RBI (231) Bryan Cranston...

Recently some of my friends let me tag along to an event in Los Angeles where they had a feeling we'd be able to run into a few familiar faces and have some luck graphing. We were lucky to be correct and to have a target nearby so we could arrange to print photos for a random person in attendance none other than actor Bryan Cranston.

Cranston is famous for his roles as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White in Breaking Bad.
I've always heard that he's a great guy if you run into him, and I was very happy that the rumors were true. Cranston signed and took photos for us and was a great experience.

Adding this Bryan Cranston autographed photo to my wall was very satisfying. It came out looking great and I don't often get actor's autographs so adding one of someone from two great shows I've liked was a good feeling.

Autograph Recap, 1st Annual Juglife Celebrity Softball Game 8/3/14

I went with my buddy David to Javale Mcgee's 1st Annual Juglife Celebrity Softball game held at UCLA's Easton Softball field. The game was an affordable graph costing only $15 to get inside, and all proceeds were supporting Juglife's bid to fundraise to support their efforts in 2015 to go build wells in Uganda to provide clean water. It's a great cause and McGee's doing good things raising awareness about an issue that may seem basic but is fundamental for life in that part of the world.

Before the game got underway I was able to get NBA center and surprise guest Andre Drummond's autograph on a floorboard piece after he was dropped off at the game. It was nice to get on the board after having struck out with Nick Young declining to sign for me on the way in.

After Drummond arrived I was able to get Denver guard Ty Lawson's autograph when he arrived to support his teammate's cause. Lawson showing up was awesome since he didn't come to play just to hang out and put his support behind Mcgee.

After Lawson showed up I went inside caught the rest of the game to watch the celebrities play ball. It was a blowout game and it even made the wire with Ray J making it on TMZ for blowing over Laura Govan on his way into 3rd base.

When the game wrapped up the Juglife crew set up some tables and the majority of the athletes came over and sat at the tables to sign autographs. John Wall and Nick Young had shown up to the event but they took off quickly without stopping at the tables to sign. Young only signed a few and Wall signed a bit before he came into the event, but I wasn't able to get either of their autographs.

At the tables Andre Drummond started signing but since I already got him and hadn't prepped for him I didn't get another floorboard signed. The next guy was the man himself, Javale McGee autographed two 8x10's for me. The first one was of him participating in the slam dunk contest.

The second 8x10 Mcgee signed was of him with the Wizards winning the tipoff against Yao Ming.

Next to McGee was Terrell Owens who autographed my 8x10 photo of him and Jerry Rice back in San Francisco.

Ty Lawson was signing so even though I got him on my photo I had him autograph a floorboard.

It wasn't a bad haul and there were even more celebrities in attendance than I had prepped for. Ray J autographed my ticket when I was walking out to my car. 

Omarion was in attendance with his wife, Damien Wayans, Laura Govan, and Doug Christie were also there. Those were the main celebrities that I recognized but a few minor celebs from vine, instagram, tv and music were also in the game.

Overall it was a great day getting a few NBA autographs and Terrell Owens who may go in the Hall of Fame in a few years. Javale's crew did a great job putting on one of the best charity events that I've been to in a while. He was really polite and donated a ton of items for the raffles that went on with nice prices throughout the game, and his guests were also great taking the time to sign for fans and come out. It's nice to see someone local bringing their star power to good use but still being accessible to fans. Bobby Wagner take notes, the Javale McGee softball event was how things are supposed to be.

RBI (196) Mike Epps at Ontario Improv 1/17/14

Part of my goal for this past off season was to increase the events I graph. I tried out the NHL by graphing the Ducks, went to a new charity event and to wrap up the season decided to try out a comedy club. Actor and comedian Mike Epps was performing at the Ontario Improv so I decided to try getting him to put in my collection. He's hilarious and been in numerous hit movies so I thought it'd be a fun way to try graphing something new while adding part of Hollywood to my collection.

To be honest this was a lot harder than I anticipated. First off the Ontario Improv has 3 different entry doors with 4 different parking lots with 3 separate walkways and rear mall access. Essentially to have no blind spot you're too far back from the different lots to actually do anything besides see the guy walk in. To make matters even better I decided to go hang out and wait on a Friday during a 3-day weekend. Did I mention the Improv is directly across from an AMC movie theatre and Gameworks also shares the courtyard too? Yeah supposedly I'm supposed to be good at this kind of thing.

I missed Mike Epps walking in because of misplaying my positioning with the lots and just being overwhelmed with the sheer volume of faces to check as they walked into and out of the mall/Gameworks/AMC. I returned home disappointed to miss my chance but after recharging my batteries and catching a bite to eat I decided I wouldn't be blanked by Mike Epps. I returned to the club to try catching him after his second show. Well wouldn't you know I was able to find him the second time!

First he was nice enough to sign a photo of him playing Day-Day in Friday After Next. Yes he did misspell my name, but I don't think Day-Day would be that great a speller do you?

After signing the first photo he signed a photo from The Hangover 3 playing Black Doug, but he spelled my name correctly in this one.

I'm really glad to add these Mike Epps' autographed photographs to my collection considering he's been in numerous successful movie franchises. The "Friday", "Hangover and "Resident Evil" franchises are all some serious credits so I'm happy to have Epps autograph. He was really pleasant to talk to, didn't mind taking the time to signing the multiples and took a photo with me. It was a great experience to meet him and I'm glad I stepped up my game to get the actor's autograph.

Corey Miller

It's not often that I go out and purchase autographs but this is one that I decided fit the bill. This a print autographed by world famous tattoo artist Corey Miller who you may recognize from the tv show L.A. Ink. Miller's based out of Southern California and owns a tattoo shop that's local to me. I popped by the shop and picked up a copy to add to my print collection and was happy to see that it was already signed so I didn't have to try to track Corey down to sign it. I like when artists sign the print so having the Corey Miller autograph makes the piece even better to me.

RBI (134) Ray Bradbury...

A few years ago I had the opportunity to see distinguished author Ray Bradbury speak about his career.  Bradbury is best known for his works Fahrenheit 451 and the Martian Chronicles, but he was a prolific short story writer and produced many great works and collections beyond those two novels. It was an enlightening experience to hear him talk and I walked away with the idea that literature needed to be protected and helped to grow by people not afraid to write what they believed in.

Interestingly not many people know that Fahrenheit 451 was written on a rental typewriter in the basement of UCLA's Powell library. Not only is it's birth place a little known fact, but it's also not well known that the book was serialized and published in the March, April and May issues of Playboy in 1954 after the magazine was launched in December 1953.

Unfortunately Bradbury has since passed away and one of America's most celebrated authors is no longer with us. I was able however to have the pleasure to meet Mr. Bradbury after his talk and have him sign a pair of his books for me that I will always treasure.

One of my favorite pieces is this Ray Bradbury autographed Martian Chronicles copy.

Also Ray Bradbury autographed "One More For the Road" for me.

Though lately its been difficult to find the time, throughout my life I've always been a reader with a book around for me to work through when I have a few minutes so I've privately enjoyed slowly building an private library of autographed books on my shelf. I know these Ray Bradbury autographed books will forever be a strong cornerstone to continue to build my collection around as not just works of literature but also to me as pieces of Americana.

RBI (111) Johnny Cupcakes...

Continuing on with my little bit of off mainstream sports hit I decided to post another autograph I got from the world of clothing. Johnny Cupcakes is a Boston based designer who has done collaborations with top notch companies like Nickelodeon, Hello Kitty, and always manages to add a whimsical component to every piece.

The signature logo of the company is a cupcake with crossbones underneath. It's playful and gives plenty of different spin off ideas to have a pretty fun line of t-shirts. They've opened stores in Boston, Los Angeles, and London all the while maintaing a sense of exclusivity by limiting the number of shirts produced and hand numbering various products. A regional theme is kept with the shirts at each store as playoff seasons typically result in local teams colors being produced for sports fans.

The owner Johnny is a pretty amusing prankster who likes to leave presents for his customers so an in store purchase may result in opening your box to reveal a classic 90's TV show trading card or free stickers and buttons. His fun personality is probably why bands such as Gym Class Heroes and Four Year Strong are supporters of the brand, showing up randomly to visit the stores, events, or appearing in internet commercials/promotional photos.

I had Johnny Cupcakes autograph this postcard advertising the grand opening of his store in Los Angeles when I ran into him while at the Boston store for the release of a new limited shirt. It's a little tough to see since he carried a silver sharpie and signed across part of the grey background but he also drew the cupcakes logo under his name. It's random but I do enjoy little postcard prints like this or the KIC Spacey print since they're fun to frame and quickly interchangeable.

RBI (110) HUGE Hit...

That's not just my opinion over this autograph either. I know we all have our different niches in the autograph community and one of mine happens to include the owners of various companies. It's not just your run of the mill company that I'm interested in though.

I am a fan of the clothing brand The Hundreds. Those of you who read my blog and are younger probably already know the brand from personal experience, and those sports fans a little out of that demographic have more than likely seen it's designs somewhere or may recognize their little logo. One of the owners of the brand is actually from my home town and graduated from a rival high school. So not only do I like the clothing, but I always tend to root for the local guys.

As the brand expanded they added to existing stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and opened one in Santa Monica. Many people questioned opening a second store in the LA area, but personally I think it makes sense since Southern California residents can testify stores and residents in Fairfax and Santa Monica are nothing alike. I had the day off of work on the day of the Grand Opening for the Santa Monica store so I went. I picked up a few store exclusive pieces and a copy of their latest magazine issue (that's right they print a magazine too). Local boy Bobby Hundreds was there and I had him autograph a copy of the magazine after we talked for a few minutes about home.

I think we can all agree it was a pretty decent issue to get signed. I also think it's funny that the "Adam Bomb" he drew isn't in it's normal pose and the eyes are looking up to stare at models Holly Madison and Angel Porino showing off the summer bikini line. I wonder if this is the magazine equivalent to sweet spotting a baseball or him having some fun with it? I mean how often does someone get an excuse to doodle on a hot picture of Holly Madison's bikini body? Seeing as both of them are in the LA area fairly frequently I may try to finish the cover, but I'm not sure I really want to.

You can follow Bobby on twitter @BobbyHundreds he's actually a pretty entertaining writer and talented photographer if you're interested in that sort of thing from the streetwear scene. This Bobby Hundreds autographed magazine may be one of the best visually appealing autographs I have to I may have to frame this one up with my KIC Spacey print from the Set Up The Upset tshirt package.

RBI (99) The Undisputed Champ..

I know there are several readers out there who also read David's and Zim's blog since they graph more than just baseball like I tend to focus on. One thing that I enjoy doing is seeing what other celebrity's are at the Angel game since there tend to be a random cool person at least once a home stand. LA may get it's notables but so far I've been able to meet Tommy Lasorda, Jon Daniels, and this time former WBC Welterweight Champion Victor 'Vicious' Ortiz at an Angels game.

With a professional record of 29-4-2, Ortiz is a top contender winning the Welterweight title in ESPN's fight of the year over Andre Berto in 2011. He then had a very controversial fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. where the fierce southpaw lost the title by a KO that split boxing fans over the fight's outcome. His follow up fight for the vacant WBC Silver Welterweight title against Josesito Lopez was stopped as Ortiz's jaw was broken and he couldn't come back out of his corner to continue the fight.

Vicious was actually really nice and was taking photos and signing autographs for any fans that come by to wish him well and meet him. I had him sign my ticket from the game since I was out of balls and didn't realize he would be at the game so I didn't bring a photo or anything for him.

Ortiz is a top contender and I'm sure when he's healthy he will get another shot at the title. I'm actually a big fan of boxing so this was definitely a pleasant surprise to meet him and score his autograph. He was cool enough to inscribe "Vicious" under his name.

Balk 9 - Jose and me...and JJ...Gronk...

The Blue Jays. Oh the Blue Jays.

The Jays were here for a 4 game series and I decided to put some serious effort into trying to collect their autographs. Things didn't start off well when on the first day of the series I arrived to see my stack of Jays cards was not in my bag. All I had was on okay looking ball I had gotten during BP the day before. Not what I wanted, but it had to do. Instead of attempting to get the Angels when a few players signed I tried to get Jose Bautista walking in. He didn't sign and said he would after BP. For the remainder of the day I tried to bounce around the stadium was completely shut out.

As I was sitting around trying to plan out my next move when my friends Eric and Phil suggested I get my first autograph of the day from "JJ." Those of you who don't know, JJ is John Jackson a former NFL receiver and USC star who is a commentator at the stadium.

I didn't have anything for JJ to sign so I was thinking about just using my ticket when Eric reached into his bag of goodies and pulled out this.

That's right a Fox Sports Net piece of cardboard. I'm not sure why he had it or who he had it for, because even he said "I don't know why I have this." I went over to JJ as he was walking in and he was super friendly and autographed the card. He was nice enough to not only sign "John Jackson" but even added the "Fox Sports 1" inscription for me. I've never asked for the announcers to sign anything for me, but it was awesome and him being so nice about it made me really like this card.

Later inside the stadium I saw Bautista take BP. After BP he walked over to the very large group of fans for their "on field" experience and started to sign for them. I moved directly behind the group and was the only one behind the dugout to be there. When he was done signing he started to speak to 3 guys who were standing on the field behind a little chain divider. When one of the guys with them finished taking photos of Bautista talking to them he turned to me and motioned for me to toss him my ball. I was super excited. All day long I had been out of position and now finally for JOSE BAUTISTA I was the lone fan to be by him. It was my time. Or so I thought. Unfortunately he tried to catch my toss left handed with his camera in the other hand. You can guess the rest.

The ball went off his bad hand, and hit one of the guys Jose was talking to in the back. Now it wasn't like he batted it down roughly into him, more like someone tossing you the remote and it falling off your hand onto the couch. He picked up the ball and offered it to Bautista who gave me the worst look I've ever received. I'm pretty sure he thought I was just throwing a ball at him, because he not only shook his head no but stared me down before throwing the ball back to me. And like I said, I was the only fan there. I had succeeded in not only irritating one of my favorite players, but let him memorize my face for his "never sign for, acknowledge, or save from a fire" memory banks. Great.

I got a few Jays autographs throughout the series but my heart just wasn't really in it. For the Saturday game I went to the stadium intending only to autograph and skip the game, but ran into some friends and decided to hang around. While sitting there, a friend Kyle (@addictiveartwrk) thought he recognized a really big muscled guy who talked to Jordan Walden for a few minutes during the game. I didn't know who he was and said I didn't think he was anyone. Boy was I wrong. A few minutes later a dad and his son came down and got the guys autograph. As they were walking away the kid excitedly was talking about how awesome it was to meet Rob Gronkowski. Yup. GRONK.

He started to get mobbed as fans heard the news, but I was lucky enough to have him sign the back of one of my cards. Who would have thought that the best player I get the whole series at Angel Stadium would be a Patriots Tight End.

Balk 8 - A pair of off topic autographs

Even though baseball is my big passion and focus for collecting, living in Southern California does have it's occasional perks by being able to run into various sports athletes and celebrities when you're just out and about.

This is post is a dual post since they're kind of related but I did get each signature on separate days. While most of Southern Californians are now flying their "Clipper Nation" flag, I had mine up a bit longer. Last season I went to 70 something baseball games and one of the main reasons I would miss a game was work or to go to a Clipper game.

Last season I was with my family getting a late bite to go and some gas for the trip home after a Clippers-Suns game when my dad looked out the window at a really nice car pulling up to get gas. When the door opened he immediately said, "Hey, that's Brian Cook."

We waited a minute for him to get situated and then asked Brian if he could sign my ticket stub and told him how happy we were that he was back in LA after a few seasons away. Though I'm a Clipper fan, Laker games were always predominantly what made it onto TV and Cook was a 1st round selection by them in the 2003 Draft. There are few things as exciting as a momentum changing 3-pointer and through his Laker years he was a talented 3-point specialist. Brian Cook autographed my ticket and we said thank you before walking back to fill up his tank and head home.

This season Brian started with the Clippers, but as many of you are aware the fortunes of the team has drastically changed with the addition of Chris Paul and his role was reduced until he was finally traded. One benefit of the changing fortunes of the Clips, is the addition of more high profile fans. On my way into a game against the San Antonio Spurs, I spotted Rainn Wilson, better known as Dwight Schrute, on the way into Staples Center. I was able to get a Rainn Wilson autograph on one of my cards.

Like I said, living here has some perks. Not a bad pair of random autographs to add to the collection.

RPS (4) 2012 Angel Stadium Opening Weekend

The 2012 baseball season has officially begun at Angel Stadium and the autograph hunting is in full swing. Since it was Opening Day I decided to spend the whole day at the stadium 'graphing. Zack Hample may have his streak of 793 (as of 4/8/12) consecutive games with getting at least 1 ball, but I've got a decent streak of my own going.  If you read my 2011 summary post then you know I went to 74 games last year and got at least one autograph each game of a former or current player, I felt the pressure to continue the streak as Opening Day began.

The closer I got to the stadium, the more pressure I felt until I got out of my car and saw some familiar faces. Needless to say the streak lives on and I had a pretty good weekend. However I'm not sure how long the streak will survive due to what I call the "Pujols Effect" which essentially means an obscene amount of people trying to get autographs every day. It's definitely going to take some serious effort to make sure I keep it alive.

Anyways, on to the summary. Unfortunately I wasn't able to photos of the graphing before and after the game, because I don't keep my Canon Rebel T3 on me while collecting since I don't want it damaged.

Going back to the "Pujols Effect" one of the biggest impacts Albert brings to the Big A, is the big ESPN deciding to cover more games than in years before. On hand to cover Opening Day, was Hall of Famer Barry Larkin who was very nice to the fans and signed during breaks from the broadcast. I was able to get him on this Rawlings Gold Glove Baseball, but he signed it with a black pen from the ESPN table.

On his way into the stadium, I asked if he wouldn't mind helping me work on the 1987 Topps set, and he signed one of those while he was walking. It was pretty cool getting to walk alongside Mr. Larkin with security escorting "us" and the rest of the ESPN crew toward the gate. I felt pretty important. You can see the "B" and "L" are consistent with the ball he signed sitting down, but as a Hall of Famer I wouldn't have minded him just scribbling an "x" let alone a decently consistent signature.

I present to you, your 2012 Kansas City Royals Opening Day roster down the first base line.

I couldn't get as nice a shot, but here is your 2012 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Opening Day roster down the third base line.

It's official, Erick Aybar now has the coolest friend in Anaheim. Oh and his friend Albert Pujols is now officially an Angel who has played in a MLB game.

First up some shots from Opening Day, Alex Gordon led off the night against Jered Weaver.

Howie Kendrick was up second for the Angels and is definitely going to have a big year seeing fastballs batting in front of Pujols.

Between all 3 games, I was able to get a pretty nice collection for my first weekend back into the season.  On Opening Day besides Barry Larkin, I got Rich Thompson to sign this 2011 Topps.

Mark Trumbo autographed this 8x10 of him against the Dodgers.

Angels owner Arte Moreno signed this 8x10 of him speaking at the Pujols press conference.

After the game I was able to get local product Royals 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas to sign his 2011 Topps Rookie Card. I told him how I had gotten a really nice shot of him fielding during the game and he said he'd sign it for me if I brought it.

On Saturday I didn't spend the whole day at the stadium, but I was able to get my first ball of the season from batting practice. Moustakas was nice enough to autograph this 8x10 I took of him on Opening Day.

I forgot to ask him to sign this 8x10 I printed out of the entire Royals team. But I was able to get center fielder Lorenzo Cain, All-Star reliever Aaron Crow, and Opening Day starter Bruce Chen to sign it.

On Sunday I was forgetful and left the team photo at home, but luckily remembered my cards. I had Gold Glover Jeff Francoeur sign my first ball from the day before on the sweet spot and my 2011 Topps.

The last autograph I was able to get for the series was future superstar Eric Hosmer on his 2011 Topps rookie card.

To summarize...awesome. It's nice to be back and have the streak extended.