Today I went back to the Sports Show to get Tony Oliva. I had so much fun I thought I would try it again today! I had an idea for a baseball with Denny McLain today and thought I would give it a shot with him. When I got to the show I went to his table and spoke with him and his handler and explained that I looked up the 1968 World Champion Tiger roster and discovered that Eddie Mathews was on that team. I was surprised because I remember Eddie as a Brave but I guess I should get a pass because it was two years before I was born. I asked if he would write the 1968 post season team roster on a baseball and provided him the list of teammates. He told me he had never signed a baseball like that and thought it was pretty neat. I guess I have the first roster ball he signed! His handler shot me a price and told me to come back later. I walked around a bit and bought some 1965 Topps cards and sat down waiting for Tony O to show up. While waiting, Mr McLain’s handler delivered me the roster ball. I left it in the box until I got home which could have been disastrous if it was wrong but I wanted to be surprised. I was not disappointed! I will have to try that with other players! I also got five items 
signed by Tony Oliva and he was as cool as he always is at these events. I got the following signed by Tony O:
June 1971 Baseball Digest
2 @ October 1965 Official Baseball Sports Magazines
(Yet another) 08.23.1965 Sports Illustrated
(and another) mini bat
This was a fun weekend and I added some great items to my baseball collection!
Category: Baseballs
New Kid on the Blauch
Today I went to a local card show to get some autographs of Chuck Knoblauch and one of Junior Ortiz. I needed three cards for my Knoblauch Topps Twins card run and had sent these in to a number of shows just to find out Chuck never showed or whatever. I was very skeptical if he would show up today but gave it a shot anyway. I was not disappointed!
I was able to get Chuck to sign the following:
1994 Topps #555
1995 Topps # 250
1998 Topps #309
11.04.1991 Sports Illustrated
I also got Junior Ortiz to sign the same SI.
Chuck was very personable which was really cool. The person before me had his Upper Deck rookie card to get signed and Chuck looked at it and told him that the picture on the card was taken when he was in Double A “with those old ironed on logo uniforms!” Pretty neat he remembered that. After signing my items he shook my hand and thanked me.
I also got a card signed for a friend of my buddy Joel who said it was one of the last few he needed to complete his set. I was happy to help.
Before I left, I stopped by Denny McLain’s booth. I bought a ball he had signed with stats and a story of when he gave up a 480′ home run to Mickey Mantle as well as a story of his first start and home run. It is a pretty neat baseball and he graciously stopped to have a photo with me. He was real
nice too!
I may go back tomorrow for Tony Oliva’s appearance. Stay tuned!
Jr
Today I received a pair of baseballs signed by Vlad Guerrero Jr. Al N (milb08 on SCN) had a private signing with him that included his numbered sticker hologram. I already had a pair of his baseballs signed but with the hologram I could not pass these up. These baseballs are absolutely beautiful too. They have a nice bold signature with no skipping or anything. These would for sure grade as a 10 each. I am pretty excited with these!
Not Free
My friend Nick K stopped by today to drop off some items he got signed for me the last few weeks. He went to Milwaukee for the Rockies/Brewers playoff series and got Kyle Freeland on a baseball for me. When the Tigers visited the Twins the last week of the season, he was able to get Grayson Greiner to sign a debut ticket with “MLB Debut”. Nick did a great job for me over the season and I cannot wait to work with him again next season!