Fan Fest Pickup - Nolan Reimold BP Jersey

Before we even got in the door to Fan Fest on Saturday, I had already met one of my major goals for the event.  All it took was a phone call from my buddy, Michael.  He is a season ticket holder, and was able to get into the venue an hour earlier than us lowly general admission folks.  He immediately made his way to the memorabilia room and found what I was looking for, this Nolan Reimold BP jersey.

Michael called me when he found it and told me the price was $70.00.  I told him right away that I would do that deal, if he was willing, and he was.  I knew that if I balked at the price, and tried to wait, it would be long gone.

I have been wanting a Reimold jersey for a long time.  Having a "game used" one was icing on the cake.  I know it isn't officially game used, since it isn't an actual game jersey, but you get my point.  It was used by Nolan, one of my favorite Orioles players.  I even tagged his wife, Jenny, in a photo of it so she could see that I had found it.  She was very happy for me, which was nice.  I always enjoy chatting with her, but with her busy schedule, it has been tough to chat on a regular basis.  She knows I am and will always be a huge fan, and supporter of Nolan's, so it was cool to be able to share this with her.

Michael really hooked me up, and I am grateful.  This was just the start of a hugely successful trip to Fan Fest; probably my most successful one to date.  Stay tuned for more, as I begin to show off the baseballs that I got signed.

2015 Orioles Fan Fest

I got home not too long ago from Baltimore and another Orioles Fan Fest.  This was my fourth Fan Fest, and this year, I took a whole menagerie of people with me.  Along for the ride were my wife, son, mom and sister.  We got a hotel for Friday and Saturday nights, which made the experience a lot easier, since we didn't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn, and get home super late afterward.

We did end up waking up early Saturday morning, thanks to my dad texting my mom to check on her at 6AM.  Oh well, I wanted to be up early, and at the convention center so we would get in close to when the doors opened for non-season ticket holders.

My sister came this year, and although she isn't a baseball fan, she seemed to have fun.  I know she was bored by the end of the day, but I did appreciate her going through some of the lines with me, and grabbing some autos.  She also took photos for me, when my wife wasn't able to.  Thanks for coming along, Christy, it was appreciated.

Mom had a good time, as well.  She met Buck Showalter and chatted with him a bit, as well as Jim Palmer.  She and my wife met David Lough, Wayne Kirby and Kevin Gausman while I was in a separate line with my son.

Mom and I went through a few of the lines together, which was nice.  She and I also went to the memorabilia sale and found a few nice things.  In the box of lineup cards, right on top, was the signed (by Buck Showalter) lineup card from the game I took her to this past summer.  This was her first MLB game, and turned out to be Kevin Gausman's first MLB win as a starting pitcher.  She bought the lineup card, and had Gausman sign it.  She also bought a game used David Lough jersey and got that signed as well.

I brought home this haul.  Here is the haul as broken down: 164 Rally Towels from the freebie room, 3 Orioles pillow pets, 3 Crush Davis action figures, 1 Oyo set, 1 game used jersey, 21 playoff scorecards, 10 Orioles magazines, 1 bought baseball (Sparky Anderson), 16 signed baseballs (one isn't shown in this picture), 2 signed baseball cards (Alejandro De Aza) and 16 signed post cards.

I don't think I did too badly.  I got all of the autographs that I wanted, with those being on special baseballs that I had purchased (a couple All Star balls, a Gold Glove ball and a 2014 Playoffs ball).  I got a Kevin Gausman ball that I was already planning on sending to my buddy, Max.  I also grabbed a couple autos for some deals I have been planning on making with a few friends.  My Buck Showalter auto will be used to upgrade the TTM ball that I got last year; I may send that ball off to someone as well.

I plan on breaking some of this stuff up into separate posts, with tomorrow being the game used jersey.

Fan Fest Pickup - Joe Mahoney Spring Training Jersey

I'm skipping around a bit now, but I really didn't want to post a whole bunch tonight, especially since the last autograph station we went to had 4 guys signing.  I hope to do that one tomorrow, depending on my mood.

After that station was done, Chris and I met back up with Scott and we made our way to the memorabilia room one more time.  Since they were about to close, I figured they would have marked a few things down. I was right.  They had marked the team issued jerseys down to $80 and the spring training jerseys to $20.  I missed out on the Dontrelle Willis jersey, but did manage to pick up the above Joe Mahoney jersey.

I got to see Mahoney play in Bowie a couple years ago and during that game, he hit two home runs.  After the second home run, he threw his batting gloves on top of the dugout right by where we were sitting.  I was too late as a kid grabbed them up and ran away.  Not to be beaten again, I snatched this jersey up and it is now here in my home.  I plan on wearing it to a game, even though Mahoney isn't with the team anymore. For $20, I know I got a deal!

Two Boxes From Michael

I've been really slow in getting mail posted on this blog, you know, with all of my Ebay pickups and all.  However, I really wanted to show the interesting stuff I got in two different shipments from my good buddy, Michael.

Michael and I met at Fan Fest this past year, and again at the Orioles game that I took my son, Chris, and my nephew, Jacob.  Michael is a really great guy, and since he has a younger brother who is about Chris's age, he is really awesome with kids.  He and Chris have hit it off and have even skyped together a few times.

Michael also is a baseball player.  We have talked at length about his playing for his school and town team(s) and he is very proud of his playing ability.  He included in the two boxes several game used articles from his 2012 season of school ball.  As you can see in the picture that he is either really generous, or he really wanted to clean out his closet.

In the boxes, he included: 2 signed hats, a signed uniform shirt, a signed under armor shirt, a signed belt, signed pants, a signed bracelet, a signed game used baseball, signed game used (and hopefully washed) socks and a necklace (that he was unable to squeeze a signature on).  We joked that all I need now is a mannequin and I will have a fully dressed baseball player in my man cave.  We joke about all the stuff he sent, but in reality, it is the mere thought that counts.  He's a great guy and I appreciate him thinking of me.  Who knows, maybe he will become a major leaguer and I will have all of this stuff.

He also included a bunch of Orioles stuff.  Some of which I bought off of him, and some of which was part of my birthday present.  Coincidentally, Michael's birthday is 10 days after mine, so with what I sent him for his birthday, it ended up being a trade of sorts.

Anyway, he sent me a stack of mid-90s Hall of Fame magazines.  Those are really cool.  I plan on letting Chris read them to practice his reading.  He sent me the Buckle Up Birds rally towel that was given out during the 2012 stretch run.  Signed Orioles post cards of: Wei-Yin Chen, Joe Durham, Ronny Paulino, Dick Hall, and Cla Meredith.  I got a signed Jason Hammel 8 x 10.  Finally, he included some baseball cards of Orioles, two of which were autographed (TJ McFarland and Jeff Fiorentino).

Michael has quite the memorabilia collection.  Especially his Orioles stuff.  He is always at games and always knows how to find good stuff.  He constantly adds stuff to his Ebay profile, which you can check out here.  He's a really great guy who I enjoy talking Orioles baseball with.  Thanks again for all the stuff, Michael!  It definitely is appreciated.

July 4th, 2011 Kinston Indians Vs. Frederick Keys

Happy July 4th to everyone out there. I spent the day enjoying my day off... playing Wii with my son and then going to the final 4th of July game at historic Grainger Stadium in Kinston, NC. As you all may know, the Indians are leaving Kinston at the close of the 2011 season. While I am sad that this is happening, I'm not surprised. I'm holding out hope that another team will be taking their place, but who knows if that will happen.

Last year, I took the family to Kinston and left with a game worn 4th of July jersey (read about the game here). This year, the team did a similar promotion, but the jersey was in honor of the military and the numerous nearby military bases, so this year's jerseys were camouflage.

Pretty epic, right? I bid on and won the jersey of Kinston first baseman Jeremie Tice. Tice was drafted in the 38th round of the 2006 amateur draft by the Florida Marlins, but did not sign. He was, then, drafted in the 6th round of the 2008 draft by the Indians.

Tice went 1 for 4 tonight with a single. He is currently batting .252 on the season. The coolest thing about this jersey, and the reason I went for it was because he got it nice and dirty for me! I'm definitely going to keep it as is and display it in that fashion.


Also, Tice autographed the jersey after the game, so I was pretty happy about that.Unfortunately, my digital camera is on it's last legs, so I was only able to snap a few pictures of the game with my handy-dandy cell phone. As you can see here, plenty of people came out to enjoy the smoke filled historic Grainger Stadium (there is an on-going wildfire to the southeast of this area, and the smoke has lingered about for weeks, now). The smoke was pretty harsh tonight, and I still smell like it. Uggh.
Another cool thing about the game was that the Indians were playing the Frederick Keys. I was able to get a baseball signed by Orioles #1 draft pick from the 2010 amateur draft - Manny Machado. I now have baseballs signed by 5 Orioles #1 picks - Manny Machado, Matt Hobgood, Matt Wieters, Billy Rowell and Brandon Snyder.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July. I sure did!!