My Latest Project

I've showcased this box in a previous blog post.

It contains one single baseball card of every player that I have never gotten an autograph from.

Every time I buy a pack of cards, I'm constantly adding to this box. Either adding a new player or replacing a card with a better looking one.

When I go to baseball games, I look up the rosters and then head to this box to see if I have cards to bring.

This week I made things much easier for me. I now have a digital list of my collection.

It took me a few days, but now instead of looking through the box, I can check my list from my computer, phone, tablet, etc... Making things much quicker when searching.

While going through all those cards and typing each name individually, I'd occasionally stop to Google a player and see what they're up to now or even if they were still living.

Sadly, I ended up pulling a decent sized stack of cards of players no longer with us.

I'm sure there are several more that I've missed.

Also in that box were two cards of players that I doubt I will ever get autographed, nor would I want to.

 

Fabio Gomez and Jim Hvizda are former Minor League players, both serving time for separate murders.

In 1999, Fabio raped and murdered his female neighbor, then dumped her body in his apartment complex dumpster. He is currently in an Arizona prison.

In 2012, Jim stabbed his wife to death in a Wawa parking lot, where she worked. He is in a Pennsylvania prison.

Pretty ironic that Star produced cards of both of these players for their 1989 Minor League set.

Hey, Star! You're supposed to make cards of prospects, not suspects.

42

Today is the 68th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

Photo courtesy of
JackieRobinson.com

In celebration, which has become a tradition since 2008, all Major League players and coaches wear #42, Jackie Robinson's jersey number.

In 1997, Major League Baseball retired #42 from every team. Only players who wore the number prior to that season were allowed to continue wearing it.

I decided to go through my autograph collection to see how many players I could find where the #42 was prominently shown.

Mike Mussina

Mike Jackson

Rick Mahler

Don Carman

Happy Jackie Robinson Day, baseball fans!

Do I Have a Legg to Stand On?

Saturday night I attended the Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies Advanced-A team in the Florida State League) game against the Dunedin Blue Jays.
When you enter Bright House Field, ushers greet you and hand you a free program called Threshers Times.

It's a monthly magazine, issued throughout the season.
When I saw page 12, a brief bio on the new Threshers manager, Greg Legg, I immediately recognized one of the images.

As soon as I saw that autographed baseball card on that page, I said to my brother, "that's my card!" I then quickly skimmed the article, hoping I or my website was given credit. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

I'm sure Greg Legg has signed hundreds of those baseball cards, but I am 100% convinced that that particular card was taken from my website.

I'm not mad at the Threshers. I mean, there's no way I can prove that they used my image, but I'm sure anyone reading this would agree that it's mine.
I'm actually flattered by it, I just wish I was given credit for it.

The End of Spring

Today is the official last day of spring training in the Tampa Bay area, as the Pittsburgh Pirates wrap up their camp in Bradenton, Florida. Bradenton is a bit of a drive from where I live in St. Petersburg, so I primarily visit the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater and the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin.
Yesterday, the Blue Jays held their final camp, so I went down to watch. I was surprised to see that Aaron Sanchez, the Blue Jays 5th starter, would be pitching in a Minor League intrasquad game. Also in attendance was Marcus Stroman, in a full leg brace after tearing his ACL 3 weeks ago.

I ended up finishing the spring with 6 more autographs to add to my collection.

Prior to this spring, the last time I collected autographs at spring training games was 16 years ago.

I only got back into collecting last summer when I attended some Florida State League Minor League games as well as a few Tampa Bay Rays games. That summer I accumulated 21 signatures. This spring I added 73 more.

Here they all are in the order that I acquired them.

Not too bad for someone who's been away from the hobby for so long.

More Mets Cards

It's been a while since I've posted. I just haven't bought any cards in about a month. Though, I have been getting a lot of autographs this spring.

In my mailbox this week I discovered an envelope from Brian of subjectiveandarbitrary.blogspot.com.

He sent me all the Mets cards he got from a recent break of his.

Every single card was from the years that I was no longer in the hobby.

Some of these were really nice. I love the Fleer Greats set. I may look into obtaining some more of those. I wasn't crazy about the set that looked like paintings.

I think these were the only Mets inserts that were in the break. The Mo Vaughn card is really thick, not sure why it needed to be.

I'm always happy to add more Mets cards to my collection, and I thank Brian for adding my name to his list of participators.

My First Trade

I completed my first trade today. Brian, over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary sent me an envelope full of Mets cards. In exchange, I sent him several cards off his wantlists.
We never said exactly what we were sending each other, so it was basically a blind trade.
My last trade was probably 20+ years ago, and involved a Beckett Price Guide at my side, so we'd both be getting a fair deal. This one was completely new to me, yet exciting at the same time.

Brian, knowing that I'm a New York Mets fan, did not disappoint in what he sent me. There were cards from the 1970's, including former Mets player and manager, Bud Harrelson.

A couple of Sportflics cards of Keith Hernandez and Sid Fernandez.

A card of Tim Teufel that confused me at first.

Darryl Strawberry cards as a Los Angeles Dodger. The second one being new to the collection.

And finally, a 1984 Donruss card of Bill Gullickson as a Montreal Expo. Huh?

I'm not sure if that was mistakenly thrown in, or if Brian knows of my admiration of that '84 Donruss design.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with what I received, and hope that Brian is equally happy with what I sent his way.

I'm looking forward to completing many more trades. 

Devon Travis: From "Cool, I Have a Card of Him" to "Wow, This Guy Is Good!"

Today I visited the Toronto Blue Jays spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida. I found the roster online of all players invited. It featured the 40-man roster as well as the non-roster invitees. I went through all my cards, pulling all the ones who were listed. One player's card I had, Devon Travis, was wearing a Detroit Tigers Minor League uniform. I didn't know anything about him, but I just assumed that the Tigers probably dumped him and the Jays were willing to give him a shot.

He was wearing number 77, a sure sign that his stay in big league camp was not going to be long. After watching him take batting practice, I approached him for an autograph. He signed my card and liked my pen of choice, a retractable Sharpie.

When I got home, I posted the card on my autograph site (it won't be posted until June 2017, so enjoy the sneak peek above).
I always add the Baseball Reference page for each player. While reading his page, I was blown away at how well he's performed.

Granted, he only has 3 professional seasons under his belt, but those numbers were impressive.

I have no idea what the Toronto Blue Jays infield is like, but I do have a strong feeling that Devon Travis will be involved in it in the near future. It may not be in 2015, but I will bet that he'll be wearing a much lower jersey number come spring training 2016.

The Autograph I Thought I'd Never Get

In 2004, my brother worked for the Philadelphia Phillies class A Minor League team, the Clearwater Threshers, as a clubhouse assistant. The manager of the team that season was Phillies Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt.

I was living in Louisville, Kentucky at the time. My brother offered to get me Schmidt's autograph, but I declined. I'd rather try and get an autograph myself rather than someone getting it for me. My brother told me that he didn't remember ever seeing Mike stop to sign autographs that season. Immediately after games, Mike would exit the field by walking under the stands, where fans were not allowed.

One day I showed up to a Threshers game without telling my brother I was in town. I didn't try for any autographs that night, I was just there to surprise my brother, but I did get to witness Mike Schmidt's exit, and it was exactly how my brother described.

I figured it would be a lost cause with me ever getting something signed by him. No big deal, I have 1400+ autographs, I can't expect to get everyone, though, it's always great to add a Hall of Famer.

Today, 11 years after my brother volunteered to get me Schmidt's autograph, I went to the Phillies spring training camp to add more to my collection. It was a miserable day, just nonstop rain. The players all worked indoors, except for maybe 30 minutes where pitchers were able to play long toss in the outfield. It was not looking good for autographs.

After a few hours of riding out the storm, most of the players and coaches were leaving. Then, my brother says to me, "there's Mike Schmidt." I didn't believe him, but there he was getting out of a golf cart and stepping right into his car, maybe 100 feet from where we were standing. It was raining lightly, but the parking lot was just flooded in some parts.

We start walking toward his car, but I see the lights on and the vehicle slowly emerging from the parking spot. There's no way he'd stop now, I'm thinking. Then, the unthinkable happens. The car slows down and pulls over to the side. I get closer and Mike Schmidt rolls down his window. There he is, the guy I never thought I'd get, has my baseball card in his hand, signing an autograph for me.

It's not my favorite card of his, but I never expected to meet him. I have better cards of his, but this was the one that was on me, and because of my personal policy, I'll never ask him for another autograph again.

This story is much better in 2015 than one I would've had in 2004. "Oh, that Schmidt autograph? My brother got that for me."
I prefer having my own story, even if it takes 11 years to tell.

The Card I'll Never Part With

When I made my tradelist page, I went through and organized my entire collection. It wasn't nearly as big as it once was, I sold off a huge chunk of it in the '90s. The remaining cards that I have, I decided I'd be willing to part with. All except one. 

There's just something about seeing Pete Rose on baseball card in a Montreal Expos uniform. This 1985 Donruss card has always been a favorite of mine.
Topps cards were readily available to me back then, but they didn't have an Expos card of Rose in their '85 set, though, they did have one in their 1984 Traded Set.
Fleer had a card in their '85 set commemorating Rose for getting his 4,000th hit as an Expo. I remember having the card at one point, but I guess it just didn't stick with me like the Donruss card did.

Photo courtesy of tradingcarddb.com

I have no recollection of ever seeing Pete play as an Expo, so when I discovered these cards in 1985, they looked completely foreign to me.

I could dump my collection tomorrow and all I'd be interested in keeping would be my autographs, my Mets cards, and my lone 1985 Donruss card #254.

I Made a Wantlist

It took me several days, but I now have a wantlist and a tradelist page. I made them permanent links at the top of the page. I plan to update them both frequently, so check back often.
I hope to start trading with many of you very soon.