Mourning a Legend

I received the text message from my friend Michael that Frank Robinson had passed away right as I was getting on a conference call for work.  I didn't have much time to process the information while I was discussing work stuff, but it still hit me pretty hard.  I knew Frank wasn't doing well, but conflicting reports a few days ago at least gave me some optimism that he was better off than what I had initially feared.  Sadly, he succumbed to bone cancer today at the age of 83.

Frank was the last of the Orioles Hall of Famers that I hadn't "met".  I use quotations there, because I still count being shoulder bumped by Earl Weaver meeting him.

I was lucky enough that my good friend, Ryan, was working on an Orioles Hall of Fame project, and needed Frank on a baseball.  He paid for me to go to the signing at this past year's National, and I would be able to meet Frank in exchange for getting Ryan's ball signed.  I'm so glad I was able to take advantage of that opportunity.

For whatever reason, Frank is such an underappreciated baseball legend.  His 586 home runs were 4th all-time when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982 (alongside his good friend, Hank Aaron), and continue to be ranked 10th all-time.  He was a World Series winner in 1966 and 1970 with the Orioles.  He is the only player to win the MVP Award in both the AL and NL.  He was the Triple Crown winner in 1966.  He is part of one of the worst trades in MLB history, and he also turned the Orioles organization into a perennial contender.  He was the first African American manager in MLB.  Yet, when legends of baseball are discussed, Frank's name hardly ever comes up.  I'm not sure why, but that needs to change.

His number 20 is retired by the Orioles, and he has a statue in Camden Yards (and also in Cincinnati).  He was the 81st Hall of Famer on a baseball in my collection, thanks to my good friend, Drew.

This is the image I always want to remember Frank by.  Here he is at the 2018 National after having signed Ryan's baseball.  The autograph vouchers never come with photo-ops; you have to pay for those separately.  Still, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?  Well, the look Frank is giving me is right after I asked if he would pose for a photo.  A stone cold gaze, and then he dropped Ryan's ball on the table.  I was about to apologize profusely, when Frank grinned, and said "sure, come on."  The photo at the top of this post is the result.  He even shook my hand after and smiled.  I read later on that Frank had a sharp and biting sense of humor, and it was on full display here.

Furthermore, while I was waiting to have the ball signed, I saw Frank's wife sitting next to him looking bored.  All of the fans would greet Frank, tell him how great he was, how they were big fans, but no one would speak to her.  So, I said hello to her and asked her if she was having a good day.  It looked like it took her by surprise, but she thanked me for asking her.  She asked me my name, where I was from.  She told me her name, and what she did.  That she was enjoying the show.  She was such a super nice lady.  I can't help but think of her, and hope that she can find comfort and peace in this difficult time.  Her husband is no longer suffering from the bone cancer that took him so quickly.  He is definitely loved, and will be missed by the countless fans he won over the years.  I'm so happy that I got the opportunity to meet him (and her), and I will always remember him fondly.

Rest in peace, Frank, you truly are one of the all-time greats.

Thanks Ryan for buying the voucher that allowed me to meet him, and thanks Michael for the great photos.

2018 National Pickup - 1955 Bowman Ernie Banks

I believe this is my last post regarding the 2018 National.  I succeeded this year where I have failed in all of the past years.  I got everything posted that I had set aside to post.

I decided to start the 1955 Bowman set so that I would have plenty of cards to look for while at the show.  With my 1969 Topps set winding down, I figured it would be good to go ahead and get rolling on 1955 Bowman and 1972 Topps.  With those two, I also have 1967 Topps and 1995 Topps going.  I plan on wiping out the last few 1995 Topps the next time I sit down to make a Sportlots purchase.

The 1955 Bowman set will be fun.  I have most of the big names already taken care of.  The umpires will be tricky, but that will be a large part of the challenge.

Here's to hoping I can get this one done soon, and not break the bank.

Taking Care of Some Set Needs at the National

With the help of my awesome friend, Nate, and a few pickups of my own, I knocked out a ton of 1972 Topps for my set.  I began the set with the belief that I would wrap up my 1969 set, which I did.

Nate had a ton of 72s that he cut me an awesome deal on, and I can't thank him enough.  I am well on my way with this set, and I hope it doesn't take me as long as 1969 did.

National Gift From Noah

I'm just about done with all of my pickups from the National.  Of the things I have left to show, one is this awesome Bowman auto of Chance Sisco that my friend Noah gave me when we met up.

The card looks amazing anf is numbered 74/99.

Sisco hasn't had the best of years, so here's hoping he can bounce back and do better next season.  I think he was a bit rushed.

Thanks so much for the card, Noah!  I love it!

2018 National Free Signer - Joe Charboneau

Here is the last free signed from this year's National.  I got a bunch of stuff signed, and spent a lot of time in line, but I enjoyed it, and would do it again.  I had to buy a few Joe Charboneu cards, since all I had were a couple 1982 Topps.  This 2004 Fleer Greats was a nice pickup off of COMC.

Of course, I used one of my 1982s as well, and it turned out nicely.

Charboneau (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1980 to 1982 for the Indians.  He had 172 hits, 29 home runs and a .266 batting average.  He was the AL Rookie of the year in 1980.

2018 National Pickup - 1952 Topps Yogi Berra

I've just about wrapped up my posts from this year's National.  Usually, I forget to post stuff, then it gets too far removed from the show, and I just give up posting stuff.  I feel like I did a pretty good job getting stuff on here, so it worked out.

I added this awesome 1952 Topps Yogi Berra to the collection while at the show.  I kind of have a Berra PC going, even though he played for the evil Yankees.  I have wanted this card for a long time, and got a good deal on it.  I need to sit down and see what all Berras I have in the collection, but I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of good ones.  He was an awesome player, and I have no shame in admitting he is one of my favorites.

2018 National Free Signer - Randy Jones

I sent TTM to him over two years ago, and the cards are still out there somewhere, so I was glad to be able to meet Randy Jones at the National and get a card signed.

I had this 1975 Topps in my box, still, so it was the one I decided to get signed.  I believe this one came from my good friend, Max.

Jones (b. 1950) played in the majors from 1973 to 1982 for the Padres and Mets.  He had a career record of 100-123 with 735 strike outs and a 3.42 ERA.  He was the 1976 NL Cy Young Award winner when he went 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA.  That season, he started 40 games, and threw 25 complete games.  Needless to say, he never reached those heights again.  He was an All Star in 1975 and 1976.  He won 20 or more games one other time in his career in 1975 and finished second in the ML Cy Young Award voting that season.  In both 1975 and 1976, he finished 10th in the NL MVP voting.

Jones appeared on the 1988 Hall of Fame ballot, but received no votes.

2018 National Free Signer - Gregg Jefferies

For some reason, extra VIP vouchers for Gregg Jefferies were hard to come by at this year's National, so I was only able to get one card signed.  Out of the huge lot of cards of his that I had, I chose this 1991 Post Cereal card as the one I would get done.  I picked this card because it reminds me of when I first started collecting cards.  I remember getting a few of these and being really excited.  I didn't have any in the album yet, so this one was a good choice.

Jefferies (b. 1967) played in the majors from 1987 to 2000 for the Mets, Royals, Cardinals, Phillies, Angels and Tigers.  He had 1,593 hits, 126 home runs and a .289 career batting average.  He was an All Star in 1993 and 1994 and his best finish in the MVP voting was 11th in 1993.  Oddly enough, he received Rookie of the Year votes in both 1988 and 1989, finishing 6th in 1988 and 3rd in 1989.  The weirdest thing about that is, he only appeared in 29 games in 1988.  In those 29 games, he had 35 hits and a .321 batting average.  He appeared on the 2006 Hall of Fame ballot, but received only 0.4% of the vote.

2018 National Free Signer - Tommy Helms

I had previously gotten Tommy Helms TTM, but when I saw that he was one of the free signers at the National, I picked up a few cards that I hadn't gotten signed the first go-round.  I got enough cards for my friends, and a few extras for me.  I ended up with three of his vouchers, so I got three of the cards I brought along signed.

I ended up trading one of my cards for the above 1969 Topps while I was in line for Helms.  The 1978 came out of one of my boxes.  I don't exactly remember meeting Helms, but that is because I spent so much time in line, it all blends together.

Otis Nixon Private Signing At The National

Normally, the private signings I send off to from Sportscollectors.net are counted toward TTM successes.  This one, however, was delivered by hand to a vendor at the National, and I received the card back signed a few weeks later.

Otis Nixon is a pretty tough signature to obtain, so I was very happy to see someone from the Atlanta region hosting a signing for him, and at $10/card.  It made it even easier that the vendor was taking submissions by hand at the show, so I saved a stamp.

Nixon (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1983 to 1999 for the Yankees, Indians, Expos, Braves, Red Sox, Rangers, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Twins.  He had 1,379 hits, 11 home runs and a .270 batting average.  His 620 stolen bases rank 16th all-time.  He appeared on the 2005 Hall of Fame ballot, but didn't receive any votes.

2018 National Free Signer - Len Barker

I got a bunch of free signers at the National.  Another one of them was Len Barker.  The waiting in line helped me keep my budget in check, and I still came away with some nice stuff.  I ended up with several vouchers for Barker, so I got three cards signed.  The above 1979 Topps turned out really well.

I also got a 1980 and a 1981 signed by him.  Both look pretty nice.

Barker (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1976 to 1985 and 1987 for the Rangers, Indians, Braves and Brewers.  He had a career record of 74-76 with 975 strike outs and a 4.34 ERA.  He was an All Star in 1981.

2018 National Paid Signer - Denny McLain

This Denny McLain card was lying around in my collection for a long time.  I believe I bought it by mistake way back when I was working on my 1970 set, but already had it.  Anyway, it was in my card show boxes, and finally, I found it while I was prepping for this year's National.  I knew he would be there signing for a fee, so I decided that this card should make its way into my album, after surviving all of those past card shows.  So, here is it, about to be placed into one of the pages.  He signed for a fee of $35, I believe.  I had set money aside for that purpose, and I always enjoy talking with him.  He is a bit unfiltered, and when discussing pitching with my 12-year old son he says "just throw the f*cking ball".  I thought that was pretty cool.

McLain (b. 1944) played in the majors from 1963 to 1972 for the Tigers, Senators, A's and Braves.  He had a career record of 131-91 with 1,282 strike outs and a 3.39 ERA.  He was the Cy Young and MVP Award winner in 1968 when he went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA.  He was the last 30-game winner in the majors.  He was also the AL Cy Young Award winner in 1969 when he had 24 wins.  He was also a three-time All Star (1966, 1968 and 1969) and won the World Series with the Tigers in 1968.

He appeared on three Hall of Fame ballots (1978, 1979 and 1985), but only received at most, 0.7% of the vote.

2018 National Free Signer - Benito Santiago

I was really looking forward to meeting Benny Santiago at the National this year, ever since my friend, P. A. reminded me that this 1991 Topps existed.  This is another example of the great photography in this set, and I now have this card in my album.

Santiago was really cool when Nate and I met him.  Nate had the 1997 Fleer of Santiago that we found in a dime box.  That card has a yellow Ferrari or Lamborghini on it and we asked Benny if he still had the car.  He said "I almost died in that car, man."  I asked him how fast he had it up to, and he said "180 man".  It was a pretty awesome exchange, to be honest.

Santiago (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1986 to 2005 for the Padres, Marlins, Reds, Phillies, Blue Jays, Cubs, Giants, Royals and Pirates.  He had 1,830 hits, 217 home runs and a .263 batting average.  He was the 1987 NL Rookie of the Year, a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, five-time All Star and a three-time Gold Glove Award winner.  His best MVP finish was 20th in 2002.

I was really glad to get this card signed, and it helped that my buddy, Gerard had an extra one for me, because I couldn't find any in my collection, without breaking my 1991 Topps set.

August 14-16 Graphing of the Mudcats at Wood Ducks

My first games back after my trip to the National resulted in my getting a ton of cards signed.  I had picked up a bumch of cool cards and parallels of some players, including this 2015 Bowmans Best Phil Bickford numbered 10/25.

Bickford is a great guy, and will sign anything you have.  At the beginning of the season, I was worried because I had missed Bickford last year when he was injured, so I wasn't sure if I would get my cards signed.

Luckily, he has been with the Mudcats since I saw him on Memorial Day, and he signed everything I had by the time I saw him last.  This red parallel of his 2017 Bowman turned out really well.  This card isn't numbered.

I got so many different cards of his signed, and I also was able to get a bunch done for some friends.

Devin Williams was really cool, as well.  He limited how many cards he would sign, so I was only able to get the 2014 Bowman Ice I had found at the National signed, and also some 50/50s for my friend, Gerard.

I'm glad I got Demi Orimoloye on everything I had, because he has since been traded to the Toronto system in exchange for Curtis Granderson.

I got 4 different 2015 Bowman Chrome cards of Nathan Kirby signed.  All of these were ones I found at the National.

I had missed Bob Milacki a few times, but was able to get him on a good bit of cards during this series.  I had ordered the Toys R Us card for early in the season, but finally got it done.  Now that Toys R Us is out of business, it'll be cool to look back on this card.

I finished off the Mudcat coaches for the All Star set.  I am now only missing one of the coaches with Lynchburg because I misplaced them when Lynchburg was here.

I picked up a Mudcats team set so I could get some of the other guys in my album.

I'm not too big a fan of this design.  They would look better as football cards, I think.

 However, I got a good many of them signed, and they look good in my album.

One of my favorite cards I got signed was the blue shimmer refractor of Jairo Beras.  It looks so nice signed.

I got three different Eric Jenkins 2015 Bowmans signed.  He is really nice.  I met his dad this past weekend, and he was super nice as well.

I had also picked up a couple different Spokane Indians team sets.  It was fun seeing some of the Wood Ducks players from when they were there.

A few of the players commented on the older cards, which was cool.

I liked picking up the Spokane sets, so I think I will grab some of the more recent ones for future Wood Duck graphing.

 I found this black letter parallel of this 2015 Stadium Club Guilder Rodriguez in a dime box at the show.  It turned out really well, and will look great in my album with my base card Max sent me.

Finally, here is a Bowman Mega Box parallel of Leody Taveras from this year.  He refused to sign for me the first day of the series, but signed the other two games.  The card looks great, and I am glad he signed it.

2018 National Pickup - 2016 Panini Flawless Jimmie Foxx

One of my prize pickups from this year's National was this 2016 Panini Flawless ruby card of Jimmie Foxx.  It is numbered 7/15 and was actually something I had my eye on since last year's National.  I had planned on picking it up on the Sunday of last year's show, but the vendor had closed up before I got around to his table.  This year, I saw him again and bought the card for cheaper than he quoted me last year.  It paid to wait a year.

Some Random National Pickups

I didn't have as much time this year to look through bargain bins and search for too many cards that weren't on my wishlist.  Still, a few things jumped out at me, and I got some nice deals.  The above Ken Lehman card is really awesome.  I spent $20 on it, which I thought was a bit high, but I loved the design.  It is a Hires Root Beer card from 1958.  I looked some up and it does appear that I got a good deal on the card.

I bought this 2018 Pro Debut green parallel of Anderson Tejeda for $5.  The card is numbered 30/99.  I think $5 was a steal.

Finally, here are a few autos I picked up cheap.  Bubba Thompson should be a Wood Duck next year.  Cody Sedlock has had a lost season, but should be back on track now.  Zac Lowther is a really nice Orioles prospect, who is even nicer in person.  Finally, I got another Trey Mancini auto for the collection.

2018 National Free Signer - Rico Petrocelli

I met Rico Petrocelli at last year's National, but he was again a free VIP signer, so I picked up a few more of his cards and went through the line again.  This time, I got this nice 1970 Topps Sporting News All Star signed.  It turned out really well.

I also got this 1972 Topps signed.  Last year, I went through the line with Andrew; this year, Nate accompanied me.  I think he enjoyed meeting some of the older players.  I definitely appreciated him going through the lines with me, since it helped pass the time.

2018 National Free Signer - Livan Hernandez

Another of the free signers at this year's National was 1997 World Series MVP, Livan Hernandez.  I bought a few cards of his specifically for the show, even though I did have a few in my possession.  The above Turkey Red was a nice pickup that looks great signed.  He even inscribed this one 1st pitch, Nats History.

I also added the Studio, and the Bowman Heritage.  The middle card, 1997 World Series Heroes, was from my 1998 box that I still have here.

Hernandez (b. 1975) played in the majors from 1996 to 2012 for the Marlins, Giants, Expos, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Twins, Rockies, Mets, Braves and Brewers.  He had a career record of 178-177 with 1,976 strike outs and a 4.44 ERA.  He was an All Star in 2004 and 2005 and was the runner-up in the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year voting (Scott Rolen won that year).  He won the World Series in 1997 with the Marlins, picking up MVP honors in both the NLCS and World Series.

2018 National Pickup - 1963 Topps Willie Stargell Rookie

This blog is much more than autographed cards and stuff like that.  I still love a good vintage pickup, or building a set.  One of my big purchases at the National was something that had been on the blog wishlist for a few years - a 1963 Topps Willie Stargell RC.

I got the card for around $115, and was pretty happy with it.  I have seen them go for a lot more, but this one was fine for me.

I have knocked a couple items off of the wishlist, and it is getting more difficult to find things to add to it, as I don't really know what I am looking for (aside from signed 1987s at the moment).  I may abandon the top ten wishlist next year.  I haven't decided.

2018 National Free Signer - Tom Browning

Another of the free signers at the National was someone else I needed for my 1987 set.  I had also picked up some other cards for Tom Browning that weren't 1987 Topps.  The above 1987 Topps All Star Glossy Mail-In actually was a pleasant surprise.  I powdered it before the show (with the 9-pound bottle of baby powder I picked up in a Cleveland grocery store), and it turned out really well.

I also got a 1991 Studio signed for my good friend, Jacob (it isn't pictured), and of course this 1987 Topps.

Browning (b. 1960) played in the majors from 1984 to 1995 for the Reds and Royals.  He had a career record of 123-90 with 1,000 strike outs and a 3.94 ERA.  He won 20 games in 1985, the season in which he also finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting (to Vince Coleman) and 6th in the NL Cy Young Voting (Dwight Gooden).  He was an All Star in 1991 and won the World Series with the Reds in 1990.  He appeared on the 2001 Hall of Fame ballot and received 0.2% of the vote.