Just a Ball

Today I got just a ball.  It was packaged well and looks awesome.  It is Tony Cingrani who is a good young fireball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds.  I bought it from Chris M (crazybob60 on SCN).

An interesting fact on Tony is “Since 1914, which is as far back as game logs go, Cingrani holds the record for most consecutive starts with five or fewer hits allowed.”  I found this here.  Pretty impressive!

A Two Time World Series Champion

Today Kent Hrbek was signing autographs at the Twin Cities Sports Collectors Show in Bloomington.  They were expecting a big turnout so Cami and I headed down to make sure we were there at 9am when tickets went on sale.  We met up with Joel B (brad0112 on SCN) as he was planning on being there too.  I had brought down a few items plus had a fellow SCN member send me some cards to get signed so I was hoping to get through the line twice and was able to.  The items I got signed today were:
1995 Twins Schedule Poster- This is now signed by all players on it with their uniform numbers including (Puckett, Oliva, Killebrew, Carew and now Hrbek)
11.01.1991 Sports Illustrated
#14 Metrodome Seatback (I had paid for 14 inscriptions to be written on it.  When I got to him he said he was there “to sign autographs and not write a novel” and that I “could write them on there”.  I was a little bummed but he did write “World Champs 87/91” on it.
1982 Topps rookie already signed by Tim Laudner
2 baseball cards for Cami
5 baseball cards for Robert T (lutherlafy on SCN).

After we were done getting autographs, Joel and I went to a dealer that was set up selling off a collection of really nice signed baseballs.  Unfortunately the owner ran into some health problems and had to liquidate his collection.  There were some really nice baseballs for sale.  I purchased the following gorgeous baseballs:
Brooks Robinson – “1964 MVP  16 Gold Gloves  1983 HOF”
Curt Gowdy
Hal Newhouser – “AL MVP 44-45 – HOF ’92”
Willie Stargell – “HOF 1988  475 HR  1540 RBI  .282 AVE”
Yogi Berra – “MVP 51-54-55   HOF 72”
AB Chandler
These baseballs are near mint snow white OAL/ONL baseballs that were stored in tubs and did not see the light of day in years.  The quality was unsurpassed by many.  I am really pleased.  My only regret was that I did not buy more!  Maybe next time.

Another Fun Spring Training Package!

I received another package of items from spring training today.  Matt W (invctrl on SCN) hit the Nationals and Braves for me.  He also went to the Twins for a game and I bought a card he got signed there.  All the items look amazing!  Matt got me:
Matt Williams Sports Illustrated
Stephen Strasburg Sports Illustrated
Doug Fister OMLB
Denard Span 2013 Topps #102
Ryan Doumit 2013 Topps Heritage #384
Joe Mauer 2012 Allen & Ginter #350
All things were signed beautifully!  THANK YOU Matt!

Spring Has Sprung Again!

With today being the season opener for the Twins, MY calendar just flipped to summer so Happy Summer everyone!  Even though is it “summer”, I received a couple spring packages today.  Three to be exact!  What a great mail day!  I have a couple more spring packages on their way to me but today was a nice start.

The first box I opened was from Matt M (mightyswede on SCN).  Matt hits the Florida spring training scene for me and came up with the following:
Wil Myers ML Debut ticket (gorgeous!)
Nick Markakis SI (already signed by Adam Jones)
Jason Grilli SI
Great job Matt and thanks!

The next box I opened was from Christian B (hheroes10 on SCN).  As I mentioned in the past, Christian has been getting me autographs in Arizona for a long, long time.  At least five years between the Arizona Fall League and spring training.  This spring he got me the following:
Addison Reed OMLB
Adam Eaton OMLB
Wade Miley ML Debut ticket with inscription
Mark Trumbo ML Debut ticket
Tommy Lasorda SI
Christian does a great job and I cannot wait to send him my list of guys for the AZ Fall League!  Thanks Christian!

The last box I opened was from my guy Paul C who works the Ft Myers area for me during spring as well as during the Florida State League minor league season.  This was the final box of spring training items and he did not disappoint!  The box from him contained the following baseballs:
Mookie Betts
Byron Buxton
Anthony Ranaudo
Bryce Brentz
Barry Larkin with HOF (beautiful!)
Koji Uehara
Another great box from Paul!  Thanks for all the great baseballs!

I look forward to receiving the next boxes of goodies from my friends who work spring training for me!