2016 Bowman Baseball

Been a while since I've posted here. Haven't been buying any packs lately, just a bunch of random singles from Sportlots and getting a whole lot of them autographed. I plan to post some highlights from spring training as well as some that I've gotten early in the Minor League season.

For now, I'll share my lone pack of Bowman cards that I picked up today.

A Brewers fan would have been happy with this pack, as there were 4 Brewer cards inside.

Jorge Lopez

Orlando Arcia

Though, I was happy to get a card of David Denson...I didn't need 2 in the same pack.

David Denson

David Denson

Bowman likes to split the packs with MLB stars and Minor League prospects. While I prefer the prospects half of the pack, I was okay with the MLB half, which gave me my first Jose Fernandez card, as well as a Francisco Lindor Sophomore Standouts insert.

Jose Fernandez

J.D. Martinez

Francisco Lindor

Ryan Howard

I was extremely happy to pull this Jhailyn Ortiz card. He's currently playing in extended spring training near my home, so I should be able to get this card signed real soon.

Jhailyn Ortiz

Since I live in the Rays market, it's cool to pull a Rays prospect. I'll probably have to wait until January to get this signed, assuming Garrett is invited to the Rays annual rookie development program at Tropicana Field.

Garrett Whitley

I'm very pleased with this year's set. I look forward to buying more and hopefully getting several of them signed.

Half an Autograph

I've seemed to have neglected posting here after the succession of soccer related posts, but I have just been busy going to spring training games this month.
So far this spring I have gotten 79 different cards signed. Well, actually, make that 78½.

I went to the Phillies Minor League complex today to see the AAA and AA Phillies host the AAA and AA Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, the teams decided to switch the schedule, and instead it was the A ball teams playing each other, while the AAA and AA Phillies traveled to Bradenton to play the Pirates at their home complex. I didn't have many cards of the lower level guys, so it was a little disappointing to show up not knowing things had changed.

However, I did have a card that I was excited to get signed. The man in charge of the Phillies player development, Joe Jordan. Joe played one professional season in 1985 with the Everett Giants. He was there long enough to have a baseball card made of him. It took me quite a while to track down, but I was finally able to acquire it. I just chose the wrong day to try to get it signed.
All spring, the weather has been in the 70's/80's, shorts and t-shirt weather. Today was different, it was very cold and extremely windy.

The Joe Jordan card is not made of your typical card stock. It's small and almost feels like a magazine page. Since it was small, I felt that if Joe signed it, he should probably use a hard surface to keep it on. So, what I did was had the card sticking out of the nine-pocket page when I called Joe over. Joe got a laugh at seeing the card and one of the Phillies coaches got an even bigger laugh when he took a look at it. Sadly, Joe never fully pulled the card out of the page when he signed it, so a portion of his signature is on the page itself.

Here's a closer look at the card in the page.

The final outcome.

Kind of comical and just makes this autograph experience even more unique.

Tampa Bay Rays Fan Fest 2016

It was back to getting baseball cards signed today, as the Tampa Bay Rays held their annual fan fest at Tropicana Field.

I always look forward to this yearly gathering, mainly for the 40+ retired baseball players who show up and sign for free. Though, many of the same players return year after year, which means less and less new players to add to my collection.
The alumni players are split into 3 groups, each signing for an hour before the next group comes in.

Group 1 

Of the 15 players listed in group 1, I already autographs from 11 of them from previous years. Unfortunately, one of the players listed (Casey Cox) was a no-show. I had ordered a really nice card of him this past Monday night and amazingly it arrived on Friday, just in time for today. Hopefully he'll show up next year.
I still ended up with 4 autographs from group one. Josh Fogg, who spent several seasons with the Pirates and Rockies, was not listed with any of the groups, yet, he was there to sign. He's appeared at these fan fests before, but I just never had a card of him. Thankfully, a fellow collector had extras on him and gave me one.

Here are the aforementioned 4 autographs from that first group.

Mike DiFelice

Brian Stokes

Josh Fogg

Glenn Beckert

I was really happy to get that Glenn Beckert card signed. I bought that card last year anticipating him to be at the 2015 fan fest, but he didn't show up.

I breezed right through the second group. I only needed 2 listed, but one was pushed back to group 3, which meant I was standing in line for 1 guy.

Group 2

Rick Reichardt

Rick Reichardt signed this 1981 TCMA card of players from the 1960s.

I only needed 4 players from the third and final group, which included the last player listed in group two.

Group 3

Bill Stein

Aaron Ledesma 

Seth McClung 

Dewon Brazelton

You have no idea of the fear I had watching Seth McClung sign that 2007 Topps card. Recently, Zach at autocards.blogspot.com posted his 2007 Topps autographed cards. However, because of the glossy finish, some of those cards came out very poorly. Luckily, mine came out practically flawless.

I try to stay away from cards with pre-printed signatures on them, but this was the only card that my local card shop had of him.

After the alumni players were finished signing, I decided to walk around to see who else I could get.

I spotted Hall of Fame writer, Peter Gammons doing a Q&A with Rays manager, Kevin Cash and team President of Operations, Matt Silverman. When it concluded, I approached the stage near where Gammons would be exiting.

Peter Gammons

I was fortunate to get him. Security immediately whisked him away when he handed me my card back.

It's not uncommon to see Rays players walking around to different parts of the stadium. They're always with at least 1 security guard who is basically there to thwart people from asking for autographs. While a lot of players won't sign, they do often stop to pose for pictures. There are players that will sign. I was able to find three of them.

Corey Dickerson

Mikie Mahtook

Hank Conger

Coming home with 13 new autographs is a pretty successful day, I must say.

It felt good to get some baseball autographs after spending most of the month of February getting soccer cards signed.

My Last Soccer Post...For Now

When I first started this blog, it was just going to be about baseball and baseball cards. I had no other intentions for it.
Even the name, 'Keys to the Batter's Box,' based on a common prank used on new batboys, signifies a baseball related website.

This blog is just over a year old. I don't pay attention to dates and just now noticed that I created this site on February 5, 2015. Sorry, no anniversary post for me.
That first post had a total of 18 views. My highest rated baseball related post, Meeting the Mets, had 246 views. That was largely aided by comedian Jim Breuer RT'ing me about that post.

This month I started posting about soccer autographs, a new hobby that I picked up, thanks to me discovering that 6 Major League Soccer teams were having their pre-season near my home. I quickly started buying singles and team sets, hoping to get them signed.

My last post, Yeah, Yeah, Another Soccer Post, far outnumbered my Jim Breuer aided post. A week old and it's had 960 views. The lack of comments is a bit of a downer, but I'm just happy to have people visiting my site.

I never even promoted that post. I just wrote it up and hit send. Didn't share it on any social networks.
Thanks to that post, the US, my home country, is no longer my biggest audience. The Ukraine now leads in that department.

The MLS pre-season is wrapping up. The last matches for the teams training here are this weekend. My autograph collecting wrapped up when the 11 remaining cards I had were signed last night.
I ended up with 30 autographs from the 6 MLS teams this month.

It will be back to baseball posts shortly. Actually, I've already gotten several baseball cards signed this spring. I just haven't shared them on here. I'll get started on baseball related posts this weekend. The Tampa Bay Rays are holding their annual fan fest on Saturday, so I'll hopefully have some autographs to share. Many former players will be in attendance signing autographs.

Sadly, these future posts will cause me to lose my Ukranian readers. At least I should gain some Americans, and maybe get a few comments, too.

Yeah, Yeah, Another Soccer Post

I know in my previous post, I mentioned that I had bought a 2016 Topps Baseball Blaster and that I'd post about that box. Well, it wasn't an exciting box. I did get a few Mets, which were nice, but as for the hits, I ended up getting rid of several of them before I even had a chance to scan them.

This concludes the baseball portion of this post. Soccer fans, you're going to love this, especially if you're a Chelsea fan.

So, last night was the second day of the 2016 Suncoast Invitational, a pre-season tournament hosted by the Tampa Bay Rowdies, featuring six Major League Soccer teams.

It was a double header that started at 4pm. The first game was between D.C. United v. Philadelphia Union. The match I was looking forward to was the nightcap, New York City FC v. Montreal Impact. Each of those clubs featured my 2 favorite soccer players, who also happened to play for my favorite team, Chelsea FC in the English Premier League.

When I started actively following Chelsea 10 years ago, I was immediately drawn to Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard as my favorites on the team. While I love watching them on TV each week, I never dreamed that I'd see the club play in person. That still hasn't happened, but last night I was able to see Lampard and Drogba in person on opposing teams. Unfortunately, neither of them played, but it was still a thrill to see them.

If you know anything about me, then you'd know some scanned autographs are to be expected. I will not disappoint.

I got to meet Didier Drogba first as he arrived to the stadium. When I ordered a card of him to get signed, I made sure to find one of him in a Chelsea kit. When the card arrived, I had no idea that it would be in Japanese. It's also slightly smaller than a standard card. No big deal, I think it's a nice looking card, especially since it is now signed.

Here's the back of the card.

I have no idea what the serial code is for.

Unknowingly, a security guard captured the moment that I met Drogba with his cell phone. He told me he did it and then asked for my number so that he could text it to me.

Inside the stadium, I spotted Frank Lampard signing autographs for many fans. I managed to squeeze myself in a tight spot and get Frank's attention.

I have already updated my Daily Autograph site, which these cards will not be posted until April of 2018.

I was amazed when I saw those preview pages. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to have both of these Chelsea legends autographs in my collection.

There's no way I could top this day. I joked last night to a fellow collector that I could retire from collecting after the success I just had. By the way, those weren't the only autographs I got last night, but I'll save those for my website...in April 2018.

Day 2 of Soccer Autograph Collecting

After yesterday's successful day of collecting autographs from soccer players, I decided to try my luck with a different team, Major League Soccer's Philadephia Union, who hold their spring training at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater, Florida.

I arrived at 9am to an empty field. I figured since the Rowdies started at 9 yesterday, other teams would, too. It was closer to 10 when a Philadelphia Union van pulled up and the driver and passenger started unloading the equipment and carrying it to the field.
Shortly after, a bus pulled up. It stopped right in front of me and I figured this is going to be easy, but as people began stepping off the bus, I wasn't recognizing any of them. They did all have USA emblems on their sweatsuits, and they looked fairly young. I assumed that they must've been the US Men's U-17 team. Just to be sure, I asked one of the coaches, who confirmed my assumption.

Minutes later, vans full of Union players and staff arrived.

I thought I was going to be getting autographs and watching a practice, instead, I got to watch a full game. Oh, and obtained some autographs.

The head coach of the Union, Jim Curtin was the first one I got.

The next guy I got was interesting. A lot of Brazilian soccer players go by just one name, players such as Pelé, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaká. Today, I added to my collection, Fabinho.

He isn't my first single name autograph, though. Last summer, Mets prospect Amed Rosario signed a card for me with only his first name. Perhaps he's emulating the ways of the Brazilians.

Former Los Angeles Galaxy player and current Union technical director/assistant coach signed this card for me.

Had to wait for the game to end before I got the rest of these autographs.
Unintentionally, I got two of the Union's French players to sign back-to-back for me. Though, they were several minutes apart when I met them.
First was Vincent Noguiera.

Next was Sébastien Le Toux, who had scored 2 goals, or a brace, for those who know their soccer lingo.
Sébastien asked if I wanted him to add my name to the card. I didn't want to say no and give him the idea that I was going to try and sell it, so I gladly told him my name. I don't mind personalizations. I have no intention of ever getting rid of my collection.

Here's a pic of Le Toux scoring a penalty kick just past the diving goalkeeper.

The last autograph that I got was a huge highlight for me. I was hooked on the 1994 World Cup and loved rooting for the USA. One of my favorites from that squad was Earnie Stewart.
He is now the sporting director of the Union.
I'm happy that I was able to tell him that he's a big reason why I'm still such a fan of this sport. The autographed card from him was a big thrill.

I promise, it's not all going to be soccer talk on here. Look what I bought today after getting all those autographs.

I'll post about those cards in a separate post. I wouldn't want to bore my new soccer readers.