Regional Flavor

One of my side hobbies over the last few months has been working on improving my talents in the kitchen.  I've always enjoyed cooking, and have always been able to put together a pretty decent meal.  But recently I've been trying to reconnect with my Italian roots a little better through my stomach.

Both my dad's parents were Italian immigrants, but growing up in my house my mom's cooking was more likely to be burgers, meat loaf, or tuna noodle casserole than hand rolled pastas.  For me cooking has been a way to reconnect with grandparents who died when I was young, and a cultural history that got quickly forgotten in the push to "Americanize."  But the thing I really love about Italian food?  How different each region's cuisine is, and how the foods they cook tell the story of the people, resources, and location.

And in some weird ways, I see card collecting to be very similar.  If you've been fortunate enough to attend card shows in different parts of the county, you quickly realized that collectors in different areas collect very differently.

Growing up in the Pittsburgh area, shows were always a fairly consistent recipe.  Some dime boxes, where it always felt like I was the only buyer, dollar boxes of toploadered star cards, a showcase of higher end stuff - usually Pittsburgh autographs with the occasional national star, and memorabilia.  Autographed helmets, programs, photos, bobbleheads, VHS tapes, McFarlane figures.  You name it, and it would probably pop up at a show in the area.

It's the old nature/nurture debate.  I have to think that my collecting interests are a product of my environment.  See, as a teen when I started going to shows, jumping into the otherwise unoccupied dime boxes was the easiest entry point.  I didn't have to jockey for position with grown men like I would have needed to in the higher end boxes, and at that age it fit my budget perfectly.  And while much of the memorabilia was out of my price range, McFarlane figures were the natural evolution to the SLU figures I loved as a kid.  And from 2003-2006 I built up a sizable collection that covered the shelves in my bedroom.  Vintage was almost never seen, and never at prices below near full book.

But I was the exception, not the rule.  Memorabilia is huge in this area.  At the Pittsburgh show, there were lots of people who only came for the autograph guests, never even bothering to leave the autograph room to look at the hundreds of dealer tables.  They would just sit on the floor (often right in the middle of the floor...) waiting for the next autograph line they needed.  And showcase cards seem to sell well, as long as it's a Steeler, Penguin, or well...that's about it now.  For a while McCutchen was in that category as well.  The big show seems to bring out the vintage set guys, but they're rarely seen at any other shows throughout the year. There's a decided flavor to collectors here, but I always just figured it wasn't all that different from the rest of the collecting communities across the country.

I grew up in the area, moved to the city for college, and down to West Virginia for grad school.  So my collecting world never really went beyond the Pittsburgh metro area.  Sure, ebay and COMC came into my life.  As I aged I had more money in my pockets.

But it wasn't until we moved to western Ohio, a few months before I started this blog, that I found that the collecting wasn't nearly as homogenous as I thought.  The Ohio card scene was completely different than my experiences in Pittsburgh.  Dime and nickel (!) boxes were packed with collectors, to the point it was tough to even get a spot.  Where I think I was literally the only Pirates collector going to shows in Pittsburgh, there were suddenly team collectors for Reds, Indians, and Tigers digging through boxes alongside me.  Often we'd agree to pull all the cards of the other team we found in boxes for each other to save time.  And vintage!  Oh the vintage!

Ohio was my first introduction to the glory of discount vintage bins.  You mean...I can add 1954 Topps cards for $1?  Fifty cents for '75 Mini's? 

I never quite put my finger on why, but the collecting communities in these areas, only a few hours apart, had developed quite differently.  And as I started blogging and seeing the hauls other bloggers would bring back from their shows, I started to get a sense of their collecting worlds as well.

After the show, I had some nice exchanges on twitter with other collectors about how different regions collect.  And it really isn't something you'd ever notice unless you are a dealer or have lived in different areas.  Some are hit-centric, and dime boxes would sit untouched for a full weekend.  Other areas go wild for the low end stuff but showcase cards rarely get an eyeball on them.  I'm sure local teams, the economy, and any other number of factors influence how collectors collect.

But it's just one more thing that makes the hobby that much more interesting.  For me?  I'm happy where I'm at and how I collect.  Everything in this post except the Clemente (which only ran me $3) came from dime boxes.  Most of them were found on the second day of the show.  In other markets, those cards would have been long gone.  And in some markets they would have been in those boxes the whole weekend, unsold.  Luckily for me they were there for me to add to my pile, part of a great weekend of finds for my collection.

So what's the collecting community like in your area?  Has anyone found completely different collecting habits in the places they've lived?

Card Show Recap

You never know exactly what you're going to find when you walk into a card show.  Sure, if it's a show that happens pretty regularly you can probably expect to see the same dealers.  But over the years I've found many of my best show purchases have come from the stranger who pops up once and is never seen again.  Maybe it's a collector selling off a chunk of their collection or a dealer who wants to give a new show a try.  But at least around here the same old dealers usually mean the same old inventory.  So fresh faces are always welcome.

Our big annual show has become increasingly vintage heavy, as I wrote in my show preview.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  The show draws dealers from across the country, and brining in some of the bigger inventory sellers who do the National and other major shows usually means better selection and lower prices.  Vintage commons that I routinely see at $2-3 at local show are suddenly in $.50 or 3/$1 piles.  Where even low grade Stargell and Clementes would be listed at close to full book, suddenly there are well loved copies available for less than a cup of coffee.

My problem is that once I have a card, I have it.  Mission accomplished and on to the next one.  And as the vintage tables grew and grew, my needs shrunk and shrunk.  Last year there was only one dealer who had any 2018 cards, and those were just some Topps and Bowman commons.

This year was much, much better.  The balance was restored to the force, and I'd say it was close to a 50/50 split. 

My vintage buying scaled back a lot this year, partially out of time and spending constraints.  With multiple dealers with tables full of dime and quarter boxes, I didn't have the time to spend digging through vintage dealers.  And at the same time, it was becoming a losing proposition.  When my needs are down to a couple key cards - Clemente, Stargell, Maz, or high numbers - for most sets, it wasn't worth spending 20 or 30 minutes rummaging through discount bins with the hopes of maybe finding one card I needed.  At the same time, I'm still not ready to bite the bullet and pay for convenience.  There are vintage dealers who have cards in numeric order, or have crisp copies neatly in binders.  But the prices there match the card quality.  Which is to say way more than I want to spend.

Still, I was able to add a handful of vintage to the collection, including a small stack of Post cards for fifty cents to a dollar each.  My big pickup was this 1965 Stargell for $2.  It's seen better days, but give me a nice placeholder if/when I should ever want to upgrade.

My autograph luck also continued.  I saw a dealer with a lot of autographs, including a two row box full of Pittsburgh stuff.  But every time I walked by the table, someone was in the box.  At one point I camped out looking through their other boxes, waiting for a guy to finish looking through.  It was a two row with all the cards in toploaders - not something that should take all that long to go through.  I looked through the other 8-10 boxes the dealer had out, and this guy - maybe in his late 50's and didn't look all that familiar with cards - was still slowly thumbing through the pile, stopping for 5-10 seconds to stare at each card.  He was still in the first row.  I probably spent half an hour at the table, patiently waiting.  The guy finished the box and had a small stack of 5 or so cards pulled out.  ...and then he went back and started going through the box all over again.

Exasperated, I walked away to find another table to go through.  Whatever treasure that box held wasn't worth losing any more valuable time at the show.  A little later I saw the box open and swooped in.  I mentioned to the dealer that I had been waiting for a couple hours to look through the box, but a guy had been going through the cards at glacial speed.  The dealer said yeah, the guy put most of what he pulled back and bought one card for a couple bucks.  He was looking in the box nearly an hour.  Yikes.

But it was indeed worth the wait.  The dealer was a fellow TTM collectors from Cleveland, and it was nice chatting about autographs.  I ultimately was able to snag two signatures I needed at a great price.  Cal Abrams died in 1997 and Bob Miller was a member of the '71 Pirates and died in a car crash in 1993.  I paid $13 for the pair.  The weekend additions puts me over 60% completion on autographs of Pirates who played from 1950-the present.  Of course that includes most of the easy TTM signers and guys with certified autos, so it only gets tougher from here.  Still, I was somewhat surprised to find I've made that much progress on the 1,000+ guys who have suited up for the team over that time.

 But after a couple years of nearly being shut out on modern cards, the newer stuff was where most of my money went.  And I was lucky to find deals a-plenty.

 This Andrew McCutchen Heritage rookie is the only card missing from my team set, and was an absolute steal at $1.

A couple less stellar seasons may not have been great for Cutch, but it's been a boost to my collection.  Even commons had been hard to come across the last few years.  But this year, Cutch was out in full force.  I was able to snag a nice stack of Donruss Optic refractors of various colors from one dealer all for $.25-.50.  And I've always had a sweet spot for All-Star game giveaway cards.  For $1 I was thrilled to knock one off my want list that I had been after for some time.

 I usually stick to non-hits at shows.  Unless it's a $1 or $2 box, buying autos and game used cards at shows is usually a losing proposition in this area.  You're usually paying a local markup that is at least 25% above ebay.  But with some non-local dealers in town it opened up some opportunities.  While I already have a couple Frank Thomas autographs in my collection, I loved Upper Deck's late 90's autograph sets.  And Kevin Newman is likely going to be the Pirates starting SS sometime between now and next season, so for $3 a rookie auto /25 seemed like a worthwhile pickup.

And one of my favorite pickups of the weekend was this triple jersey card.  I know jersey cards are far out of favor these days, but I guess there's a little bit of making up for lost time here.  When jersey cards were at their peak in the early 00's, the Pirates were nowhere to be found.  So many beautiful multi-players cards were released, and every time I would check the checklist hoping for a Pirate card.  And they almost never existed.  So for $3, this was a nice trip back to my mid 2000's collecting heyday. 

It was a great two days for me and my collection.  I added a lot of new cards, but also had the most fun at a show that I've had in a long time.  I'll probably be laying pretty low when it comes to card buying until the National this summer.  But the sorting and organizing on all the cards I picked up over the last few days should keep me occupied until then anyway.

I Went To a Card Show, Just Not the One I Planned

Sometimes the best plans are mistakes.  Or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself.  See, I was at the grocery store a couple months ago when a guy stopped me.  I recognized the face, but couldn't quite place him until he said, "you collect cards, right?" 

He's one of the old school dealers in the area that only rarely sets up at shows, but I've bought off him at shows in the past.  He told me there was a show coming up in April - a small church show right down the street from my house that I've been to before.  April 7th.  My phone was almost dead, but I put it in my calendar.

Weeks rolled by and as we were coming up on this weekend, I realized the show was coming up.  Saturday was looking to be a packed day.  There was the card show and Kate had a roller derby bout.  The game wasn't until 7, but with setting up for the game and some things with ticket sales that she's involved with we were going to need to be out the door around 5pm.  I checked Beckett's show calendar to make sure I was leaving myself enough time for everything.

There it was, April 7th.  But the show was listed at a different venue about 5 minutes further than where I had though it would be.  Not a big deal obviously, and I assumed they had just switched venues.  I hopped in the car and headed over to the show.  It looked pretty unassuming when I walked in.  Maybe 10 dealers, only maybe half of which had anything even worth looking at as I scanned the room.  There was a guy who always has one table with about 20 signed baseballs, all well overpriced.  A video game/NASCAR diecast dealer, and a guy with tables of common Pirates bobbleheads I already have.  So those were easy passes.

But there were enough boxes that there was at least a good chance I'd be there for a few hours.  Oddly I didn't see the dealer who I had run into at the store who told me he was putting on the show.

 I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I buy out of sheer boredom.  I recently eclipsed the 19,000 unique cards mark in my collection.  It's tough to find cards at shows that I don't already have, and I often go in assuming the worst.  But it's usually made a little easier when you have an entire group of other team collectors to pick up cards for.

 The first dealer I walked up to had a decent array of $.25 boxes.  Being out of collecting for almost a year means that a) I had the itch to buy cards and b) my stockpile of nicer stuff to send out to my other team collectors in our group has run pretty low.  I was able to grab some decent cards for the others at a good price, and also snag a few fun inserts for my own binders.

 If you can't find current Pirates, the next best thing is a former Pirate.  And how often can you find a pitcher play at the plate card?

It's no shocker that when you find a seller with a good quarter box, you can usually bet that they'll have solid dime, $.50, $1, or whatever else boxes.  And while I didn't want to spend too much time digging, knowing that Pirates would be few and far between, I was able to dig out some fun cards for my binders.

I found a great run of 90's inserts and higher end base cards.  The Denny's Grand Slam cards were some of my favorites of the era, and about the only reason I would voluntarily eat at a Denny's these days.  I saw on Twitter that Denny's is doing some sort of Star Wars card promo with Topps - $3 for a 2 pack?  Meh.

But if they bring back the holo cards, I'm all in.

I get frustrated with modern cards because it gets tough for me to tell one year from another.  Show me inserts from Heritage or Opening Day and one year easily bleeds into the next.  I love how distinctive 90's cards are, but also how often they jumped through ideas.  Full borderless painted cards with some trippy themes from Fleer, and just a couple years you have some crazy holograms from UD.  The variety is what kept me interested as a collector.  And that's something that just feels like it's missing today.

Most of my pickups were impulse purchases.  I picked up a few Marino cards for my collection, some Steeler dime inserts in addition to the ones above, and some cards from sets I might like to tackle some day like the '93 Diamond Kings insert set.  But overall it was pretty unfocused.

But I didn't spend all my time in dime boxes.  The same seller had some game used and autographs out at 2/$5.  Usually these boxes are a pass for me unless they seem to be pretty high quality, since most of those cards can be found on COMC for half the price.

But as I flipped through the cards, I noticed this base relic from the '06 All Star Game.  I've been working on the game jersey insert from that year here and there since the game was hosted in Pittsburgh, and these base relics are a little tougher to come by.

And with my burning itch to buy, what the heck.  I found a Brandon Phillips autograph for my second card.  When we were living in Ohio, I really gained a new appreciation for Phillips as a player.  I got to meet him at Reds Caravan event and got his Expos 2000 Topps RC signed, so this was a good excuse to add a Reds autograph to my collection.  The Goudey design is great, an on card auto, and maybe best of all the Griffey Says section isn't too distracting or out of place on the card since they're on the same team.

And keeping up the 90's nostalgia, I also plucked an Eric Karros auto for $1 from the same seller.  At one time this would have been a pretty hot card, but not today.

It wasn't a total shutout on the Pirate front.  I did find about half a dozen new cards, including this great Promo version of the 2005 UD Classics card.

As I was wrapping up with the seller, I asked if he is doing any other shows coming up.  He said he has one on the 27th right down the road.  I asked if he knew where exactly it is.  And then he named the church where I THOUGHT the show would be.  Turns out the show was the 27th, not the 7th.  But there were two shows in the same month, 20 days and about 2 miles apart.  Talk about an odd coincidence.  Crazier yet, the other show isn't in Beckett.  So I probably would have missed it if I hadn't gone to the wrong show!

The rest of the tables looked like duds - either nothing worth buying or prices that weren't worth paying.  But I did make a stop at one table where a guy had some binders of autographs.  We got to talking and he is a local autograph hound.

He primarily collects hockey, but also had some baseball autographs.  I told him I'm working on getting autographs of every Pirate player, and as often as possible in a Pirate uniform.  Turns out he's doing the same thing with the Penguins.  I've met some baseball collectors working on similar projects, but never anyone from another sport.

It was fun swapping stories of tough signers or the frustrations of trying to find a photo in uniform of a guy who may have only played a handful of games with the team.  Despite having a small baseball collection, I surprisingly came across two autos I wanted.  Terry Harper has been a toughie for me, and while I have a Doug Mientkiewicz signed 8X10 as a Pirate, I couldn't pass up adding a card.  At $5 the prices were a little steep, but neither are common Pirate autos.

As we were talking, I started flipping through his hockey autographs.

Mixed in with plenty of no-names were some cards that I couldn't pass up. 

 I know some people prefer not to deal with IP autos, and with the number of certified autos out there I can certainly understand that perspective.  But I usually feel comfortable buying autographs, especially when the signatures of lower end guys all check out and there's some provenance.  I felt confident with this guy's autographs that I was willing to take a chance, even if the prices were a little higher than I usually pay for IP autos.

It didn't hurt that another collector I know in passing came up to tell the guy that he a Jerome Bettis auto he had bought from the dealer a few months earlier was certified by PSA before he gave it to his daughter as a birthday gift and that she loved it.

I ended up paying $20 on the 5 autos.  This is my 3rd IP Jagr auto and probably the most confident I am in any of the 3 being real with the backstory.  Jagr has played for so long and his signature is usually so rushed it's tough to be completely confident, but I'm happy with the pickups.

It was a small haul, but I picked up some nice additions to my collection.  I'm hoping at the next show I'll have a little more luck with Pirates and now that the itch to go to a show, any show, has passed I'll be a little more selective in my buying later this month.

Tito and My First Card Show

When my phone rang last night and I saw my dad was calling, I had a good idea why.  The first words out of his mouth were "Maybe you can help me remember something."  I didn't even need him to finish the sentence to answer.

"Yes, it was Tito Francona."

It was the summer of 2000.  I had just gotten back into card collecting after an extensive one year absence.  When you're 12, a year seems like a long period of time. 

I had gotten a few packs of 2000 Topps for Easter, which quickly evolved into multiple trips each week to the local card shop 10 minutes down the road.  I think it's there that we learned about a card show that was coming up at a local ice rink. 

The date was circled, and anticipation built.  I had started feverishly collecting Dan Marino a couple months earlier, and was excited for the wonders that awaited.  My only frame of reference was photos of card shows I had seen in Beckett.  Hundreds of people, rows and rows and rows of dealers where you could find any card you had spent weeks drooling over in the latest Beckett.  Yeah, that was the National.

We got to the show, paid a nominal admission fee, and walked into...a dimly lit ice arena with a few dozen dealers and quite possibly fewer buyers.  I learned years later that this ice rink show had been a major show earlier in the 90's.  But that boom had faded, and as far as I know this was the last show held at the venue.

We walked by tables asking if anyone had Dan Marino cards without much luck (or at least prices my mom was willing to spend on a hobby I had picked up a couple months earlier).  Towards the side of the venue, someone, probably the promoter, approached us and asked if we wanted an autograph from Tito Francona.

My dad looked at me and asked if I wanted his autograph.  I was 12, and I couldn't have told you Tito Jackson from Tito Francona.  Neither of them registered in my world.  But my dad pushed and said he was one heck of a ball player.  And with typical 12 year old deadpan, I was still unfazed. 

There was no line, and we walked right up, handed him a baseball card that my dad had run to a nearby table to buy, and had it signed.  I'm pretty sure my dad was the one lit up like a 12 year old, talking to a player from his childhood.

As soon as my dad called, I knew what he wanted to ask.  Was that Tito Francona we met at a card show?  He gushed over the phone just as excitedly as he did almost two decades ago - "he was one heck of a player, I think his son played too."

I still have everything from that show.  My first show.  The Tito Francona autograph.  A Dan Marino pennant and a Starting Lineup figure, the only Marino items we could find.  And a team set of 2000 Fleer Tradition, a few of which would get autographed at future autograph signings.

My dad said next time he's over he'd like to see the Tito card, and some of the other autographs we got together at Piratefest and when he would take me to games.  And then it'll be my turn to gush like a 12 year old, showing off my baseball cards to my dad.

Card Show Haul: It Took Some Balls

Rennie Stennett 7-for-7 inscribed Three Rivers 

I was thiiiiiis close to making it home under budget.  Seriously.  And I even would have skipped the third day of the show.  

But as fate would have it, I guess going back wasn't the worst thing in the world.  First, let me flash back to last year's show.  I blew the budget out of the water, but landed some of the centerpieces of my collection thanks to a fellow Pirates super-collector I met named Todd.  He was retiring and downsizing, and in the process parting with some pieces.  But that was supposed to be a one-time deal, so I was shocked to see him back again this year.

We chatted for quite a while Friday, but just about all the stuff he had brought with him were the same items he had last year.  The prices were still good, but wall space is a finite thing, and there was nothing that screamed "must have" to me.

So fast forward to about 15 minutes before the show is set to close on Saturday.  I was squaring up on a couple deals, and as I headed for the door I made a stop by Todd's table just to say bye and to make plans to get together sometime at PNC Park.   

Devil Rays Inaugural baseball 

 Ok, so here's the part that cost me my Sunday.  I'm a sucker for a deal.  Don't judge.

Dock Ellis Three Rivers ball

 On Todd's table was a box that I hadn't remembered seeing the day before.  I peeked inside, and saw it was full of signed baseballs.  I've never been a big fan of signed balls.  I like having a photo of the player - whether it's a photo, or a card, or what have you - than just a generic white baseball.  But right on top of the box was the Dock Ellis ball above.  Now that alone is pretty exciting - Dock is one of the more notorious characters in baseball history for his LSD no hitter (side note: there's a pretty interesting documentary on Dock on Netflix, which even Kate enjoyed).  But more interesting was the Three Rivers stamp on the ball.

 I consider myself pretty well versed in the various oddball Pirates memorabilia out there.  Yet somehow I had no idea they made a commemorative baseball for the final season at PNC Park.

Bert Blyleven World Series baseball w/ Game 5 winner inscription

 I had never seen a ball like that before, signed or unsigned, and absolutely needed one for my collection.  2000 was a special season for me, as it's sort of the pre-cursor for my baseball obsession that would come to full boil in 2001, and I have some great memories of watching games at Three Rivers during the 2000 season.  I asked Todd what he would need, and he replied that he would like to just sell the full box, but we could work something out if there were just one or two balls I wanted.

Chuck Tanner WS baseball with 1979 World Series Champs inscription

 I decided to flip through the rest of the box of about 20 or 25 balls.  Like I said, I'm not a signed baseball collector.  I have maybe half a dozen from one year at Piratefest, but that's it.

But the one thing I can't resist is unique memorabilia.  I just love having pieces in my collection that are one of a kind, or damn close to it.  And from what I was seeing, this box was full of just that.

Dave Parker 1979 All-Star game ball - Parker won the MVP and made one of the most impressive throws of all time

 I asked Todd for his number on the box, and he said he was looking to get about $200 for all the balls.  As I flipped through the box, the PA system was asking dealers to wrap up their transactions and close up for the night.  I really had no interest in spending that kind of money.  But at the same time, I wasn't sure I could pass on some really unique and cool Pirates items for such a good price.  You would quite literally pay more for twenty plain, unsigned baseballs.

Lucky for me, I was saved by the bell as the show closed down.  I told Todd I would be back the next morning to see what we could figure out.

Jason Kendall and Brian Giles 2000 All-Star game ball

Guess I was going back on Sunday after all.

multi-player signed ball from Pirates Fantasy Camp instructors.  Matt's favorite Bob walk is at the bottom of the panel, but check out the signature 4 above that.

 I can't say I didn't try to talk myself out of the purchase more than a few times.  I hate spending big chunks of money in one swoop, whether it's sports related, groceries, or anything else in life.  And I had already had a very good show, without or without the box of balls.  But while I'm not ga-ga about signed baseballs, I do love the look of those home plate shaped ball displays.  And I'd much rather fill one up with some Pirates greats than with signed balls Andy LaRoche and John Grabow.

Don Robinson 1979 World Series baseball with Game 2 Winner inscription.

 The added time was definitely needed just to think through everything.  I got the green light from Kate, and even gave my mom, who I'm convinced genetically engineered a frugal gene into me, the chance to talk me out of it.  But ultimately it just seemed stupid to pass up on - a similar Chuck Tanner baseball on just a plain MLB ball sold for $90 alone.

The Original Frank Thomas

I headed back early Sunday to close the deal.  I know I've already emphasized it to hell, but the uniqueness of these balls is what really made me fall in love with them.  Many items in this hobby are simply a matter of whether you can afford them or not.  With enough cash, a patient collector could probably find a game used jersey of Michael Jordan, or a Willie Stargell bat.  There's a finite supply, but they're available, and will pop up at auction houses every so often.

Ralph Kiner

Obviously anything like that is well, well, well out of what I would ever spend.  But I love the idea that I can, for a pretty affordable price, have some really unique Pirate items.  It's not like these are private signing items where there are hundreds of identical inscriptions out there that a dealer is selling off one by one.  The Nellie Briles ball below?  I imagine there can't be many of those around.

Nellie Briles, 1971 World Series Game 5, 4-0, 2 hit shutout, base hit and rbi! Inscription on Three Rivers ball.

Briles is sort of a special one for me.  He lived about 15 mins from my parent's house.  In high school, I was scheduled to interview him for a feature in our school newspaper.  Unfortunately a couple weeks before we were supposed to get together, Briles died unexpectedly.  He was, from everything I've heard, a great guy who did a lot for the Pirates alumni.  While I wish I would have had the chance to meet him in person, I do enjoy the fact that I now have a great item from him in my collection.

Sweet spot from Briles ball above

 I didn't have a chance to fully go through the box until I got it home.  The final count was 23 signed balls, the Devil Rays ball, and an unsigned Gold Glove baseball.  All of the signed balls were players who you wouldn't be ashamed to have on a signed ball.  The "lesser" names that I didn't picture were guys like Neil Walker, Bob Robertson, and recent first round picks Austin Meadows and Reese McGuire.  Some of those may get sold to cover some of the cost, but I'll be holding on to all the really unique balls.

2000 Pirates team ball

As for how I'm going to display them?  That's an entirely different question.

Jason Kendall

Short answer?  I have no idea.  For now, I'm just doing the most I can to protect the balls until I finally have a proper display.  

But I wasn't totally done.  I picked up this great Three Rivers lithograph from Todd for dirt cheap, along with a PNC Park one by the same artist that isn't framed yet.

While I would have been perfectly happy to have walked home Saturday without spending any extra money, and having a day at home certainly would have been nice, it's almost impossible for me to pass up the chance to add some great and unique items.  Finding the space to display everything?  Well, that's sort of a different story.  But one step at a time, right?