Orioles Fan Fest 2018 - Autographed Cards

Another Orioles Fan Fest is complete, and this year, I went all out with getting baseball cards signed.  I had all five time slots covered this time around, and was able to get multiple cards signed at almost all of them.  I also had some help with my son, Chris, my friend, Ryan and also my friend, Michael.  Michael really hit a home run for me by getting this Brady Anderson signed.  I know I owe him big for this, as he really loved the card and wanted to keep it.  This is a 1998 Pacific Revolution.  It looks so awesome in person.

This 2000 Finest Larry Bigbie orange refractor drew a response from Bigbie, himself.  He remarked "Wow, that is an old card!"  He's right, but it sure is a nice one.  I am really happy with it, and only paid a few bucks for it on Ebay.

This Nestor Cortes is another pickup.  It is a die ccut card numbered 05/99.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get it signed, but right when Chris got to the front of the kids line, Cortes came and sat down.  It turned out really nice, even though I wuickly had run an eraser over it right before he signed.  Thankfully, my mom had given me a pack of the giant pink erasers a couple weeks ago.  I put them to good use this weekend.

Darren O'Day was the first person we got, and the above 2015 Topps black parallel was one I was really excited to get signed.  I had bought it for a few bucks from my friend, Anthony, and really wanted to get it done.  I had sent O'Day a gold parallel of that card to Spring Training last season, but never got it back.

I had Chris get me the 2017 Topps, mainly because I wanted to puff up some of my Topps set numbers.  I wanted to get parallels and refractors done mostly, but I was able to add a few Topps base here and there.

I bought this Anthony Santander orange shimmer from 2014 Bowman Chrome last week, once I knew who's vouchers I had.  I saw it on Ebay for something like $6.00, but was able to get it cheaper from sportlots, instead.

This 2011 Topps Chrome orange parallel of Adam Jones was featured on this blog a long time ago, in a care package from my friend, Pete.  I had narrowed all of my Jones cards down to four, with Chris taking two, and I taking two through the line.  The handler denied Chris's second card, so I quickly put my second away and went with this one.  I had a recurring theme the whole time with orange parallels, and I'm not complaining at all.  It sure turned out nice.

Tim Beckham denied me a second card, but he signed two for Chris.  They all turned out really well.  I especially like that Chris, himself, requested that Beckham sign the Heritage Minors in blue.  It really looks good.

Here is another orange parallel, this time from Kevin Gausman.  This one turned out so well.  I'm glad I raided my PC boxes for some nice parallels.

I got four cards signed by Trey Mancini.  The Panini National Exclusive was given to me by a little guy named Reid at this past year's National.  I've been trying to message him, but haven't gotten a response since then.  He was ahead of me in the line to get in that last day of the National, and ended up walking around with me for a while.  The middle Topps Gallery was a gift from my buddy, Cal, and I am really happy that I brought it along to get signed.  It is hard to tell, but that is an Artists Proof card.  Finally, I really wanted an Oriole on a 1987 Topps Chrome from this past year, just to keep up with my 1987 Topps theme in my albums.

I also got four cards signed by Hunter Harvey.  The 2014 Bowman Chrome gold parallel on the right is numbered out of 50, and turned out really nice.  I have a bunch of other Harvey cards.  If he goes to Frederick to start the season, I may be able to get him when they come through Kinston.

I put some dime box pickups from this past year's National to good use at Fan Fest.  All of these Mike Wright and Chris Lee cards were dime box finds that I held onto.  The Wright cards are misprints, of course, as he never was a National.

I added three cards to the 1987 set while I was at Fan Fest.  Michael got Larry Sheets for me, and Ryan hooked me up with John Russell.

Here are some horizontal cards that I was able to get done.  The 2010 Upper Deck was from Ryan, and had Jaycob Brugman's signature on it.  The 1994 Score is Wane Kirby.  I had to bring the generic Orioles cards, in case I saw someone I didn't have cards of.  I was glad to use my 1994 Score.  The Upper Deck was one Ryan brought.  I kind of wish I had gotten a voucher of Chance Sisco, since I found my Bowman Pipeline card that I had Cody Sedlock sign this summer.  Chris got it signed by Chris Lee in the kid's line.  Lee said Sisco was on his way, but we were late for our 2:00 signing, anyway.  Maybe next year.

Here is a batch of other cards I was able to get done.  We had a session with Joe Orsulak, and he also was in the kid's line.  The Orsulak in the middle is a Bowman Tiffany, which turned out really nice.

Chris laid down three Alan Mills cards in the kid's line, and Mills signed them all.  I was glad for that, as I couldn't decide if I liked the 1995 Fleer over the 1993 Topps.  Ryan contributed the 1993 Ultra, and let Chris keep it.

Finally, Austin Hays signed two cards for me in the first session we were in.  Chris got an 8x10 signed.  I had my autograph book with me for that session, and Hays said he would do two of the four I had on my page.  I was fine with that, as it meant I could get one of the Carolina League Prospect cards signed and his Aberdeen team set card done.  I abandoned the book after that session and just tried two-per for each station, and it worked pretty well.

Ryan got the David Hess signed for me while I was in line for the last session.  He had my card box with him while I was in line and remembered that my box was alphabetized (and he remembered me saying I had one Hess card in there).  Michael got me the Miguel Castro.

In all, I left Fan Fest with 56 autographs on baseball cards.  Not a bad way to start the year.

I have a few other things from Fan Fest that I will show later on between TTM successes and a couple more Christmas gifts that came in, so stay tuned!

September 2017 Trip to Baltimore

I thought I was done graphing for the year.  I was content to rest on the 964 signed cards that I had gotten and call it a year.  I decided that, for my birthday, I would make the trip to Baltimore for a game or two, and ended up doing a bit more graphing.

I was slammed for work, so I didn't get a lot of time to sort, but luckily, I still had a ton of Orioles cards that I had sat aside for the Norfolk exhibition game in March.  I took those stacks, then supplemented them with a few Orioles alumni that I thought may come.

I also met up with my good friend, Michael, and he showed me the ropes of graphing at Camden Yards.  He helped me outside the stadium, inside at the field, and up in the club level.  One of the biggest autos I was able to get was this Jonathan Schoop.  It turned out really nice, especially since I didn't get a chance to prep the card beforehand.  I was really lucky that the auto suck with this one.  I was able to get him to sign it at his car, along with a ton of other folks.  I appreciate that his wife was so gracious as to let us hand the cards inside the car to him.

Boog Powell was probably the easiest Oriole to approach.  He was at his station at Boog's BBQ chatting and posing for photos.  He signed every card that I had, which was great, because I had brought some nice Topps cards straight from my PC.

I was able to get this 1992 Action Packed card signed, which is the first that I have been able to add to my album.  It turned out nice, and the line through the auto came due to the scan.

I had brought a few Orioles team cards with me, just in case I ran into any players and didn't have their cards on hand.  Such was the case with Austin Hays on Saturday at the field level.  I had him sign the 2016 Heritage team card instead, which turned out really nicely.  The 2017 Topps team card is signed by radio personality, Tom Davis, while the 2016 team card is signed by THE Roch Kubatko!

I was able to talk to Jim Palmer outside of the stadium after the game, Friday night.  He wouldn't sign, though.  He told me he would sign for me Saturday, if I was at the game.  Sure enough, before the game Saturday, he came over in the parking lot and signed a card for me.

I got Palmer to sign this card post game, Saturday.  He is funny with autographers; he said "You're all collectors!", and joked around with all of us.  He took one kid's graphing book and asked everyone to "throw em all up there" so, with the kid holding the book, Palmer signed all of our cards.

I was also able to take a selfie with Palmer, but it turned out pretty blurry.  Still, he was nice about it.

I was able to get Rick Dempsey before Saturday's game in the parking lot.  I had a number of cards with me and handed them over to him.  He signed a few (above) and I thanked him.  He wasn't overly talkative, but we did talk about what he would do in the offseason.  He talked about playing golf.

Because it was the final home series of the season, there were a bunch of Orioles alumni at the stadium and walking around the club level.  I was able to get Chris Hoiles on one.  I missed Joe Orsulak, though.  I saw Ross Grimsley leaving the stadium, and caught Scott McGregor, getting him on a card for myself, and one for Michael.

I was with fellow grapher, Patrick, when Brady Anderson came outside on Saturday night.  Michael had told me that Brady was gone for the weekend, but luckily, I was able to find his cards very quickly in my box.  I took the first two cards that I saw, which landed me this 1991 that Patrick got for me, and the awesome Pacific below that I was able to get done.

Also outside on Saturday night, I was able to use the above 2016 Orioles team card on Jimmy Yacabonis.  He might have made better sense on a 2017 team card, but in my scramble, this one was the first I could get my hands on in a pinch that night.  It'll do.

Buck Showalter was the last to leave the stadium on Friday night, and Michael and I were the last graphers standing.  Buck stopped his car and motioned for us to come over; he chatted with us for a bit, and was more than happy to sign for us.  I noticed, though, that he only signed the Orioles cards that we presented.  I had two other cards (a Yankee card and a Diamondbacks card) and he left them blank.

Jeremy Hellickson was sitting in his car on Saturday night, and told the graphers that he would sign on Sunday.  Apparently, though, he was waiting for someone who was late, so he finally motioned for us to come over, and he signed for a bit until the person he was waiting for finally came and caught a ride with him.  Who was he waiting for?  Alex Cobb!

I actually recognized Dave Johnson while we were in the club level.  He was really nice to Michael and I.  While he was signing for us, we talked about his son, Steve, who had to cancel a vacation to the Caribbean due to the hurricane.

I also got Johnson a second time as he came out of the stadium on Saturday so I could finish off my page of him.  I appreciated him stopping and chatting again.

On this trip, I was surprised at the number of Rays players that I was able to get on cards.  Saturday before the game, we were able to get Rays manager, Kevin Cash, after his finished his afternoon run.

I was able to get Alex Cobb a couple of times.  Jose Sucre is on the Rays team card at top left.

Cobb was really nice; he signed for me several times, and finished up all of the cards I had of him.

A lot of the players were one per, except for Curt Casali, but I had all of the same card of him, 2016 Topps.

I really enjoyed chatting with Tommy Hunter before the Saturday game.  He was open and honest about how he enjoyed his time in Baltimore, and how he didn't want to leave.

Tommy also gave a fellow grapher some crap for calling out for him to come over, then leaving to try to get Evan Longoria instead.  He was really funny and took quite a while to sign for everyone.

I wasn't going to do any graphing on Sunday morning, but I had to meet Michael and hand off some extra cards that I had.  While we were waiting for him, Austin Hays came over and posed for a photo with Chris.

I had one ROMLB with me, just in case.  I decided to use that ball to get an autograph from Orioles radio voice, Joe Angel.  With Michael's idea, I got Angel to inscribe the baseball "Wave it bye bye" and "In the WIN column".

The ball turned out great, except for the little smudge on the side.  I didn't care!

 I believe that Joe Angel will end up in the Hall of Fame as a Ford Frick Award winner, so hopefully this ball will find its way into my HOF collection soon.

Finally, the biggest autograph (in my mind) that I was able to get this weekend was that of Rays pitcher, Chris Archer.  I used my knowledge that he was from NC to my advantage.  He is from Clayton, NC, so I yelled over to him "Hey Chris!  I drove through Clayton on Tuesday on my way to Fuquay [Varina]!"  He smiled and waved, so I asked him if he minded signing a card for me.  He said he would when he was done, and was good on his word.  I had to jump on the dugout to slide the card and pen to him, much to the chagrin of the usher who yelled at me, but I didn't care.  I got the auto!

So, with this trip, I netted 1,016 signed cards on the season.  I think this was an awesome way to close it out and officially retire my graphing book for the winter.  I'll fire it all up again for Fan Fest in January.

Instagram Trade With Wrigleywarrior

 I completed a trade on Instagram recently that landed me some nice Orioles parallels that I didn't have in my collection.  This 2016 Topps Chrome Zach Britton pink refractor is pretty cool.  I'd like to try to get it signed at some point.  These aren't numbered, but still a nice parallel.

I also got a Frank Robinson Gypsy Queen mini (unnumbered) and a 2005 Topps retired Brady Anderson.  This gold parallel from 2005 Topps Retired was also included.  It is numbered 313/500.

I am slowly catching up on my posts, but I still have a ton of cards that need to be scanned and posted.  Bear with me; I will be trying to mix in some more non-TTM posts over the coming days.

Instagram Deal With Xavier

I'm still slowly catching up on TTMs and other posts that have fallen behind.  There are still cards from the National I want to show, and still some Christmas gifts.  I also have worked out a few deals, and need to post those, especially the ones which came without notes.  Those are hard to remember where they came from, so I have to keep them on my Instagram until I have posted them on the blog.

One such deal was a quick sale/trade with a guy named Xavier.  He actually bailed me out on a deal that fell through with another kid on Instagram.  I went through ALL of my card boxes to find every Bartolo Colon card for someone, only to have the guy not pay for the cards.  He even told me he sent the money three times (yeah right).

So, Xavier swooped in and bought the Colons for the price the other guy agreed to.  He also included a stack of Orioles cards for the PC.  The above 2001 Fleer Genuine was one that I didn't recall seeing before.  Xavier also sent me a red Chris Davis Topps Chips.  I didn't have that yet, either!

Thanks for the deal, Xavier.  I also appreciate not having to put those Colons back in my box after spending hours searching for them.  I should make people pay a deposit for making me search my boxes, because this has happened quite a bit.

A Look at the Signed Baseballs I Got at Fan Fest

When the autograph vouchers were announced for this year's Fan Fest, there weren't a lot of surprises.  Nor were there too many guys left that I hadn't met, yet, so I picked up only a select few vouchers.  I wanted to see Nolan Reimold again, so I bought the session that included him, Brady Anderson and Dylan Bundy.  Melvin Mora was making his first appearance there in a long time, so I wanted to meet him, so I got the Mora, Tim Berry and Dylan Bundy session (so two meetings with Bundy) and finally, I wanted to meet Tyler Wilson, and that session also had Jim Palmer and Christian Walker.  For each voucher I bought, I got a second, so Chris could go through the line with me.

I decided that I really liked signed specialty balls.  I was able to find a real cheap 1996 All Star baseball for Brady Anderson to sign.  As you can see above, the ball looks really good, even though Brady's signature is pretty bad.  Chris also got a plain OMLB signed for me, which was nice.  He knows that all of my stuff will eventually become his, so he did a really good job at Fan Fest in helping me find stuff, and also getting things signed.

For the people that I didn't necessarily need second signed balls of, I let Chris have an OMLB, which he got multi signed by a bunch of the guys there.  I had only taken 14 balls to Fan Fest, then sold two to Ryan, so I needed a way for Chris to enjoy the signings as well.  Also, in a rush to leave on Friday, I had forgotten the large photo that Chris had been getting signed by former Orioles.

I was able to find another specialty ball on Ebay, a 2005 All Star ball.  This one was for Melvin Mora.  I actually got complimented from a fellow O's fan on the ball, which was pretty cool.

The ball turned out really nice, I think.  I really like the different colored seams on the All Star balls.

I was able to meet Hall of Famer, Jim Palmer again, which is always a treat.  I can't count how many times I have gotten his auto at Fan Fest, but I try to every chance I get.  I also traded for a signed Palmer ball from Ryan, then also ended up with Chris's ball.  I had a pending deal with my good buddy Max for one of the Palmer balls in exchange for an upgrade to another one of my Hall of Famers (which I will show another time).  The other, I ended up making a deal with my good friend, Sam for that.  So, of the three I got, I have deals pending for two of them.  The last one I will hold onto for now.

I think, other than Nolan, I was most excited about meeting Orioles pitcher Tyler Wilson.  He just completed his rookie season, and had a pretty decent showing.  He struggled, for sure, but I think he has a bright future with the Orioles.  I had seen him (with Ryan, of course) pitch for Bowie a couple years ago, and really was impressed (much more than I was with the next day's starter, Eduardo Rodriguez),

Wilson was very nice when we signed, and I wished him well for the 2016 season.

I got another ball signed by Christian Walker as well.  His signature has changed since last year, which is interesting.  Walker has a chance to break camp with the O's, unless something drastic happens, and Chris Davis re-signs.  I doubt Davis will be back, so maybe Walker gets his shot.  Who knows.

I'm sure some folks are wondering if I got something signed by Nolan.  I did, but since I have a ton of stuff signed by him that I absolutely love, I decided to do something nice for a friend of mine.  So, I had Nolan sign a ball with a message, and I dropped it in the mail today.  I hope my friend loves it!

So, of all of the baseballs I took with me to Fan Fest, I have one left.  I will likely hold onto it for now, unless I decide to get it signed TTM by someone.