On the Signing Front

Time to get a few things off the pile from the signing front.

We start with some thanks.

Thanks to Kendall Morris for the 1976 SSPC Craig Swan card.
I recently finally bought a set of SSPC's after wanting one for years,so I always love getting those signed...

Thanks to Mike Oravec for continuing to give my cards of the Indians,Pirates and Giants/
The big scores this time were former Bucco skipper Jim Leyland,Cory Snyder as a Giant and "Lightning" Lonnie Smith as a Pirate among others..

Thanks to Tom O'Brien,who worked on the Akron Rubber Ducks in the home opener for the Bowie BaySox.
The best additions were Tyler Naquin,Cody Anderson and Joe Wendle on their Heritage cards,but the most interesting was Justin Toole on his Carolina and Akron team set cards.
Toole was one of those players that never seemed to be where I was when I saw Carolina and Akron last season,so I was glad to finally get him.

Thanks to Derreck Chupak,who got some Mets and Yankees players for me in a trip to Salisbury MD and the Delmarva Shorebirds.
The top Charleston players were first rounder Aaron Judge and top 100 member Miguel Andujar,while Savannah was paced by the Mets top pick Dominic Smith and infielder Gavin Cecchini.

Derreck,Brad and I made a pilgrimage to Reading PA for the Ryne Sandberg bobble.
Reading,which after our first trip instituted the "Chupak Rule" of one fan one bobble, hosted the Harrisburg Senators and we did pre-game for the Senators.
I had very little,but did get the always engaging Quincy Lattimore on his 2013 Akron card.
Quincy is one of those players that you hope would make the big time,just because he's so nice.
Drew Vettleson is new to the Nationals organization and was very nice in signing all four cards.
I also got Mitch Canham on his Oregon State card on an old Elite.
I always love those college cards in the day before Elite lost the rights to use the college logos.
Matt Skole signed his heritage in finishing off the small deck of cards on the day.

I had very little for the Lakewood Blue Claws,as most of their stuff had been finished already.
Other than a Blue Wave refractor of Dylan Cozens,there was little of note...

A trip to Altoona and the world's worst ushers brought the Richmond Flying Squirrels to town and being a Giants affiliate,I had some stuff for them.
Sadly the team's top prospect,Kyle Crick,started the game,so I didn't get any cards for him finished,but I did get pitching prospects Clayton Blackburn and Adelberto Meija on their cards.
Another nice addition was Richmond pitching coach Jerry Cram on his 1971 Topps.
This was also Steeler day at Curve.Pa and they brought the one Steeler that I cared about as former Buckeye Cameron Heyward was the guest.
Heyward signed my Buckeye mini helmet,so now I need to get another.
I always like to have a Buckeye and Brown helmet around that are blank for just that type of situation on short notice....

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans came to Frederick with one of the two deepest teams of prospects around (Wilmington is the other) and didn't disappoint.
I had four cards for power hitting third sacker Joey Gallo,who was standing right out front by the concession stand as we walked into the stadium.
Gallo was very nice and signed all for everyone except one person that had oodles of stuff,but still signed a large amount there.
Another top prospect in Jorge Alfaro signed five cards and yet another in Nick Williams signed both of his.
Cody Buckel was once a hot prospect,having been in the Bowman Top 100 subset last season and in AA,but something had went awry with his control and he had fallen to High A.
Since Cody left the Carolina League,he was in every set that Topps makes it seems,so I was loaded.
Buckel signed three,but I got the Top 100,so that was all that mattered,although his Carolina League prospect and Heritage were pretty cool too....
We also were excited to add the comebacking Jason Knapp,who signed his 2009 SAL Top Prospect card and his only card as a Lake County Captain.
Knapp was the key part of the Indians trade with the Phillies that saw Cliff Lee head to Philly,but had so many injury issues that other than a few games with the Captains,would not pitch in the Cleveland organization and wound up retiring.
Knapp was very nice and an easy to root for player.
Plus it's always neat to get cards signed out of the box when you think that there is no chance those are getting signed...

However,the story of the day was with Pelican reliever Keone Kela,who refused to sign an index card for "Index Card Bob".
Bob attempted to talk Kela into signing it,Kela didn't bite and walked away into the clubhouse.
Bob was quite vocal in his responses and Kela had to have heard him.
When Kela emerged from the clubhouse,Brad asked him to sign (I didn't have anything for him) and was blown off.
Kela got halfway down the steps,stopped,turned around and said "Guess now you guys can write in your little books that I'm a D@#%head".
It kinda surprised us because he was not a guy with a bad reputation or anything.
Derreck said he was very nice the next evening,so I guess "ICB"'s complaints just got to him.
I'm sure it can happen that a good guy can just get upset for a brief moment.

That takes some stuff off the pile,so this post buys me a little time before the next edition....