10/25/08: Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch

Second time in the early year that Syracuse faces Rochester (AHL Affiliate of the Florida Panthers). It was also a special night used to honor boxing Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio, as well as Pink Out Night for breast cancer. Due to the Pink Out night, Daniel Baldwin showed up for support of his mother's foundation. Between periods, Basilio was signing free photos, which was great. As for Baldwin, I found out right before I left that he would probably be there so I printed off a photo. He was never really accessible, however, I just happened to pass by him after getting my Basilio autograph, and he signed for me. It was a pretty sweet night. We decided to get Syracuse players after the game, as it was wide open outside of the Crunch locker room.

Cards:

Syracuse
Adam Pineault - 1
Mike York - 3
Craig MacDonald - 1
Dan Smith - 1
Aaron Rome - 2

Overall Hockey Cards Signed 2008-09 Season - 15


Photos:

Carmen Basilio (Boxing HOFer)
Daniel Baldwin (Actor)

Pucks:

Maxim Mayorov

10/24/08: Binghamton Senators vs Syracuse Crunch

Tonight, I decided to try to get the visiting Binghamton Senators in their first of four visits to Syracuse. Since I am awful with faces and since I only had cards of three players, I decided to print out a logo sheet, like the ones I used in Auburn Doubledays games. Overall, that came out great and I was able to get 4 of my 5 cards signed!

Cards:

Binghamton
Brendan Bell - 2
Ryan Shannon - 2

Overall Hockey Cards Signed in 2008-09 Season: 7

Other Items:

Binghamton Logo Sheet (18 signed)
#24 - Derek Smith
#8 - Tomas Kudelka
#15 - Danny Bois
#13 - Peter Regin
#38 - Chaz Johnson
#23 - Josh Hennessy
#33 - Jeremy Yablonski
Coach - Cory Clouston
#22 - Matt Carkner
#35 - Jeff Glass
#9 - Shawn Weller
#7 - Brendan Bell
#41 - Alexander Nikulin
#36 - Ilya Zubov
#16 - Cody Bass
#26 - Ryan Shannon
#19 - Zack Smith
#20 - Mattias Karlsson

10/16/08: World Poker Tour Event at Niagara Falls

Day two of our time near the poker room was very uneventful. Neither Erik Seidel nor any other player was in the stands watching, so my only two possibilities were Kathy Liebert and Gavin Smith. Gavin was my main goal, so we showed up a bit early hoping to run into him. After sitting in a chair in the hallway for a bit talking, Gavin finally came walking down the hall. I did not move from the chair, didn't even uncross my legs, and called him over to ask him to sign my Razor card of him. He was nice, and I have to say it was probably the least effort I ever had to put in to getting an autograph. I decided Liebert wasn't worth really bothering to get on a card, so that is all I got.


Cards:
Gavin Smith - 1

10/15/08: World Poker Tour Event in Niagara Falls

Sadly, even on vacation I try to get autographs. We had been planning on seeing a WPT event live for awhile, so this would be fun. Unfortuately, I forgot most of my stuff in the hotel room and realized it after walking to the casino. I ended up buying a Sharpie and a deck of Niagara Fallsview Casino playing cards and made it to the WPT poker area with about 12 players left. I recognized three players: Erik Seidel, Kathy Liebert, and Gavin Smith. The bothersome part was that I had cards of all three of them in my hotel room, from the Razor set!

Well, I was able to get Erik Seidel in the hallway after he busted out. He seemed rather disappointed, of course, but was polite and signed my King of Hearts card. Then, as the players went to dinner break, I was able to get Kathy Liebert to sign my Queen of Hearts. At this point we gave up, knowing that we were going to watch the final table the next day. Overall, not bad, but disappointing to not have the cards instead!

Items Signed:

King of Hearts Playing Card by Erik Seidel
Queen of Hearts Playing Card by Kathy Liebert

10/11/08: Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch

Home opener for the Syracuse Crunch and it was relatively uneventful. I stood outside after the game, going after Syracuse players. My main goal was Nikita Filatov. I felt he would be called up soon, so I decided he was my goal. I was able to get him on a puck, however I was unable to find my silver Sharpie, so I borrowed another guy's silver marker. It didn't come out good at all, but at least I have a signed puck of him. Other than that, just lucked out and got some cards.

Cards:

Syracuse
Dan LaCosta - 1
Jonathan Sigalet - 2

Other:

Signed Puck by Nikita Filatov (Syracuse)

9/13/08: Penn State vs Syracuse College Football

During the very boring (autograph wise) month between baseball and hockey, I have really only had one autograph experience. This was before the Syracuse University and Penn State football game. I was meeting the guy who invited me to the game, but I decided to get there about an hour early, as the premiere for the movie "The Express" happened the night before, and I had a gut feeling that the many ex-Syracuse football players, as well as the movie stars would show up during the pregame festivities. I was correct on this feeling, as Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown (he played Ernie Davis in the movie) were there doing some interviews before going into the Carrier Dome for the game. I missed out on Quaid twice, which was disappointing. I was able to get Rob Brown to sign a movie poster, as well as a Syracuse bumper sticker that was handed out. Not a bad deal. Unfortunately, it sounded like I missed Art Monk by meer minutes and a couple other players I had cards of (such as Don McPherson). Overall, it was kind of nice to get an autograph of an actor for once.

Autographs:

The Express Movie Poster signed by actor Rob Brown
Syracuse Football Sticker signed by actor Rob Brown

9/2/08: Mahoning Valley Scrappers vs Auburn Doubledays

What looks to be my last game of the season, we see Auburn against Mahoning Valley, who is Cleveland's Short A club. Pretty much only came for one reason. That was to get Travis Fryman, the Scrappers' head coach.

Cards:

Travis Fryman - 3

Probable Final Total of Different Baseball Cards Signed in 2008: 596

Probable Final Number in 2008 Prospect Book for 2008 Season: 112/900

Probable Final Number in 2006 Prospect Book for 2006 Season: 172/900

9/1/08: S/WB Yankees vs Syracuse Chiefs

Syracuse season finale + S/WB insanity + me having to work = Showing up before the buses even get to the stadium. This was the first time I have ever done this, and I am not sure I will do it often again. Basically, since I couldn't stay after the game, I decided to take a shot at possibly getting a signature or two when the buses arrived. This was pointless as everyone on the two S/WB buses ignored the few of us there, except Kei Igawa. I got him to sign a card, but it was one I already had. Between the buses, I got a few Syracuse guys on my yearbook, but was very disappointed that Kevin Mench snubbed me not once, but twice! I went 0 for Mench this year, which blew.

The positive part came a bit later, as we saw Melky Cabrera's car show up. We were able to run down to where he was let out, and he signed for everyone. It was only 1 per, but it was great to not have to have 20 bodies pressed against me while I tried to get him.

I saw Billy Traber leaving the stadium before the game started and he snubbed me. This guy is a piece of work that should just be happy that someone would ask for his autograph after his consistant shellings while on the Yankees roster.

Inside, I went to the S/WB side (I was late as I was getting snubbed for the second time by Mench while the gates opened 20 minutes early). The only person I got to sign was David Robertson, and that was the end of my Syracuse year. I heard Hughes and Duncan didn't sign after the game, so I guess I didn't miss much by working!

Books:

Melky Cabrera (2006)
David Robertson (2008)

Cards:

Kei Igawa (Repeat card)

Misc:

Chiefs Yearbook (All on their yearbook page, unless noted)
Scott Richmond (Cover)
Curtis Thigpen
Hector Luna
Russ Adams
Pedro Lopez
Mike Gosling

8/31/08: Scranton/WB Yankees vs Syracuse Chiefs

Doubleheader today and overall an awful experience. Of course, this is the norm for a series with makeshift Yankee fans and players like Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Shelley Duncan, etc. being down. If you've ever warn a Yankee uniform, the fans in the Syracuse area with kiss your ass hardcore. Pregame we made the bad decision of picking the far end, rather than being in the middle of everyone. This cost us chances at Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera. I lucked out to get Kennedy and Moeller to at least make that first hour worth something.

Between games I was able to get Kevin Melillo to sign for me. Luckily he didn't play in the first game so he had to actually come out, unlike Kevin Mench.

After the game, the barricades were up and very narrow. Unfortunately, on the other side was a tall goofy guy at the beginning of the lines. He was able to reach out and once the players signed for him, the majority went down his row. Due to him, I missed Hughes, Duncan, and a few others I needed. I lucked out that Victor Zambrano decided to make my card one of the three he signed walking out. Other than that, Nick Green turned just in time to get us, after being on the other side to start.

The worst part of it all was that after waiting for the coaches to come out, Alvaro Espinosa snubbed the few of us who wanted him. ALVARO ESPINOSA! That alone sums up your night, when a career lower .200 hitting player snubs everyone.

Cards:

Syracuse
Kevin Mellilo - 1

S/WB
Ian Kennedy - 1
Chad Moeller - 1
Nick Green - 1
Victor Zambrano - 1

Different Baseball Cards in 2008: 593

8/30/08: State College Spikes vs Auburn Doubledays

Running into my last few days of baseball, we decided to go out to Auburn since former major leaguer Sid Bream is the hitting coach of State College (Short Season A for Pittsburgh) . As per the usual, the only autographing I did was pregame. I got everything I needed.

Books:

Quincy Latimore (2008)

Cards:

Sid Bream - 2

Different Baseball Cards this year: 588

8/28/08: Toby Keith Concert

After winning two tickets in a karaoke contest earlier in the day, I went to the Toby Keith concert. After the show was over, two of the three opening acts were signing autographs. The line was about 10 people long, so we figured why not. Not wanting to spend actual money, I was able to get:

Trailer Choir: All three band members (plus some other guy) on my ticket stub.

Carters Chord: All three band members on a little promotional card that had their pictures on it.

Not a bad deal when I entered the day not thinking anything about autographs

8/24/08: Rochester Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs

A sad day today, as this will be my final full Chiefs game of the year. The only game I can make it to is a doubleheader next Sunday, but those aren't "full" games. This will also be the last time that things aren't insane at the stadium, as the Scranton W/B Yankees will most likely have Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, and rumors of Joba Chamberlain with them. No point in really trying in these cases, unless I was to get really lucky.

Things today went so-so, as I was only able to get Travis Snider before the game in my prospect book. After the game looked much worse, as I went to the Syracuse side and skipped over Snider to try to get newly sent down Shaun Marcum. Marcum ignored us as he walked to his car on the phone, and I missed Snider. So after getting one guy from Syracuse, I went over to the Rochester side. Phil Humber snubs us, while signing for some white trash kid and his cardboard box..... I blame the fact that they left the stupid barricades up. This reminds me of early in the Syracuse Crunch season, when barricades were put up for opposing teams. Luckily, we found ways around that. I did get Luke Hughes on a ticket stub, since I had nothing for him and never got him to sign before.

Well, after getting a whole four autographs, we leave dejected. This is where the story gets interesting. We left, end up getting turned around, as we decided to get a couple groceries, and who do we notice driving right next to us? SHAUN MARCUM! We end up going along our way and decided that we would detour and take a chance at going back to the stadium for a minute. Sure enough, Marcum shows up. It ends up being just us there, and he ends up signing all that I had with me. He was very nice, which was the total opposite of what we expected after the ignoring as he originally left. I guess sometimes going on a whim can be a good thing.

Books:

Shaun Marcum (2006)
Travis Snider (2008)

Cards:

Syracuse
Travis Snider - 1
Chris George - 1
Shaun Marcum - 4

Rochester
Bobby Kielty - 1 (2006 Oakland Heritage card..will hopefully get more in the future on it)

Misc:

Rochester's Luke Hughes on ticket Stub

2008 Baseball Cards Signed: 586

8/23/08: Buffalo Bisons vs Syracuse Chiefs

You could almost call this my Syracuse finale, as there are only four days of home games left, and I can really only make two of those. One of which is tomorrow vs Rochester, whom I have two possible guys left to get anything from, and the other is Scranton W/B, which is going to be a mob scene. Tonight, all rehabbers but Josh Barfield blew everyone off. In fact, Morgan Ensberg came out with a hat pulled over his face. Dude, there are barricades up, you don't need to hide..we see you.

Before the game, I lucked out and was let in before the end of BP, which let me get my Jeff Weavers out of the way. Aside from that, things went relatively ok after the game, with the exception of Josh Barfield. He finally decides to sign near the bus. I bring my 2006 prospect book over with my pen... Of course, with the fun I've had trying to get Barfield this whole year, I'm sure I could have predicted what happened next. That would be him taking the same sharpie he signed the last thing with and he signed my book with it. Yup, 169 players follow procedure of using a damn pen, but Barfield can't do that. Luckily, he didn't sign too hard and I am not very anal about the book (last year I felt I should get the same color for each, etc..but I have lightened up). It just sucks, as I think sharpie looks awful on it. Anyways...

Books:

Aaron Laffey (2008)
Josh Barfield (2006)

Cards:

John Halama - 2
Aaron Laffey - 1
Tom Mastny - 2
Todd Linden - 2
Tony Graffanino - 3
Brian Slocum - 1
Jeff Weaver - 3
Jonathan Meloan - 1

Total Baseball Cards Signed This Year: 579

8/22/08: Buffalo Bisons vs Syracuse Chiefs

I got stuck working until 10pm, so I figured to not have a shot at getting anything after the game, since it was a 7pm start. Low and behold, I get out of work and the game is only in the 8th inning, so I was able to try to get the Bisons after the game. Unfortunately, things were not meant for me and the three rehabbing players (Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, and Josh Barfield). Barfield and Martinez signed for a few (the same few actually..who consist of a dealer and his kids...) and Hafner blew everyone off. I was able to get a couple, although it wasn't a great night.

Books:

John Meloan (2008)

Cards:

Torey Lovullo (Manager) - 2
Jeff Weaver - 3
Jeff Harris - 2
Jorge Velandia - 1

Baseball cards this year: 564

Errors

I was looking over some of my earlier blogs this year and found that I did not include 7 cards into my totals early on for this year. That means every 100th-500th signed card I noted was wrong, and that my total as of the New Hampshire/Binghamton game is 556 not 549. Apparently I cannot add.

8/19/08: New Hampshire Fisher Cats vs Binghamton Mets

It was a beautiful day for what looks to be my Binghamton finale for the year. Tonight they took on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double A for Toronto). I made it there before BP even began, so I was able to snag a couple Binghamton players, although, as usual I was much more successful with the visiting team. New Hampshire was great, as I even had a couple players approach me while I was having a teammate sign. I thought that was pretty cool, even though I didn't need one of the guys (David Smith). I got him while he was with Syracuse, so I kind of felt bad not having anything for him to sign! Also for the Binghamton Mets, Luis Castillo was rehabbing. I was happy to have him sign the one card he did for me, although it seemed like others were getting two, which sucks. But I am not a dealer, so I'll get over it, lol! I was going to do the Mets pregame, but with all of the dealers looking for Castillo, I filled up on the rest of New Hampshire that I missed, excluding Brad Mills who was starting. I have to laugh at all the fuss over Castillo, I mean, he isn't exactly that great of a player in the first place, but I digress.

Books:

Jared Gothreaux (2006)
Robert Ray (2006)
Jacob Butler (2006)
Brian Dopirak (2006)
Andrew Pinckney (2006)
Ryan Patterson (Both)
Zach Dials (2008)
J.P. Arencibia (2008)

Cards:

Binghamton
Mike Carp - 1
Edgar Alfonzo - 1
Salvador Paniagua - 1
Luis Natera (Hitting Coach) - 1
Luis Castillo - 1
Eric Brown - 2

New Hampshire
Jared Gothreaux - 1
Eric Nielsen - 1
Marty McLeary - 2
J. P. Arencibia - 1

Different Baseball Cards Signed This Year: 549

8/18/08: Syracuse University Orangefest

My goal for this open football practice was to purchase a media guide and have players sign in it, as I see no point in using the provided schedule poster to get loads of autographs in. Unfortunately, I saw no booths selling merchandise, so I didn't bother. What I did luck out on was bringing my Chris Gedney cards on a whim. I ran into him and was able to get him to sign what I had, which was only two different cards. Still, better than nothing.

Cards:

Chris Gedney - 2

8/17/08: Rochester Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs

I was unhappy to not be able to show up for photo/autograph day for the Chiefs, but I was able to try to get autographs after the game, which turned out pretty successful. A shocker overall was that Philip Humber even cracked a smile, too.

Books:

Philip Humber (2008)

Cards:

Syracuse
Kevin Melillo - 1
Al LeBoeuf (Hitting Coach) - 1
Bill Murphy - 1

Rochester
Danny Graves - 2
Bobby Kielty - 1
Stu Cliburn (Pitching Coach) - 1
Sergio Santos - 1
Alejandro Machado - 1
Howie Clark - 1
Jason Pridie - 1
Kevin Mulvey - 1
Tom Shearn - 1

Different Baseball Cards Signed This Year: 537

8/16/08: Rochester Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs

Part two of today brings us to the after game attempts at autographs in Syracuse. This was the main event with anti-autograph pitcher Philip Humber being the guy I wanted to get. Well, for the first time in Syracuse, Humber picked up a pen. However, he only signed three or four things. Luckily, as I walk with him after his "my ride is waiting for me" excuse, he signed for me. (This excuse is lame, as he was driving himself and his wife or girlfriend). Biggest suckhole tonight was Kevin Mulvey. I grabbed what I had for him, as I didn't have time to look and see what I had. Turns out I had both of the cards that Mulvey signed. This is a good thing, as his signature looks like the number three on the ones he gave me. Apparently he was in a hurry...but I would think instead of three squiggles that look nothing like a signature, that he'd just say he'd get me tomorrow. Oh well.

Books:

Trevor Plouffe (Both)
Philip Humber (2006)

Cards:

Trevor Plouffe - 1
Tim Lahey - 1
Ricky Barrett - 1
Danny Graves - 2
Bobby Kielty - 1
Matt Macri - 1

8/16/08: Batavia Muckdogs vs Auburn Doubledays

This is the first stop of a double day (no pun intended) of baseball games. I started off going to Auburn, since it was baseball card night. The way Auburn sets it up is that you get a free team set when you enter, then the players sign at tables for about 25 minutes. They are in alphabetical order, but it can be a bit of a rush since there is no real "line" even though the majority start at the coaches and the beginning of the alphabet and try to get straight ahead until the end. I am happy to say I was able to get everyone to sign, including the trainer. That being said, I do not think I will include the trainer towards my numbers..no offense, lol. After that, I was able to get the only Batavia (short single A for the St Louis Cardinals) Muckdog that I needed. Overall a good deal!

Cards:

Batavia
Thomas Eager - 1

Auburn
Dennis Holmberg (Manager) - 1
Antonio Caceres (Pitching Coach) - 1
Charles Poe (Hitting Coach) - 1
Adam Amar - 1
Bobby Bell - 1
Joel Carreno - 1
Joel Collins - 1
Evan Crawford - 1
Justin Cryer - 1
Matthew Daly - 1
Jon Del Campo - 1
Chris Demons - 1
Danny Farquhar - 1
Chris Hopkins - 1
Chris House - 1
Charles Huggins - 1
Bryan Kervin - 1 (500th different autographed baseball card in 2008!!!)
Andrew Liebel - 1
Michael McDade - 1
Jay Monti - 1
Hunter Moody - 1
Bartolo Nicolas - 1
Castillo Perez - 1
Luis Rivera - 1
Jason Roenicke - 1
Mark Sobolewski - 1
Leance Soto - 1
Karim Turkamani - 1
Brian Van Kirk - 1
Carlos Vasquez - 1
Marcus Walden - 1
Josh Wells - 1
Matthew Wright - 1

Different Baseball Cards Signed This Year: 517