The Maniac Collector

Vermont @ Williamsport II

2007-07-26T00:36:00.001-04:00

I was batboy for today's game so I really didn't get much of a chance to graph. My friend managed to get for me though:
Bill Rhinehart 2/2
Joe Savery 2/2

That's all for today.

Tommorrow, I leave for Cooperstown. It's going to be nuts up there, and I hope to get a lot of sigs.

Vermont @ Williamsport II

2007-07-26T00:36:00.000-04:00

Vermont @ Williamsport

2007-07-25T00:18:00.000-04:00

This was New York-Penn League rackage at it's finest.

Pre-game:

Got D'Arby Myers 3/3 walking to the line. He was hanging out by the clubhouse door.

Inside:

It was the most crowded I've seen it this year with tons of guys with cards but I still did excellent.

Colten Willems 52/52 (Didn't really talk and had a frown on his face the whole time, but still racked. May be getting tired of racking for everyone.)
Glenn Gibson 2/2
Phil Schelzo 1/0 (Clubbie was handing out team set cards of him from last year)
Darnell Coles 9/9 (Seemed nice contrary to what I've heard)
Tony Tarasco 10/10 (Even did a 96 ALCS Maier photo!)
Rusty Meacham 27/27 (Nice guy, talked with me the whole game, flipped the pages in my book without asking.)
Scott Mitchinson 18/18 (Going up to Lakewood tommorrow so I racked.)

I saw Mike Compton and Joe Savery charting so I went in for the kill.

Mike Compton 3/3 (Phillies rover, really nice guy, only has 1 card though)
Joe Savery 3/15 (Prick... Here is how the exchange went:
"Joe do you want any of these cards"
Joe: "Huh"
Me: "Do you want any of these cards?"
Joe: "Do I want any of these cards??"
Me: "Yes for yourself"
Joe: "Of course not"
Then he signs 3 and purposely smears all 3 , puts my sharpie in my book with the cap off, slams the book shut so hard and throws it back at me, a few cards fall out of it and he makes me pick them up at his feet, doesnt even make a move or appologize, he also ruined 5 of his cards because of the sharpie being left in the book. I went and erased the cards because they were really terrible. I went up to him after the game and told him that the cards he signed for me earlier turned out really bad so I erased them and asked if he wouldnt mind resigning them...
Joe: "You erased them?"
Me: "Yeah"
Joe: "How do you erase sharpie"
Me: "A dry erase marker and an eraser"
He then signs them over, reluctantly. I can tell this is going to be a pain.)

Next up is the same matchup tommorrow but I'm not sure if I'll be able to graph because I am going to be batboying the game. Should be fun.

Devil Rays @ Yankees

2007-07-24T02:10:00.000-04:00

I made the annual trip up to this hell hole of a stadium just to mainly watch a ball game. You cannot get autographs outside the stadium, and the security/ushers are all jerks, so I wasn't expecting much nor did I bring much. I did get lucky and got something actually cool, and got to see a 21-4 game, so I was pleased.

Scott Kazmir 1/1 8x10 (He was playing catch with Casey Fossum and slowly moving toward the dugout after every throw so to avoid the autograph hounds. Fossum overthrew him, however, and Kazmir would have to give the ball back to the fan who got it. He then signed at this spot when he was done for about 10-15 people using the same ball point pen for mainly kids with cheap baseballs. I stood there with my 8x10 right in front of him and begged "Scott take the sharpie." the whole time. He finally did, signed my 8x10 as his last autograph, and ran in. Pretty pumped to get this puppy signed.)

Edwin Jackson 2/2

Next up - Vermont @ Williamsport tommorrow.

Charlotte @ Scranton

2007-07-24T01:08:00.000-04:00

Wow, talk about International League hell. There were 4 rehabers this series (Karstens, Hughes, Podsednik, Erstad) and it was as crowded as I have seen it besides the Clemens game. There were at least 75-100 people inside and outside. I still got 150 done but it was really tough and frusturation and mostly thanks to the Yankees great habits. Here are the totals:

Yankees pre-game:

Andy Cannizaro 5/5
Steven White 3/6 (Differents)
Charlie Manning 2/2
Colter Bean 2/7 .5/.5 (Had a game-used jersey from earlier this year that came pre-signed so I got him to incribe that up. He also did 2 cards. He was in a hurry. Understandably not in a good mood from getting shelled the night before.)
Raul Chavez 11/11 (Sighed at the rackage.)
Omir Santos 12/12 (See above)
Angel Chavez 2/2
Ross Ohlendorf 7/7
Dave Eiland 1/2
Butch Wynegar 3/9 ("I'm only gonna sign 3 of these right now." Seemed nice though and let me pick which ones I wanted done.)
Chris Basak 3/3 (card, 8x10, and game-used bat. Skills.)
Ben Kozlowski 9/15 (Wont rack for me anymore. Said that all these cards had been in circulation for awhile and he wanted a new card. I pointed out the 2007 team set and he said "Yeah but that's not a real card." Sorry Ben.)
Darren London 1/1 (Trainer. He spilled his coke. Felt sorry for the man.)
Justin Christian 8/8
Juan Francia 7/7 (Like his signature)
Brett Gardner 1/1, 1/1 (Played it safe and got help.)
Philip Hughes 1/6 ("You guys weren't here yesterday. I'll do 1 for everyone I have to go get a rubdown." I can see him having a big ego and being tough in the bigs.)
Erubiel Durazo 1/1 (Jerk. Signed for 3 of 7. I feel just a bit of my pride slipping away having to walk with Erubiel Durazo.)
Steven Jackson 6/6
Eric Duncan 1/1
Chris Britton 4/9 (Did differents because he was running late.)
Sean Henn 9/10 (Didn't notice the 8x10 and I didn't notice he didn't sign it until later.)
Tyler Clippard 2/2 (More starting pitchers should do this.)
Kevin Thompson 3/4 (Did 5/6 for another lady. Random limit.)

then went over to catch Charlotte bus #1. Got big leaged by everyone. Ryan Sweeney, Casey Rogowski, Scott Podsednik, everyone just ignored us. Jason Childers signed for minorleaguetraveler but I couldn't get there in time.

Bus #2 came an hour later and it was more of the same. I did manage to get Gavin Floyd to stop and got him 1/1 on an 8x10 that he liked.

Inside:

Jason Childers 9/11, 1/1 (Didn't see the stragglers so I quickly handed 1 off to my friend. Came out just to sign for us. Excellent.)
Juan Nieves 9/10 (Didn't see straggler. Horrendous signature. My 1 card might be the worst ever. He gives a very inconsistent scribble.)
Casey Rogowski 3/7 (Nice enough despite the limit.)
Nick Massett 1/1 (8x10)

That was it. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

I spotted Gavin Floyd in his metro-sexual outfit charting and managed to get him 1/1 on a jersey card. I kept my hat down low the whole time.

Gavin Floyd again 1/1 charting

Outside after the game:

It was nuts, 100 people and multiple players coming out at the same time. We were getting turned down left and right. It sucked. 5-6 players would come out at once. One of my more frusturating graphing experiences.

Casey Rogowski 3/3
David Eckstein 1/1, 1/2 (Quiet and did 1 for everyone. Was easy to double up on. Came out with security so I thought we were going to be told that he didn't want to sign.)
Edwardo Sierra 9/9
Gavin Floyd signed again but didn't sign for this one kid about 5 years younger than me with completely different looks who hadn't gotten him yet. His reasoning: "I signed that cool 8x10 earlier for you." Yikes, thought the kid was me.
Wiki Gonzalez 0/3 (Signed for 2 people and then got to me and said no. I followed him and said "Please just 1 more it's for a set." He then yelled at me "NO! MANANA!" Washup Wiki.)
Kenny Kelly 1/2 (Bad signature.)
Vladimir Nunez 0/8 (Got to me and said no. Same thing as Wiki. Too pissed off to beg.)
Tomas Perez 0/9 (Same as above.)
Scott Podsednik 0/1 ("Not today boys.")
Andy Sisco 0/1 ("No.")
Earl Snyder 0/15 ("Not now I've got family here." 3rd turndown from Earl of the day.)
Ryan Sweeney 0/3 ("Not today.")
Danny Richar 0/1 (8x10, "That's not me." Unless MLB.com has the wrong photo of you up then it certainly is.)
Tack Wilson 1/1
Ernie Young 1/2, 1/1 (Skills.)

Then I went back over to the Yankees side to see what I could salvage.

Erubiel Durazo 0/1 (Signed and walked again. Got about 5 this time. Skipped over me. Wouldn't sweetspot for another guy.)
Dave Eiland 1/1
Kevin Thompson 3/4 (Stopped signing halfway through.)
Sean Henn 1/1 (Got the 8x10 done. Kind of funny I would see him in Yankee Stadium less than 12 hours later.)

Eric Duncan and an unidentified player went to the other side of the stadium to hop in Jeff Karstens' get-away car.

Phil Hughes' car was still in the lot when I left at midnight for the 2 hour drive. Would have camped out if I didn't have to be up for Yankee Stadium in the morning.

Wow, It's been Awhile

2007-07-17T00:25:00.000-04:00

I appologize ahead of time for this lengthy update. I have been real busy and have not had much time to supply the great wit and amazement that you hounds so desire. There is a bunch of games I need to update for and I will try to do all of them in 1 post. Let's do this....

Tri-City @ Williamsport

Day 1:

Pre-Game:

Joel Chimellis 3/3 (All I had for Tri-City. Sad.)
D'Arby Myers 11/16 (Gave him 5. I like D'Arby but he is WEIRD. Don't go up to him with only 1 or 2 cards because he will ask your name, and write it real big over his facsimilie signature. No "To Dan" or anything just "DAN" written real big over the facsimilie. Its not so you cant sell it, it's just D'Arby being D'Arby, but it looks horrible. My friend also came up to him with a Shaquille O'Neal shirt today (his cousin) and said "Hey D'Arby look at this shirt." Before my friend could move D'Arby took a pen and signed the shirt, right over the chest really big. If D'Arby ever signed my shirt, on my chest, while I was wearing it, randomly, I may have to stop asking for his autograph.)
Jerry Martin 18/18, 4/4 (Help, Phillies rover, machine)
Greg Legg 3/6 (I'll get the rest later....This man is killing me. Jerry Martin will sign 18 but Legger will only sign 3. Apparently he will sign 1 for every game be played in the 1988 season!)
Bill Bliss 9/9
Also got 10 guys on this Meet the Team thing in the local newspaper. It will look nice when I'm done with it.

Post-game:

Ken Dominguez 5/5

Day 2:

This was one of those games where you just went because it was 5 minutes from your house.
Tommy Cruz - 1/1 IC (Brother of Jose, Uncle of Jose Jr., 2 cups of coffee with the Cardinals and White Sox. He was here for his son.)

And the big cheese of the night:

Greg Legg 3/4 (I just hold my head and weep...)

Day 3:

Pre-game:

Had nothing for Tri-City so I broke out a team sheet and got 18 on it. Tri-City literally lines up to sign for you.
I then spotted Jeff Bittiger, who is a scout and has cards from 1989. I got him 6/15 (Weird, he got 3 89 Bowmans and 3 89 Scores but 0 89 Topps and 0 80 Upper Decks. This would simply not suffice. He said "There, I signed enough for you." Straight from the school of Gregory Legg!)I got some help and got 3/9, 3/3, 3/3. At least I got them all done...

Post game:

Mike Durant 1/1 Grand Slam ball I got during the game, 15/18 cards (gave him 3).

Then I took a break from graphing due to other obligations. Obviously nothing can be as important as adding 18 more Joe Borchard's to my collection, but you got to do what you got to do.

I did not graph again until July 15th.

Hudson Valley @ Williamsport

I only swung by for post-game and couldn't get my Hudson Valley cards prepped in time so I just did Williamsport.

Mike Durant 2/2
D'Arby Myers 18/18 (gave him 5)

How honored I am to add these 2 fine fellows to my collection once again.

I came back on the 16th and this time I was ready.

Pre-game:

Ozzie Timmons 6/6 (Slow signer, but does have a nice signature. He kept telling people who had more than 2 or 3 that they should mail them. When he saw me go up to Shawn O'Malley, note he only saw 2 pages of 9 not the whole shabang, he said "That is not respectful to Shawn. You need to mail these cards so he can sign them on his own time." Nice, but weird.)
Rafael Montalvo 1/1
Shawn O'Malley 92/92 (Nicest guy ever. I got to explain to him what a 50/50 was and he was awesome to sign them all. He's only batting .200 though, but I hope he progresses because he defiantely deserves to.)

Then I headed over to Williamsport's side.

Bill Bliss 8/9 (Gave him 1)
Abel Gomez 13/13 (2nd signed printing plate ever)
Scott Mitchinson 2/2 (New guy, Williamsport has so many guys with cards. I love it.)

Postgame:

D'Arby Myers 18/18 (gave him 5)
Edgar Garcia 18/18

Very nice day. Probably the most quantity I've ever gotten at a Penn League game.

Next up will be Charlotte @ Scranton on Saturday. I will try my best to update Saturday night but I can't promise anything because I'll be going to Yankee Stadium on Sunday so I can get 2 autographs and sit in uncomfortable seats.

State College @ Williamsport 7/5

2007-07-06T02:22:00.000-04:00

Another excellent day in the New York-Penn. I met State College's bus early and got:

Mike Moriarty 18/36 (Made me sware up an down that I only had the two pages...it's a good thing he didn't flip or I would have been screwed. Really nice and talkative guy though.)

Wilson Alvarez 18/18 (Always excellent.)

I got 6 balls in BP as well.

I wasn't able to do pre-game inside, but I made it for postgame and got:

Turner Ward 0/3 (Shook me off. I am really starting to hate Turner Ward.)
Missed Matt Clarkson getting blown off by this asshole.

D'Arby Myers 16/20 (Gave him 2 regulars, and he saw the chromes on the page and was like "C'mon man hook D'Arby up with some chromies(sic)!" D'Arby is easily the most friendly and willing signer on the team.)
Mike Durant 1/1 (Got my first printing plate signed. It looks amazing. I have another one for Abel Gomez coming in the mail.)

I also got some help and ended up getting 10 more Moriartys done. He is really a great guy and don't be afraid to go up to him with a page or two.

I also got my Auburn stuff back from my friends. I got back 2 Dennis Holmberg's and 15 J.P. Arencibia's back. Arencibia was doing 4 per.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I purchased a Colter Bean signed game-used jersey at auction at the game. I'm gonna try to get it inscribed up next time I'm in Scranton (2 weeks). It looks sick!

Next up is Tri-City @ Williamsport on Saturday. I will probably do Williamsport, as I don't think I have anything of Tri-City.

I better start putting my signed cards away. These are my signed cards from the last 2 weeks.

Pawtuckett @ Scranton 7/4/07

2007-07-05T05:48:00.000-04:00

I did well today in Scranton for the 4th of July doubleheader. The Yankees team sets came out so I was able to put a small dent into that. Here are the totals:

Yankees parking lot coming in (not a lot of quantity, I focused on the Pawsox):

Darren London 1/1 (trainer)
Shelley Duncan 2/4 (Even though all were different)
Andy Cannizaro 4/9 ("Damn. Is it okay if I just get a few of these." I've heard that one before. I guess his limit is 4. I will live.)
Chris Britton 6/6
Eric Duncan 3/3
Charlie Manning 5/5
Omir Santos 11/11
Chase Wright 6/6

Pawsox shuttles coming in:

Abe Alvarez 18/18 (machine)
David Pauley 3/4
Craig Hansen 1/2 (Obviously hates signing/being stopped, three people there and he did it rushed and slammed my pen down on my book instead of taking the 2 seconds to hand it back.)
Devern Hansack 1/3 (TERRIBLE Autograph - would fit on a postage stamp.)
Edgar Martinez 3/3 (Was doing 2 for everyone else, got lucky)

Abe Alvarez

Then inside pre-game (in the rain):

Jeff Bailey 5/5
Jeff McEwing 0/3 ("Sorry I have to get ready for the game." "After?" "Absolutely.")
Devern Hansack 1/1, 1/1 (Charting, help)
Brandon Moss 1/1
David Murphy 2/5
Alex Prieto 1/1
Ed Rogers 10/10
Tyler Clippard 2/2 (charting)

I was working the foul tips during the game and ended up with one off the bat of David Murphy. Bounced right into the aisle.

The second game was called due to rain, and I did the PawSox coming out.

Joe McEwing 3/3 (Very nice, surprisingly)
Bryan Corey 9/9
Travis Hughes 5/5
George Kottaras 1/3, 1/1, 1/1 (help)
Jon Lester 1/3 (Tried to run out, was stopped, then tried to rush for some reason)
Michael Tucker 1/3
David Murphy 1/1 (GU Foul ball that I caught, inscribed "07 Game Used")

Very good 100+ night, only missed 2 guys that I had cards for (Breslow and Cash) and honestly I am not heartbroken.

Next up is State College @ Williamsport to get some more Alvarez, Moriarty, and my good friend Turner Ward.

Altoona Trip 6/29-6/30

2007-07-03T14:13:00.000-04:00

I hadn't been to Altoona yet this year, so I decided to take a 2-day trip down to Altoona to get some sigs.

Day 1 vs. Trenton:

I left my house at 3:30 for the 6:00 gate opening. It normally takes 2 hours to get to Altoona. Unforunately, disaster struck. Every graphers night mare is to get stuck in a traffic jam and miss autographs. This is what happened on this day, and I did not get to the stadium until 6:30. I was fuming the whole way down to the dugout as I saw everybodies signed cards and team balls that I had missed. I was still able to snag:

Brett Gardner 1/3 (Weird limit)
Zach Kroenke 6/6
Brett Smith 9/9
Andy Cannizaro 5/14 (Differents + 1 dupe, was really nice)
Aarom Baldiris said no.

After the game charting:

Kip Bouknight 4/4
Ian Kennedy 4/4

I figured this would be it for the day, since it is impossible to do after the game in Altoona (darn fences) but for some reason a lot of the Trenton players were just chilling outside their dugout talking to people. I used this as a golden opportunity to get:

Joba Chamberlain 6/13 (Differents + 2 dupes)
Jason Jones 6/9 (Gave him 3 for his family/friends standing there)

So all-in-all a disasterous day turned out to be a so-so day after getting Joba Chamberlain (my main goal). The highlight of the day, however, was snagging Steven Pearce's homerun in the stands.

Day 2 vs. Bowie:

Another disapointment. The gates are supposed to open an hour before the game, meaning 6. I got there, however, and found out that they had randomly decided to open the gates at 5:30. Grrrr.... I don't think I missed to much. Here are the totals:

Val Majewski 5/18 (differents)
Jeff Fioerentino 5/18 (differents)
Bob McCrory 7/7
Scott McGregor 9/18
Rommie Lewis 6/6
Matt Cepicky 5/5
David Haehnel 9/12 (Don't think he saw the other 3)
Beau Hall 3/3 (Someone yelled for Sing to come over while Beau was signing and Beau went "Yeah right, Brandon Sing signing an autograph. Hahahahaha."

Beau was right, he didn't come over until right after the National Anthem. I managed to hoard off the ushers and get him 2/5 (Differents). I was the only person he signed for.

Steven Pearce 1/1 Game-used homerun ball

Then after I got Luis Munoz 1/1 charting on the new team set.

Rhadames Liz was the staring pitcher so no luck there.

It was just an okay weekend. I missed a lot of guys and there were some weird limits, but I did the best for the circumstances I suppose.

Next up Pawtuckett @ Scranton on the 4th.

Mail

2007-07-03T14:03:00.000-04:00

The other day I got Damian Miller 3/3 from Spring Training of this year.

Sigh*

Mail is dead to me anymore...

Auburn @ Williamsport 7/28/07

2007-07-03T13:38:00.000-04:00

I was only able to go down to meet the bus on this day due to other obligations. I got:

Justin Mashore 13/13
Gorman Heimueller (Pirates rover) 2/3 (Gave him one - 84 Donruss is his only card)

And that is IT!

I needed Arencibia and Holmberg and missed them, but I handed off my cards to my friends and I think they got most of them done.

Jamestown @ Williamsport

2007-06-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

Simple day. I just did postgame tonight.

6 baseballs

Justin Jacobs 10/10
Mike Durant 2/2

That's all! I will probably go back tommorrow if I get some more Langleys or Jacobs in the mail.

Please forgive me for this boring, boring post.

Jamestown @ Williamsport

2007-06-26T01:58:00.001-04:00

If you have read my blog from the beginning, you are aware that I am not a huge Greg Legg fan. He doesn't like to sign autographs. I have gotten over this. However, when he prevents me from getting other autographs, I am not happy. So was the case today in Williamsport.

The home team is supposed to have the field from 4-5 PM, and the visitors from 5-6 PM, with the gates opening at 6 and the game starting at 7. Greg Legg does not see eye to eye with this schedule. He had his team out on the field from 3:30-5:30, causing Jamestown to be on the field from 5:30-6:30. At 6:30, all the players had to rush into the clubhouse, get changed, and rush back out causing a terrible autograph scene. Here is what I was able to get:

Torre Langley 5/5 (Get him now, you can tell he doesn't like signing and wont when he makes it big.)
Charlie Corbell 2/2 (Coach seemed extatic that I had some of his cards.)
Justin Jacobs 3/13 (Was in a rush since he didn't come out til 6:30 thanks to Legg. Said he'd get the rest after the game, but I wasn't able to stick around.)
I also got 21 on the team sheet.

I will be back tommorrow to finish off the rest of my Jacobs (a lot) and maybe do Williamsport a little.

Syracuse @ Scranton 6/25/07

2007-06-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

What can I say, I kicked ass.

I got there at about noon for the Yankees coming in. I managed to get:

Chase Wright 1/1 ROMLB
Ben Kozlowski 6/18 (He was in a hurry for a kids day signging, so he couldn't get them all.)
Alvaro Espinosa 0/13 ("I'm gonna be signing for an hour for these kids!")
Dave Eiland 1/3 (After Espinoza said no.)
Steven Jackson 5/5
Juan Francia 9/9
Eric Duncan 4/4
Tyler Clippard 2/3 (The dude just acts weird.)
Omir Santos 18/18 ("Oh my god!")
Shelley Duncan 2/3 (Differents)
Angel Chavez 4/4 (Amazing, first time I've gotten Angel this year AND seen him sign more than 1.)
Chris Britton 9/9
Colter Bean 6/9 (Weird he didnt do them all.)
Bronson Sardinha 2/2
Kevin Reese 18/18

Then I ran over to Syracuse's bus and was able to snag
John Hattig 6/13 (Signed the most randomest cards, got 3 of the sweetspots and 0 of the Upper Decks.)
Ray Olmedo 3/3
Ismael Ramirez 0/18 (Big leagued me with the cell phone.)

I then went and got a bite to eat, and I was able to sneak in the side door at around 4 and got in to see batting practice in an empty stadium. It was amazing, and I cleaned up. Below is a picture of my competition.

As you can see by the above photo, there were so many people many of the players didn't want to sign, but I still managed to get:

Russ Adams 2/9
John-Ford Griffin 7/18 ("Man I can't sign all of these.")
Jeff Duncan 3/9 (Differents)
Josh Banks 5/5 (Was the starting pitcher too.)
Sal Fasano 8/8 (One of the coolest guys in baseball.)
Blaine Neal 6/6
Ismael Ramirez 0/18, 0/18 ("I gotta stretch." 20 minutes later "I gotta shag." Ugh.)
Ryan Roberts 9/9
Mike Vento 12/13 (Gave him a card.)
Also got 2 BP balls.

Then the gates opened and they let the people not fortunate enough to have snuck in in. After getting into it with the local lesbian grapher about how I did not get in early and was not supposed to be in here, I was able to secure the corner spot and get:

Wayne Lydon 12/12

That was it...for the whole hour.

After the game by the bus I got:

Ismael Ramirez 9/18 (Finally!)
Kevin Barker 3/7
Jeff Duncan 3/3
John Hattig 5/8, 2/2 (Had help)
Brandon League 4/9 (Differnts)
Mike Venafro 20/23 (The coolest guy on the team not named Sal Fasano. Took his time, even stood there while I got a new sharpie after mine died. Obviously a scholar of Pat Neshek. I also gave him a few cards.)

Then after Syracuse's bus left I went over to the Yankees side to see what I could scrounge up.

Raul Chavez 9/9
Shelley Duncan 1/1
Alvaro Espinoza 4/13 (Has become a real pain after racking him multiple times last year.)

That's 220 autographs for those of you keeping score at home!

If you've ever wondered what 219 signed cards looked like, wonder no longer.

Next up, Jamestown @ Williamsport. Justin Jacobs, get ready.

State College @ Williamsport - II

2007-06-22T00:40:00.000-04:00

It was a double header tonight, and the second game ended on a balk. Crazy stuff. An average night for graphing, I didn't do too bad. Here are the totals
13 BP Balls (Gave 2 away to little kids out there who had the misfortune of trying to get balls with The Maniac Collector.)

Pre-Game:
Wilson Alvarez 9/18 (I like Wilson Alvarez.)
Austin McClune 13/13
Turner Ward 1/10 ("I'll get the rest of these after the game." I beileved you Turner, I really did.)

I then spotted Pirate rover Gary Redus hitting some players fungos. I pulled out "The Great Scout Box" and got him to sign 18/18 (I had about 20 more but I didn't want to push it.)

Post-Game:
Turner Ward 1/9 (AAAAAAAAH TURNER! If 1/9 constitutes as "the rest" then I'll be damned. You just wait til next series Turner, you just wait.)

Also got 2 trades in, Ron Guidry certified card and a Jeff Francouer for my set both in trades for Matt Holliday signed cards.

Next up is Syracuse @ Scranton. The goal will be 100 autographs. It is doable, as I have cards for basically everyone.

State College @ Williamsport

2007-06-19T23:11:00.000-04:00

It was not a good day. It started off by nearly getting in a fight with an over-zealous ball chaser in batting practice (I got 7 balls, in case you were wondering). There was a tornado spotted. It was rainy all day before they cancelled the game in the 2nd. The Spikes were not good signers for Penn League standards. Here are the totals:

Mike Moriarty - 4/4 (Great signer, didn't have a lot because my order didn't come in so I had to made due with what was already in my collection.)
Wilson Alvarez - 5/5 (Also a great signer, signs whatever you give him. I got the non-card stuff out of the way.)
Turner Ward 1/16 (Seemed nice besides the fact he said "I'll sign one for everyone, is that alright?" Ehh, sure.)
Austin McClune 3/13 (Was late for stretches. He said he'd get the rest after the game. I believe him.)

Also got 19 on the team sheet.

Thrilled to be alive after BP.

Next up State College again on Thursday.

Oh, I have to thank my friend Marcy for hooking me up with a bunch of signed cards she's gotten signed this year (Below).

The Penn League Begins

2007-06-18T21:05:00.000-04:00

I started off the day by going to the Williamsport Crosscutters afternoon practice. It was boring, to say the least, but I managed to get Bill Bliss 7/7. Also managed a broken bat from Derrick Mitchell and 4 BP balls. 6 hours spent, and 7 more Bill Bliss autographs added to my collection. Was it worth it? Not really. BUT I still had the Meet & Greet Session in the late afternoon.

It was there I got:
D'Arby Myers 6/6 (Couldn't have been nicer. Gave me his e-mail, myspace, and couldn't believe I had cards of him.)
Charlie Yarbrough 16/16
Ken Dominguez 5/5
Mike Durant 4/4
Greg Legg 6/16 (Well, apparently he signs 1 card for every hit he ever had in the Majors.)
Derrick Mitchell 1/1 GU Bat

I am DONE with Williamsport except for Greg Legg (at least until I get my 100 lots of Myers and Yarbrough in. Hehehe.)

Wilson Alvarez, Turner Ward and the State College Spikes tommorrow night.

MAIL TIME!

2007-06-14T23:23:00.000-04:00

This has to be my first mail success in a month. Troy Percival signed from god knows where from at least 3 years ago. It still had a 37 center on it and he added 4 1 cent stamps to get it back to me. One of my longest returns every, it was probably over 1,000 days. Please forgive me for the mediocre scan.

6/9-6/10 at Camden Yards

2007-06-11T22:28:00.000-04:00

One word - domination.
I killed the Rockies this weekend.

Saturday-Before the game at at the hotel (The Rockies were at a unique hotel that basically no teams stay at that had absolutely zero security and I was able to stand right in the lobby and rack 'em).

Jeff Francis 1/2
Matt Holliday 2/2 (Matts mom: "OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU RECOGNIZE MY SON!" Well mam he's only hitting .360)
Brian Fuentes 2/2
Jeremy Affeldt 9/9
Sean Barker 1/1 ("How in the h*ll do you have an 8x10 of me?")
Jason Hirsh 17/17
Bob Apodaca 8/8, 3/3 (help)
Jamey Carroll 8/17
Mike Gallego 4/4
Clint Hurdle 7/8 (Left the 07 Topps for some reason)
Rodrigo Lopez 2/4
Chris Ianetta 1/1
Manny Corpas 1/3
Jeff Baker 6/9 (differents)
Garrett Atkins 2/2 (seemed pissed about signing)
Jorge Julio 3/3
Ryan Spilborghs 3/6 ("Im not gonna sign all of these")
Aaron Cook 9/9

Then I saw Helton come out of the elevator, I didn't even ask him, just start walking up to him.
TH: "Not here man."
Me: "Alright."
TH: "It's just not right. You shouldn't even be in here. It's against club policy for me to sign here."
Me: "Oh, well, Mr. Hurdle and all your coaches all signed for me here within the last hour so who exactly makes club policy Mr. Helton?"
TH: "It's just not right...."
Me: "Can you get me at the stadium Todd?"
TH: "I try to sign some walking in every day."

So about this time I leave the hotel and sprint up to the players entrance (about a mile away).I get Matt Holliday right away 1/1 and then see Helton in a cab (you can spot that bush a mile away) trying to go around to the side entrance. I run after him and just barely beat him to the door...
Me: "Todd.. can you sign please."
TH: "ABSOLUTELY!!!!!"Then he gives me an every letter sweetspot, he is one weird dude.

Also at the players entrance:

Brad Hawpe 2/2
LaTroy Hawkins 1/4
Kaz Matsui 1/2
Taylor Buchholz 8/8
Josh Fogg 6/6
Rodrigo Lopez 2/2

Only shutdowns so far in the day were Helton at the hotel and Willy Taveras at the hotel AND players entrance.

Inside I mostly focused on getting baseballs for the first half hour of BP when the season ticket holders were let in (I was 1 of 2 people in left field) and ended up with only 4. Frusturating, the Orioles only had 1 righty taking BP.

Troy Tulowitzki 2/4
Brad Hawpe 1/1
Garrett Atkins 2/2
Matt Holliday 2/2

Then afterwards at the hotel:

I just needed Tom Martin and Taveras really and Taveras turned me down again and Martin and Hawkins walked in together."Tom can you sign please""sure"Then Hawkins gets up in my face and screams at the top of his lungs right in the middle of the lobby "NO AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!!!!" It was kind of embarassing since I was the only collector there but he was just messing around and he laughed and gave me a high five afterwards (and got Martin 3/3).About 5 minutes later I get booted because of Hawkins. Ugh.

Anways Day 1 Totals: 103 cards, 2 balls, and 15 8x10s (Every player on the 25-man except Torrealba (didnt see) and Taveras (3 turndowns, 2 1 on 1s)

Sunday-

Before at the players entrance:
Taylor Buchholz 15/15 (nicest guy on the team)
Yorvit Torreabla 1/4
Also got Helton again 1/1 (signed for 2 people out of 20)
Jason Hirsh 7/7
Didn't bug a lot of guys that I already had gotten.

Inside:
Garrett Atkins 1/1, 1/1 (wasn't looking at who he signed for)
Jeff Baker 3/3
Jamey Carrol 10/10
Jeff Francis 1/1
Mike Gallego 1/3
Rodrigo Lopez 2/2
Matt Holliday 1/1
Kaz Matsui 1/2
Ryan Spilborghs 2/4
Troy Tulowitzki 2/2
Someone held up a Todd Helton jersey when he was coming in from BP and yelled "Todd!!!" and pointed to the jersey and he went "I already have one, thanks." Weird, weird, dude.

Overall in 2 days 168 autographs, got everyone except Taveras who didn't sign once all series. Great weekend of graphing.

The numbers:

1084 Autographs in 2007= 6.73 Autographs per day
8 Balls in 4 Games=2 Balls per Game
7 Days until New York Penn League opens

Clete Boyer

2007-06-05T16:07:00.000-04:00

Clete Boyer - 5/5/55 - 5/4/07 R.I.P.

I just thought it would be fitting to make a post about one of my favorite Yankees, Clete Boyer. Clete was the first autorgaph I ever got in Cooperstown back in 2002; he was outside of Mickey's Place smoking a cigarette and having a coffee. One of my first and best recollections of autograph collecting. His absense will definately be eminent this year in Cooperstown.

New Blog

2007-05-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

Hey guys. Just thought I'd begin a simple informal blog about my autograph hounding obsession. I plan to update everytime I go graphing, so stay tuned!