SoCal Autograph Odysses

Here is the latest in my new series of items from the past.  I just randomly pulled out some of the hundreds of baseballs I have, and I will include a little blurb about each.  As I have said in the past, when Petco Park first opened I had the mini 20 game season ticket package with my friend so there was a lot more added to the collection during those times.  Then a family happened so of course I don't have the time or frankly, the desire, to spend as much time on my hobby.  That's why organized paid events seem more appealing to me now.  Let's get to it. This is one of those matted photos you can buy with the name plaque of the player already built in.  At the time, these types of photos went for about $20 a pop, so needless to say I didn't buy a whole lot of them.  I got this one signed either the night Trevor Hoffman got his 400th save or shortly thereafter.  At one point, I was tempted to have a photo collection of 400, 500, and 600 with ...

In continuing with my new idea to post some photos of items I have in my collection that would not necessarily have gotten into my blog without it, here are a few more items I deem to be of interest.  I will include a quick little blurb about how I obtained each item as I see fit.  The first is a LaDainian Tomlinson signed jersey I got signed during the off season after the season in which he won the NFL MVP. It was a signing at a Field of Dreams store in the Fashion Valley mall in San Diego, a store that no longer exists.  It is one of the more valuable items I have in my collection. If you notice, there is a LaDainian Tomlinson Authenticated hologram in the bottom right corner of the "2" on his jersey.  I know this is an authentication tactic that is more commonplace than it was at the time of this signing. Next is a Miguel Cabrera 8x10 I had signed.  It is an MLB photo commemorating a big homerun he hit during the 2003 National League Championship Se...

Every great once in awhile, you hear about an event that as a autograph collector you absolutely need to attend.  Today was one of those events, when both Julius Erving and Shaquille O'neal appeared at the Frank and Son's Collectible Show as part of a joint signing event hosted by the OC Dugout as well as Honabach and Sons.  Granted, the cost of getting items signed by these guys was kind of pricey, but when you consider that Shaq has NEVER had a public signing appearance, sometimes paying for an item or two is well worth it. Personally, I had never attended Frank and Son's at any point, so I was really looking forward to what all the hoopla was about.  Let me tell you, this place is nerdvana.  They have collectibles in just about every type of comics, sports, and action figure genres imaginable.  It is quite literally a giant warehouse with seemingly a hundred vendors lined up.  They also often have athlete (and actors, comic writers, etc) signing appear...

Since the Baltimore Orioles are a team that rarely has a series against the Padres here in San Diego, I decided to head down to Petco Park with my friend Lawrence after work and try to add some of this team to my collection.  The Orioles have quite a few good targets to use my baseballs on, like Jim Palmer (works for the Orioles broadcast), Manny Machado, Chris Davis, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters.  Upon arriving at the ballpark, we realized very quickly that it was not going to be a normal night of trying to get some memorabilia signed.  There were probably around 100 people waiting outside of the park, at various different locations players may walk out.  To compound the problem, the Orioles were staying at a hotel closer to the bay, meaning no one really had any idea which route they might take, or if they might just ride the bus.  Turns out, a few players walked out the normal way, but only a couple signed.  Chris Tillman was with family so declined, and...

Since I haven't really been able to get down to Petco Park as much as I used to or would like to, I realize that my posts haven't maybe been as frequent as they could be or perhaps even should be.  To help mitigate that, I've decided to post more often about items I have collected in the past, as well as do more of the "Random Ponderings" posts in which I delve into some of my thoughts about the hobby, and how I disagree pretty vehemently with the way a lot of the other collector's act/do things.  For today's post, however, I am going to focus more on the former idea in which I just show some pictures of things I've gotten in the past. To start, here are some photos of cards I had signed over the course of a couple of years of attending what used to be the Stan Humphries Celebrity Golf Classic and which has now fallen under the name of Drew Brees.  I'm not going to really elaborate on the stories behind each card...this post is more to deal with ...

Last night as I watched the first couple of innings of the Padres/Reds game on TV, I decided on a whim to try and go downtown and get some of the Reds after the game.  Over the past couple seasons I had gathered information from various sources (mostly other autograph collector blogs) that the Reds were relatively high from the aspect of star player to signers ratio.  In other words, the Reds are a team that has a pretty good roster full of autograph targets that also signs pretty well.  During the next couple of innings, while keeping one eye on the game, I did my prep work in which I go over the roster and look up pictures of the guys I don't think I would recognize.  I also grab different items I want signed and formulate a game plan in my head of who I want to go after and what I want them to sign.  I'm happy I made the last second decision to go as it ended up being a solid night. When it came time to park downtown, I was listening to the game when Chris ...

When I started this blog, I did so with the intent of providing myself an outlet to talk about my hobby, not knowing if anyone would ever actually stumble across it let alone read it.  Well, about a year later I now have a blog that has been viewed more than 2,000 times.  To be honest though, I don't even know if that is a high number, but it makes me enthused nonetheless. I would like to thank the people who have tweeted, re-tweeted, and Facebooked my blog in the pursuit of, well...nothing really, other than my happiness.  A sincere thank you to all of you out there who read this drivel on a consistent basis and pretend to be amused.  Enough of the tomfoolery, and on to some autograph stories that I probably wouldn't get around to sharing in another post! This first picture is of a ball I had signed by Yu Darvish last season when the Rangers were in town to pay the Padres at Petco Park.  This particular signing occurred during batting practice, when Mr. Dar...

First, let me wax nostalgic on this Seattle team.  I have had a very good history with this ball club dating back as far as the mid to late 90's when I first began my excursion into the realm of autograph collecting.  It's rather odd really, considering Seattle is an American League team one would not usually associate with playing the Padres, until you realize that the Mariners are actually the Padres "natural rival".  Being a natural rival in MLB essentially means you are in opposite leagues and forced to play an inter league series annually, which to me seems nothing more than an ill disguised attempt at contriving a rivalry out of none that exists.  Sometimes it works (see: Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox), but in this case it does not.  That all being said, having the Mariners show up in San Diego has lead me to collect some of the biggest luminaries in the history of the Seattle ball club.  I'm talking Ken Griffey Jr, Alex Rodriguez, and Randy Johnson ty...

I thought I should share with those who live in the Southern California area that Orange County Sports Cards is having quite a few upcoming signing events.   http://www.ocsportscards.com/servlet/the-Autograph-Signings/Categories I highly recommend this place, as I have actually had quite a few things signed there in the past.  It is a relatively painless process, you purchase the ticket for the type of item you want signed by the player you want it signed by, show up where the event is occurring (many times in the OC Dugout), and wait in line.  You get to meet many stars and have any type of memorabilia you want signed, so long as you are willing to pay some money.  Mike Trout is making his only public signing appearance this year with these guys, but there are many more players lined up with them right now as well.  Speaking of Trout, here is a ball I had signed by him last year... A couple years ago, I attended a dual signing event at the OC Dugout where ...