Adventures in Autograph Collecting
Today I received the last of the items I sent for spring training. Josh S (jslaw on SCN) sent me the last things he got for me. They turned out great and I am pleased but I had a lot of fun adding items to my collection this spring.
The items I got are:
Carlos Ruiz OMLB
Carlos Ruiz 2 different Sports Illustrated magazines
Brett Lawrie ML Debut ticket
Thanks Josh and the rest of they guys who made my spring training so fun!
Today I received the second package from Josh S (jslaw on SCN) which had the bulk of the Spring Training consignments I sent him. He did an awesome job on my stuff and really worked a lot of teams to get my stuff done! Today I received the following from Josh:
Cole Hamels Sports Illustrated
Jimmy Rollins Sports Illustrated
CC Sabathia Sports Illustrated
Edwin Encarnacion OMLB
David Robertson OMLB
Neil Walker OMLB
Tyson Gillies OMLB
Jim Johnson OMLB
Michael Pineda Debut Ticket
Domonic Brown Debut Ticket
I also received a pair of cards from Lou R (signatures on SCN) who worked both AZ and FL spring training! From him I received:
Alexi Casilla 2012 Topps #389
Brendan Harris 2010 Topps Update #US233
Great day of mail!
If you have read any of these posts on this lame blog, you will have noticed I have a number of friends who share the same passion as autograph collecting as I do and they are scattered around the country. Having so many contacts like this allows me to really add to my collection spring spring training. I have a few guys who live in Florida or Arizona and others who travel there for a week or two or even longer pursuing autographs for themselves as well as myself. Today I received a really nice pile of packages with items signed during spring training. They are all really nice additions to the collection!
Paul C lives in the Fort Myers, Florida area and works the teams there as well as the rookie leagues. Today I received the following baseballs:
Jake Odorizzi
Hak-Ju Lee
Jackie Bradley Jr
Mike Napoli
Matt W (invctrl on SCN) worked the Nationals and Astros spring training sites and hooked me up with the following:
Denard Span 2012 Topps Heritage Update
Jose Altuve ML Debut ticket
Lucas Harrell ML Debut ticket with ML Debut
Stephen Strasburg Sports Illustrated magazine
Last but not least, I got the remaining items from Arizona from Kent B (doggle3 on SCN). Kent and Noah worked the Arizona spring training sites just about all spring long. They did a great job getting me a bunch of autographs at really reasonable prices. Kent works the Kansas City Royals as well as their opponents for me during the regular season and does a great job. From these guys I received the following:
Tommy Hanson 1st Win ticket
Derek Norris ML Debut ticket
Todd Frazier ML Debut ticket
Wade Miley ML Debut ticket
Mark Trumbo ML Debut ticket
Paul Goldschmidt ML Debut ticket
Gordon Beckham ML Debut ticket
Nice Punto @ 2 baseball cards
Chad Billingsly OMLB
Wade Miley OMLB
Paul Goldschmidt OMLB
Jorge Soler OMLB
Kyle Seager OMLB
Josh Tomlin OMLB
Ryan Madson Sports Illustrated
Matt Williams, Eddie Rodriguez and Rod Barajas on the Diamondbacks Sports Illustrated
and the best Joey Votto Sports Illustrated
I am really fortunate to know these guys and I thank them a ton for their efforts and great work.
I also received a package I sent to Wade Boggs. I had a Sports Illustrated magazine that commemorates Fenway Park and had him sign that and a Hall of Fame postcard for a donation.
Today was a great day of mail! As I mentioned before, I really like Monday’s mail as they are usually rather large mail days. Today was a little bigger than most and was AWESOME! First, unrelated to autographs but related to my baseball collection, I received a bunch of sked request SASE’s. This is a fun time of year if you collect baseball pocket schedules!
Last week I was reading an article and read that Mike Cameron became the 20th person to steal 250 bases and hit 250 home runs back on May 23rd, 2009 at the Metrodome. I thought if I had that ticket, I should send it to him. Both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau hit home runs in that game so I thought it might be a slim chance that I would have more than two (since I collect Mauer & Morneau HR games) but as luck would have it, I did! So, I mailed him the ticket and a baseball requesting all his career stats. Today I received the ticket signed with 250/250 for the inscription and the baseball signed with his name and 3XGG as his only stat. I guess he was proudest of that?!?!?!
Last week I also ordered four signed cards for my Twins set from Mill Creek Sports. Mill Creek Sports is located in Seattle, WA and has a HUGE selection of autographed items and most, if not all, are certified authentic by PSA/DNA. I bought four signed Twins cards from them and they arrived today. They are:
1973 Topps Joe Decker
1976 Topps Joe Decker
1976 Topps Twins Team Card signed by Gene Mauch
1977 Topps Twins Team Card signed by Gene Mauch
I could not be more pleased with them!
Lastly, I received one of the boxes of consignment items I sent to my guys working the Florida and Arizona Spring Training sites. This package was from Christian B (hheroes10 on SCN). Christian has been going to Arizona for both spring training as well as the Arizona Fall League and has gotten me numerous autographs. He takes good care of my items and this year was no exception! He got me the following items signed:
Trevor Bauer ML Debut ticket w/ML Debut inscription
Mike Olt ML Debut ticket w/ML Debut inscription
Jeremy Bonderman ML Debut ticket
Cody Ross OMLB
Trevor Bauer OMLB
Bubba Starling OMLB
Bartolo Colon OMLB w/2005 Cy Young inscription
Jamile Weeks OMLB
Mike Zunino OMLB
I look forward to working with Christian in the future! He does GREAT work!