August 17th White Plains Card Show Recap (III)

Hey guys, Drew back here! As you may have noticed, I wasn't exactly pumped about how things went with my picture yesterday. Fortunately for its sake, I will be hopefully adding a few more big names in October, but that's all I'll say for now. Getting back to this show; I met 2 other players on the day, one being a guy I didn't plan on running into. We'll get into that in a moment, but I'll kick this off by talking a bit about a move I made that day.

Joe Zaccaro, aka "Real-Mccoy2" on eBay (owns the store "Real McCoy Collectibles) has become a friend of my dad and I's over the past year, first by selling and authenticating a Yogi Berra signed ball for us. He's always been into helping me out, whether it be by trading or buying or anything in general. He lives nearby where we are, and we saw (and bought) from him in Cooperstown just a month ago. The first part of business we tended to in White Plains that day was to visit him and see if he'd be interested in William's extra Rickey Henderson signed ball and my Robinson Cano signed 11x14 I've never been a fan of. Sure enough, he took both pieces off my hands, and with a little cash I was able to get William a signed ball he didn't have for his Hall of Fame ball collection, and I got this for myself:

Signed on an Official National League ball is this sweet Vladimir Guerrero autograph! The ball is PSA/DNA and appears to have been signed early on in Vlad's career when he was a member of the Montreal Expos. Guerrero was a great player throughout the late 1990's and all of the 2000's, making 9 All Star teams and winning the 2004 AL MVP award. I've always had a lot of respect for him and his bad ball hitting ways. I remember seeing him play a few times in person, hitting pitches practically in the dirt and still getting hits out of them. I also loved how he would bat without batting gloves, and who could ever forget the pine tar covered helmet he wore every game? Overall, I'm glad I finally lost my least favorite signed photo in my collection (even though it was of Cano) and was able to add Vlad to my collection!

After I finished dealing memorabilia with Joe, I went to meet potential Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz! Smoltz was surprisingly looking lonely that day, as it didn't appear that many people were paying to meet him. I didn't understand that considering his great chances of making it into Cooperstown one day. He didn't end up matching his Braves teammates Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine in terms of wins, but a lot of that was due to his numerous injuries that would force him to move into the bullpen. He's the only player in history to have at least 200 wins and 150 saves, showing that perhaps the move to the bullpen shouldn't get into pitcher's heads as much as people say it does. Smoltz did both with success, and was an integral part of some great Braves teams in the 1990's. 

He signed a ball for me that I have already put right next to Jack Morris' in my baseball display, where he should be. In Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, Morris and Smoltz faced off in what was one of the greatest pitching duals in postseason history. Morris ultimately won the battle, but Smoltz had plenty to look forward to over the next few years for it to hit him too hard. Morris was Smoltz's boyhood idol, and by comparing their autographs, I wonder if Smoltz practiced signing his name like Morris', because their autographs look extremely similar. Either way, Smoltz was a quiet but very nice guy and I'm really glad he now owns a spot in my baseball collection. Next stop: Cooperstown!

 As we left the signing room, we saw someone walking around shaking hands and taking pictures with fans. We overheard that the player was former controversial Met and Giant outfielder Kevin Mitchell, who was scheduled to sign the day before. He was being interviewed by a local radio show at the County Center however, and he along with his shiny gold tooth posed for a picture with me! It was a nice surprise, although I didn't wind up getting a signature out of it.

Before we left the show, my Dad wanted to treat me by getting one of those unpredictable signed baseball boxes. He let me choose what company and box I specifically wanted, and I went with one of the "Historic Autographs Ball of Fame" balls, which basically guarantees a Hall of Famer. William has busted a few of these in the past, so I wanted to give it a whirl. It turned out to be the most ironic moment on quite an eventful day.

Oh yes indeed, we landed a Gaylord Perry signed ball out of it. There was good news and bad news that came out of this: the good being that since we didn't get to have Perry sign a ball using our other free ticket, we still didn't have him yet... the bad being that this ball cost about $80 more than the free opportunity we were given that day. We don't like to think about that though, so here's our Gaylord Perry signed baseball, inscribed "5 Time All Star". I wish it had the Hall of Fame inscription instead, but these mystery boxes are always unpredictable. Thank you Dad for buying me one though, I really appreciated the gesture even though we pulled someone we weren't exactly hoping to get!

Overall, it was a pretty solid show! I got a lot accomplished, and even though I didn't get a chance to meet Paul O'Neill I think Dad and I found a way to make up for it. Hopefully October will produce who's on the lineup, and if so it should be a pretty awesome show!

See Ya!

The Mantle Project: Ooh's, Aah's, and AHHH's!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Another summer is on the backburner, as my senior year is getting closer and closer to making its debut. It's been a summer filled with highs and lows, mainly highs for the most part though as you all have seen. Between the never ending Fanfest/Home Run Derby day, my trip with William to Cooperstown, and what you're about to see below, I think it's safe to say I've had a solid summer.

A few weeks ago, I spent my day with my Dad in White Plains, preparing to add 4 more names to my signed Mantle picture! Originally, my reason for going when I did was to meet "The Warrior", Paul O'Neill, but he had a scheduling conflict and had to cancel last minute. Instead, I met these 4, starting off with Charlie Hayes!

Charlie Hayes was a solid player throughout the 1990's, although he played for more teams than you could count on one hand throughout the decade. He was fortunate to be traded to New York in 1992, and while he had a solid season, it wasn't enough to keep him from being drafted by Colorado in the next year's expansion draft. He returned to the Yankees in 1996 just in time to make the final out of the World Series, the moment he's always been known for. I was born in 1996, so his play has been important to me in many ways.

Charlie was a nice guy in person, although he didn't say a whole lot. He didn't draw the biggest of crowds, but a few big Yankee fans got the chance to shake his hand throughout the day. The only issue with Hayes was that he marked a fairly significant first on the Mantle photo. While Gene Michael originally added his nickname "Stick" on his autograph, and several players added their numbers; Hayes officially added the first legit inscription to the photo. He wrote his number along with "96 WS Final Out" below his autograph, which takes up enough room to take away one less autograph on it for future use. Don't get me wrong, I love that inscription, but on a piece without inscriptions... I cringed a little bit. Fortunately, since he signed off to the side, it won't stand out too much and I'll learn to live with it.

Dwight, otherwise known as "Doc" Gooden was the next on my To-Do list! Say what you want about Gooden's legal issues and substance abuse problems over the years, but he sure has gotten his act together lately. Both times I've met him he's been a really nice guy, and he looks really good given all he's put his body through over the years. I have a strange fascination with players (and people in general) that carry the "What If?" factor, and he undoubtedly has that. He was untouchable in his first few years with the Mets, only to ruin that for himself with drugs. I believe if he never hurt his body, he had the potential to be a Hall of Famer.

Like I said, Doc was an awesome guy, and he signed right next to Hayes on the picture. He looked down at my picture when I first gave it to him and he complimented it, saying I have a nice collection. There is something too awesome about the feeling you get when guys who've accomplished a lot in their lives give you a compliment, so that definitely meant a lot.

Jerry Coleman was probably the one I wanted to add to the picture more than anyone that day. Coleman played with Mantle for parts of 7 seasons, although his career was beginning to slow down at that point. Mantle was on the rise, but Coleman served a bench role for the most part. Coleman has accomplished an awful lot in life; not only was he an All Star and 4 time World Series champion, but he also served in the Korean War as a Lieutenant Colonel (the reason for his nickname, "The Colonel")! On top of that, following his career in baseball he worked as a broadcaster, eventually taking over the San Diego Padres radio announcer job. He was given the Ford C. Frick award in 2005 for his broadcasting efforts, becoming one of 5 players-turned-broadcasters to ever be given the honor.

Before I get to the negative, let me say that I give Mr. Coleman all the props in the world for traveling to this signing. At 88 years old, I can only imagine how much of a drag that would have to be. However, JP's Sports had scheduled him to sign between 1:00 and 3:00, and I had my chance to meet him around 2:00. At that point he was yelling "I have a plane to catch at 2:30, I need to get out of here" and "these photos are the reason this is taking so long, so hurry it up". On top of that, when I politely asked him to sign in a specific location on the picture, he said "how about right here?" and signed elsewhere. He signed in the middle of an open space, leaving small gaps in all 4 locations that most likely can't fit an autograph. I was not impressed with Mr. Coleman one bit, and I thought he had quite the nerve to be as rude as he was. I understand that if you have a flight to catch in a half hour, you have a reason to be flustered, but why on Earth would your flight be leaving before your paid signing session was over. It was ridiculous, if you ask me.

I got really lucky with this next one. Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry was the free signer of the day, but the crowd he drew was too large for me to even fathom getting him that day. Eventually his signing session ended, leaving me graphless, and since he played part of the 1980 season for the Yankees, I had wanted him on the picture. My dad talked to one of the guys running the show, and since we have been so loyal to them over the years they let me into the back room the players go to after their signings to get my 1 on 1 chance to meet Mr. Perry. My dad had already met him in Cooperstown and got his autograph on his All Star 8x10, but like I said, I had wanted him on my picture. He was traded to the Yankees in August of 1980, but the main reason they wanted him was to monitor his pitching style to see if he doctored baseballs like many accusations had said. He went 4-4 for New York with a 4.44 ERA, certainly not telling of his great career statistics.

Perry was short, sweet, and to the point with me, and just like Coleman, he didn't sign the spot I asked him to sign. Instead, he signed sideways, taking up a ton of space on the picture. Look, I appreciate these players signing nice and big on my picture, but I have a lot of big names I still want to add to it before I close it off, and I may not be able to at this rate. I don't think I'm being rude by telling them to sign at a certain spot since I say it so nicely, but some just prefer to be ridiculous.

On that note, here's a look at the photo's current status. Gooden and Hayes signed by Mantle's left knee, and a little below them is Perry's huge autograph. Coleman signed close to Jim Kaat and right above Yogi Berra, right in the center of the photo. Quite the large ego for a Hall of Fame broadcaster if you ask me. This project is going to become more and more of a pain as it continues, but the goal is to make it look as good as possible, and I'm going to continue striving for just that. Thanks again to Doc for being the only player I added that day that didn't drive me nuts.

See Ya!

2013 All Star Fanfest Recap! Part 2!

Hey guys, Drew back here! In case you haven't noticed, I decided to bring my blog back to the old design. I couldn't tolerate needing to update my Java every other day in order for the page to actually load correctly. Sorry if the site was inconvenient to any of you, but fortunately now we are right back on track. So when I left you all yesterday, I just finished showing off my "Big Hurt" and Jack Morris signed balls, after a very unlucky opportunity with my favorite player. Let's continue my coverage of 2013 Fanfest, shall we?

After we finished adding Morris and Thomas to our collections, we immediately bounced over the Sirius XM Radio station. Rumor had it that Curtis Granderson was there earlier and that they were planning on having Cal Ripken Jr. there along with Bud Selig later on! Sure enough, the "Ripken Baseball" interview was just getting underway at Sirius with Cal and host Adam Schein. Had we not had specific goals that day, we would've all stayed and listened to the legend talk, but instead, we rotated in and out of the station, making sure to keep our spot in case he signed autographs. While I was holding our spot, I recorded a little bit of what Cal had to say about the steroid era. Check it out:

Cal spent the better portion of two hours answering fan's questions, and it was really entertaining to hear his opinions on many of the games current issues. I wasn't too concerned about getting his autograph, since I already paid to do so earlier this year. However, I wouldn't have minded a second one, and I wanted to help my buddies add him to their collections. After the interview, he signed for many of the people there, but it was probably the biggest mob I've ever dealt with in a signing before. I ditched out because it wasn't worth all of the pushing and shoving for me, while my friends hung around. Unfortunately, they were pushed around so much that after about an additional hour of trying, they came up short as well.

While they desperately tried to get Cal to sign for them, I moved to the WFAN station where former Yankee Jim Leyritz was signing. I haven't heard much about Leyritz since his legal troubles a few years ago, and I didn't even know if he was in prison or not. However, you could have never guessed what happened to him if you met him that day. He was as nice of a guy as they came! I told him I'm a big Yankee fan despite the Pirates jersey, and he curiously asked me why I was wearing it, and I told him it was in order to try and get McCutchen's attention. I told him how all of that went down and he seemed pretty sympathetic. I asked him if he could inscribe 1996 World Series champions because that was the year I was born, and he was more than happy to oblige. Unfortunately, the security didn't allow a picture, but I snapped a few from the bottom of the stage as I walked away. I'm glad I got to meet Mr. Leyritz because it gave me an entirely new opinion on him as a person, so I can begin to watch his classic playoff home runs again without thinking of his darker times.

While we were in line to meet Leyritz, we overheard a few people talking about Rollie Fingers signing autographs. I didn't expect to see him there because he wasn't on the lineup, but I should've known better considering he had been there every other day of the show. Sure enough, we bounced over to the Fergie Jenkins Foundation area, which asked for $20-30 donations for any of the players signing. Bert Campaneris, Gaylord Perry, and Rollie Fingers all were sitting there with very short lines. I ended up getting Fingers while my Dad paid to get Gaylord Perry. We passed on Bert because he normally signs TTM for free and I didn't have much interest in adding a signed ball of his.

Rollie was as cool as always, and after he signed my baseball, I told him that his signature is beautiful, but not as beautiful as the moustache. I wonder how many times he's heard that one before. He was kind and friendly to us as he had been when Dad & I met him last summer, and I'm glad we took advantage of meeting him again.

Mike was currently holding down the fort for Cal at the time, but when I told him about Fingers signing he gave up and gave in for the handlebar man. I got him a picture with Mr. Fingers and told him "long time no see"! After Mike got his autograph, we left the station and started to roam around. We saw an older man wearing a blue Detroit cap, and neither of us knew who he was.. but we decided to get him anyway. There is no situation more awkward than when you're trying to get an autograph of an unrecognizable person, however we politely asked the man if he could sign for us and he was more than happy to. He asked us "Do you want my teams?" and we said sure, considering we'd use them later on to find out who he was. It turns out that it was Pedro Sierra, a former Negro League pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns and Detroit Stars.

Sierra was a nice surprise, and by the time we got him and made another loop around the building, we saw George Foster enter the building and go to the Fergie Jenkins foundation. For $20, I wasn't going to pass on one of the most underrated players on one of the best teams of all time. Foster was a quiet but relatively nice guy, and he was patient enough to wait for me to walk all the way around Fingers and Campaneris for a picture. While he was decked out in Mets stuff since he played most of his later years in New York, I'll always look at him as a member of the Big Red Machine, and I had him sign the ball recognizing just that.

So, I believe that Foster is a pretty solid place to stop for now, and I'll have the rest of FanFest for you guys tomorrow! Indeed, there is more! Keep on the lookout!

See Ya!

2008 UD SP Legendary Cuts Box Break

Hey guys, Drew back here. This is the final part of our White Plains Card Show Recap, and it's a box review. I told my dad how much I enjoyed opening that recent box of 2008 Legendary Cuts, and wouldn't you know, he went out and bought another to bust that night! We did, and it was a very interesting box. Check it out:

PART 5:
BOX OF SP LEGENDARY CUTS

So, I won't do the product content, just know 12 packs per box, with 4 cards per pack. 6 YSL cards and 4 game used with the chance of a cut auto. Let's see how I did!

MY BOX BREAK REVIEW:

Base Set: 43/100
I still love this base set, and most of these I think I didn't have, which was great! I'm definitely going to finish off this set sometime, and I'll have a wantlist up soon for it. They definitely will look great side by side.

Yankee Stadium Legacies: 6/a lot
I'm so bored of this set now, even if they're all Yankees. The DiMaggio and Yogi ones are pretty nice though. I think I have close to 150 of these now, not including the blue border 100 card special set that features the same design except a blue color instead of the yellowish-goldish color.

Base Parallel: 1/100 (#162, Luis Aparicio)
Better than the first box that had Andrew Jackson, but this is for trade too.

And the hits...

Destined for History Game Used: 1 (Dontrelle Willis)
My favorite moment of this box hasn't arrived yet. When this card leaves my house! Jeez, a pretty stinky hit to say the least. It's for trade, wicked??? I know you must have at least 10 of these but, wanna take it off my hands?

Destination Stardom Memorabilia: 1 (Justin Verlander)
Nice, a fantasy starter of mine. I like Justin Verlander, got to see him pitch live this year which was cool. I definitely need to find an auto of his. Currently I can trade this but only for something I'd want more.

Legendary Memorabilia: 1 (Gaylord Perry /99)
Not bad I guess, nothing compared to the Clemente from the last box, but it'll do. I like the baby blue swatch color though, that was nice. If it was white, I would be disappointed. But Perry was good.

Generations Memorabilia: 1 (Gaylord Perry/Roy Halladay)
WHAT THE HECK?!?! A Gaylord Perry hot box? Well, they're both nice cards anyway, love wool swatches, and Halladay is great too, so this isn't for trade, but wow, two Gaylord Perrys. Didn't see that coming.

Overall, not a bad box, Gaylord Perry is a lower tier Hall of Famer, but the cards are nice anyway and I'll probably hang on to them. You can't beat the 1/1, Clemente, and Mattingly/Heltons from the first box that easy. Looks like we may have to try again sometime!

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. That will do it for the show recap, I had a great time and I can't wait to go back soon! Mike might have a guest commentary post or two coming up about the show so stay tuned for that. See Ya!