Justin Time!

Today’s mail brought a really exciting package.  One of my most favorite Twins players of all time was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline this past season.  I have collected Justin Morneau home run tickets and have a real nice run going.  When he was traded I was bummed out.  I had 19 Morneau cards I needed signed for my Twins card sets and thought with him being traded, there was no way I would get them signed. Recently it was announced that he would continue his Winter Warm Up Coat Drive collecting coats for needy people in Minnesota even though he was no longer a Twin. This was a real classy move by Justin.  I contacted Shaun H (33forMVP on Pat Neshek’s site and the owner of Fan HQ) who was helping with the Coat Drive and asked if I sent a sizable donation for coats if Justin would sign the remaining cards I needed for my collection.  Mad props to Shaun and Justin for making this happen.  Today I received the cards and they are all signed beautifully.
The cards I received today were:
2006 Topps UH204 – RBI League Leaders
2006 Topps UH313 – Team Leaders w/Santana
2008 Topps 110
2008 Topps 287 – w/Mauer & Santana
2009 Topps 90
2009 Topps 176 – RBI Leaders
2009 Topps UH265 – All Star
2010 Topps 360
2011 Topps 293
2012 Topps 230
2013 Topps 575
2011 Allen & Ginter 305
2013 Allen & Ginter 324
2010 Topps Heritage 420
2012 Topps Heritage 269
2013 Topps Heritage 274
2011 Gypsy Queen 72
2012 Gypsy Queen 119
2013 Gypsy Queen 201
You hear about win-win deals all the time in life but this truly was a win-win.  I got my cards signed and many less fortunate people got new coats (just in time) for the cold winter.

If you are at the Ridgedale Mall shopping this Christmas season, be sure to stop by Fan HQ!

I cannot thank Shaun and Justin enough!  Thanks guys!

The Yaz Man

Today I received something I have wanted for a while.  I have an unsigned Carl Yastrzemski 3000th hit ticket stub but wanted it signed.  A couple days ago Phil C (baseballgenius80 on Pat Neshek’s website) listed some items for sale and one was a signed ticket stub with a #3000 inscription on it.  We worked out a deal and today I received it.  It is a cool addition to the old collection!  Thanks Phil!

The Puck Stops Here

Today I received a 1991 Topps Kirby Puckett signed card.  I bought it from John I (playrzink on SCN).  It is signed in blue ink and is PSA certified.  I probably over paid for it but for some reason, I thought it looked cool being in ink rather than the typical Sharpie.  Either way, with adding that one to the collection, I need only two more cards to complete my signed Twins 1991 set (Allan Anderson and Tim Drummond).

What a Golden Day!

As most of you know, I really only collect MLB autographs.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to add a couple 1980 US Olympic hockey players to a couple Sports Illustrated magazines so I guess I started that project.  Today George Johnson from SportsNewsShows.com had most of the Miracle on Ice team at a local show so I decided to get the ones I needed on just one of my SI’s as I was not about to pay $29 per for a second SI.

Over the course of the day I added the following players to my team celebration SI:
Jack O’Callahan
Steve Janaszak
Ken Morrow
Bob Suter
Rob McClanahan
Eric Strobel
Mark Wells
I had a ticket for Dave Silk but he arrived early and I was going by the time.  When his time was up to sign, he was already gone and I missed him.  I did get a refund but I was still disappointed.  One of the issues I have about this show is the poor communication.  You have one guy yelling what ticket numbers and person was ready and everyone all standing around the entry way.  If you are off to the side, you cannot hear anything (props to the guy for not losing his mind though with everyone asking every 30 seconds “Is my number ready?”).  I doubt Silk will ever be back in the Twin Cities so I suppose I will never have him on it.  Oh well.

In between all the hockey players I added the following autographs to my collection… all on Sports Illustrated magazines:
Lou Brock on the 10.16.1967 issue and adding him to my 10.17.1968 issue.  He commented on the 1967 issue that it was “… from the 1967 World Series and I was trying to trick them I was going to steal.  And it worked!”.
Ozzie Smith on my 9.28.1987 issue.  Ozzie is as class as they come.
Roberto Alomar on my 10.14.1996 issue and adding him to my 10.26.1992 issue already signed by John Smoltz.  Roberto commented that “I cannot believe he got me out!”  While getting Alomar to sign, my buddy Joel B came with me because he purchased a “game used” bat from a local dealer but wanted to ask Alomar if it was truly game used.  He showed it to Alomar and he said he used that brand but not that bat.  He took a couple swings with it and said the bats he used were not flame tempered as this one was and when he found out it was purchased from Kirby Puckett’s collection he said he would have given Kirby a nicer bat than that one.  (note:  Joel brought it back to the person he bought it from and got his money back).  It was really cool hanging with Joel all day and he rally came down just to hang with me and to find out about the bat.  Had it been real, he would have gotten it autographed.  At one point Joel and I went out to my car to get some stuff I bought from Joel a while ago and on the way out, I ran into a loyal blog reader Mike!

Throughout the day I made a couple purchases.  I bought a 1987 Twins pocket schedule I did not have and a Puckett home run ticket stub from 1994 I did not have.  I also picked up a season ticket version from Paul Molitor’s 3000th hit game.  The biggest purchase though was three full 1961 Peter’s Meats panels I needed.  I now only need 10 more to complete the 25 card set.

After missing Dave Silk, I am down to needing four more autographs on the Celebration Sports Illustrated to have the entire team.

All in all it was a long but fun day!

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