SoCal Autograph Odysses

I actually had this puck signed months ago but it fell through the cracks and I forgot to post about it.  Another reminder, there are many good NHL signings that happen up north of the border so for those so inclined, keep an eye out.  The prices are in Canadian dollars (cheaper here when converted than at first glance) and since they are NHL players, they tend to be cheaper anyway.  I pre-ordered a puck from a signing being held with Nikita Kucherov, whom probably only a few people reading will have heard of but is legitimately one of the top two or three players alive today. I do wish I would have asked for it to be signed in gold, hindsight being 20/20.  It's a bit tough to see the silver on silver, though in person it stands out more.

I've added just a couple of items over the past six months or so, which tends to happen when you pay a lot of money for one signing (cough cough Mike Trout cough).  As such, I've only really acted on a couple of deals I found via my go to site and companies.  In this case, I found a ball signed by 2019 baseball HOF inductee Harold Baines.  It has the 2019 HOF inscription as well.  This brings my HOF baseball collection to close to 40. 

I recently added to my growing hockey puck collection with a signed hockey puck from all time NHL great defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, formerly of the Detroit Red Wings.  For those hockey uninformed readers, this guy is a 7 time Norris Trophy winner (for the league's best defenseman), a 4 time Stanley Cup champ, a 12 time All Star, and an easy as can be first ballot Hall of Famer.  Again, I ordered this puck from a private signing through AJ Sports World in Ontario, Canada.  I'll say it once more.  These guys do a ton of signings (mostly with NHL guys, but others as well) and since we get to do the Canadian to American dollar exchange, the prices on these items are quite respectable all of the time.  Heads up, they are doing an upcoming signing with Bobby Orr as well. As I tend to do, I paid extra for the HOF inscription on the puck.  As always, thank you you for taking the time to read this blog.  More to come soon.

I saw a tweet earlier this week that Angels rookie pitcher Griffin Canning would be having a free signing at the San Diego County Credit Union in Laguna Niguel.  It had been awhile since I'd attended any signing, plus this location was a little more than thirty minutes from my house in North San Diego County, so it was something I had been debating going to for a few days.  Free signings are always hit and miss for me since they have a tendency to be packed and there is no guarantee you're going to get a signature unless you are one of the first X amount of people in attendance.  In this case, they only promised an autograph to the first 150 people in line.  The signing was to take place between 11:00 and 12:30, so this morning I woke up and still hadn't decided whether I was going or not.  Believe it or not, the determining factor in me going today ended up being my five year old daughter, who told me she really wanted to go with me and get a baseball signed.  So, we made

Hello there.  Mike Trout had another private signing lined up through Major League Baseball Alumni, and I saw that one of my go to companies The OC Dugout was taking pre-orders for some items.  Since I already have two baseballs signed by Mike, including the one I just got last year, I decided to go the photo route this time.  I again paid extra for the 12 AL ROY inscription, which for those who are wondering means 2012 American League Rookie of the Year.  I picked what I thought was an awesome photo of one of his famous catches, then immediately framed it in a custom red and white mat.  I am impressed with this piece. It is an 11x17 as opposed to the usual 11x14 or 8x10 or even 16x20.  This is going to be one of the centerpieces of my man cave.  Eventually, I'm going to sell enough things to go and ahead and bite the bullet for a signed jersey as well.  Thanks for reading.

I've added another NBA star to the collection.  Vince Carter was having a private signing with AJ Sports World in Canada, so I ordered a signed 8x10 to fill the gap I have on my memorabilia wall.  I'm going to get this photo matted with Raptors purple and framed.  As always, I am a fan of the matted look as opposed to the glossy photos.  I think the texture of the photo lends itself nicely to a cleaner looking signature.  Of course, the photo I picked was of one if his trademark dunks. 

As always, I've been keeping an eye on all signings going around the United States involving major league baseball hall of famers, and saw that Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski was doing a private signing with a northeastern based, family owned company.  I verified this signing using Yaz's own website, which listed the signing under the appearances tab.  I placed an order for a major league baseball with the 89 HOF that he added for free. This brings my total baseball Hall of Famer list to 42, if you include only signatures on baseballs.  The total is 43 off the top of my head if you include the Al Kaline photo he signed for me. The four non hall of famers in this case are Jeter, Beltre, Trout, and Pujols.  In other words, future Hall of Famers. 

The last item on my winter additions list is another puck.  This one, like the Drew Doughty one, was acquired through the Canadian company AJ Sports World.  As I have already divulged to the readers of this blog, this company has many public and private signings with both current and former NHL players, and quite often the price is very good to pre-order.  I noticed they were dumping some items that had been signed by players who no longer player for the team represented in the item they signed.  That brings me to Erik Karlsson, the two time Norris Trophy winning defenseman.  Karlsson had spent his entire career in Ottawa playing for the Senators, until this past off-season when he was moved to the San Jose Sharks.  In this situation, it appears as if AJ Sports World had a bunch of inventory on Senators items Karlsson had signed, so had a big sale to help unload some of it.  I bought this puck because in my mind, Karlsson will always be known for being a Senator, and when he likely goe

One thing I like about hockey autographs is that they tend to be a lot cheaper, even for the best players on the planet. One company I keep up with in the Great White North is A.J. Sports World, which you can check out  Here . They are based out of Toronto and are constantly having signings with NHL players. Many of these signings are of the private type, which is what I stumbled across for LA Kings all world defenseman Drew Doughty.  Now, I am a Kings fan first and foremost against all other teams on the planet, no matter the sport.  I already have a Doughty signed photo on my wall, but I wanted to add a puck to my growing puck case  On a side note, an additional bonus to ordering things from Canada is that all their prices are listed in CAD rather than USD, so what you are actually paying is less than it looks on the listing.   Since I follow AJ Sports World on Twitter, I also happened to get a cool opportunity to see them post about the signing they conducted with Drew, which

As the third addition to my winter acquisitions, this is arguably the biggest name of all.  Hall of Famer, and probable top three quarterback of all time, Joe Montana.  This is a player that does many signings for TriStar, including consistent appearances in Vegas at public signings.  You can see a link to some of the great signings they line up  here . The closest public signings for people like me that live in San Diego county tend to be in places like Orange County and Los Angeles, which is a bummer because that involves driving through a lot of traffic more often than not.  We have sports memorabilia stores down here, but rarely if ever do they host anything worthwhile.  On a side note, this autograph was definitely good enough to get matted, framed, and put up on the wall in my sports room.

As the second update of my winter additions, I added a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer that I haven't had the most success with in previous attempts.  There was the San Francisco Tristar show of 2012 in which I had an autograph ticket to get a ball signed by Reggie Jackson, but he had to cancel.  There was the 2016 trip to Sycuan Casino here in San Diego for an event hosted by Steve Garvey in which Reggie signed for a bunch of people afterwards and I missed out.  He has also had two or three paid signings in Southern California over the last seven or eight years that I was not able to attend for various reasons.  Needless to say, this was a guy I felt should be relatively easy to add to my HOF baseball collection and yet had alluded me up until this point.  Therefore, I was happy to finally get a baseball signed by him, complete with multiple inscriptions.  This ball was courtesy of the OC Dugout, as many of my additions over the years have been. One side inscribed with HOF

Winter time brings upon us good deals in the world of sports memorabilia.  If you follow the right Twitter accounts, or Facebook profiles, etc., you will always find reputable companies hosting upcoming signing events, or having flash deals.  This is always an opportune time to find some signed items that would not otherwise be as affordable.  As such, I noticed the OC Dugout was having an upcoming private signing with Magic Johnson, and thus were selling some items they obtained at a previous Johnson signing for much less than retail.  I ordered this 8x10 photo, which also was authenticated "in the presence" by Beckett. Magic often has signings locally, and they are pretty much always private signings, so he isn't that hard to come by at all.  It keeps his prices and value down, but since I'm not in it to make money anyway I wanted to add him to the other Magic photo I had signed from 2012. I like the contrast of the dark background and him in the purple Lak