A 'Perfect' Christmas Gift!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! This month is looking worse and worse in terms of the amount of stress that I'm going to end up putting on myself. It appears that now the week of all of my mid terms won't end up with a nice, carefree weekend. Instead, I'm taking my first crack at the SAT the day after all those dreadful tests are over. Fortunately, I do have a few things to look forward to this month to keep me sane, the biggest being the White Plains card show the weekend of the 19th and 20th! The lineup is going to be stellar, and I'm looking forward to unloading a lot of precious Christmas money on some more sweet additions to my PC. Anyways, I still have a little bit more to get to with Christmas, so here's the 3rd and final autographed baseball I bought for myself this year:

In one of the nicest displays I have for any of my memorabilia rests this beautiful OAL Gene Budig ball, signed by two of the most perfect Yankees around, Don Larsen & David Wells! Of course, Wells & Larsen were two of the three Yankees in team history to throw a perfect game, Larsen's being in the 1956 World Series. The only other pitcher to throw a perfect game for the Yankees was David Cone, who I one day hope to add to the ball. Unfortunately, if I do, I might have to play with the label, possibly replacing to honor all three pitchers. 

Both Wells & Larsen inscribed the dates of their special days, making the piece even sweeter for any Yankee fan! 

Just like the Ford and Ryan lot, this ball was pre-certified by PSA/DNA, although it doesn't have any sticker on the ball. 

The piece also came with a hobby store certificate of authenticity, saying this is the 61st of 1956 balls in the series. This certificate came along with the photos above of the 2 pitchers signing the balls, to ensure even further that the autographs are real. It appears to have been at least 10 years ago, or who knows, maybe it was even before Cone threw his famous perfecto on July 18th, 1999.

When I won the auction for this ball, I knew it was going to end up being a mini project. Once I get Cone on it, I'll be much happier with the ball, but for now it still is very nice. Maybe one day it'll be a project again, if some other Yankee decides to throw a perfect game!

Anyway, thanks again mom & dad for letting me do all this on Collect Auctions, it made my Christmas even more special! See Ya!

Christmas Splurge: Chairman of the Board Edition

Hey guys, Drew back here! As was promised yesterday, here is the second of the three signed baseballs I managed to win on collectauctions.com as part of my Christmas gifts!

Yesterday I mentioned how on the auction site, I won a lot of two signed baseballs, and a third separate ball. This fantastic Whitey Ford baseball came in the lot along with the Nolan Ryan ball, and I got the lot for $100 total! Normally, it's hard to find a Ryan ball alone for less than $100, but I managed to get him and perhaps the greatest pitcher in Yankees history for one Franklin! Both balls came with a PSA/DNA pre-certification paper, rather than having actual stickers on the balls. 

I met Whitey Ford over the past summer, and I hate to say that the experience was pretty terrible. Mr. Ford seemed like a real nice man, however the guy in charge of the company really disappointed us, giving us literally seconds to speak to one of the most legendary figures in baseball history. However, having this beautiful baseball now sort of makes up for the mediocre visit I had with the "Chairman of the Board", whose stats don't speak for how terrific of a pitcher he was. 

Ford has become the 3rd member from the Hall of Fame that I own in my signed baseball collection! I never really wanted signed baseballs, however, I've been looking to add some variety in my collection. It's pretty difficult to keep adding huge signed pictures, there simply isn't enough room for that.

Be on the lookout for the third and final Christmas baseball! See Ya!

Autographed Baseball of a Legendary Flamethrower!

Hey guys, Drew back here! My Christmas recap was delayed a bit due to just pure busyness, however I am here to show off some of the sweet new additions in my collection! Before Christmas, I asked my mom if I could use some of the allotted Christmas money she would normally spend on me, and put it towards some nice autographed pieces for my collection. It was a little strange buying my own gifts, but with the reoccurring issue of authenticity, and since she wouldn't know where to start, it was probably for the best. 

So, William sent me a link to this website called collectauctions.com, which was about to do a very large auction containing tons of incredible memorabilia! Since not many people know about the site, we were both able to add a few sweet pieces to our collections for more affordable prices than they would have been anywhere else! I bought a lot of 2 signed baseballs, along with a third baseball that in my eyes, isn't quite complete yet, but you'll see that another day. Without any further ado, here is the first of the 3 balls, one that I got in a lot with tomorrow's baseball, for $100 (plus buyer's premium charges)!

Ball #1 is signed by one of the most overpowering pitchers in baseball history, a guy by the name of Nolan Ryan! I've wanted a Ryan autograph for a long time now, and when I saw the opportunity to grab this along with the other ball you'll see tomorrow at the price they were at, I had to do it! Ryan's bold, yet small signature was signed here on an OAL Bobby Brown baseball, and the autograph looks really sharp!

The ball doesn't have a PSA sticker on it, however in the box, there was a certificate of authenticity, pre-certified from PSA/DNA! I got a little nervous when I opened the box on Christmas morning, because these papers were buried below all of the packaging peanuts, and I was starting to think the company lied about them being certified, but sure enough I did some more digging and was instantly relieved!

I'm pretty sure there isn't much to say about Ryan that hasn't already been said. 7 no hitters, 324 wins, 5,714 strikeouts; and one of the most dominating presences baseball has ever seen. While I don't believe he should be in the top 5 best ever, he certainly deserves a spot just outside of that elite group. Either way, I'm still extremely excited to add this to my fresh autographed baseball collection!

Thanks Mom & Dad for letting me do this for myself! See Ya!