Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Things Overheard at the Shop.....2011 !!!, The Saga Continues.......

Oh C'mon!!!!  I'm hanging by a thread here.  Don't leave a brother hangin' like this.

Ditto....

swingin from the gallows pole here!

O.k. folks, I can't sleep so I guess I finally have time for an update.

A couple weekends ago, a guy came in with a box of autographed baseballs and a few vintage cards. He was a former collector that was getting out of the hobby. I found a nice 1968 Topps Ernie Banks card in the small album of cards that he brought in. It was in very good shape unlike most of the others he had. I set it aside as we began to take a look at the autographed baseballs. My heart began to race as the man pulled a ball out of the box. It was in a ball cube for protection. "I got this one signed at a show" he said holding the ball proudly. "Atlee Hammaker" the man smiled. Atlee Hammaker, really? I couldn't be more disappointed. "Here is another one" he continued pulling out another Atlee Hammaker signed ball. "I got these two here as well" he said. "Rick Honeycutt" he displayed the ball proudly and then pulled out another one to match it. You see folks, back in the early 90s there was a fairly large card show every February on the campus of my alma mater, Tennessee Tech University. The university's baseball coach at the time would promote the show and have a Major Leaguer on hand to sign autographs. I got to meet such all time greats as: Braves Infielder Glenn Hubbard, Tigers pitcher Steve Searcy, Cubs pitcher Mike Harkey, and you guessed it, Giants lefty Atlee Hammaker, and good 'ol Rick Honeycutt of the A's. The man continued on, "I went to a lot of shows back in the day. I've got a couple of other baseballs here also. I got this one signed in Atlanta but I have forgotten who it was" he concluded placing the following baseball on my display case........



"That is Nolan Ryan" I confirmed to the man. "That's right!" he exclaimed! "I couldn't remember for the life of me whose signature that was" he said looking relieved. He then turned to his wife and said, "Show him your autograph, honey." The woman then pulled out a small envelope that was slightly yellowed. There was a date written on the envelope. The year was 1982. The lady then pulled out an autographed 1968 Topps Hank Aaron card. "We got this when the mall in town first opened" she said. "I waited in line for hours to get it" she said with a smile. For years I had heard stories from local long time collectors about Hank Aaron signing autographs at the grand opening at the mall in town back in the early 80s. That info along with the fact that I attended the same local shows where Atlee Hammaker and Rick Honeycutt had been signing made me feel very good about the authenticity of the Nolan Ryan ball. It also made me feel even better when the man whipped out the final baseball from his box and said, "I got this one signed at a show in Nashville back in the late 80s."



.......................... ..............

There it was a Mickey Mantle autographed baseball signed right on the sweet spot. It had been years since I owned one. Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of another one, along with a Nolan Ryan autographed ball, and a sharp 1968 Topps Ernie Banks card. I just love happy endings.

Holy schnikey's that makes coming to work worthwhile,you have to kiss alot of frogs to find a prince,but that mantle and ryan were well worth it,Congrats on your finds,take care Steve

Congratulations, Chad. Great stuff right there....

After my score with the autographed baseballs a couple weekends ago, I thought last weekend would only bring more rare treasures. Well, I was wrong. A man brought in a plastic toolbox filled with beat up early 90s Pro Set football commons which oddly enough contained a stack of 2003 Topps Pristine baseball cards........ I never really associated those two products until now. The stash contained several star base: Pujols, Jeter, Ichiro, Mattingly, Willie Mays, and a couple Ryan Howard RCs, a Hanley Ramirez RC, and 3 Robinson Cano RCs. I was excited to get these because I knew I could sell them right away. For the record, I only bought the stack of Pristine. I passed on the Pro Set.

Last weekend wouldn't have been complete without some interesting questions from customers though. You see, over the past couple of years in this ongoing thread we have learned a lot about some of the most important questions in our hobby. Things like, "Do I buy cards or do I only sell them?", "Are my autographs real?", "Am I open every weekend or does my entire shop fold up into a briefcase for easy carrying and storage?", "Do I know how much a 24 carat gold Dale Earnhardt Home Shopping Club special is worth?", and of course, "Do I sell cell phone covers, video games, or pork rinds?", and most importantly, "Do I know where the bathroom is?" These burning questions have all been asked time and time again..........and answered time and time again.

Another popular question has been asked of me many times over the years, although the players in question have changed with the season. People have a really hard time understanding the concept that college athletes do not have any licensed cards produced until they leave school to turn pro or they graduate. In essence when their collegiate eligibility has ended then the major card companies start to produce their cards. Of course some college stars have had a few team issued cards or cards in magazines like SI for Kids but that is just too exhausting to explain so I generally just go with the response that they must first declare their intentions to leave school early for the pros or graduate before they have any cards made. I have had to give this response literally hundreds of times over the years. Many times I have had to give the same response to the SAME PERSON regarding different college athletes within a span of 30 seconds! I have had this question a lot over the last couple years concerning: Tim Tebow, Eric Berry, John Wall, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, Tim Tebow, Jimmer Fredette, Tim Tebow.......you get the idea. I had not been asked about one guy though.......until now.

A guy came in with his grandson. The kid was probably around 10 or so. He looked around and whispered to grandpa who then apparently translated those thoughts into English and verbalized them to me.......which at times required a bit of translation on my part as well. "My grandboy loves these cards" the man began. "He knows everthang about 'em." "He can tell you anythang you need to know about these players. He has a whole cabinet at home full of cards. He is a big Vols fan. He is Tennessee crazy" the man just continued to wow me with facts about his "grandboy". The kid continued to look around and whisper to his grandpa. He then located the monster box of former UT Vols players that I keep on my showcase which contains the autographs and GU of former UT Vols players (I know.....it is the last place I would look also) and he began to dig through the box. I then knew, it was on! Of course it was off very quickly when the man began to relay questions from the "grandboy" who five minutes earlier was the world's foremost authority on everything sports. "Does Tee Martin still play ball?" the man asked. I had to then explain that Tee spent a couple years in the NFL as a backup/practice squad player then went into broadcasting and now coaching. "Eric Berry still plays, don't he?" the man again asked on behalf of the kid. I then explained that Eric Berry did in fact "still play" and had just completed a fairly successful rookie season in the NFL. After more looking through the box, the moment I had waited for arrived. The "grandboy" spoke !!! He actually spoke to me directly! Oh happy day! "Do you have any cards of Tom Bray?" the boy asked. "Tom Brady?" I asked for clarification. "No, the Vols quarterback, Tom Bray" the boy confirmed. Yes that's right, the wonderkid who is "Tennessee crazy" didn't even know the name of the team's QB. "Oh, you mean Tyler Bray" I finally understood. I then had to explain again about college players and when they have cards produced and yada yada yada. The kid then moved on to my $5 GU box and began conferring with his grandpa again. I heard lots of whispers and talk of, "Well, if you want it then get it" and such. Then the man asked me yet another doozy on behalf of the kid, "Does Warren Moon still play?" I then had to explain that the 54 year old Moon no longer played in the NFL and had been retired for 11 years and was now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yep these folks are really up on their sports knowledge. The man then rattled off what might very well go down as the understatement of the century, "I don't know nothing about ball but my grandboy is crazy about it." I didn't even have a response. I just let that statement speak for itself. What happened next though had me afraid the go home later that day. You see after they made their purchase of a couple $5 GU cards, the man handed the boy the car keys and said, "I'll let you take her home, but we have to go the backroads." Look both ways my friends, he is out there somewhere.

Hahahaha, good Ole Tom Bray. Combination 6th round gem/Man with wierd tattoo.

Great stories man, especially that Mantle one. Needless to say, that was well worth the wait.

If you find any Tom Bray cards, hold em for me =p... wait... he still plays right?

Candy bar? $10,000? These have to come into play somewhere.

I snorted out loud when I read he was going to let the youngster drive home.

Chad, if you can get your hands on those autographed balls of Hammaker, Honeycutt and whomever, I might take them for a good price. I've got a shelf in my office I'm trying to populate with autographed balls and those are some great names of guys that I stuffed my card binders with in the 80s and 90s. I would love to be able to put one or two on my shelf.

Right now I've got guys like Denny McClain, Rusty Greer, Mark McClemore and Todd Hollandsworth right next to Curt Schilling, Duke Snider, and Robin Roberts.

So, let me know.

Must be hard sometimes not to just do a facepalm.

Candy bar? $10,000?  These have to come into play somewhere.

Doh! How could I forget? That story will be coming next.......

haha the stories are back and hilarous still!!!

Is Warren Moon still playing?..hahah!!

how many touch downs did micheal phelps have at the track meet?

j

Ha.....trick question. Michael Phelps is a snowboarder not a pommel horse champion.

how many touch downs did micheal phelps have at the track meet?

j

lol

oopso

just curious - how much did you pay for the mantle ball?

Whatever happened that interesting kid that used to come and bug you years ago?

Yeah!!!! Where's packlets?

Whatever happened that interesting kid that used to come and bug you years ago?

Yeah!!!! Where's packlets?

YEA! Packlets!

Don't worry folks, Packlets is alive and well. I see him every weekend. His dad does maintainence for the facility. He spends most of his time in the video game shop at the other end of the building. He likes to hang around there and play PS3.......... and that is fine with me! He did stop by and bust a couple of packlets of 2010-11 Prestige Basketball a few weeks ago. He is still chasing a GU or AUTO of his idol, Kobe Bryant.

As for my reference to the candy bar, baseballs, and $10,000, that is an interesting story. It actually took place the next day after the guy had brought in the Mantle and Ryan autographed baseballs. A guy that I had never seen before came strolling up to me with a baseball firmly entrenched in his hand. His palm covered 90% of the ball. All I could see was the stitching of one of the seams. He held his arm straight out, ball in hand, and said, "Would you give me $10,000 for what I have in my hand?" "Probably not" I responded. Then he slowly opened his hand to reveal a Babe Ruth 100th Birthday Commemorative baseball with the Babe's career stats and facsimilie AUTO on the sweet spot. "I asked Larry Harris if he would give me $10,000 for it and he said he wouldn't give me 10 cents" he continued. Of course that statement was somewhat amusing and pretty much summed up how I felt as well. The more amusing part is that I guess I am supposed to know who in the heck Larry Harris is. The guy then pulled out another baseball from his pocked and said, "What about this 'un?" It was a Mickey Mantle commemorative ball similar to the Ruth except this one also had a photo of The Mick on it. "I never even heard of him before" the guy admitted pointing to the Mantle ball. "You've never heard of Mickey Mantle?" I asked somewhat suprised. "Naw, never heard of him" the guy confirmed. Another vendor walked up spotting the baseballs like a vulture lying in wait for the perfect time to pounce on a rotting carcas. "What do you have there?" the other vendor asked. "Two baseballs, one of 'um is Baby Ruth, the other'n is Mickey Mays". I actually laughed out loud and snorthed a tiny bit. Another passer by slowed to try and catch a peek at the goods. They guy held up the Ruth ball and said, "Baby Ruth!" and looked at the passer by with distain. I continued to laugh and eventually the small crowd dispersed and the treasures were put away before another traffic jam developed. You see I have been very fortunate over the last few weeks to learn about the great slugger Hank Robinson and now the legendary Mickey Mays! I have also been fortunate enough to see a candy bar with a $10,000 price tag that looked strangely like a baseball. You just never know what you are going to see at a place like that.