PiratesFest Recap AUTOGRAPHS, PHOTOS, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!

Last weekend I attended PiratesFest for the first time since 2010.  I normally can't attend because I work in retail and trying to get time off a few days before Christmas on a weekend, well....for those of you that work retail you know what that is like.  Fortunately for me, my store had inventory last week and I had to change my normal days off around and just happened to get Saturday and Sunday off.  It worked out great because me and the lil lady went to Pittsburgh and had an absolute blast.

We got into Pittsburgh around 7am Saturday morning and went to the hotel for early checkin.  The hotel thankfully graciously handed us two keys and we passed out around 7:15.  The doors for Saturday opened at noon, but fans could get in line before that and a select few autograph sessions previously sold out online would be available at 11am before the doors opened.  I got to the ticket booth right at 11 and grabbed a session with Starling Marte, Al Oliver, and Jack Wilson.

Before the signing began, I went to the photo opp booth to get my picture taken with a familiar face to the Pirates organization, AJ Burnett.

AJ is one of my favorite personalities in the Pirates clubhouse in recent years.  Since the lady friend is a Phillies fan she was excited to meet AJ also (even though he didn't have a great season with them last year).

I've gotten so many things signed by Starling signed in the past that I really just wanted an autographed card with him and to have my picture taken with him.

Mission accomplished.

Next up was getting an autographed ball (and postcard) signed by a man that could be in the conversation for the Hall of Fame, Mr. Al Oliver.  Al was very friendly to the fans all weekend long including signing his book in the Majestic store.  I tried to get my picture taken with him in the photoline, but it didn't come out very well.

This man needs no introduction if you followed the Pirates during their terrible stretch in the early 2000s.  Seeing Jack Wilson on ESPN webgems was a nightly occurence as he chased down and dove for any ball in the infield before he ultimately got traded to Seattle in 2009.

I was able to get 3 cards signed by the former shortstop.

I also purchased an autograph session with Gregory Polanco, John Smiley, and Jeff Locke.  Funny story about Jeff was that I got to ride in the eleveator with him for 22 floors before the FanFest started and he was incredibly nice and friendly to me making small chat about the weather, who I was excited to see, the Pirates postseason goals for 2014, and finally wishing me a safe trip back to New Jersey.  With a former All-Star (Jeff Locke) and a super talented 5 tool prospect (Gregory Polanco) at the autograph session, it was actually John Smiley who I was most excited to meet.  Like Marte, I've met Polanco and Locke a handful of times when they were playing minor league ball.  However, I never had the chance to meet John Smiley and since I'm trying to complete the 1991 Fleer team set autographs I felt that this would be one of my best chances.

I got a ball signed by Polanco,

2 cards signed by Locke and the 1991 Fleer and 1989 Upper Deck signed by Smiley.

Oh and I took a selfie with Polanco.

THIS TALL MAMMOTH SIZED GENT WAS THE MAIN REASON I WANTED TO GO TO PIRATESFEST.  It's hard to imagine a guy who's 6 foot 7 being an underdog in anything, but John's path to the big leagues is riddled with obstacles and had a happy ending when he caught on with the Pirates last season.  I got a ball signed from a game that he pitched in at Philly.

He signed it on the sweet spot and it is most certainly sweet looking!!!

Also in that bunch were Alumni members from the early 90s Buccos.  Doug Drabek and Mike Lavalliere.  I already had autographed baseballs from both and have numerous cards of Drabek signed.

To keep it simple I got a 1991 Fleer signed by Lavalliere and a 1992 Triple Play signed by Drabek.

In between some sessions I ran into Kent Tekulve and John Wehner who both signed for me as well.

I think I've talked about it in the past but when I was much much younger I used to emulate Teke's unique submarine pitching style.

Sidearm Stryker and Teke united at long last.

Teke signed a ball and Wehner signed a 1991 Fleer for me while also posing for pictures.

The final autograph session for day 1 for me was Dave Parker, Bill Virdon, and Fransisco Cervelli.  This session didn't excite me too much but for $20 charity to the Wounded Warriors project, I felt that I needed to attend.  I didn't get Cervelli to sign anything but a postcard he had at the table.  He also posed for a picture which was really nice of him.

One thing I noticed about Cervelli was that he kept playing with his phone between fans approaching him.  I hope he isn't as distracted on the diamond this year.

Bill Virdon signed an OMLB on the sweet spot for me

Dave Parker signed my 1978 Scorecard I bought at the fest for $5 along with a post card.

Day 1 was a complete success in terms of graphing and meeting the players.

Before everything closed up for the day I had been in discussions with one of the vendors who was selling a Willie Stargell autographed baseball for $80.  I went back and forth on it before I realized that the ball was a Bartlett Giamatti official baseball which made me splurge on the Hall of Famer's signature.

Being on a Giamatti ball made all the difference in the world to me between spending $80 or not dropping the money.

Day 2 started out really good too, but due to time restraints we knew that we weren't going to spend a lot of time at the fest because of our nearly 7 hour drive back home.

It started out with getting our pictures taken with Charlie Morton and Starling Marte.  In case you're wondering, the #37 jersey you see me in my pictures is a game used Charlie Morton jersey from his 2010 season.  I wore it both days at PiratesFest.

Then we went to the AJ Burnett, Dick Groat, Omar Moreno line.  I didn't have anymore OMLB to get autographed so I bought a pair of Chevy HomeRun balls for $5 that have the Chevy logo on the SweetSpot.

I got Groat and Moreno to sign the side of each of the balls and arguably my favorite thing of the whole PiratesFest was getting a chance to

throw up some metal with AJ

and have him personalize my photo from the day before.  The lady friend didn't like her smile in the photo she wanted to be cropped out of it before we got AJ to sign it.  Girls can be so self conscious sometimes.  LOL

After the autograph signing we headed home, but not before we stopped in Primanti Brothers and saw the Steelers beat the Falcons.  It was a great day for me.

For my girlfriend who's an Eagles fan, not so much.  LOL!

Smiley, Cervelli, Marte

Here's a recap of the free postcards signed by some of the players who were gracious enough to slip one as you walked by them.

Parker, Moreno, Oliver, Groat

The scan cut off the players names, but I wasn't about ready to rescan it because I am lazy today...

I also bought an 8x10 signed by Francisco Liriano for $25 also.

More Pirates AUTOs

I've been adding quite a few autographs to my collection lately. 
The first four cards I will show off are this blog's residential cardboard heroes:
Andrew McCutchen and Jason Bay.

I picked up a few other Andrew McCutchen autographs for my ever growing Cutch collection.  This 2008 Just Minors is numbered 40/50 and features a pre-dreadlocks Andrew McCutchen.  $12 shipped and it's another Cutch in my collection.

Topps Museum is one of the nicest things that Topps has ever put out.  The card design is gorgeous and truly does mimic museum quality cardboard with their nicely framed designs.  The player selection is great and nearly every card featuring a jersey has a patch on it.  Great job Topps.  I couldn't resist picking this up for $25 when I saw it on ebay.
This brings my Cutch autos to 46 cards. 

I had my eye on this card for a long time.  What's not to love about a dual auto featuring Dale Murphy and Jason Bay?  Well, for one thing the $40 price tag the seller had been asking for it.  Recently a few more have been popping up on ebay, but all with buy it nows around $30.  When someone decided to list the card with a no reserve auction, I had a feeling I would finally add it to my collection.  And add it I did, for a measly $16.50 shipped.  Under $10 a signature seems fair to me.

I also picked up another dual auto this time featuring 2 former Pirates: Jason Bay and Bobby Crosby.  Bay and Crosby won the ROY awards in 2004.  Bay went on to have a successful career after leaving the Pirates in Boston before becoming injured in NY.  Crosby's career went downhill after winning the Rookie of the Year with Oakland and signed a 1 year deal with the Pirates in 2010.  He lasted only half a season in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Once he arrived in Arizona he played in only 9 games before being released by the team.  He has not played professionally since.   This was picked up a few months ago for around $15 if I remember correctly. 

Jarek Cunningham is an injury plagued prospect with upside of being a utility middle infielder in the majors, but will most likely just be organizational depth.  The 22 year old is currently in AA Altoona where he has put up only a .183 batting average in 22 games.  While Jarek will probably never be a star or even a regular in the majors, I just couldn't pass up this card for $0.99 shipped.

This was probably the card I most overpaid for because he was last year's number 1 draft pick.  However, I am still happy to add this on card auto of Gerrit Cole to my collection for $30.  It's not low numbered.  It's not even licensed.  It is however a future ace pitcher with a triple digit fastball and great command (46K/13BB in 45 innings).  He's currently in the top 10 of all advanced A pitchers in nearly every pitching category and looks like he will be earning a promotion to AA in the very near future.  He draws comparisons to Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander and may be the Pirates first Cy Young candidate since this guy...

Doug Drabek was one of my favorite pitchers when I was younger.  He could flat out pitch.  He didn't blow people away with high 90s heat, but his command was some of the best in the majors.  He even won a Cy Young in 1990.  This 2012 Archives Fan Favorites on card AUTO was picked up for $15 off the bay. Doug's son is currently pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays organization and was a key part of the Roy Halladay trade.

The Twins and Pirates will face off tomorrow in the rubber match looking to take the series win for the Bucs.

Let's Go Bucs!

Trade Post with Spiegel

Spiegel from Nomo's Sushi Platter sent me a nice lot of Pirates along with a Bobby Bonilla 1989 he got signed TTM. 

I have previously sent a TTM to Mr. Bonilla myself and got it back in less a couple weeks.  I'm very happy to add a second Bobby Bo auto to my collection. 

Here's the other cards that Spiegel sent me.

First up some quasi vintage.  I like the archives cards and am always happy to add Parker, Maz, and Scoop to my collection.  This image also features the Candy Man John Candaleria who played for the Pirates at the begining of his career and finished his career with the Bucs.

These groups of 9 have some of my past favorite Pirates on it. 
I think I now have close to a dozen of that Jason Kendall rookie.  Sweet!!!  A Jack Wilson rookie that had previously eluded me and an unlicensed Bobby Bonilla Post card.  I didn't buy a single pack of Topps Chrome last year because quite frankly I'm tired of it.  I do however enjoy adding the Pirates to my collection when they come over in trades.  Thanks for the Walker and Alvarez. 

The next batch of 9 has a mini of Ryan Doumit from Goudey that I previously didn't have.  Keep sending those Doumits people.  3 Nyjer Morgan rookies also highlight the second group.  I always liked the energy that Nyjer "Tony Plush" Morgan brought to the field everyday.  While his attitude can sometimes be questioned, there's no doubt that when he's having fun he's at his best. 

Whenever I see a card of Chris Duffy, I think of how much impact bad coaching can have on a player.  Duffy was hitting well over .300 throughout his entire minor league career while averaging around 30SB a season.  When he made the show in 2005 he hit an impressive .341 over 39 games while stealing 2 bags and posting a .988 fielding percentage in CF.  In 2006, Duffy was asked to change his swing by then Pirates manager Jim Tracy and it eventually lead to Duffy considering to retire from professional sports.  He nearly had an emotional breakdown and was suspended for the rest of the season without pay.  After several seasons of being called up and sent back down to the minors, he hasn't played since 2009.

Thanks so much for the trade Spiegel.  I hope you enjoy everything I sent out to you today.

Cy Young Winner's Autograph

I recently picked up this 2011 ITG Father & Son Dual Auto of 1990 Cy Young Winner Doug Drabek and his son top prospect Kyle Drabek. 

It's a shame that Topps has the monopoly of producing licensed baseball products.  The design on this card is kind of basic, which is actually nice.  No gold! No Sparkles! No diamonds!  Just a nice picture of a father and his son with a signature next to their pictures.  The dual auto isn't numbered, but according to the sell sheet for the set, only 49 were produced.  The card cost me $8.50 per signature which isn't a bad price considering that Kyle Drabek autos are still greatly overpriced. 

Doug Drabek was drafted by the White Sox in 1983.  After a few seasons in the Sox minor leagues, he was traded to the Yankees.  He played one season in the Bronx before being traded to the Pirates during the offseason in a package with 2 other players for Rick Rhoden and Pat Clements.

Drabek had the most success of his career with the Bucs and would go on to win the Cy Young in 1990.  He was the losing pitcher in game 7 of the 1992 NLCS which was the last time the Pirates were in the playoffs and consequently ended the season above .500.

Following the 1992 season, the senior Drabek went on to Houston for a few years before playing with the White Sox and Orioles on 1 year deals.  His career record is 155-134 with a 3.73 ERA and 1,594 punchouts.

Doug's son Kyle, was a 1st round draft pick out of the Woodlands Texas high school by the Phillies.  He was the center piece of the deal that netted the Phillies Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays.  Kyle's career has started off shaky in Toronto with a 4-8 record and a 5.83 ERA.  His location seems to be the main issue for the younger Drabek as his WHIP is 1.73.  If he dances around the strike zone he walks batters too frequently and if it's near the strike zone he gets hit.  I believe that this could be a big year for Kyle as he may break camp with the Blue Jays and prove his value as a 5th starter.

showing off some old Pirates Trophy winners

I'm short on time today, so this will be a very short post.  Lots of cards, but not many words.

Here's some Pirates cards I've had for awhile, but haven't added to my blog yet.

The connection between all these cards is that they won some kind of National League award while in a Pirate uniform.

Andy Van Slyke was one of my favorite players when I was younger.  AVS was absolutely awesome in Center Field as he won 5 gold gloves in a row wearing a Bucs uniform.  The first card listed is my only Van Slyke auto card I own.

Vern Law won the 1960 NL Cy Young award.  This card was part of the 2011 Topps Lineage series.

Jack Wilson, well known for his glove and defensive prowess, actually won an award using his bat in 2004 when he won the Silver Slugger Award.  Jack was also selected to his only All-Star game that year.

Bill Madlock was the first player to win 2 NL Batting Titles with 2 different teams when he won the award in 1979.  Mad Dog was a crucial part to the offensive threat of the World Series Champion Pirates that same year. I have about a dozen more Madlock autos/relics/parallels that I need to post, but not going to happen today.

Doug Drabek won the 1990 Cy Young Award.

Most of you know who Jason Bay is so I won't go on and on about how much I admire Jason Bay's work ethic and what he brings to a clubhouse.  He was the first Pirate to ever win the Rookie Of The Year award when he won it in 2004.

And who could forget Freddy Sanchez who won a NL Batting title in 2006? Surely not I.

That's all for today, but please check back tomorrow as I celebrate what would have been Roberto Clemente's 77th birthday and highlight all my Clemente cards and memorabilia.