RBI (75) Curt Schilling, possible Hall of Famer...

This is one of my all time favorite players, who I think could be inducted into the Hall of Fame eventually though maybe not his first time on the ballot for Cooperstown in 2013. Pitcher Curt Schilling is in my eyes one of the all time greats who deserves a place in the hall.

Schilling was drafted by the Red Sox in the 2nd round of the 1986 draft, but made his debut for Baltimore in 1988. He was then traded to Houston for a year and then Philadelphia, where he spent the majority of his career developing into one of the most dominant control pitchers mixing an overpowering fastball with brutal off speed offerings. After his development years in Philadelphia Schilling went to Arizona where he was a key cog in the Diamondbacks success. With Randy Johnson in Arizona, Schilling helped the DBacks upset the Yankees in 2001 for one of the most memorable World Series in the past few decades. The victory over the Yankees was a dramatic one and gave Arizona their first franchise World Series title.

The Red Sox aggressively targeted Schilling once he hit free agency and Theo Epstein was able to steal him from the Yankees and bring him to Boston. Schilling was immortalized with his post-season success that helped bring the Red Sox to a World Series Championship victory in 2004 to end the Curse of the Bambino. He built on the success and helped guide the growing Red Sox core to another ring in 2007.

When finally finished with his career Schilling stands in elite company. He has a 216-146 record supported by a 3.46 ERA and 3,116 Strikeouts. A 6-time All-Star he has been World Series co-MVP, NLCS MVP, and a key piece of 3 World Series Champion rotations. Two of those victories are key highlights in sports if not their respective franchise histories. His infamous "bloody sock" incident during the 2004 series has only further increased his intrigue. If he isn't a Hall of Famer, I'm not really sure who from his era is.

I was given this 2007 World Series ball signed by Schilling as a gift for my 21st birthday. It's definitely one of my favorite autographs and I'm really grateful to have a Curt Schilling autographed World Series Baseball. It's become part of a project of mine to add an autographed ball from each member of that 2007 World Series rotation now that I've added a Jon Lester autographed ball and Josh Beckett autographed ball

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.

The Curious Case of Al Kaline

Al Kaline, Hall of Famer, and notoriously unpredictable signer.

The first time I learned about Mr. Kaline, it was while reading about him in Cooperstown Confidential. The scene painted around Kaline by the book was of a signer sitting at a corner in Cooperstown during Induction Weekend who was interested in the fee and not the line of fans or their anecdotes. Further research into Kaline revealed stories of him being very unpredictable in person. Finding him at a ball game in Detroit meant he could be personable and willing to sign, occasionally doing multiples for some. Or sitting in the stands he could be grumpy and unwilling to even give a signature to a kid at other times. Appearances at a Detroit car dealership were typically more positive with Kaline getting more favorable and personable reviews.

Through the mail to Mr. Kaline is an adventure in it's own. It seems the fee he charges can be on a sliding scale at times with fans mailing him $5 and getting a card signed, but at times the $5 is returned with a request for $10 even though the request is for a card. Some mail has been returned to fans with the card unsigned and money in the envelope along with it. One especially odd horror story was the $5 returned but it had been cut into pieces. It wasn't clear if Kaline himself did it or the Post Office had a mishap. Regardless, this Hall of Famer is clearly not the same as the rest of his Cooperstown peers who normally have a foundation or handler make the transaction quick, businesslike, and not all that interesting.

The standard return rate of successes and failures alike has seemed to be 2 weeks. Why is this important? Because 2 weeks ago I had a bit of a random occurrence happen. I was browsing through my cards and spotted one of Kaline, it was cool but I wasn't sold on if I should make an attempt with him or not. While browsing my local card shop later that day I spotted another Kaline card and decided to buy it just to add it to my collection. The next day I was pleasantly surprised to find $20 in a jacket I hadn't worn for a few months. Seeing as it was free money and I had just acquired a nice Kaline I decided to leap down the rabbit hole. That's right, I didn't test the $5 or $10 fee for a card. I wrote my letter, labeled my envelopes, and slid the $20 right behind the card.

I'm not really sure what I'll get back, but something should be coming through the mail this week. Be it my card with the fee, a cut up twenty, or maybe just maybe I'll be lucky enough to get the card back signed with the magical letters "HOF" to put in my collection. Either way, Mr. Tiger has made this TTM  safari an adventure.

Batches batches batches...

This batch was focused more on the players who spent their time making their bones in the AL East. After I worked on the AL East I decided to meander into the NL where I don't have too much knowledge off the top of my head. With the start of baseball I'm not sure if there will be many responses now but I'm still hopeful that they're also inspired by the coming season.

Johnny Damon, Despite his time on the Yankees, Damon played a big part in Red Sox history and once again a grinder who forces his way on base and pesters the opposing pitcher to secure a run.
Desmond Jennings, The speed demon is poised to help throw the Rays into contention for yet another season providing great defense behind the overly talented and young rotation and could explode offensively this year. I also enjoy writing to guys I saw at the 2010 Futures game coming into the bigs.
Wade Boggs, I'm a really big fan of the TV show Psych, and when I saw Wade do a guest appearance this season it became one of my favorite episodes from the past few seasons. I just had to write him and tell him how nice it was to see him on the show.
Jay Bruce, While writing letters to Damon and Jennings, I started wondering about other dynamic outfielders. I decided to poke around the NL central since it's not my strongest place of knowledge and looked into the Bruce.
John Axford, While in the division I also remembered the Brewers had an interesting story and dynamic player of their own in closer Axford. Who wouldn't be interested in learning about a set up man who learned from future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman.
J.D. Martinez, Soon to be rival playing out his first full season replacing one of my favorite players (Hunter Pence). It's a big mantle to replace in Houston since they didn't have much to cheer for besides Pence so hopefully he can take it.
Al Kaline....
Jim Leyland, with the Tigers in the making of a strong run and marquee players standing behind him it'll be interesting to hear what Leyland has to say about his career with this season on the horizon.
Tyler Clippard, one of the premier set up men in baseball that is often over looked the ominous visit Drew Storen made to Dr. Andrews has some wondering if this NL All-Star would be given the 9th but his dominance in the 8th has him keeping the status quo there.

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.

RBI (74) Final 365 TTM in the off season...

With baseball's week long opening series' beginning and the Angel's Opening Day tomorrow, I was wondering what would be the final return for the off season. It's a fairly appropriate return as former player, Angel coach and Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke.

Roenicke was a 1st round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1977 June secondary draft. Despite being such a high pick, taken 17th overall he did not make his MLB debut until 1981. Roenicke spent 8 seasons split between 6 teams, and was never able to really capitalize on the playing time he was given as a sometime starter, utility outfielder, and pinch runner. At the end of his career he sat on a .238 average and 17 Home Runs.

Roenicke returned to the Dodgers as a coach and manager throughout the organization at the Major and minor league level. Eventually he left the Dodgers to join the Angel organization as third base coach and was a member of the championship team. After Joe Maddon left to become the manager of the Rays he was promoted to bench coach. His time with the Angels through their dominant regular season runs through the early 2000's gave further credibility to his resume and he continued the Mike Scioscia coaching tree becoming the Milwaukee Brewer's manager. In his first year as a manager he took the Brew Crew to the NLCS, and it'll be interesting to see how he keeps the club pushing forward in the wake of the franchise losing its Prince and the reigning MVP having his crown tarnished by scandal.

Roenicke signed this 1987 Topps card for me sent c/o the Brewers at Spring Training in 43 days.

RPS (3) Dodgers-Angels Exhibition Freeway Series

It's that time folks, time for the 2012 season to start. How'd the Angels prepare for the coming season? Just a little freeway action against the rival Dodgers (Doyers) to start off the week. Game 1 was hosted by the Angels in Anaheim and the following 2 will be played at Dodger Stadium.

I couldn't wait for opening day, so I opted to go spend the day graphing the Dodgers and Angels as they arrived. I split time between the two sides, but missed most of the Angels while on the Dodger side and heard they weren't really in a signing mood. The Dodgers on the other hand were not so bad. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me before the game while outside the stadium but got some nice shots inside.

First up I was able to get from the Angel side back to the Dodgers fast enough to catch pitching coach Rick Honeycutt right as he was finishing up signing and Honeycutt autographed this 1987 Topps for me.

Don Mattingly came into the stadium after Honeycutt, and was nice enough to stay for a long time signing and taking photos with the fans. I liked that he was calling fans out for trying to come back and get multiples when he still hadn't finished with half the crowd. Mattingly signed this 2012 Topps Heritage for me.

A few Dodgers came after and I wasn't able to get all of them. Tony Gwyn Jr. signed for a while, Juan Rivera made a really nice dent in the crowd, James Loney tried to get a good amount done, but someone knocked his Gucci sunglass case and contacts off the ledge and that kind of killed his mood, Todd Coffey said he'd sign after the game, Tim Federowicz did like 3, Javy Guerra signed for most of the kids, Kenley Jansen did like two kids and a few more guys I didn't know came but didn't sign.

I'm sure most of you want to know about the big 3. Kershaw, Kemp and Ethier. Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon shared a car ride to the stadium. The fans stayed back at first and most of us went to form a line at the barrier but some less patient "fans" rushed the car as soon as Dee Gordon got out. He signed for a few people before realizing he was surrounded in a mob and security helped save him. While Gordon was walking through Kemp got out of the car and was also mobbed so he signed the first three literally shoved in his face quickly before darting to safety behind the barriers. Kershaw came as they were being bum rushed and he cut his way through saying he would sign inside the stadium (I didn't see him sign but did see him imitate Kemp making a jump in center field trying to rob a homer).

The last hope was Ethier. It's a good thing he was awesome. He came and started to work his way down the barrier signing for all the fans sweet spotting when asked and making light banter with the fans. I'm not sure if you guys know this, but Andre Ethier is awesome. One guy in a Pujols shirt asked for his autograph and got a ton of flack from the other fans and Ethier himself. It was pretty funny.

Andre Ethier autographed Gold Glove Award ball under the logo, and after he signed it I just had to take the chance and ask him if he would sign a card too so I could find a display case for them together. He nodded and instead of working his way farther down the line stopped to sign around me while I fished out my sharpie and he signed this 2011 Topps Lineage. Anyone who says he isn't good to the fans obviously hasn't met the man.

Now for the other good stuff, the photos.

Pujols taking his first pre-game jog at Angel Stadium as an Angel.

Dan Haren took the mound for the Angels.

Pujols taking his first at-bat in a game at Angel Stadium as an Angel.

Matt Kemp most likely made ESPN tonight doing a crazy double stealing dive and catch while in beast mode. I was too busy freaking out to get a shot of the catch, but you can tell he's pleased with himself.

Oh did I mention Kendrys Morales is back too? Yup he's pleased with himself. Look closely at the bat he's using in the game.

Angels won 12-3. I don't make it out to Dodger Stadium often so it was nice to get some Dodger autographs while at Angel Stadium.