Oh No! Not Another...

Last week, I told you about how it always seems that I come up with a new project.  So just a few days later, I am glad to tell you that I am back with another new one.  Someone once told me that if you're going to collect autographs through the mail, make sure that you pick a theme/project that you'll enjoy and have some success because sometimes the TTM failures can bring your morale down.

Being a part-time journalist and avid sports fan, I thought of a neat little theme.  My first success for this project came back last Friday from Los Angeles Dodgers radio play-by-play voice, Charley Steiner.  My newest project is to get an 8x10 image of an iconic moment of sports history and have it signed by an announcer that made an iconic sports call of that moment.

For those of you that didn't know, Charley Steiner was doing play-by-play for the Yankees Radio network in 2003 when the Yankees played the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.  After a big comeback against Pedro Martinez, the Yankees forced extra innings in the decisive game that would decide the American League Pennant.  Aaron Boone was as cold as an Alaskan igloo in the dead of winter.  He entered the game as a pinch runner in the 8th and found himself facing Tim Wakefield to lead off the Bottom of the 11th inning.

That's when Charley Steiner takes over: "There's a fly ball deep to left!  It's on it's way, there it goes.. and the Yankees are going to the World Series!" 

It still gives me goose bumps when I hear a replay of that call and you can listen to it in a video I made a couple of years before the playoffs began.

I sent the 8x10 of Aaron Boone to Dodger stadium (above) and asked Charley Steiner if he would inscribe that call and sign the photo for my project.  It's a little tough to read because of the dark sharpie on a dark picture, but to a big Yankee fan like myself, this is an AWESOME success!  So a big thank you Mr. Steiner!

I hope to have a couple more returns this week for this project and will share if/when I do.

Always a New Project!

I love everything about autogrpah collecting-- buying, selling, trading, searching, finding, researching, and definitely writing about them!I can't get enough of this hobby!

For some reason, it seems I always end up finding a new project to work on. One of my favorite ones right now is my Yankees retired #'s project. My wrinkle is I am trying to get every player, save Ruth and Gehrig, that has had his number retired by the Yankees on a 3x5 in blue sharpie/marker.

I am also planning for the future by getting players such as Paul O'Neill in blue sharpie on a 3x5 because I feel like his number will be retired by the organization someday soon.

That project, and being from Ohio, got me thinking about Reds retired #'s. To my surprise, only three of the Reds that have had their number retired have passed on-- Fred Hutchinson, Ted Kluszewski, and Sparky Anderson. I have Kluszewski in black sharpie and thought I had Sparky Anderson as well. So I started writing some of the other names, Morgan and Bench with a 3x5, black sharpie theme in mind (and no I haven't heard from either yet).  I had met Byron Larkin last year at a Xavier-Dayton basketball game and am hopeful he can help me acquire the signature of his older brother, Barry, who just had his number retired by the Reds recently.

Anyways, when I pulled out my Sparky Anderson, I was shocked to see it was in blue ballpoint. It was Ernie Harwell that I had got from the Tigers in black sharpie.

I began searching for a black sharpie Sparky when I came across this great blog from Ben Wideman. He received a successful return from Sparky Anderson a few months prior to Sparky leaving us, and in black sharpie! I immediately e-mailed Ben and asked him if he'd be interested in trading? The next morning, he wrote me back and said he knows it's one-for-one, but would like to keep the one he got. Knowing he was a Hall-of-Fame signature collector, I knew I had to sweeten the pot. Since I had bought a blue sharpie Bill Dickey a few months prior, I had a blue ballpoint one still in my collection that I could use as a bargaining chip. 24 hours later, he agreed, and I had Dickey and Sparky in the mail to him with a return envelope so I could get Sparky Anderson for this project.

I was happy and so was Ben! And I am also happy I found a new friend that enjoys writing players through the mail! So add Reds retired #'s to the list of my open projects! :)

TTM: Kid in a Candy Store!

I have many projects in my autograph collecting and one of them is collecting autographs of players that have had their number retired, or I think they will eventual retire by the New York Yankees.  As it stands, the Yankees have retired #1 (Billy Martin), #3 (Babe Ruth), #4 (Lou Gehrig), #5 (Joe DiMaggio), #7 (Mickey Mantle), #8 (Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra), #9 (Roger Maris), #10 (Phil Rizzuto), #15 (Thurman Munson), #16 (Whitey Ford), #23 (Don Mattingly), #32 (Elston Howard), #37 (Casey Stengel), #44 (Reggie Jackson), #49 (Ron Guidry).

I have a conspiracy theory that one day after all the current guys are retired, they are going to have "Dynasty Day" at Yankee Stadium where they will retired #2 (Derek Jeter), #6 (Joe Torre), #20 (Jorge Posada), #21 (Paul O'Neill), #42 (Mariano Rivera), #51 (Bernie Williams).  Guys that I think may get retired that weren't apart of the dynasty of the late 90's are #13 (Alex Rodriguez) and #24 (Robinson Cano).

Believe it or not, I have all of the guys that have had their number retired already, except Ruth, Gehrig, Howard, Mantle, and Mattingly, signed in blue sharpie.  I also have Jeter and Torre in blue sharpie as well, so I am trying to keep that theme.

The Yankees recently had a road trip and knowing that Paul O'Neill generally doesn't work games for YES unless they are at Yankee Stadium, I tried him Through The Mail (TTM).  I explained to him my project and how I felt very strongly that one day he was going to have his number retired at Yankee Stadium as well.  Last Friday, I checked the mail and saw I had a return and that was the only mail we had received.  When I turned the envelope over and saw the return address was from Paul O'Neill, I got very excited! I started talking to myself, "Please let this be his signature! Please let this be his signature!"  Sometimes players will want money or a donation for their autograph and will send back your items plus a price list.

I ran inside, got out the letter opener and BOOM (picture is what I saw)!  I'm instantly a kid in a candy store!  My favorite TTM success I have had since I started writing players again. 

EDIT:   What makes this success even better is Mr. O'Neill understood my project and added 21 on it without me asking.  And he normally doesn't add his # to his autograph!

Paul O'Neill was one of the greatest hitters of all-time in my mind.  Joe Buck/Tim McCarver team once referred to him as one of the only players in baseball that could think curveball and hit a fastball.  One of my favorite moments that happened at Yankee Stadium was Game 5 of the 2001 World Series when the entire stadium was chanting "Paul O-Neill! Paul O-Neill!".  It would be his last game in pinstripes as a player for the Yankees.  It gives me goose bumps thinking about it!  Thank You Mr. O'Neill for terrific surprise in the mail and I truly hope that my hunch is right and one day all your numbers will be retired by the most prestigious organization in all of sports!

Always Do Your Homework, Kiddos

In a recent article I read from PSA, I read where 60% of the Babe Ruth autographs that are sent in to be authenticated are deemed forgeries. As they point out, that's an astronomical number especially considering that only the really "high-end" forgeries will be sent in to be authenticated at $200 a pop for authentication fees. Nobody is going to waste a couple hundred dollars on a a cursive written Babe Ruth piece of paper that even a 12 year old with an internet connection could tell you is fake.

The lesson here is that there are more forgeries out there than real ones. I was lucky enough to purchase one last summer and it's sitting in my safety deposit box at the bank. I bought it already authenticated so it was deemed to be in the 40% that are considered genuine by their experts. It was a business card cut that was graded a 7 and slabbed by PSA.

The gentleman I purchased it from was the original owner and he had a story of when he met Babe Ruth and got his autograph. He detailed it down to the month and the year of the meeting as well as the place. The fact he was the one who received the autograph was the single biggest reason why I knew I had to have this signature. However, there was still one thing that needed to be done.

While the seller and I negotiated, we landed on a price that he was willing to accept and one I was willing to pay. However, bargaining was not complete on my end. I told him, I am willing to pay that price tag on one circumstance: I wanted him to write a letter that detailed his encounter with the "Babe" and I wanted it as detailed as possible.

He did exactly that for me and in his letter mentioned that there was an article in the local paper about the time Babe Ruth came to town and he met him. After all of the Operation Bambino, I got a little nervous about my Ruth although I shouldn't be. I had something that more Ruth autographs do not-- outstanding provenance from the original owner.

However, it still left me wondering. So I called up the newspaper and gave the month and the year of when Babe Ruth was in this guy's hometown and they told me it might take them a while to find it on microfilm because they weren't positive it would be in the "Sports" section.

Within 45 minutes of hanging up the phone, I had outstanding news in the form of an email with a PDF attachment. It was the article that appeared in the newspaper about Babe Ruth's stop into town. What made this even more special was that the article was a terrific summary of what the man wrote in the provenance letter, just not as detailed.

It left me feeling even better about my rare Ruth signature and probably added some value to it. With that said, it's very important to find out the history of your autographs with as much detail as possible. Get it in writing especially when the autograph costs more than a couple hundred dollars. Always do your homework!

#GRAPHNATION. Follow me on Twitter @GraphNation

Hal Chase Piece Leads To Another Halper Victim

I am a man of many projects and it seems one project leads to another. One of my current projects is collecting signatures of all of the Yankees Captains. I already have two of the toughest to find-- Kid Elberfeld (1906-1909) and Everett Scott (1922-1925).

Every collector has a "Want List" and at the top of mine is a Hal Chase autograph to fill perhaps the biggest hole in this project. I lost out on an auction in November and it's haunted me ever since.

I have a select group of dealers I purchase from and the one I buy most from told me I did the right thing not getting in too deep for the Chase. Had I won that auction in November, I would have likely paid close to $2k for it. He promises me that is crazy dollars and that I will be able to find one for about half that price down the road.

Last week, while I was driving to work, I pulled up eBay on my phone and saw there was a piece that just went to auction of Hal Chase. It was a signed portrait that came out of the Barry Halper collection and was auctioned off about a decade ago at MastroNet and Robert Edwards Auctions. Back then, not a lot of people questioned the Halper collection, but nowadays it's getting more thumbs down than approvals.

I immediately questioned the authenticity of the item because the e in Chase was a capital E. I went to my folder I have of Hal Chase exemplars and noticed my gut was right, none of my examples had a upper-case E on the end of his name. Looking at it even closer, there was so much wrong with the way they wrote Hal, just three letters they couldn't get right! I knew I had my opinion about it, and I wanted to hear from others. So I got a couple of other opinions from guys I thought would know and all three told me they would stay away from it.

That night, I noticed that the auction ended with a Best Offer $600. MastroNet auctioned this piece off for $613 10 years ago. Smells fishy! I feel bad for the seller, but I am guessing he has received word about the Halper Collection and is trying to get out of it what he put in. The next day, a fellow by the name of Sean came on Net54 and showed his Hal Chase autograph he had bought on eBay-- Yep, the same one! One of the same guys I asked his opinion for the previous day immediately replied to Sean's post saying in his opinion, it wasn't real. I added my two cents as well before editing it and writing him a private message.

After work, I called Sean and we talked for about 45 minutes and I explained to him all that I saw wrong with that particular piece. He said his brother had submitted it to PSA for a Quick Opinion and that he wasn't going to pay until the results of the Quick Opinion came back. The next morning, I got an email from Sean that PSA did in fact give a "Likely Not Genuine" opinion on the piece. He told the seller the results, and after some flack, the transaction was cancelled.

I noticed the next day, the Hal Chase piece was back on eBay. Less than 24 hours later, it was removed from eBay as a forgery. I am glad that Sean posted that on Net54 or else he would have been out $600. I feel bad for the guy that originally won this auction 10 years ago, but it is what it is. It's the worst part about this hobby-- being stuck with something you invested in as real.

I'm also very proud of myself for showing the discipline to pass on it when it's the most sought after piece on my "Want List." In the end, scarce autographs that I want and I can't easily find, give me time to study different exemplars and become somewhat of an expert on them. I immediately thought it was no good, and when I researched it, found it to be worse than I thought.

But it still leaves me searching for a Hal Chase! Preferrably in black ink! E-mail me if you have one for sale-- but include a scan! *WINK*

#GRAPHNATION. Follow me on Twitter @GraphNation

One Player Changes Perspective

I recently had a conversation with a guy I know that pitches in the Big Leagues. I had seen and heard rumors that the MLBPA has been urging players not to sign index cards anymore because of the fear of fraud. As the pitcher told me, "they're worried about identity theft."

With that in mind, I explained to him my reasoning why I prefer index cards over anything else. My perspective is very simple... I work on projects where I pick a theme, generally involving older players from the early 20th Century. I will try and find those signatures (more times than not on a cut or index card) and mat them with a picture above their signatures and get it framed for the wall in my Yankees Den.

My example I gave this player was:

ME: "Let's say I want to do a Yankees Catchers piece to put on my wall... I have index cards from Pat Collins (1927 Yankees), Yogi Berra, and Thurman Munson... I obviously want to include Jorge Posada in that piece because of how great he was at that position for the Yankees for so long. But it's going to look funny if the previous three are matted with a picture and an index card below them, and Jorge Posada's is a baseball card. To me, I'd want a Jorge Posada index card to keep a consistent theme for the piece. Back then, that's all they pretty much signed."

The guy I know is a pretty smart young man that just happens to have a good enough arm to pay the bills. His response to me was a genius solution to the problem facing most index card collectors these days:

PITCHER: "I try to make (my autograph) look different from my signature that I sign checks, other important documents with."

Bingo! That is brilliant and simple! Why didn't I think of that? I feel like that is the position the MLBPA should take in terms of mitigating the risk involved with their players signing items, yet still being able to protect the player while fulfilling autograph requests.

Last thing for today, I got an email a couple hours ago from this pitcher, which I am very pleased to share:

PITCHER: "I recently visited X-Y-Z Gallery which has a ton of collection items and saw what you are talking about with the index cards. It actually makes a very nice way to display certain items, and I will probably sign those cards from now on and just take the risk!"

I'm very pleased to see one player listen to us collectors and be able to see it from our perspective! While it may be only one player out of 750+ Big Leaguers, I consider it one small battle won.

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