Today was the final day of the Sports News Show for the winter weekend. The highlight for me was having Gary Gaetti there. So, here is my Good, Bad and AWESOME part of the show today.
The Good:
I was able to meet Joel Bradley at the show. He brought an Ichiro baseball that he got for me through a volume discount deal. I met Joel via SportsCollectors.net and it was really nice to meet him in person. He seemed like a great guy.
The Bad:
This was not all bad but it was bad for me. Another member on SportsCollectors.net, Heidi G, asked if I would be able to get a couple bats and balls signed by Danny Valencia since I was going. I offered to help because the items were not already signed and if something happened, I would not feel AS BAD as if something happened to something she already had signed. I had her six tickets as well as my single ticket for Danny to sign his only Topps baseball card out there. When I got to the table, I was informed that Danny would not be signing his rookie card because he was “under contract”. I do not know what kind of douchebag would not sign a baseball card (except Albert Pujols but at least he EARNED the right to put that restriction on after winning multiple MVP’s and being one of the best players in the game) but when I said I did not have anything else to get signed, the ticket taker said “There are people all over selling his items” to which I replied “I do not want anything else signed” so I ended up getting a refund. That was a real downer. I was able to get Heidi’s bats and balls signed. Danny asked where I got the bats with his name on them and I told him I had no idea and he laughed like I was the jerk. Whatever. If he was not so relied upon for the Twins infield this season, I would wish him what he deserves. What a punk.
The AWESOME:
When the list of people showing up was listed, my heart skipped a beat when I saw Gary Gaetti’s name. I am down to needing just Gaetti and Dan Schatzeder on my 1987 Twins team ball. When I got to Gary, he signed the last three cards for me that I needed his autograph on to complete my run of his Twins cards and I told him I have been working on this team baseball since 1987. He asked if I got all the autographs myself which I told him I did. He said that there are a lot of balls he has seen that he did not sign that are out there. He offered to sign the ball with his autograph that he used back in 1987 (the wide G’s). That was pretty cool.
After getting Gaetti on my baseball I headed home. It was neat to meet Joel in person as well as get Gaetti on my team ball after working on it for over 22 years! One more to go!