Alshon Jeffery Signed Card

Yesterday, while I was closing out the week at work, my brother and his friend attended an unannounced signing where Alshon Jeffery was signing at a Jewel.  My brother was able to get himself a signed 8x10, but Alshon was kind enough to also sign a card for my brother, which he gave to me.  Can't complain about that!

Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

Johnny Bench Signed 8x10

I'm a little late in posting this, but I treated myself to a little birthday present with a Johnny Bench signed 8x10 off of his personal website.  I hardly ever purchase autographs, especially from somewhere online, but Johnny has his own website and they were running a Black Friday special for the holidays.  I just couldn't resist.  The picture and inscription look great, and you couldn't beat the price for it!

Cliff Politte

Former White Sox relief pitcher and World Series champion Cliff Politte signed 1/1 in 8 days c/o Home.  This puts me at 9/25 for the 2005 White Sox World Series team collection.  Slowly but surely making progress!

University of Illinois Super Regional

I just came home from the University of Illinois Super Regional baseball game featuring U of I vs. Vanderbilt.  Vanderbilt destroyed my alma mater 13-0, but nevertheless, it was a heck of a fun atmosphere for a game.  Carson Fulmer threw a gem for Vanderbilt and I was extremely impressed by their entire team.  It is easy to see why they are the defending champs.

After the game, I stuck around and attempted to get Fulmer, Dansby Swanson, and Walker Buehler all to sign a baseball.  All three all potential top 20 picks in tomorrow's draft, with Swanson possibly going #1 and Fulmer most likely going top 10.  I was unable to find Buehler after the game, but I did get Swanson and Fulmer on baseballs.

Lastly, I am a year older than Tyler Jay, but I know him a bit just from certain places.  We usually stop and talk whenever we see each other.  Because we are friendly, I just could not get myself to ask him to sign a baseball for me.  A friend of mine on the team knows of my collection and was nice enough to get a B1G 10 ball signed for me.  The ball is a bit scuffed up but that is okay, I am not complaining one bit.  My friend was nice enough to get me that and a ticket to the game so I am extremely thankful.  Jay could end up reaching the big leagues by the end of the season depending on where he's picked.

All in all, I enjoyed the game and got 3 autographs from 3 potential top 10 picks in the draft.  Not a bad day if you ask me!

Bob Barker Signed 8x10

A rare non-sports autograph for me, but I received a signed 8x10 of Bob Barker in 9 days c/o email.  The Price is Right is a classic show, so this is a real nice one to see.

Bobby Doerr

I'm now 2/2 on baseballs through the mail in my life (and this month) as Bobby Doerr signed 1/1 in 11 days c/o Home.  I have seen some bad signatures of his recently but I was pretty happy that this one did not turn out so bad.  The 86 in his Hall of Fame inscription is a bit smudged but I'm not overly concerned about it.  Nice to get this one back and great to see him still signing at the age of 96!

Lucas Giolito and Kaleb Cowart

Had a nice little surprise as 2 TTM's came in from last year's Spring Training.  Lucas Giolito signed 1/1 in 372 days c/o Nationals Spring Training and Kaleb Cowart signed 2/2 in 370 days c/o Angels Spring Training.

Goose Gossage

I decided to send out my first baseball in hopes of landing a Hall of Famer, and quite possibly, starting a Hall of Fame collection.  I'm now 1/1 as Goose Gossage signed a ROMLB in 29 days c/o Home.  He also inscribed HOF 08 as I had requested.  I did not include a fee, so I was a little worried that he would not include the inscription as I saw that it was about a 50/50 shot.  I am real excited to get this one back as I had checked my mailbox everyday in hopes of finding my bubble envelope.  I came back from the gym today to find the envelope stuffed into my mailbox and proceeded to rip it open.  This is definitely my favorite success in awhile as it's a Hall of Famer, who even played for both Chicago teams, and my first HOF inscription on a baseball.  Hopefully there will be many more to come in the coming years!

Geoff Blum Signed Card

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend SoxFest this weekend.  It would have been fantastic for my 2005 World Series project as well since many members of that team were in attendance.  However, a good friend of mine was able to go and he came back to school and surprised me with a signed card of Geoff Blum.  Blum was one player that I did not have so I am now at 9/25 on my '05 World Series project.  I've been moving slowly on this project but I'm confident that it will eventually be completed.  I've been getting ahead of myself a bit as well and have been planning out what the completed project will look like. 

J.A. Happ

J.A. Happ signed 1/1.  After searching through my Excel document that I track all of my send-offs on, I realized that I must have forgotten to include Happ's card on it.  However, I had to have sent this one off at least a few years ago because I definitely did not send it in 2014 and I do not believe I sent it in 2013 either.  Nice to see this one come back as Happ pitched at Northwestern, which is a place I grew up watching college baseball games and I even pitched on their field a couple of times for tournaments.

Andre Reed Signed Card

A rare football TTM for me, but 2014 Hall of Famer Andre Reed signed 1/2 in 11 days c/o Home.  He ignored my request for a HOF 2014 inscription but I've noticed that most do not include that on a card anyways.  I'm very content with a great looking signature from a recent HOF inductee!