April Showers bring May Flowers

And Mayflowers bring pilgrims. And I had a record setting number of cards make a pilgrimage to my mailbox this month!

My last entry I mentioned being in way over my head with the combination of the 1972 project, All-Time Fan Favorites sets, and Diamond Kings; so much so that I almost decided to completely end my work on all but the 72s and trade off what I had.

Instead, no. I'm going to keep working on them, but they're definitely getting de-emphasized. When it comes to paying for players who charge to TTM, the 1972 sets come first. Then the others second. I'll still keep trading and just working on freebies and cheapies any time I can.

Sometimes you just need a momentary freakout to really clear your head.

With the fact I'm a Moderator In Training at SportsCardForum, I was asked by their assistant GM if I might make some TTM success videos. This has now turned into an entire YouTube Channel. Check it out and subscribe!

I also added on a few moderators to the Facebook groups I run.

With the fact that I'm still working from home through the current pandemic, my wife was able to get unemployment since both of her jobs shut down, and we got our Donnie Dollars, I decided to go ahead and mail off a ton of TTM requests. Several tough signers have started picking up the pen, and a few long waits have come back to me. Overall, I got 193 sigs by mail, which breaks my previous single-month TTM record of 177 set in November 2017. That month saw me set three other personal records (Most TTM successes in a day, then did it again, and most total TTM sigs in a day) but never saw a streak of more than six delivery days in a row with a success.

This month, no records for most in a day, but I've only had two delivery days without a success (with an 18-delivery day streak rolling into June) and the quality has been incredible.

MAY 1

Charlie Hall, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

Carl Hairston, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks

MAY 2

Luke Walker, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks - 1972 Set Hit!

MAY 4

Cleo Miller, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

Rance Mulliniks, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week

Russ Courtnall, c/o home, 3/5, 1 week, kept two cards

MAY 5

Lonnie Chisenhall, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks

Ruben Amaro, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week

MAY 6

Dave Schmidt, c/o home, 5/5, 1 year - DK Set Hit!

Jose Lind, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks, paid $1 per

MAY 7

Kurt Stillwell, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks - DK Set Hit!

Paul Assenmacher, c/o home, 3/4, 3 weeks

Mike Fischlin, c/o home, 3/4, 2 weeks

MAY 8-9

The only two mail delivery days with no successes...

MAY 11

Kevin Maas, c/o home, 5/5, 2 years - ATFF Set Hit!

Jim Lachey, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks

Sal Bando, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks - 1972 Set Hits!

Steve Bono, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week

MAY 12

Clay Carroll, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week, paid $5 each - 1972 Set Hits!

MAY 13

Rick Mirer, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week

MAY 14

Elliott Maddox, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, paid $5 - 1972 Set Hit!

Cleon Jones, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks, paid $10 each - 1972 Set Hits!

Steve Kemp, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks

MAY 15

Rick Wise, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks, paid $5 each, he added an extra card - 1972 Set Hits!

MAY 16

Tim McCarver, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, paid $10 - 1972 Set Hit!

Andre Ware, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks - Heisman CIC Set Hit!

MAY 18

Alex Dickerson, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks

Ben Petrick, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks

Erik McMillan, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week

MAY 19

Lou Piniella, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month, paid $5 each - 1972 Set Hits!

Roberto Hernandez, c/o home, 6/6, 3 weeks 

Harold Baines, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week, paid $10 total - DK and ATFF Set Hits!

Terry Adams, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week

Bill Swift, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week

MAY 20

Jim Acker, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week

MAY 21

Ken Singleton, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, paid $5 - 1972 Set Hit!

Franklin Stubbs, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks

Mark Chmura, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

John Friesz, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

Craig Paquette, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks

MAY 22

Jeff Andretti, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks

Ken Oberkfell, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks

MAY 23

Fredrik Modin, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

Jeff Ballard, c/o work, 5/5, 2 weeks

Willie McGinest, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks

MAY 26

Steve Garvey, c/o home, 2/2, 9 months, paid $5 - 1972 and DK Set Hits!

Jean-Guy Talbot, c/o home, 4/3, 5 months, added a signed photo

Bryan Oelkers, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month

Denny McLain, c/o Top of the Mound Enterprises, 2/1, 3 weeks, paid $5, also signed protective index card - 1972 Set Hit!

Lee Elia, c/o home, 1/3, 2 weeks, returned two unsigned

MAY 27

Michael Cuddyer, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks

MAY 28

Jeremy Guthrie, c/o Texas Houston South Mission, 4/4, 1 week, kept a card, wrote short note back

MAY 29

Jermaine Allensworth, c/o home, 5/5, 3 weeks

Dave Ford, c/o home, 3/4, 3 weeks, kept a double

R.A. Dickey, c/o home, 1/2, 1 week, kept one card - 2013 72 Mini Set Hit!

MAY 30

Broderick Perkins, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month

Juan Marichal, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks, paid $10 each - 1972 Set Hits!

So if you're scoring at home, that's 19 new sigs added to the 1972 Topps set, one added to the 2013 72 Minis, four Diamond Kings, three ATFFs, and a Heisman Index Card.

And that's only the TTMs.

I've started listing my entire tradeable signed card inventory on SCN just to see if I can get a few bites. It's a hell of a process. We're talking nearly 5000 in baseball alone, another 3000 or so in hockey, and a bunch in basketball, football, auto racing, and indoor soccer. And there's no way to just upload the entire list as a spreadsheet or anything. We're talking player by player.

But boy have I ever gotten some bites...

I worked a few trades and purchases on SCN, ABC Unlimited, eBay, and Facebook.  So far, I've gotten three for my ATFF sets (Tommy John and two Maury Wills) and two for 1972 (Dusty Baker and a likely-ghost-signed Joe Coleman that's at least a decent placeholder and was just a throw-in on the trade), plus I bought several signed Indians cards of Brandon Phillips. You may know he refused to sign Indians cards after being traded from them in 2006 (a policy he kept at least until 2010 and I haven't heard anything of him changing it in the last ten years).

I'm awaiting shipment on several 1972s that I bought through a long-time collector on Facebook (Tim Foli, Moe Drabowsky, Bob Lemon, Paul Blair, Duke Sims, Phil Regan, Bob Barton, Jim Fregosi, Tommy Davis, and Mark Herrmann); a 1972 Don Eddy from a trade with a collector via SCN/Facebook; DKs of Kevin Seitzer and Keith Moreland plus a 1972 of Marty Pattin from a trade with a friend via Facebook; a 1972 Bruce Kison via a SCN trade; and a John Smiley DK from eBay.

So once those are done, I'll be getting another 13 1972 sigs, and three DK sigs.

And I'm working on another potential deal for some DKs right now. A collector on SCN has eight I need, and I have ten 1991 Upper Deck needs of his...

The YouTube channel is likely going to get a lot of content put on it, even when I don't get any TTMs. Maybe a couple videos on advice for how to write letters, IP graphing etiquette, my sets, my collecting biography, spotlighting other channels and podcasts and forums and such, and anything else that comes to mind.  Maybe if I get enough subscribers, some live streams and chats just showing off some items in my collection.

Friday Free-For-All: Trade Chains

It's been a while since I've gone totally off the topic of collecting, but I was thinking about this recently and figured I'd put it out there into the world.

What's the longest trade chain that you can think of in current baseball?

By this I mean picking a player who was acquired by his current team for a player, who was traded for a player, going on back as far as you can get until you hit a wall with a player who was drafted or signed as a free agent.

A recent example would be the Indians: Yasiel Puig was acquired for Trevor Bauer, who was acquired for Shin-Soo Choo, who was acquired for Ben Broussard, who was acquired for Russell Branyan. That goes back to 1994: not bad.

Travis Fryman was an interesting one for the Tribe just because of the sheer volume of third basemen involved: Fryman for Matt Williams, for Jeff Kent, for Carlos Baerga, for Joe Carter, for George Frazier, for Toby Harrah, for Buddy Bell. Of the eight players involved, six played at least a significant bit of time at third for the Indians and spans a 1969 draft pick on up to a 2002 retirement. You can even sub in Jose Vizcaino for Jeff Kent: both were acquired for Baerga and both were shipped out for Williams and both played a bit at third in their careers (though only Kent did for the Indians).

Of course, the longest one for the Tribe now is Corey Kluber, who can be traced back through eight trades to Jerry Dybzinski's 15th round selection in the 1977 draft (14 slots after him? NBA All-Star Danny Ainge!). And with the trade rumors that have circulated around Kluber for the last year-plus, that chain could grow longer (Currently: Kluber for Jake Westbrook for David Justice for Kenny Lofton for Willie Blair for Alex Sanchez for Bud Black for Pat Tabler for Dybzinski).

Looking through the closest team to me geographically, the Rangers don't really have any longer than one or two links: most acquisitions have been via free agency and drafts lately, or a single chain like Willie Calhoun for free agent signee Yu Darvish. Even most departing players have been as free agents or retirements with zero return (Matt Garza, Julio Franco, Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland).

So, who has the longest current chain in all of baseball? Who has the longest one for your team? Any fun oddities like the third-base-heavy chain of Bell to Fryman?

EDIT
A few fun ones from some googling, as the question has been asked before...

The Mets can trace Robinson Cano's acquisition back to drafting Tim Bogar
Martin Prado of the Marlins goes back to Charles Johnson

Achievement Unlocked: 2007-08 Upper Deck Rookie Class Set Complete!

A while back I had hit a point where I knew it was no long "if" but "when" I would finish this set. About three years ago, I picked up a bunch of set needs from a collector that got me down to only needing two more from the 2007-08 set. After a short while, that become one more: the Ryan Callahan card.

Callahan is actually a decent signer. He's been known to TTM and is good in-person. TGhe problem is I rarely have access to visiting teams in Dallas, and since hockey TTM seems to go through phases of reliability/unreliability, I never mailed off. I had an offer of help from a member at a message board, sent him the card, but he was never able to get it done.

I even have a notice set up on eBay to email me every day with any new listings of Upper Deck Rookie Class hockey autographs.

Well, a few managed to slip through the cracks on those emails. Like the Callahan card that didn't use the word "hockey" in the title. I don't know how long it had been listed, bur when I saw it for $3, I had to snap it up.

And with that, the set was finished!

Bobby Ryan, Ondrej Pavelec,
Patrick Kane, Kris Russell, Matt Niskanen,
Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Bernier, Marc Staal

Nick Foligno, Peter Mueller, Jiri Tlusty,
Brett Sterling, Petr Kalus, Rob Schremp,
Andy Greene, Frans Nielsen, Martin Hanzal

Devin Setoguchi, Matt Smaby, James Sheppard,
Kyle Chipchura, Ryan Parent, David Krejci,
Lauri Tukonen, Anton Stralman, Tobias Enstrom

Tyler Kennedy, Mason Raymond, Thomas Greiss,
Drew Miller, Curtis McElhinney, Ryan Callahan,
Brian Elliott, Vladimir Sobotka, Jonathan Sigalet

Ville Koistinen, Torrey Mitchell, David Perron,
Jannik Hansen, Chris Bourque, Milan Lucic,
Tuukka Rask, Jonathan Toews, Sam Gagner

Jack Johnson, Carey Price, Nicklas Bergfors,
Erik Johnson, Bryan Little, Nicklas Backstrom

As always, a big thanks go out to those who helped complete this projects with trades, 50/50s, and anything else, notably Paul Buxton, Arron Littleton, and Peter Fallon.

And now, time to start looking for upgrades! Chipchura used a terrible pen, as did Kalus. Hanzal is pretty badly smeared. The rest are at least passable. I might try to get a few black pen guys in blue (Koistinen for one-- already got someone in Germany offering to help me with that one).

I'll have an April TTM/IP update coming soon...

The National: Final

Whew. We had a busy few days after my return (had a good friend stay with us one night, band practice Saturday), I finally had a moment today to photograph almost everything. Not pictured: Set cards, items I got signed for others, and the 100+ hockey sig lot I picked up for Lee Alexander.

FINAL TOTALS

Miles driven: 3,358
States visited: Fourteen
Games attended: Twelve
Autographs obtained, whether in-person, trade, purchased, or pulled from a pack: 574

A gigantic rundown-- and this doesn't include signed photos or the unsigned items I snagged...

Preview: A Q&A on what's to come

Days One and Two: Birmingham and Lexington

Days Three and Four: Charleston and Columbus

Days Five and Six: Lake County and The National

Days Seven through Ten: NSCC, Akron, Lake Cty., Cleveland, and Ft. Wayne

Day Eleven: Cedar Rapids and Des Moines

Days Twelve and Thirteen: Des Moines and Kansas City

January and February Report

I didn't realize until just now that I haven't posted what I've actually gotten since the start of the year. Band stuff has taken up so much of my time, but it's fun. We did the Winter Weekend Warriors Tour, I just put new heads on the toms a couple weeks ago, and bought some new cymbals this week. So with that, my mailing has been minimal and likely will be for the next month or so. Maybe longer since I have a couple more things I need to buy and already cut into my April stamp budget.

I say "minimal," but looking at my stats I've averaged more than one letter sent per day this year (March 13 is the 72nd day of the year, but I've mailed 78 requests; pretty sure this is the most I've ever sent at the start of a year), putting me on pace to mail nearly 400. Egad, man.

Anyway, a rundown...

JANUARY 3
Claude Lemieux, c/o work, 6/6, 7 months

JANUARY 7
Wilbur Wood, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week, personalized all

JANUARY 10
Monty Montgomery, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks

JANUARY 12
Ray Christensen, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, wrote short note back
Brian Sipe, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

JANUARY 14
George Mitterwald, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Charles Bronfman, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, added signed card
William Bartholomay, c/o office, 2/2, 2 weeks
Raymond Berry, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks – added photo and enclosed note wanting info on my family’s surname and we’ve corresponded a few times on the topic

JANUARY 14 – IP, Dallas Sidekicks Alumni Night
Mike Powers 10/10
Doc Lawson 9/9
Victor Moreland 4/4, 8/8
Gordon Jago 3/3
Jay Bednar 1/1 for a friend
David Doyle 3/3
Billy Phillips 2/2
Fernando Garza 2/2, 1 for a friend
David Kamali 2/2, 1 for a friend
Carlos Videla 2/2, 1 for a friend
Tony Santibanez 1/1 for a friend

JANUARY 17
John Olerud, c/o home, 3/3, 4 months
Lee Cornwell, c/o home, 2/1, 1 month, wrote a note back
Fritz Peterson, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks, wrote a note back
Bob Skinner, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks

JANUARY 20
JP Dellacamera, c/o home, 2/1, 1 week, wrote a short note back

JANUARY 21
Dali, c/o team in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 3/3, 3 months – severely water damaged, will try again
Bill Virdon, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
Denis Menke, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

JANUARY 23
Frank Duffy, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks

JANUARY 24
Tom Murphy, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Darold Knowles, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Bill Gogolewski, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week

JANUARY 26
Mike Paul, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

JANUARY 27
Antonio Langham, c/o home, 6/6, 7 months
Dick Enberg, c/o home, 2/1, 2 weeks, wrote a short note back
Rich Hebner, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Dennis Higgins, c/o home, 1/2, 2 weeks, kept one (my ’72, noooooo!)
Terry Humphrey, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Concert-used broken stick from the drummer for Death Before Breakfast (okay, fine, I cheated, that's me)

JANUARY 28
Chuck Taylor, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks, VERY shaky signature
Steve Kline, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Bob Montgomery. c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

JANUARY 30
Bud Selig, c/o office, 2/2, 1 month
Fred Kendall, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Ken Henderson, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

FEBRUARY 3
Bernie Carbo, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks

FEBRUARY 4
Nancy Faust (former Comiskey Park organist), c/o home, 5/2, 5 weeks (signed cards on both sides and wrote a note back)

FEBRUARY 10
Sean Phillips, c/o Soccer Stop in Columbia MD, 3/1, 5 months (signed card on front and back and wrote a note back)

FEBRUARY 11
Ted Sizemore, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month

FEBRUARY 15
Johnny Ray, c/o home, 4/4, 6 days

FEBRUARY 16
Dan Uggla, c/o home, 3/3, 7 weeks

FEBRUARY 17
Tom Brunansky, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week

FEBRUARY 21
Gary Leeman, c/o home, 6/6, 8 months
Ron Gant, c/o work, 4/4, 2 weeks
Bryn Smith, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

FEBRUARY 22
Ron Guidry, c/o Yankees ST, 4/4, 2 weeks

FEBRUARY 24
Bill Lee, c/o home, 3/4, 5 weeks, kept my ’72 unfortunately (my 900th all-time TTM success!)

FEBRUARY 25
Brook Jacoby, c/o Blue Jays ST, 3/3, 2 weeks

FEBRUARY 25 - Dallas Sidekicks IP
Willie Molano 5/5
Kiley Couch 2/2
Jamie Lovegrove 2/2
Juan Gamboa 2/2
Ricardinho 2/2
TJ Nelson 2/2
David Kamali 2/2
Clark Binning 2/2
Tony Guillen 2/2
Fabinho 2/2

FEBRUARY 27
Boots Day, c/o home, 2/2, 6 weeks

I also had some March successes which will get posted at the end of the month, and picked up a nice soccer lot on eBay recently that can be seen over on the Pacific Soccer Sigs blog-- totally worth cutting into the April budget for it.

August Update

I'm lazy, I know, shut up.

Since vacation to Michigan and Minnesota took up most of my extra money, I've limited myself on Rangers games. In other words, I've been to none from the Indians series in April up to Alumni Weekend in late July. And frankly, I haven't missed it at all. Frisco has been good, the Alumni were good, that's good enough for me.

I've also slowed down a bit on TTMs, but have picked up a ton in purchases and trades lately at least. So, a rundown. We'll start with the TTMs...

JUNE 20
Rod Seiling, c/o Ontario Racing Commission, 1/1, 2 weeks
Steven Finn, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks

JUNE 23
Harry Newsome, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Ed "Too Tall" Jones, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

JUNE 24
Dennis Smith, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week

JUNE 27
Rich Camarillo, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
Andy Van Hellemond, c/o home, 4/3, 3 weeks, added personalized signed postcard
Tim Hunter, c/o Moose Jaw Warriors, 4/4, 1 month
Jared Goff, c/o LA Rams, 3/3, 1 month

JULY 5
Steve Larmer, c/o home, 6/6, 35 days
Mark Murphy, c/o home, 5/5, 20 days

JULY 8
Reggie Langhorne, c/o home, 6/6, 38 days
Randall McDaniel, c/o home, 2/2, 23 days

JULY 9
Mike Baab, c/o home, 5/5, 39 days
Paul Perkins, c/o NY Giants, 3/3, 45 days, added "Sorry you're a Browns fan" to one.

JULY 13
Mike Horan, c/o home, 4/4, 28 days, personalized all four

JULY 15
Chris Mohr, c/o home, 4/4, 30 days

JULY 20
Randy Gilhen, c/o Manitoba Moose Alumni, 5/5, 46 days

AUGUST 4
Kevin Butler, c/o home, 5/5, 9 days

AUGUST 6
Ray Wersching, c/o home, 4/4, 11 days
Chris Jacke, c/o home, 6/6, 11 days

My IP 'graphing has been minimal as well. I took most of June and July off due to vacation, but got back at it later in the month. I plan to do a game in Frisco in a week and a half. But I did at least gert the Rangers' Alumni...

FRIDAY
Mike Bacsik Sr., 3/2
Cecil Espy, 4/4
Benji Gil, 4/4
Donald Harris, 4/4
Dave Hostetler, 4/4
Kevin Mench, 4/4, 4/4
Jim Norris, 4/4
Claude Osteen, 2/1
Ken Pape, 1/1
Jeff Russell, 4/4
Donnie Sadler, 4/4
Scott Sheldon, 2/2
Mike Simms, 4/4
Marty Stajduhar, 1/0
Don Stanhouse, 4/4
Ken Suarez, 2/2
Ellis Valentine, 1/4
John Wetteland, 1/4
Curtis Wilkerson, 4/4

SATURDAY
Mike Adams, 4/4
Gerald Alexander, 4/4
Tucker Ashford, 3/3
Mark Brandenburg, 1/0
Keith Creel, 2/2
Cecil Espy, 4/4
Bill Fahey, 1/1
Jeff Frye, 4/4
Jim Gideon, 1/0
Jose Guzman, 1/0
Rich Hand, 4/4
Larry Hardy, 1/1
Toby Harrah, 4/4
Donald Harris, 4/4
Rick Henninger, 1/0
David Hulse, 4/4
Pat Mahomes, 4/4
Pete O'Brien, 4/4
Don Stanhouse, 3/3
Todd Van Poppel, 1/0, 8/8
DeWayne Vaughn, 2/2
Jamey Wright, 4/4

SUNDAY
Ian Desmond, 2/2
Tom Grieve, 1/1
Bobby Jones, 4/4
Mitch Moreland, 1/1
Spike Owen, 4/4

And then a week later, a surprise outing for the Vote Yes campaign to bring a new ballpark to Arlington (irony: I likely will vote no).

Jeff Russell, 8/8
Darren Oliver, 8/8
Bump Wills, 6/6
Chuck Morgan, 1/1
Todd VanPoppel, 10/9
Kevin Mench, 1/0
Jim Sundberg, 9/8 (3x5 photo)

And finally, I'm not going to list them all but I bought a ton for my hockey want lists. Look to the right and you'll see my set percentages have gone vastly upward. I'm only two short now on 2007-08 UD Rookie Class and less than 20 short on 2002-03 Topps Total.  I've also made a few trades for some more 1972 Topps cards.

I'm planning on mailing out a bunch here soon once my SportLots purchases come rolling in. At the very least, I plan on trying Adrian Beltre and Clayton Kershaw with set needs, as well as taking a flyer on Alex Rodriguez. He signed some late last season/offseason so with his retirement, it might be worth mailing to him.

Achievement Unlocked: 2003-04 Choice AHL Top Prospects Set Complete!

Wow. There it is. After a little over 11 years of work, I have completed a signed set for the first time. My final one-- an eBay purchase of the Niklas Kronwall card-- arrived in my mailbox this afternoon and I finished off a set that I wondered if it would be possible to complete after several players bolted for Europe.

Fortunately, trades with people in Europe and in minor league cities helped me complete everything. The vast majority of these were traded for, though I did get a decent chunk in-person and via mail.

Without further ado, I present the set!

Anton Babchuk, Jason Bacashihua, Ryan Bayda (all trades)

Brad Boyes (IP), Ilya Brysgalov (trade), Peter Budaj (trade)

Carlo Colaiacovo (trade), Ray Emery (IP), Kurtis Foster (TTM)

Denis Grebeshkov (trade), Chris Higgins (IP), Jiri Hudler (trade)

Ryan Kesler (trade), Mike Komisarek (IP), Lukas Krajicek (IP)

Niklas Kronwall (trade), Brooks Laich (TTM), Pascal LeClaire (trade)

Kari Lehtonen (trade), David LeNeveu (IP), Ross Lupaschuk (trade)

Justin Mapletoft (trade), Jay McClement (TTM), Ryan Miller (IP)

Shaone Morrisonn (IP), Maxime Ouellet (trade), Johnny Pohl (trade)

Jason Pominville (trade), Mark Popovic (trade), Jani Rita (trade)

Derek Roy (IP), Patrick Sharp (trade), Charlie Stephens (trade)

Aleksander Suglobov (trade), Tomas Surovy (trade), Jeff Taffe (IP)

Petr Taticek (IP), Hannu Toivonen (IP), Fedor Tyutin (trade)

Scottie Upshall (TTM), Stephane Veilleux (TTM), Kyle Wanvig (trade)

Stephen Weiss (IP), Kyle Wellwood (trade), Jeff Woywitka (TTM)

So, there it is. Major thanks to anyone I've traded or 50/50ed with to get this done, notably Peter Fallon, Arron Littleton, Jeff Tyson, Joe Dahms, and Russ Crowell. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others but I know for sure that those four helped me out on this.

A few TTMs

Finally getting around to hitting the mailbox again. Since I didn't get to travel to Cleveland for a victory parade, I'm going to put some money into mailing out a crapton, including my first few to guys who charge.  I've seen a few set needs signing for reasonable prices so I'll likely send a few their way (Wade Boggs, Andre Dawson, Garry Templeton, Lee Smith, Bret Saberhagen, Terry Steinbach, Al Kaline, Kent Hrbek, Bill Mazeroski, Jerry Grote, Robin Swoboda, Vida Blue, and Tito Fuentes all sign for under $10). There are also a few hockey players who sign in Europe that I wouldn't mind trying with a few bucks tossed in for return postage-- Roman Turek, Jiri Dopita, Janne Laukkanen, Lubos Bartecko, Roman Cechmanek, and Tommy Salo-- as well as a few Canadians like Anson Carter.

I did mail out a few in the past couple of weeks and have gotten some back already. Dallas Green came back in 8 months through the Phillies-- he signed four cards (smeared as it appears he used a black roller-ball pen on them) as well as a signed advertisement for his book. Bobby Shantz and Frank Malzone each took a week via their home addresses. Each signed a 1962 Topps card as well as the index card I added to help protect it a bit. And to add in another hockey set hit, Randy McKay signed four cards in 10 days through his home address in Michigan.

I've also added in a few set needs from a friend of mine, Marcel, over in Sweden. He was able to get Topps Total cards signed by a few guys who are now there, including a big hit in Nicklas Lidstrom. I'm down to 59 cards I need to finish it off.

I also mailed out to Vitali Yachmenev, Mike York, and Rudolph Giuliani on June 12, followed by Al Downing, Turk Wendell, and Tony LaRussa on June 23. If Yachmenev, York, and the aforementioned Europeans and Canadians I want to try all come back successful, I'll be down to 50 on Topps Total.

I haven't hit many Rangers games but plan to change that soon. D-Backs, Padres, and Astros are all on the upcoming docket.

Anyone got any players I should try mailing to? Not necessarily set needs, but just anyone in particular. Leave me a comment and I might give them a try!

A trade and a TTM walk into a mailbox...

... and there's no punchline. Comedian fail.

Anyways, a while back (December 2013 to be exact) I mailed a bunch of cards off to Russ Crowell to get signed for me by Bruins' Alumni members.  Today, 44 cards came back signed, including a pair of Ken Linseman cards for sets I'm doing. For the ones he couldn't get, he added in address where I can try them via mail, which I just may do next time I buy some stamps.

Along with Linseman, there's Rick Middleton, Bob Sweeney, Bob Beers,
John Carter, Bruce Shoebottom, David Shaw, Ken Hodge Jr., Tim Sweeney,
Terry O'Reilly, Guy Larose, Dan Lacouture, and Rich Brennan

Here's to hoping I can go to Stars' Training Camp this season, as I definitely owe Russ a few items in exchange for this.

Speaking of mailing, I also got another TTM request back.  Xavier Hernandez signed six cards for me in 2 weeks through his home address.

X gon' give it to ya... or give six to ya in this case.

Trades. Trades everywhere.

I haven't done as much trading the last couple of years as I used to. But for some reason, the bug hit me and in the span of a couple weeks, I pulled about 8 trades through various sites.

The first one was helping a guy in Florida on The Bench with his 2013 Topps Heritage project, sending an Elvis Andrus I got signed his way for a 2013 Mini 1972 signed by Matt Holliday. I've decided in addition to the 1972 set itself, I'm going to get as many in that design signed as I can-- so that's the 2013 minis as well as 50 cards in the 2013 Topps Archives set.

Next up was a deal with a guy in Pennsylvania, who had a bunch of Browns I didn't have as well as a Brooks Robinson and a Rick Wise for a couple sets I'm working on. So I made a deal with him on those.

I have a deal in progress with a Sabres fan who has a bunch of 2002-03 Topps Total signed cards I need. Hers just hit the mail this week.

I also sent out today a return of a 50/50 with Ross in Pennsylvania, as well as a massive trade with another guy out in Pennsylvania who has a ton of 1972 Topps cards I need.  I also had a bunch to cover the sets he's doing, so we're doing something like a 57-for-57 deal. At least that will knock out a bunch for that impossible feat. I'll still be a shade under 10% when they arrive.

I even made a couple of international deals. The guys I'm trading with didn't have anything for my sets, but I found a few things I like and I'm helping them out with their sets as well. I also contacted Mark in Chicago about the Ken Hill cards, and he'll have a trio of 1972s headed my way for those.

I skipped out on the TCU Alumni game today as I was feeling under the weather. Or more like "feeling like the weather ran my ass over with a truck." My throat felt like I had been force-fed a Brillo pad, and I sounded like Isaac Hayes. Looks like it went well from a few Facebook posts though-- Matt Carpenter was the big name there and he signed a bunch, as did Brandon Finnegan. Maybe I'll be able to go next year and do some 11x14 printing beforehand.

Hoping for a few Stars practices this month. Looks like February 28 is a possibility, though it's right between home games, so I could see that end up being an off day. March 14 is a possibility but could also end up as an off day as they play at Washington on the 13th, then at home on the 15th. Sundays have been days off this year but as we get closer to the playoffs, maybe March 22 or March 29. This year's schedule has really sucked for me. Here's to hoping I'll have some luck on baseball...

Preview: 35th National Sports Collectors Convention, July 30-August 3, I-X Center, Cleveland, Ohio

The Granddaddy of Them All is hitting the big 3-5 this year, and it's happening in my hometown.

The National isn't the first card show ever, but it certainly is the biggest.  Every year in a different city, collectors come from all over the country-- sometimes even all over the continent, perhaps even the world-- for a five-day card show that takes up almost the entire floor of some of the world's largest expo centers.  The show has been restricted to three different cities over the last eight years after having stops in eleven cities in the first 25.  Add in the next six, and it will be four cities in 14 years. This year's will be the sixth to take up the International Exposition Center in Cleveland. Previously, the show was held there in 1997, 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2009.

The I-X Center: formerly a World War II bomber and
Korean War tank plant
(Photo Credit: Ohio Gun Collectors Association)

I'm sure many of you have been to card shows of various sizes. Anything from a few tables in a VFW Hall or an Elks Lodge, to a corner of the Grange Hall at the county fair, and on up to a hotel ballroom. Before the 1997 National, the largest show I had been to was at the annual show at the Clarion Hotel in Eastlake, OH.  The National trumps any show you have ever been to.

Even though I've been to three previous Nationals (1997, 2001, and 2004), the sheer size of it still knocks me off my feet when I first walk in.  Let's put it this way: the I-X Center has 1 million square feet of exhibition and conference space.  The Show takes up less than half of that, but it still is ungodly huge. It has 23 aisles, a 12,000 square foot Case Break Pavilion, corporate sections with giant booths for major sponsors (including Panini, Upper Deck, Leaf, PSA, Beckett, Blowout Cards, Dave & Adam's Card World, COMC, and plenty more), a 39,000 square foot autograph pavilion, a food court, and a VIP Lounge. The dealers take up the rest.

A tiny piece of the 2009 National
(Photo Credit: Sports Collectors Daily)

All the companies and sponsors have various freebies, whether it be in the VIP gift bags (double the stuff for Super VIP's) or via wrapper redemption programs or box breaks. Topps has already announced theirs, with Panini, Upper Deck, Leaf, and Press Pass certain to follow soon.

Past shows have had various sports artifacts on display, including the famous PSA 8 Honus Wagner, balls from the 1998 Sosa vs. McGwire Home Run Chase, some Barry Bonds home run balls from 2001, one of Shoeless Joe Jackson's bats, and more.  Plenty of well-known dealers will be there as well: there's a full list here in PDF form.

And of course, there's the world's second tallest indoor Ferris Wheel, offering views of Cleveland Hopkins Airport and the city's skyline at the very top through a glass-enclosed cutout in the roof. It was the tallest until one in Turkmenistan passed it in 2012. It's definitely worth taking a few minutes out of your day to relax and enjoy a ride on it at some point during the show.

The Wheel
(Photo Credit: lareina1045 on Flickr)

Needless to say, the National is a must-visit for any serious collector at least once in their lifetime.  As a Cleveland native with vacation time built up at work, it's a good opportunity for me to get back to it again, visit friends, family, and my city, and add more to my collection.

Tristar runs all things autograph-related at the show.  Fortunately, with my SuperVIP pass, I will at least get all of their free VIP signers, so I should be able to add about 20 autographs to my collection.  The full rundown of freebies is as follows (with the item I plan to get signed in parentheses):

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30
Carlos Baerga (11x14 photo), Dale Murphy (11x14 photo, maybe some cards for Chris as well if I can swing it), Kevin Mack (11x14 photo), Billy Sims (11x14 photo)

THURSDAY, JULY 31
Andy Van Slyke (Topps ATFF card), Howard Johnson (Topps ATFF card), Rick Waits (not sure yet; hoping to trade it for an extra Van Slyke or HoJo), Joe Delamielleure (Topps ATFF card)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1
Sonny Siebert (8x10 photo), Jim Stillwagon (not sure yet; hoping to use as trade bait for Van Slyke or HoJo), Al "Bubba" Baker (8x10 photo; don't remember if I ordered 11x14 or 8x10), Joe Charbonneau (11x14 photo), Tom Browning (11x14 perfect game photo)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
Milt Plum (8x10 photo), Hanford Dixon (11x14 photo with Frank Minnifield; hopefully I can get Minnie on it sometime in the future), Al Oliver (11x14 photo)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3
Jeff Burroughs (11x14 photo with Tom Grieve; major thanks to TGC reader Big Anthony for hooking me up with it; I'm sure I can get Grieve on it at the tunnel later in August), Gary Bell (8x10 photo), Mike Hargrove (11x14 photo), Len Barker (11x14 perfect game photo)

In addition, I might go for one of the Topps wrapper redemption deals-- open three packs, turn in the wrappers, and get a Allen & Ginter mini card of Jadaveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel, Jim Brown, Jordan Cameron, Derek Jeter, Mike Trout, Bob Feller or Albert Belle. Hopefully if I break a box of Heritage, I can get all of them, plus some stuff I can get signed in the final months of the season. At the very least, I want Manziel and Cameron.

I'll also be on the lookout for anything I can find to add to my sets.  I'll get at least three items signed for the Topps ATFF sets, maybe as many as five if I can swing a few trades.  I'm sure a few dealers will have some signed cards.  I'm also always on the lookout for any bargains (like getting a 1983 O-Pee-Chee Ryne Sandberg RC at the 2001 show for about 50 cents) and stuff of my wife's favorite players (Peter Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Gabriel Landeskog).

Part of the fun of the show of course is networking.  SportsCardForum will have a booth there, and I've already alerted collectors at several other boards that I'll be coming in.  I even printed up business cards promoting TGC with a list of sets I'm doing.  If you're reading this and will be there, let me know; I'd love to meet any other collectors, especially regular readers here. And if you'd be willing to trade or sell your Van Slyke and/or Hojo tickets, DEFINITELY let me know ASAP.

Photoshop skills.

Outside the show, I already have a ton of other things I plan to do.  I need to make sure I have a dinner at Melt one night, and the B-Spot.  Maybe Hot Sauce Williams, or West Side Market. Malley's of course.  Granted, I may be so tired from walking all through the show that I just end up hitting Friendly's, Panera, and Burger King every night near the hotel.  I know one SCF member has talked about trying to get a group together one night, and who knows what my people from Panini may have in store.

I also plan to go to two Indians games as they take on the Reds the Monday and Tuesday after the show-- I will be graphing both games, both at the Indians; parking lot and inside for the Reds. I may also need to duck up to Eastlake to get a Lake County Captains team set at their team store.  Plus I'll be visiting my dad, and hopefully meeting up with a few friends from high school.

It's going to be a crazy week, but a good one. It's been two years since I was last in Cleveland, so it'll be good to get back. I haven't been to the I-X Center in ten years and I've heard they added some floor space and repainted since then (first ceiling repainting since 1984).  Plus, I plan to update here after every day of the show.

Hope to see you there, and if you can't make it to the North Coast, you can always follow along here.

For more information, visit NSCCShow.com for a full floorplan, list of dealers, sponsors, autograph signers, promotions, and photos from last year's show in Chicago.

Hounding Report: Modano Night, March 8; Stars' Practice, March 9; a couple TTM's and trades

It's been a while since I last had a graphing outing, which actually worked out alright. My wife finally got moved down here so we were able to spend time organizing the apartment and getting her acclimated to the area, and getting her a new job, for which she started training this week. Plus floorball has been taking off with new games added in Arlington, a scrimmage in Keene where we showed the Fort Worth Venom could become a force very quickly, league play in Flower Mound, and upcoming tournaments in Keene, Austin, and Arlington.

It's also given me time to start on a project of potentially selling off some unsigned cards that I don't need on eBay and figuring out who I can send to TTM to get some of these signed.  I've found enough signers to probably get out a couple thousand cards. The only limitations will be how much time I want to spend writing and how much money I can afford on postage.

And still, I've been able to add some new stuff to the collection.  I got back a couple TTM, including Jarome Iginla (2/3, sent back the third unsigned, signed in thin-tip blue) and Eric Metcalf (4/4, signed in black).  I also pulled a trade with a guy in Ontario, Mark.  He got a few guys I need for my sets plus some other stuff I want for a few he needs for his various sets. The first half has arrived with more on the way; I'll be getting his stuff out soon as well.

I also got a bunch from Corey up in New York, including a few that will go to Arron.  He's gotten a ton signed for me from the Atlantic League, including former Indians first baseman Ben Broussard and former NL ROY Dontrelle Willis.

And finally with March rolling in, I've had a chance to get back out on the 'graphing circuit.  Through a floorball contact, I got free tickets to Saturday's Stars game, featuring the Mike Modano jersey number retirement.  These tickets were tough to come by, selling upwards of $150 on StubHub and SeatGeek. Before the game, they were doing a Red Green Carpet walk-in with all the guests, many of whom stopped and signed.  Bob Gainey was the first one I got, as he signed the Canadiens puck I;ve been holding for quite a while.  Gainey was perfect for it because it's a 1980's puck, complete with John Ziegler's signature on the back NHL logo.  And he's a Hall of Famer. Gainey looked at me and said "Geez, you've got every thing going on there; Texas hat, Pittsburgh jacket, Minnesota shirt, and Montreal puck," as I had on my Rangers hat, Penguins jacket, North Stars shirt, and the puck. He signed it in gold, a great new addition for my desk.  I'll have to post a picture of the puck wall I've got going on there.

The rest of the time was tough-- a lot of guys skipped around signing so I didn't rack as much as I was hoping.  However, I could have handled it much better, getting to the front of the walkway instead of the middle, or even skipping it and trying the players at the hotel.  I did at least get Stewart Gavin (4/4 cards), Shawn Chambers (2/4), Guy Carbonneau (1/4), Jon Sim (3/3), Dave Reid (1/4), Gerald Diduck (1/4), Jamie Langenbrunner (2/4), and Jere Lehtinen (1/4).  I also got a pic with Brent Severyn, one of the NHL's top fighters in the mid 90's.  I was hoping to get pics with Basil McRae, Grant Marshall, and Shane Churla too, but I wasn't certain who was who. Most of these guys haven't played in 10-25 years and only getting a brief look at them on the video boards with a long delay in between due to their being asked to stop for interviews, photos, and signings along the way made it tough.

Hangin' with Sevy. I resemble a mustachioed 12 year old girl.

The ceremony was awesome.  I had been to a number retirement before but it was just AHL ones for Johnny Bower and Fred Glover in Cleveland, a good 40 years after they had played there.  This ceremony was well-done from start to finish and much deserved for Modano.  Honestly if it hadn't been for Modano, I likely wouldn't be living in Texas or even married to my wife. It's amazing how one little thing like that can change so many things.

Today, Chris and I hit up the Stars practice, trying the alternate entrance out.  Unfortunately not much luck was had.  Before practice, only Tim Thomas signed.  Nice guy though: coming out of his car I asked if he had time to sign my puck.  He stopped, looked at his watch and said "Sure thing," taking my pen and signing.  I asked if he could add "2x Vezina" to it, and he said "THAT I don't have time for."  Jokingly of course: he added it and it came out pretty nice.  Another great addition for the wall in my cubicle.

Despite his political leanings, Thomas is pretty cool

We went over to Plano for a card show, each picking up some stuff for TTM's and future Rangers alumni signings, as well as the few Stars cards we could find.  I also talked to Rich Klein, formerly of Beckett who ran the show.  He actually recognized me as a Rangers 'grapher. It had been about 10 years since my last show and this was a good one-- easily manageable both for dealers and consumers, but still had something for every type of collector.  Perhaps I'll set up a table at a future show.  It was only $25 per table which would certainly be doable.

After the show we bolted back to the Stars' facility, missing a lot.  We had originally planned on going to the main entrance but the crowd there was a bit much so we went to the back again.  We missed out on a bunch once again.  Chris went around front, getting Alex Goligoski, while I stayed at the back getting James Patrick on 4/4 cards.  Thomas signed again on his way out; unfortunately my silver pen died on me, so it didn't turn out too good.  I was hoping to send it up to Corey for his Vermont collection, but I'll likely get it redone before I do. I need to find a few Liquid Silver and Liquid Gold DecoColor pens.

TOTALS: 22 autographs IP, 6 autographs TTM, and several via trades (I'll count those later).

Hounding Report: TTMs, Dallas Stars Practice, and Jamie Benn at Tom Thumb, December 28

Been a while since I've been here, hasn't it?

It's been a quiet few weeks on the hounding front but I got a few other items in via mail and trades.  After a stop up in Wichita Falls over Christmas, I was able to grab a pair of TTM's that came in.  I had mentioned the Ron Sutter success a while back, and I was finally able to grab it.  Also coming in were four cards signed by NASCAR driver Mark Martin in 136 days via Waltrip Racing.

I also worked a few 50/50 deals with people and picked up a few sigs and unsigned cards (including a couple GUs) in a gift from a Secret Santa exchange at the TTM board.  The gift exchange netted me Paul Bissonnette, Rob Ray, Dan Carcillo, Riley Cote, Eric Boulton, and Zac Rinaldo. As a fan of the fighters, this was an awesome addition.

I also stopped over at Arron's to pick up some baseball 50/50 stuff from over the summer from a few AAA games he hit up in Oklahoma City. From those, I picked up a Ryan Wheeler, four of Ben Paulsen, a Hernan Iribarren, a Steven Hensley, a Paul Clemens, a Reid Brignac, an Alex Castellanos, two of Matt Magill, a Tony Gwynn Jr., and a Glenn Dishman.

I also made a deal with Liz from Missouri, another TTM board member.  She had sent me a bunch of Dallas Stars stuff early in the season, while I sent my Blues stuff up to her.  In addition, she found a few signed cards for the Upper Deck Rookie Class sets I'm doing. So from those she sent me Patrik Berglund, Matt D'Agostini, Cory Schneider, Mark Fistric, Torrey Mitchell, Vladimir Sobotka, Drew Miller, and Kris Russell.  From the Blues, I got three Derek Roy, a Jay Bouwmeester, a Barret Jackman, and a Darren Pang.

Last but not least, Peter in Boston returned the stuff I sent for the Penguins, Blue Jackets, and Sabres.  In those were a Jared Boll, four Phil Bourque, a Chris Conner, two Matt D'Agostini, two Tyler Ennis, a Bob Errey, two Marcus Foligno, two Tony Granato, two Jack Johnson, a Jussi Jokinen, a Derek MacKenzie, a Jamie McBain, a Tyler Myers, a Ted Nolan, a Teppo Numminen, a Rob Ray, two Drew Stafford, a Henrik Tallinder, an R.J. Umberger, and a James Wisniewski.

So this put me at a net gain of 996 autographs on the season via hounding, TTM, trades, and pack pulls, minus those I sent out in trades or acquired specifically for other people.  For the first time in my graphing career, I hit 1000 for a calendar year as of today, three days before the end of 2013.

I picked up friend and TGC reader Chris this morning and we set off for Frisco to meet up with Arron and another friend, David.  We arrived pretty early, getting in at about 8:15, more than two hours ahead.  Our early arrival paid off though-- head coach Lindy Ruff signed for us, including the three  cards I had left of him.  Trevor Daley, currently on injured reserve, signed the lone card I had of him (for Liz).  Antoine Roussel was next through, putting the pen to two 2013-14 Stars Team Leaders cards, thus becoming the player to sign item #1000 on the season!  Ryan Garbutt signed the two cards I had for Liz, while Rich Peverley signed my final card for Harri, finally finishing off the cards I did for him.  Chris helped me out, getting an extra Peverley for me.  Aaron Rome was next, signing two cards I had for Liz.

And then the crowd hit.  All at once, we had about five guys all come through pretty quickly.  Cameron Gaunce signed the lone card I had of him, followed by Colton Sceviour, signing 8-- 3 for me, 3 for Eric in Rhode Island, and 2 for Gregg in Ohio.  Alex Goligoski was next, signing 4 for me and 2 more of mine that Chris got.  Of those six, four go to Liz and two to Andrew in New Jersey.  Brendan Dillon was the last of that whole group, signing the only card I had left of him.  The last player in was Sergei Gonchar, signing four.  I think I may finally be completely out of Gonchar cards, almost ten years after I bought most of them.  I picked up a ton at a store in Michigan after the Bruins acquired him, hoping I'd rack.  I did-- it just took longer than I expected.

While we waited to watch the players on the ice, I noticed assistant coach James Patrick chatting with someone at the opposite side of the rink.  Arron, David, and I figured we'd see if maybe he would sign.  After he got done chatting, he did, coming over and signing for us all, putting the pen to four of my cards.

After practice, I got Valeri Nichushkin on a puck for a friend of mine, Donald, from the Arlington Browns Backers group.  The only other player I got while exiting was Alex Chiasson.  Seems he's become a strict one-per: as he went to sign for David, he saw his four cards and said "I'm not signing all of those," doing just one.  I took that as my cue to pull a single one off, so I got him on one of his Prizm rookie cards, the Purple Cracked Ice one. It looks pretty nice in gold.  I tried to get Rich Peverley again, but unfortunately he recognized me, laughing and saying "I already got you earlier, smart guys." My current Chester A. Arthur chops-into-'stache combo is pretty distinctive looking, unfortunately.  At least he had a decent attitude about it, which is a refreshing change.

Also, we got Sceviour at the right time: we saw him walking out with his equipment, later finding out he had been sent to the AHL.

After that, we quickly jetted over to Tom Thumb in Frisco, where Jamie Benn was doing a signing. I was hoping it would be similar to how I heard the Brendan Morrow signing was last year-- small crowd, several freebies, he signed multiples, and you could loop the line multiple times.  Unfortunately this wasn't the case.  Benn has become a VERY tough autograph this year, taking the back door at practices, ignoring requests on the road, and in the rare event he does sign, he refuses to do it in blue.  He showed up late to the signing by about 15 minutes, but seemed to be in a decent mood, signing 8 for each of us with no problem.  His handlers were quite livid, making it VERY known that everyone is supposed to be limited to one autograph with only one trip through the line.  After getting out 8 cards each signed, we figured it best not to push our luck further and left.  I got my 8 all signed in gold-- 2 are mine, one goes to Nathan in Nova Scotia, one to Paul in Washington, and four to Eric in Rhode Island.

TOTALS for the Stars: 46 autographs; 1 for Donald, 2 for Gregg, 1 for Nathan, 1 for Paul, 1 for Harri, 2 for Andrew, 7 for Eric, 9 for Liz, and 22 for me.

Going for the Blues tomorrow if we can find their hotel.  I also have some cards coming soon-- I won a writing contest at SCF, getting me $100 off a purchase at CardsByTheBox.com, so I picked up a box of 13-14 Prizm hockey and one of ITG Enforcers 2.  I might do a live video break on the Enforcers box.  It's one of the super-ultra-mega-premium boxes with one pack per box and craploads of GU and auto stuff.  It only cost me $40 out of pocket and one written article, so I figured this would be the best time to take a shot on a product like it.

DECEMBER 29 UPDATE: The Blues are staying at the impossible hotel, so my day just completely opened up. Dammit.

Hounding Report: Dallas Stars Ice Breaker, September 7

And so, it's finally here.

The start of September was always when you hit the ground running when I worked in the junior hockey world.  It's the same with the hockey autograph world.  I went to North Richland Hills to check out the Lone Star Brahmas and Odessa Jackalopes on Friday night and this morning, it was off to the Galleria in Dallas for the Ice Breaker.

This was my first time going to the Ice Breaker.  Arron had been out to a few before and said the 'graphing was usually pretty easy.  I got to the mall at about 10:15 and was immediately greeted by a fairly long line.  I hoped that 1. This wasn't the only line, 2. The other lines were close by, and 3. The other lines weren't this long.

Part of the goalies' line, taken 15 minutes into the event.

Fortunately, all of those were true-- there were more lines, they were shorter, and they were all close together.  They even handed out a map at 11 showing which players were at which table and where those tables were. I found another line that was significantly shorter and got in it, first stopping for a brief chat and trade with Big Anthony, a reader and commenter.  We finally got around to making a trade we agreed on a few weeks back, with me getting him a Leonys Martin and my Paul Konerko in exchange for a couple set needs-- Jason Arnott and Pierre Turgeon for the 2002-03 Topps Total set. Only 85 more to go!

Spending the next 45 minutes chatting with a few other Stars fans, everything started perfectly on time with our line's players arriving right at 11.  While my line didn't have the Tyler Seguin I was hoping for, it did have Sergei Gonchar, the Stars' newest addition, along with Antoine Roussel.  Gonchar was always one of the best signers when he was with the Capitals and Bruins-- I already had at least 17 cards signed by him, and added four more. I still have a good 20 or 30 unsigned that I bet will be done by the end of the season.  I didn't have any cards of Roussel, but fortunately the Stars provided photos of all the players in attendance and he signed one for me, personalizing it "To Drew" at the top.

Broke out the 2x2 notebook for this. Here's Sergei!

From there, I headed to the next closest line, which had Trevor Daley and Shawn Horcoff.  Horcoff did four cards for me as well.  Said he's really liking Dallas so far in the whole day he's been here-- a little warmer than Edmonton though.  I only had one Daley card left which he signed for me.

Horcoff. The zoom sucks on my old phone's camera

Alex Goligoski and Cody Eakin were next up.  I only had one card of Goligoski and none for Eakin, so I got each on one item-- Eakin of course being on the provided photo.  After their line, I quickly hit up the line of Rich Peverley and Brendan Dillon.  Dillon signed a photo and Peverley four cards. Now he may have just been joking a bit, but Peverley did ask if I was planning on keeping all the cards. I told him I was, that I have a box of 5000 signed cards in my apartment.  At least it's a better question than the "What do you do with these things?" that I've been asked a ton.

At this point, we were an hour in and I had gotten through four of the eight lines.  All that were left were Seguin-Garbutt, Lehtonen-Ellis, Robidas-Jordie Benn, and Cole-Jamie Benn.  Seeing as I already had Lehtonen, Robidas, and Cole (and possibly Benn), I figured I'd hit up the Seguin line.  It was long, but moving reasonably well.  Garbutt signed a photo for me and we talked a little Corpus Christi hockey, as he played there in the CHL and I had been through a few times in the NAHL.

Left side: the Seguin-Garbutt line. Right side: the Jamie Benn-Cole line.

A little on Seguin, he's not exactly known to be the greatest signer ever according to a number of reports. I put four cards on my board and hoped for the best, but was only expecting him to sign one or maybe to smear the hell out of them all.  You could tell he didn't really want to be there signing.  I said I was glad to have him here in Dallas and basically got a deadpan "Yep. Glad to be here." I put my notebook down and he looked at it with almost a little bit of a confused "WHAT SORT OF SORCERY IS THIS?!" look, closing it, looking at the front, and reopening it.  But, he signed all four cards in it. The line only took about 20 minutes to get through. Apparently he was a major dick toward a few other people according to a few other reports I read. Signing a photo for someone he said "Well, I know where THIS is going to end up."

I was planning on heading back over to the Cole-Benn line, but it had been cut off, so I figured I'd at least go for Robidas and Jordie Benn.  I only had a card of Robi, but the line was short so I figured I'd at least add another card and photo before calling it a day.  Breezing through the line, each signed their items for me and I figured that since there was still time, I'd head for the goalie line and hope for the best. Luckily, the line was still open.  The attendant actually said they had just re-opened it a few minutes before, so I was pretty good on my timing.  Making my way to the front, most fans were interested in getting Lehtonen and I think Ellis was a little surprised that I went for him and had four cards.  He signed each one.  He's in his second stint now with the Stars, said he was glad to be back once again.  I think he'll be great as Kari's backup.  The Stars need a solid one to rest him occasionally.

I got over to Kari and even before signing my cards, he handed me one of the signed photos-- a nice little bonus.  I told him I had family in his home land of Finland, though at the opposite end up around the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi and Kemijarvi.  He said "Wow, that's up there. Are they getting snowed on yet?" He signed all four cards I had in addition to the photo.

I figured since I was able to get in the goalies' line, maybe they would re-open the Cole-Benn line, so I quickly got over there.  The ropes were closed off and an attendant was standing there, so Ifigured my chances were slim. With a slightly dejected look, I turned to leave and she asked if I had been through that line, and I said no, it was the only one I missed. She opened the rope and said they could take a few more. Boom. Jedi mind trick. Except these WERE the droids I was looking for.

I only had two cards of Benn, and after posing for a photo with the guy in line in front of me he signed them.  I had four of Cole, all of which he signed while chatting with a fan who went to school in his hometown of Oswego, NY.

Overall, a highly successful day. Including the trade with Anthony, I ended up with 41 autographs on cards and photos.  I will need to restock on a number of players before Thursday if possible. At least before Friday. I still have pucks for Seguin and Horcoff as well as a number of others for future outings, hopefully for other teams.  For the record, the pucks I have here are...

Stars white
Stars black
Bruins (2; one for Seguin)
Oilers (Horcoff)
2007 All-Star Game (Briere maybe: he was MVP with a goal and four apples in the 12-9 loss)
Maple Leafs
Flyers (2)
Ducks 2007 Stanley Cup (Teemu Selanne, hopefully)
Sharks
Kings (1988-98 logo)
Rangers
Canadiens (John Ziegler signature on back, so 1977-1992)

Afterward I went over to Nick's Sports Cards to try to restock. Unfortunately they didn't have much to help me. I got some Jamie Benn cards and a jumbo pack of 13-14 Score (from which I pulled a Cody Eakin) but aside from that, not a whole lot. I stopped at Triple Cards in Plano last weekend and got a few there, but they were limited too. Hockey just isn't a big sport for collectors in Texas.  The owner at Triple did say he should be getting a lot in over the next few weeks. I might go by there again on Thursday afternoon.

I did luck out and find a pretty nice Marc-Andre Fleury card for 50 cents in their hockey boxes. It's a 2011-12 Donruss Elite Status, numbered 81/99.

I've mentioned before how much I like 'graphing hockey more than baseball. This event should show why. When even the (potentially) toughest guy signs four cards for you, it beats the hell out of the worst ones in baseball who just pretend you don't exist.