RBI (217) Brett Hundley….

For those college football fans out there I made a foray in that world of sports at the end of the summer. It's always fun branching out from just getting baseball autographs and adding to my limited football collection of one of the top college quarterbacks in the game right now who has destroyed Pac-10 records is a nice addition for me.

UCLA star quarterback Brett Hundley made it onto the cover of two Sports Illustrated issues over the summer of 2014 and I was fortunate enough to make it out to the UCLA open practices to meet Hundley. He was very down to earth and despite the UCLA staff being very wary of anyone who wanted an autograph Brett himself was great.

I was able to get Hundley's first Sports Illustrated cover autographed and hopefully will see him lead the Bruins to a successful rest of the season and expect him to be drafted somewhere in the first round of the NFL draft at the end of this season.

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 (104) A Hometown player...

For a while I've been wanting to get into graphing basketball players. David does it, and he does it well with all his photos coming out pretty nicely. Being so close to LA with 2 NBA teams I suppose there's really no excuse for me to not try out a few events this coming season when baseball season lets out. But luckily I didn't have to go to LA for my first attempt at actually going to get a specific player. Minnesota Timberwolves guard Malcolm Lee is from my hometown and I knew he would be at an event so I printed out a few photos to try my hand at the NBA.

Lee was a 2nd round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, taken 43rd overall by the Chicago Bulls and traded as part of a package for the draft's 23rd overall pick. An injury and the strike shortened season made his debut season limited but he has the chance to be a contributor on a developing Timberwolves team. Lee was drafted out of UCLA where he was on the 2011 Pac-10 All Defensive Team and All Pac-10 First Teamer.

Malcolm Lee autographed these two 8x10's photographs for me. One is from his days as a star UCLA basketball player and the other from his time in the NBA. I'm happy to start my NBA collection with a local guy.

RBI (77) Gerrit Cole, The #1 overall pick...

In 2011 went to the Pittsburgh Pirates, which they used to select UCLA starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

Cole is a native of Southern California having been born in Newport Beach, CA and attending a private high school down the freeway in Orange County. In 2008 he was selected by the New York Yankees in the 1st round of the draft, but declined to negotiate with them despite a believed offer prepared to the tune of $4 million.

Cole attended UCLA on a collegiate scholarship and helped the Bruins become one of their best teams in school history. In 2010 they achieved a 51-17 record, the best achieved in school history. The season continued to roll on with Cole helping the Bruins advance through the 2010 College World Series, eventually being defeated in the NCAA Championships Series.

After Cole was drafted by the Pirates first overall he and his representatives didn't sign with the organization until 15 minutes before the deadline. The deal was reported to be worth $8 million, which could prove to be a bargain seeing as his potential could help turn the Pirates into a force to be reckoned with in the model of the 2012 Washington Nationals. The deal was signed too late in August for Cole to take part in the minors and he has pitched in the Arizona Fall League recording solid numbers.

Cole made an unexpected appearance at the Cory Hahn Trinity Bat Benefit in Orange County and was kind enough to sign this ROMLB for me on the sweet spot. It was really nice of him to take the time to appear at the benefit and he could have avoided signing for the fans, but signed autographs for fans who recognized him. Which with the addition of some facial hair was actually a little bit of a task, but he was really down to earth and lowkey which made getting Gerrit Cole's autograph that much cooler.

He was really personable and polite to everyone and the whole event was a great day with Cole's autograph just the icing on the cake. Cole will be debuting for the Pirates during the 2013 season and is expected to help continue the turn around in Pittsburg to make the team relevant again.

Now that Cole has debuted in the MLB it's been great being able to see this Gerrit Cole autographed baseball on my shelf as a big leaguers ball, especially one who has been successful with him going 4-0 so far in his debut topping front line talents Jered Weaver, Tim Lincecum, and Zach Greinke.