Last month, I entered the “Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web” run by Mark at Collector’s Crack: Alaska’s #1 Sports Card and Collectibles Blog. Out of 43 entrants, I was the only one who correctly picked the San Francisco Giants as the winners of the 2014 World Series. (And that turned out to be a good thing, because I would have missed all the tie breakers.)
My prize arrived yesterday, complete with a certificate recognizing me as the grand prize winner.
After a very quiet February, the autograph show circuit picks up a bit in March with the White Plains sports card show as the major event.
If I lived a bit closer (and had some money that I could afford to spend), I’d love to go – there are some “fresh” autograph guests that haven’t done shows in the area recently, if at all, and I’ve heard good things about the card show aspect.
If money really was no object, I’d also take advantage of Joe Torre‘s appearance at the Steiner Sports store this week to obtain his autograph for my All-Time Mets collection.
Reality says that I should be happy to be able to buy the basic 2014 Topps Heritage Mets team set once the cards come out, but here’s the information on those upcoming events in case you’ve got more money available for discretionary spending than I do.
JP’s Sports & Rock Solid Promotions will hold its bi-monthly sports card show at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, N.Y. on March 21st-23rd. Admission is $8 per day, with kids under 12 admitted free.
Five members of the 1969 World Series Champion New York Mets team are scheduled to attend and sign autographs on Sunday, March 23rd: Ed Kranepool, Jerry Grote, Art Shamsky, Ron Taylor and Jim Gosger. Kranepool and Grote will cost $15 per signature; the others will cost $20 each.
Other notable guests for the weekend include future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera ($299), 1987 NL Rookie of the Year Benito Santiago ($25), 1978 NL Rookie of the Year Bob Horner (1 free autograph with paid admission Sunday), and 4-time AL All-Star Ruben Sierra (1 free autograph with paid admission Saturday)
For more details about the autograph guests and their fees, visit http://www.nyshows.org.
Continue reading “Ex-Mets’ autograph signing appearances in March 2014”
Today is a happy one for Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, their families, and their fans.
They will join Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa and Bobby Cox in the Hall of Fame Class of 2014.
It is a sad day for Jack Morris (and Hideo Nomo) fans, who will now have to rely on Expansion Era Committee consideration.
More than a dozen other players with legitimate Hall of Fame cases will have to wait until next year to see if the Baseball Writers of America will let them in, or continue to allow grudges, morality crusades, and thoughts about the ideal size of each year’s Hall of Fame class to influence their voting.
(It sure would have been nice if some of these writers took such a strong stand against performance enhancing substances in the 1990s, wouldn’t it?)
I’d like to celebrate the fact that two former New York Mets players will be honored in Cooperstown this summer, but I only remember Joe Torre as the manager of the New York Yankees (and a mediocre early 1990s St. Louis Cardinals team), and Tom Glavine’s most enduring Mets’ memory is a start that ended in the first inning.
Next year’s Hall of Fame class could be a strong one – if the writers will let it. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Gary Sheffield will join holdovers Craig Biggio (74.8), Mike Piazza (62.2) Jeff Bagwell (54.3), Tim Raines (46.1), Roger Clemens (35.4), Barry Bonds (34.7), Lee Smith (29.9), Curt Schilling (29.2), Edgar Martinez (25.2), Alan Trammell (20.8), Mike Mussina (20.3), and Jeff Kent (15.2) among a number of talented players on the 2015 ballot.
At least by next week, we should be able to set aside all of the Hall of Fame arguments until next off-season.
Congratulations to the new inductees, and better luck next time to the deserving candidates who missed out.
Ritchie recently traded me some 1962 and 1968 Topps baseball cards to fill some holes in my Mets team set collection.
I’m going to save the 1968 cards for another day when I don’t have time to write, but here are the 1962 ones.
I got an email from Ritchie to let me know that some original Mets have certified autographs in this year’s Topps Heritage set. So far, we’ve spotted Ed Bouchee and Frank Thomas. The Bouchee cards seem a bit more plentiful than the Thomas ones right now, but one still sold for $37.50 a little while ago.
The hand-numbered red ink versions go for even more – a Thomas card has a bid of $79.99 with two days left.
As much as I’d like to add them to my collection, I think there are some better ways to use my money. Both players are good signers through the mail, so you’re paying for the Topps Heritage insert card – not the autograph.
Continue reading “Interesting Topps Heritage Cards Showing Up On eBay”
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