Anze Kopitar signed puck

It's a bit surprising that being a Kings fan, I still have yet to get my favorite player's autograph. I recently changed that.

 If you're a follower of this blog, you'll notice that lately it has been a lot more hockey stuff that I am obtaining as opposed to the baseball stuff.  The reasoning behind it I think involves a few things.  The first is that having collected signed baseballs so long, I am starting to run out of players that I do not have yet.  That has definitely shrunken the player pool opportunities for me.  Another is that I have been a lot more stingy with whom I choose to get autographs from.  Back when I had season tickets to the Padres I'd get just about any decent player to sign something for me.  I've changed that to Hall of Famers, award winners, or prospects with a decent probability of turning into one of the first two categories.  Lastly, the effort involved is quite frankly tiring.  Being a dad, I don't have the time to go chasing free autographs like I once did, and instead much of my focus is paid event signings like public appearances or private signings.  Once money is involved, there is more planning that comes with it.  This leads back to the hockey collecting.  Since hockey is the fourth or fifth most popular sport in this country, even the greatest players cost less.  For example, Bobby Orr will do a signing that may cost you $150-200 whereas Randy Johnson will cost you $250-300, or Mike Trout will cost you $600-800.