new layout!

As I may have warned you all a few times, there have been a few big posts planned. Yesterday, I showed you all my experiences with Harold Baines and Sparky Lyle, and I hinted towards two more big names that would each deserve their own respective post. Ladies and gentlemen, I met the Iron Man, Cal Ripken Jr.!

Ripken made his first appearance in White Plains last weekend, and was regarded as "the guy" for the entire show! When he was first announced, I wasn't exactly sure how excited I was, because his price point was, well; ridiculous. However, I ended up deciding that no matter how high the price was, since Christmas helped me fund more towards my show budget; that I would go in and do it. I mean, come on, the guy has an entire baseball LEAGUE in his honor, how could I resist the opportunity to shake his hand?

The first thing I noticed about Mr. Ripken was that he wouldn't be somebody I'd want to mess with. He's listed at 6'3; and definitely appeared to be every bit of that! I'm not sure if it was just that I've always overlooked his height, or if his larger than life persona just made me picture him to be bigger than he actually was on stage that day! He brought his own company representation with him for the signing, which was so refreshing considering that many of the JP's sports workers get very grouchy and aggravating. These people handled us fantastically, even holding our spot in line for us when we realized time was running out for one of the other signers we had an autograph ticket for! They all cracked jokes and were really personable, which set Dad, Schuyler and I up really well for "the moment".

That moment eventually came, and there he sat directly in front of me. I opted for him to sign a baseball, as a custom card just wouldn't have been logical for the price I paid. I, of course; was thrown offguard by the fact that a baseball legend was signing my baseball, however; Dad told Ripken how much he enjoyed his career and told him that he'd never forget the game he passed Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played. Ripken (who's heard that same script too many times to count I'm sure) thanked him, and that was about it. In reference to the picture above, Ripken held still and told me it'll be a cool action shot!

But, that wasn't all. After every set of 5 or so people got their items signed, they received a photo opportunity with Cal! They threw all of us in "The Bullpen", where we waited to be called back up and get our pictures taken. The representatives again handled everything well, allowing us to take two pictures instead of the one we were originally allowed. "I'll retake it once for you if needed, or twice even, but if I have to retake it a third time it's not the camera, trust me," said one of the guys.

Ripken got up, posed for a few pictures; telling everyone that we're his friends. We stepped up as a group eventually, got our photo ops in, and just when we were leaving I shook his hand again, thanking him, and Dad told him along with his representatives that they did a great job with the experience. Ripken's response: "Thank you! I'll be here until midnight."

The other day, I reflected on the whole thing, and I could see why Cal is revered throughout professional sports. He's a class act, he did everything in his career in the most respectful way possible, and he's one of the best true players during the Steroid Era. If I grew up 15 years earlier than I did, I have no doubt in my mind that Cal would be one of my favorite players, because he seems so similar to my favorite player, Derek Jeter! I still can't believe I got the chance to meet him, and I'm glad I saved up my money in order to do so!

Oh, and by the way, the baseball came out beautiful! I got it certified for the discounted price over at JSA immediately following the signing, and it officially has become a staple in my memorabilia collection. This makes my 3rd Ripken autograph; I have him also on a card with his brother as well, and on his recent children's book "Hothead" (which I enjoyed reading)! 

Overall, this was a phenomenal experience, and even though I was quiet, I don't think I'll ever forget it! Thank you to Cal and his company for really making my day! You guys will always be friends of mine!

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 1

Hey guys, Drew back here. I guess it's time to start the review for the White Plains show I went to a few days ago! This time, we're gonna do 2 pickup posts, one on modern cards and one on vintage, followed by meeting the players and my experiences with them, and we'll wrap it up with one more post. You'll have to wait and see what that is... for now, here's the modern stuff I picked up:

Part 1:

The New Stuff

Well it was packed once again at the East Coast Spectacular, as many fans poured in to meet perhaps the greatest lineup the show has ever provided. We did one thing off the bat we never did before, rather than coming in and waiting in line to get our autograph tickets, the line was so long we just entered the show then and got our tickets when the line died down. We soon realized we needed this early time. Mike and I spent most of the day in lines for autographs and I didn't get to buy a whole lot. But, I definitely got some sweet stuff for my collection! First though, Dad got me some mixed $1 grab bags and they ended up actually being pretty cool. Take a look:

These grab bags were definitely helpful, as I haven't touched any of the new 2011 Topps football product, as well as the Topps Unrivaled, and baseball wise, I haven't gotten much Bowman Platinum. The best pack had rookies of Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Jesus Montero, Kyle Drabek, Mike Moustakas, Mike Trout, Dee Gordon, and Austin Jackson! Not bad for a buck! 

Dad also picked up this Nick Swisher 2011 Topps Opening Day Blue Bordered Card, which is numbered to 2011. Swisher's base card from Topps this year is really sweet, and I can't get enough of the parallels and what not. I didn't have this yet but I'm definitely happy to add it. 

Next, Dad got me this card as well as the next 2 cards all combined for $20. Had the autographs been not as, well, faded, any one of these 3 could have been $20 seperately. This first one is a dual autograph of Dwight Gooden and Jim Bouton. I don't know what these 2 really had in common other than the fact that they both pitched for the Yankees during their careers. However, minus the autograph fading problem, it's still a nice card, and it's my first Bouton auto in my collection. 

The next two autographs were both out of the 2003 Topps Uncirculated autograph set, and I'm very tempted to take them out of their scratched up cases. The two autographs are of Graig Nettles and Moose Skowron, two great former Yankees. I have gotten their autographs before, but it sounds like Dad got too good of a deal to pass up. The Skowron autograph is the most faded of any of the autographs in the lot, but it still looks pretty cool and I'm happy with it. Now I just need to get them out of their cases. 

Now on to my pickups, for the rest of this post at least. We'll start with this 2011 Topps 60 relic of Brett Gardner. The seller was a really cool guy and I talked to him for a few minutes, and this, as well as the next card caught my eye. I got them pretty cheap. Gardy's having a very good year, especially when the Yankees don't expect him to be the best hitter on their team. He lives up to their expectations for sure. This is my first relic of Gardner, which means I completed his trifecta by adding this card! Sweet!

Also from that seller, I got this 2011 Topps Lineage Brandon League autograph for a couple bucks. League, as well as most other relievers, are very undervalued in the hobby, while they are key contributors for their teams. League has been a staple in my fantasy baseball bullpen this year, with 30 saves and an under 3 ERA while having to close out games for the worst offense in baseball. I'm not sure how much I like these Lineage autographs, perhaps if they were on card I would like them more. They feel a little cheap is all, I think. 

Next, I got this autographed card from 2009 Bowman Chrome of the Yankees ambidextrous pitcher, Pat Venditte. I've been wanting his autograph for a while now, and I'm happy I finally got one. Venditte is infamous in baseball for an at bat where he threw to a batter with both arms (link). Venditte's dad taught him at a young age how to throw with both arms, and while he may never amount to a big league pitcher, it still is cool to have in the collection.

Here is a card that has eluded me for the past 2 years, since 2009 Allen & Ginter was released. It is just the simple bat card of my favorite player, Nick Swisher, but it's more than just a bat card of his. This is a card I've seen only a handful of times online, on eBay, anywhere. It's a super short printed relic and they typically sold for like $20-30, which was always too much for me to want to drop on just a simple bat piece of his. I wrote off the card, and figured I'd never get it.. but then, I saw it, for $10 at a vendor at the show. Now, its mine! 

The final card produced within the past 10 years or so that I picked up was this 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature Series autograph of Hall of Famer Dave Winfield! I met Winfield around that date 2 years prior to this year's show, but didn't pay the price to get an autograph. Instead, I caught him in line at Nathans. I'll always remember him, as one of the best players I've ever shaken hands with. For $25, this card was totally worth it in my opinion. Winfield spent 9 of his 22 seasons with the Yankees, and was regarded as one of the best all around athletes to ever play the game. He recorded over 3,000 hits and over 400 home runs, and is one of the only players to do so.

All in all, there weren't many, but of the cards I picked up, I'm definitely happy. The show has always been so worth it to me, and you'll see more reasons why in the upcoming posts!

See Ya!

White Plains Card Show Recap 3/27/11! Part 4

Hey everyone, Drew back here. It's been a long, grueling battle to get myself back to this blog lately, with all of the baseball and school work going on. I've had this long term science project to do on Extinction Level Events for the past few weeks, and it has been by far the most boring stuff I've ever had to write a paper on. Also, I had a scrimmage for my town league yesterday, and I ended up going 4-4 with 3 singles, a walk, 2 RBI, and a huge triple over the left fielders head. I also got my opportunity to pitch, and I went 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of my starter. I struck out 3 and allowed 2 hits and 2 walks. Late last night, I was playing manhunt at my friend's house, and I ended up hurting my back by turning it funny, so I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in it. Nonetheless, here I am now, finally ready and able to finish off the final post on the White Plains Card Show. Without further adieu, let us continue!

After Dad, Mike, and I got some quick lunch at Nathans, the indoor mini fast food restaurant the Westchester County Center contains, Mike and I jumped in line. We began to start talking to a fellow collector in line, who was familiar with our school, and actually looked pretty familiar. He ended up being the father of a girl in our freshmen class, and we didn't even know that until he notified us of that just a minute or so before we began to meet some players. It was pretty cool to see a local collector at a card show, especially one with as many cool collecting stories as he did.

So, the first player I met was former pitcher Luis Tiant! Tiant was a 3 time All Star throughout the mid 1960's to the early 1980's, and he was best known for his stint with the Red Sox. A famous moment etched into Yankees lure is when Bucky Dent hit his memorable home run, which was actually given up by "El Tiante". He also pitched for the Yankees in 1979 and 1980, and is subjected in the 2009 ESPN film "The Lost Son of Havana", displayed in Cuba, where Tiant was born.

I went up to Mr. Tiant, who must have been battling a cold, because outside of the few seconds he took to shake my hand and sign my card, he couldn't go without holding his tissues and sneezing right in front of me!

I didn't get to say a whole lot to Mr. Tiant, but I did walk away with this very nice looking signed Yankees custom I made of him. Tiant has a pretty cool looking signature, and it is now my second autograph of his in my collection, after I bought a triple autograph of Ron Guidry/Goose Gossae/Tiant a while back.

As I walked down the line of former players, the next I met was former Yankee Ron Blomberg. Blomberg began his career in the late 60's, but played until the end of the 70's. He was a solid player all around, but he was most known for being the first player to play the Designated Hitter position in MLB history! Blomberg was a really cool guy and he really liked the looks of my custom I made for him to sign. While he wasn't the biggest name I met, I'm pretty sure he was my favorite one of the day!

Here's a scan of my card signed by Blomberg. I really struggled to find a good picture of him, but I don't think this one looked too bad.

As a special bonus to buying tickets for both Tiant and Blomberg, you could receive this 8x10 photo of the 2 of them together for free! It would've looked nice signed but I had other intentions with the autographs anyway, so I'm good with just the picture. Tiant had actually been the first pitcher to face a designated hitter (Blomberg) in history, so it was a cool little piece of information.

Next was Steve Garvey, the player I spent the most $ to meet that day. Garvey had been a 10 time All Star, 4 time Gold Glover, and the 1974 NL MVP back in his day for the Dodgers. He had been a part of one of the best infields of all time, the infield consisting of Dodgers: Garvey, Bill Russell, Ron Cey, and Davey Lopes. With 2,599 hits, 272 home runs, and a lifetime batting average of .294, in my opinion I think he should have a plaque in Cooperstown. Anyway, he was a very nice man, and he seemed like he was a fan of my custom. It was hard to tell how much he really wanted to be there, but I think he was fairly content with signing for the fans.

I took advantage of the "1 Free Inscription" deal, and got Garvey to write "74 NL MVP" under his autograph and number. It looks fairly good, maybe it would have been better if he used sharpie instead of just a plain blue pen.

Following Garvey, we took a little break, but then headed in line to meet 2 more guys, the first being the freebie of the day, former Cy Young winner LaMarr Hoyt. Hoyt used to rock a huge beard during his hey day in the 1980's, but since then it has all disappeared. He didn't really say much, but he wasn't a jerk, so I'm fine with that. Dad found me an extra autograph ticket laying around on the ground earlier, so I was able to also get an 8x10 signed along with the custom.

Outside of the awesome looking White Sox uniforms, there is nothing overly exciting with this guy. He had actually been arrested 4 times due to drug problems throughout his career, but since he's been drug free. I must say though, I don't get that autograph at all, because it looks like it says "Don/Son Hoyt" rather than LaMarr. Still nice adds to my collection though.

Finally, the last player we met was former All Star pitcher Tommy John! While of course he is well known for the surgery named after him, frequently now given to pitchers that had similar arm problems to him, he was a heck of a pitcher from the 1960's to the late 1980's. He won 288 games, the 26th most of any pitcher in baseball history. He made 4 All Star teams, and pitched for the Yankees in 2 stints in the 1980's. He is often found in the same boat with former pitchers Jim Kaat, Bert Blyleven, and now Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, in the group of pitchers that have good stats but perhaps not good enough for the Hall of Fame. The borderline guys. Blyleven of course made it into the Hall this past year, so maybe it'll soon be John's turn.

John was a fairly nice guy, but he seemed very caught up with signing 8x10 photos for something, maybe the mail order or something. He looked up quick to talk to me about my card and shake my hand, and took a picture with Mike and I, but other than that, he was signing his hand off. It seemed like a lot of the guys from the show had their hands full that day. However, the custom looks great and I was really happy to be able to meet him.

But that's not all! Outside of the 5 guys I had the opportunity to meet that day, I also sent in a mail order request to get a card signed by someone signing the previous day. I would have preferred to go on the Saturday rather than the Sunday, but dad had to work Saturday so I was in desperation to get one of the guy's autographs. When I was getting ready to send it out, I checked the website one last time and realized that the card needed to be at the place by the next day or else it wouldn't get signed. So, I had to pay 20 bucks extra on shipping just so the card could get there in time. Unfortunately, I had to pay a ton just for a single card to get signed, but now that I have it, I don't have to worry about getting his autograph again!

The card was signed by Reds Hall of Famer Joe Morgan! Morgan may be one of the most awful announcers of all time, but when he was a player, he was terrific. A ten time All Star, 2 time World Series champion, 2 time NL MVP, and a 5 time Gold Glover makes him perhaps the best 2nd baseman of all time! He was a tremendous player all around, and could hit for power, a very often hard to find feature in a second baseman. Today, it's very hard to find a second baseman that will hit some home runs, so it goes to show how good of a player he is.

Morgan had never been much of a TTM signer, so I knew that when I had an opportunity to get his card signed, even for the price, I knew it was worth it. He is now the 8th player in my Hall of Fame set, joining: Feller, Doerr, Snider, Bunning, MacPhail, Irvin, and Kiner!

All in all, even though I came home dirt broke, with not a dime in change, I bought a lot of really nice cards and met some former great players. We all had a blast and as always, can't wait for the next one!

See Ya!

A day I'll never forget (Part 5)

Hey guys, Drew back here with my favorite part all day! Here is the next chapter in my 6 chapter mini series!

CHAPTER 5
ALL STAR AUTOS

Al Oliver. Bill Madlock. Dave Parker. Cecil Fielder. Steve Carlton. Dave Winfield. Orlando Cepeda. An all star lineup indeed, including 3 hall of famers. Also WWE superstar Rick Flair and TV Reality Show "Hells Kitchen" contestant Chef Robert Hesse were there signing, but I didn't bother with them. The hall of famers were more expensive, $100 for Winfield, $45 for Carlton (which I wish I did), and $30 for Cepeda (I wish I did this one too). Instead I bought my tickets for Fielder, Oliver (freebie), Madlock (freebie), and Dave Parker! So no Hall of Famers for me, wait hold up on that!

My dad & I were walking around looking for the next vender to hit when all of a sudden I spotted out a HUGE guy in the crowd, sticking up at least a foot above everyone one. Even from the back side, I recognized who it was! Dave Winfield! So he was going to Nathans to get a hot dog, and I hate to say it but we stalked him there. Although we weren't ordering food, we walked behind him in line, and my dad called out "Mr. Winfield! I'd like you to meet my son!" He turned around saw me, and we shook hands, my favorite moment of the day. I asked to get at least a picture taken with him, but he told me "Hang on, I gotta get me somethin to eat!" I'm still hanging on apparently. Heres a picture of him getting mustard on his hot dog. This picture will be a moment in my life I'll never forget!

We left him alone after that, so we didn't bother him while he ate. So, we left Mr. Winfield in the Nathans room and we went to meet Al Oliver next! So after a pretty long line, talking to a guy that was dropping f bombs every second right in front of my face! But eventually we got to see Mr. Oliver, and he was an awesome guy. Here is a quick slideshow of me & him:

Next up was Bill Madlock, and eventually we got to get to meet him and get his autograph! He was a cool guy, and he signed both of our cards. This was truly a Pirates week, and I met another one later that day! Here's a slideshow of me & Mad Dog: (not my bat)

Well the next guy I saw was a little later, after picking up some singles, was Dave Parker. I only got 1 picture with him, so here is me & Mr. Parker, along with the picture of the cards I got signed!

He was a nice guy too! Although I only had 1 ticket for him, he still signed both cards! Man, if he didn't use drugs heavily, we could've had another 500 homer run hitter and a new Hall of Fame member!

Lastly, was my favorite guy of the day, Cecil Fielder. Mr. Fielder was kind enough to sign 2 cards and an 8 x 10 with 2 tickets (1 ticket was given to me after he found it on the ground and he didn't feel like waiting in line)! So I now have 4 8 x 10's of Yankees (Bruney, Roy White, Chris Chambliss, Cecil, all 4 have certificates)! Here are the pictures with Cecil!

So obviously my favorite part of the day. Thanks for looking and see ya!

A day I'll never forget (Part 4)

Hey guys, Drew back here with part 4 of my card show experiences, here is the next chapter:

CHAPTER 4
WANTLISTS

Well wantlists were huge on my mind yesterday, and I made sure I tried to fill some sets. I couldn't bother with Masterpieces because I'm making a trade for some and I don't have any idea what I'm getting, so forget that. Then Piece of History showed up, and I didn't bring my small wantlist of that so I tried to look at the cards and think about what I needed. I got base cards:

6, 15, 19, 32, 38, 40, 125, 126, & 136

Turns out that 2 out of the 9 I got were doubles, Hanley Ramirez & Lance Berkman. I wasn't sure about those at the start and they were indeed doubles. But I did get 7 cards to knock off the list! So I also picked up a ton of Goudey cards I needed, with the help of my handy dandy checklist! I got 28 cards I needed!!! Here are the card #'s:

5, 15, 16, 31, 156, 158, 161, 163, 173, 174, 179, 182, 184, 197, 124, 104, 98, 99, 33, 35, 43, 44, 52, 54, 57, 71, 78, 75!!!

Well that helped, hopefully soon I add Piece of History to my wantlist and cross off the Goudey cards I just got! See Ya!

A day I'll never forget (Part 3)

Hey guys, here's part 3 of our card show breakdown, the last of the night! More will be posted tomorrow!

CHAPTER 3 THE HITS

Well, I bought a TON of game used cards at this show, here is the list of the cards I bought:

Football

Mark Sanchez 3 2009 Rookie Cards!
My dad bought me these 3 for 5 or 10 bucks, I forgot, and they are nice! One is the Topps base, one is the Topps Magic, and one from is from 2009 Hit and its with Matthew Stafford, my 1st RC of him. Sweet Stuff!

Leon Washington 2006 SPX Rookie Jersey Auto!
This is an awesome card! It features an "event worn" game used piece, stupid rookie premiere, but with the addition of his autograph, this makes out to be a sweet card! I got this for like $10 bucks! It is also numbered 953/1650! Sick Card overall!

Patrick Willis 2007 Bowman Chrome RC Refractor #ed/1079!
This one came for free, along with the next one, in a great deal that I think we stole from this guy! 18 bucks for 5 sweet cards, and this is an awesome freebie! He was selling this card for $25 and I got it for free!

Tony Hunt 2007 Bowman Chrome RC Refractor #ed/1079!
Like the last mentioned, this one I got for free! Hunt apparently is a decent full back for the Eagles right now. That wraps up the football purchases, time for baseball!

Baseball

2003 Upper Deck Play Ball Joe Dimaggio 1956 Game Hitting Streak Card!
This is an interesting odd ball sort of card I bought for $4. There is a thick card of the box score for each game in Dimaggio's hit streak! This is game #43 of the streak, in a 7-2 win over the Red Sox! Sweet! Joe D was 2-4 in this game with an RBI. It's a tough card to explain but you'll see in the pictures! For $4, a card of Joe D, you can't go wrong!

1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera Rookie Card
This is a card I hunted down for a while, and I finally have it! This now makes my Yankee rookie card PC a lot easier, with 4 guys I need right now that would cost a dollar or less to buy! I got this for $20, I consider it a bargain! I'm lovin this one, a huge piece of my Yankee collection!

2005 Donruss Greats Yankee Clippings Mickey Rivers Jersey Card!
You saw Mickey and you thought Mantle I betcha, well, you're wrong. A Mick the Quick jersey card definitely was a nice addition, especially for $5. A nice deal and a sweet card, especially the jersey piece in the shape of the Yankees logo!

2001 Fleer Platinum National Patch Time Dave Winfield Relic w/pinstripe!
This guy seriously made my day, and I'll explain that tomorrow, getting to see him was great! He is a huge guy! This card is sweet and would be sweeter signed. But an $100 autograph, I'll pass. So I got this card for $10, not too shabby! Sweet!

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Memorabilia Don Mattingly Jersey Relic!
A very sweet Donnie baseball jersey, that I got for $7.50, a pretty nice deal! So I got a Mattingly jersey to go along with the Winfield, or the opposite way around, and this is a card I've wanted! I need his autograph to get the Triple Play of cards: a rookie card, auto, and jersey card! I know I've completed that for Cano, but not sure who else. So, the money has added up and total I spent $175, but there is more!

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Memorabilia Goose Gossage Relic w/pinstripe!
Another cool jersey card from a Yankee! Goose was awesome, and hopefully someday I could meet him! I picked this one up in that deal I mentioned in the football section, so another Hall of Famer in the books! I love Sweet Spot Classic!

2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Nolan Ryan Legendary Memorabilia #ed 26/34!
Well, I saved the best one for last! This was also in that deal, 18.00 for the Leon Washington auto jersey, this, the Goose, and the 2 chrome rookies for free! This is a sick card, a highlight in my collection! Please tell me did I get an amazing deal at that vender or what? Overall I was pleased by the huge selection of game used, and although I didn't see it all, it was cool!

So, tomorrow I hopefully will have up Chapters 4,5, & 6 in my masterpiece book only availible on drewscards! See Ya!

Chapter 4: Wantlists
Chapter 5: All Star Autos!
Chapter 6: What did I win?

click to enlarge photos