Autograph Recap, Bernie Nicholls at the Offices of Dr. Alex Corbin Liu 7/12/14

Well as previously posted Dr. Alex Corbin Liu had an appearance scheduled with former LA kings great Bernie Nicholls at his practice in Rowland Heights. It was only my second time going to a signing held by Dr. Liu and it was a great experience for me once again. The line this time was longer than the Reggie Bullock signing, but it wasn't too bad especially considering the hype around the Kings winning the Stanley Cup this year.

First off I made a untypical mistake and printed out the wrong quality photo and didn't discover it until it was too late to arrange for another print. I went into Dr. Liu's office and was happy to see a variety of high quality items available for purchase at the event. There was a selection of 8x10s, 11x14s and different pucks all for a really reasonable price especially for being sold with the autograph included with purchase. I was honestly really impressed as I've seen other places host signings and player appearances with no items available or a poor selection of poor quality, but this is the second time I've seen nice items available at Dr. Liu's office.

Nicholls arrived early and spent some time inside chatting with a few guests before starting to sign for those in line. After he really started signing the line started to move pretty well and he allowed fans to take a photo with his ring from being on the Kings Stanley Cup championship.

Bernie Nicholls autographed this 8x10 photograph and inscribed "70 Goals 80 Assist 150 points" on it for me. I think it came out really well and I really like the vintage jersey he's wearing in it. Definitely a well chosen photograph to have available for people attending the signing.

This one wasn't as popular a choice with the Kings faithful but I also was able to get this photo of Nicholls playing for the New Jersey Devils signed.

Overall it was another great event run by Dr. Liu and his staff and I'm glad to have made the trip out to meet Nicholls. This has been a recent way for me to find autographs in the Los Angeles/Southern California area and I'm definitely liking how they're coming out. I'll be keeping an eye out for the next event and will be posting any information I find about a signing and recommend making your way out that way as well.

RPS (10) Graphing the Anaheim Ducks 10/19/13

With baseball in Southern California finished for the season I went with some friends to try graphing the Anaheim Ducks for the first time. I had heard of some good successes and big numbers by other experienced hockey autograph collectors so I figured it was worth a Saturday morning to give it a shot.

I wasn't sure what to bring along with me for my first attempt so I settled on a buying a 2013-14 Score team set of cards and printing an 8x10 photograph. When I got to the Honda Center to meet up with my friends I learned the Ducks weren't there due to a concert so we went to their back up practice facility.

I had heard hockey players were some of the nicest pros out there to collect and I always wondered if it was just an exaggeration. It's not. The Ducks are one of the nicest groups of professionals I've ever encountered and they had no hesitation to sign for us when we asked. The only guys who didn't sign for us on their way in were the players who didn't park by where we were standing to see them arrive. Everyone had a nice thing to say as they signed and were extremely polite to us graphers. I kid you not. Today I became a Ducks fan and decided collecting hockey autographs isn't too bad.

In no particular order here's how I did today.
Cam Fowler autographed Score card.

Kyle Palmieri autographed Score card.

Lucas Sbisa autographed Score card.

Corey Perry autographed Score card.

Daniel Winnik autographed Score card.

Nick Bonino autographed Score card.

Andrew Cogliano autographed Score card.

All-Star Saku Koivu autographed Score card.

All-Star Jonas Hiller autographed Score card.

Captain, Stanley Cup Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Getzlaf autographed Score card.

If you're an autograph collector reading this post then you're probably used to seeing the cars athletes drive around in. Let me say this. Ryan Getzlaf has the sickest car I've ever seen a pro driving. A blacked out matte black luxury ride. While he was signing for us we couldn't even pretend to not be drooling over his car and I told him "You have the sickest car I've ever seen a pro drive. You win the Anaheim car game. Your car is cooler than Albert Pujols'." To which he hid a grin and said thanks while finishing my Ducks Team Leaders card also autographed by Corey Perry and Viktor Fasth.

After the Ducks came in we followed them into the practice facility and watched their practice. Something you can never do anywhere else, so one more reason I'll be a Ducks fan from now on. They worked hard and then finished up practice so we went back outside to wait for the man of the hour. Future NHL Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne came out and was nice enough to knock out autographs for everyone who waited and asked. First I got this Teemu Selanne autographed 8x10 photograph.

After he signed the photo I had Teemu to sign a puck I picked up from the team store during practice. He signed quickly but gave the nice items people had good signatures, signing in good spots and inscribed when asked. Definitely a class act from a hockey legend so I'm very happy to knocked out getting the "Finnish Flash" autograph before he retires, hopefully with another run at a Stanley Cup championship.

Basically I knocked out almost the entire Ducks team in one day. At some point I'm going to go back to try for more Teemu Selanne autographs and to finish my Score team set. It was a cool day spent with Rob, Al, Benson and Matt and I'm glad I went out to collect the Ducks and start collecting NHL autographs.