Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Jack Morris

Much to my surprise, I was able to add a new baseball to my Hall of Fame signed baseball collection without spending a dime.  I thought the Veterans Committee vote was later in the week this week, but the results were actually announced tonight.  Alan Trammell and Jack Morris were announced as the newest electees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  I thought maybe one of them would get in, but both of them made the cut, anf Ted Simmons was really close.  I'm happy to see both of these guys make it, as they had been discussed for quite a long time, and it really didn't make sense that neither was in.

Morris (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1977 to 1994 for the Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays and Indians.  He had a career record of 254-186 with 2,478 strike outs and a 3.90 ERA.  Morris won 20 or more games three times in his career.  His best finish for the Cy Young Award was 3rd, which he achieved twice (1981 and 1983).  His best finish in the MVP voting was 13th (1991 and 1992).  He won the World Series in 1984 with the Tigers, 1991 with the Twins and 1992 with the Blue Jays.  He was also on the 1993 Blue Jays which won the World Series, but he did not pitch in those playoffs.  He was the 1991 World Series MVP.

Morris appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years from 2000 to 2014 and reached as high as 67.7% of the vote.

I haven't added very many Hall of Fame baseballs to the collection this year.  With the selection og Morris to the Hall, he becomes my 134th Hall of Famer in my collection.

I picked up this ball on Black Friday in 2013 as a purchase of Historic Autographs Ball of Fame II.  I loved that product and now the value has shot up a little bit for me!  You can read about the hit here.

Black Friday Pickup - Historic Autographs Ball of Fame II

I'm sure many of you who read this blog on a regular basis remember that when Historic Autographs came out with their Ball of Fame offering back in 2011, I was really excited.  You can read the post I wrote here about my first one.  I actually opened 4 of them (if I remember correctly).  Well, for Black Friday, when I was purchasing presents for folks, I saw that one of the promotions was for the Ball of Fame II 2013 National Promotion for $59.95.  I figured this was a pretty good deal, so I jumped on one for myself.

The ball (and the other stuff I bought) came today, so I immediately got my good friend, Andrew, on Skype and I busted the box.  As you can see below, I am definitely not disappointed!

I picked up possible future Hall of Famer, Jack Morris, inscribed 91 WSC.  Not a bad pickup.  The ball is authenticated by PSA/DNA and also came with a name card (which is how I knew it was Morris right away, without having to open the red velvet-ish bag it came in.

Morris (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1977 to 1994 for the Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays and Indians.  He had a career record of 254-186 with a 3.90 ERA and 2,478 strikeouts.  Morris's career numbers don't tell the complete story of his career or the on-going Hall of Fame argument that surrounds him.  He was regarded as quite the big game pitcher, especially in the 1984 and 1991 World Series.  He was a World Series winner with the 1984 Tigers, 1991 Twins and 1992 Blue Jays.  He never won a Cy Young Award, but he finished 3rd in the voting twice (1981 and 1983).  He was also a 5-time All Star and finished as high as 13th in the AL MVP voting (in two seasons, 1991 and 1992).  Morris was the league leader in wins 1981 (14) and 1992 (21).  He won 20 or more games two other times in his career (1983 - 20, and 1986 - 21).

Regarded as a possible Hall of Fame candidate, he has appeared on the ballot 14 times and has only gotten as high as 67.7% of the vote.  Unless he gets a groundswell of approval before January 8, 2014, he will have to wait until he appears on the Veterans Committee ballot in order to gain entry to the Hall.

In my opinion, it wouldn't be the end of the world if Morris makes it into the hall.  His career ERA of 3.90 would be the highest for a starting pitcher who is in the Hall already, but there are other pitchers who have already been enshrined who I would not have start game 7 of a World Series before Morris.

So, there you have it, my latest opening of a Historic Autographs product.  Again, I'm very pleased with the ball overall and will definitely consider opening another!

Christmas Presents From Mom Part One

I hope everyone had a great and safe Christmas.

I'll start my Christmas posts off with some of the stuff I got from my mom.  I plan on breaking up what I got into several posts, so check back often to see what all was received.

First off, I got two more Ball of Fame boxes.  Mom was really hoping I would pull the Mickey Mantle, as she is a big Yankee fan.  I wasn't that lucky, but got two really good baseballs, one of which I already had, but it was still an upgrade over the one I already had.

The first box I opened was Bruce Sutter.  I picked Sutter up last year, but this one is graded, so I consider it an upgrade.  I'll probably sell the other Sutter that I have.  If anyone is interested, let me know.

My other pull was a Hall of Famer who i didn't already have, so I was really happy.  It was also another 'full name' variation, so that made it even better.  I got Dennis Eckersley!  I have been wanting an Eck ball for a while, but have kept putting it off, so it is good to finally have him as my 58th Hall of Famer.

My mom always gets me awesome stuff, and there is a bit more to show!  Thanks again Mom!!!

Historic Autographs Ball of Fame Break #2

Here is the second of my two Ball of Fame breaks.



I already had Irvin as well; I got him TTM last year with a donation to a local college that he supports.  However, that ball may not be available, since I may be working out a trade with Dustin over at No Relics Pulled.  We'll see.

Box Break - Historic Autographs Ball of Fame National Edition #1

I saw that Blowout had lowered the price of the Historic Autographs Ball of Fame National Edition boxes from $119 to $85 last week, so I decided to pick up two of them.  The difference between the 'National Edition' and the regular edition I opened (and got Wade Boggs) is that the National Edition baseballs are graded no lower than 9.5.  I figured getting a high grade HOF auto on a ball for that price would be worth the gamble.  I videoed both breaks, so here is break number 1:



I had already gotten Harvey TTM, but this version is already PSA authenticated, on an official MLB ball and graded at a 10.  So, that being said, my Harvey ball I got TTM will be going with me to the card show or can be put up for trade.  I'd prefer another ball for it, but I'm not going to be too picky.


Yes, that is Drew on Skype watching the box break.  Hi Drew!!!

Results of the Ball of Fame Box Break

So, I hope everyone enjoyed last night's box break of Historic Autographs' Ball of Fame.  I really enjoyed shooting the video, even though I need to work on my supermodel looks... 

 Here are some shots of the box.  I ordered the Ball of Fame off of Blowoutcards.  I had been looking at them since they were released in August and when the price dropped to $79, I figured now was a good time to pick one up.  I had some expense checks saved up from work, so it was easy to part with the cash.

 I'm going to keep the box, as I think it looks pretty cool.  Here is the side panel which describes the product.

Finally, here is the ball that I pulled.  I got the full name variation of Wade Boggs.  The ball is sealed in a PSA/DNA cube and the rear of the cube has the authentication card and grading results of the ball.  The overall grade is 9.5 with the auto itself being graded at 9 and the ball is graded at 10.

Boggs is my 51st different Hall of Famer.  He was my brother John's favorite player growing up, so naturally when I called him, he was excited.  He says he is going to save up and try one of these boxes as well.  We'll see about that.

I had never heard of Historic Autograph Company until I saw the ad for the Ball of Fame appear on the side of my facebook page.  Usually, most of that stuff is a scam, but this one ad appeared to be legit.  I read the sell sheet for the product and I was intrigued.  Now, having opened one of their products, I am very impressed and will definitely buy at least one more box.  I was so impressed with the product, I emailed the company this morning.  I have yet to hear back, but i figure that since it is Saturday, I probably won't hear anything today.

If you want to check them out yourself, you can go to their website and give them a look.  Also be sure to check out the checklist for Ball of Fame and see how extensive it is.  I can't wait to get my hands on another one of these, hopefully sooner than later.  Also, if anyone is looking for Christmas ideas for me, here you go, haha.

Wade Boggs (b. 1958) played in the majors from 1982 to 1999 for the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays.  He had 3,010 career hits, 118 home runs and a career .328 batting average.  He won 5 batting titles in his career.  He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1996.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005 with 91.9% of the vote on his first ballot.

Thoughts on 2011 Historic Autographs Ball of Fame

When I saw the ad for Historic Autographs' Ball of Fame, I immediately thought "Wow, that's kind of cool...", then when I saw the price, I thought, "WOW that's REALLY cool!"

Initially, they were looking for something like $100.  The premise was simple:  Buy a box and inside is a signed baseball, authenticated by PSA/DNA of a Hall of Famer. 

The checklist was pretty amazing.  Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, heck, even Babe Ruth if you are lucky enough.  They also have variations of the signatures as well.  They have basic signatures, nickname inscriptions (like Cal Ripken would be inscribed 'Iron Man'), HOF inscriptions of course, and the most rare variation, the 'full name variations' (Cal Ripken would be:  Calvin Edwin Ripken, Jr.), so I could get a pretty cool ball, in my mind...

I have been keeping my eye on them hoping I could get some money saved up so I could give it a shot.  I figured, worst case scenario, I get a PSA/DNA baseball of a Hall of Famer that I already own.  If that happens, I can sell it or just hold on to it, no big deal.


So, here is the video of me opening the box:

I'll post a blog on the actual ball itself hopefully tomorrow.  I want to have you be able to see it come out of the box the first time before I spill it on who is on the ball...

I will tell you that I got my 51st different Hall of Famer and it was the rarer full name variation...