Former "Eric the Red" Davis at Redsfest

This weekend was the Cincinnati Reds' annual fan convention, Redsfest. Interactive games, displays, photographs and autographs highlight this fan fest, which is one of the best in all of baseball. I arrived at the convention, surveyed the convention and spotted that Eric Davis was signing for fans at an autograph booth. The line was already cut off and no one else was being permitted to enter the line for Davis' autograph. About the same time, I saw Tom Browning and headed over to the small group accumulated for him. Browning had a drink in his hand, so when I asked him to sign my bobble head I offered to hold his drink for him. He handed me the drink and I joked that I was of legal age so it was okay. Browning inked the bobble head nicely on the cap and it will make a fine addition to my collection. I quickly headed back over to Davis, who was still sitting at the table in the autograph booth. He was talking to a girl and I asked him if he would please autograph my photo. Davis asked rather grouchily, "Where were you before?" Davis is somewhat difficult in-person and often times complains but ultimately relents and signs. I responded jokingly, "I had to get Tracy Jones." "Tracy Jones!" Eric responded. He then took my blue sharpie and signed my photo. Davis put the pen down, turned his head away and started talking to a lady seated next to him. I thanked him (even though he wasn't even paying attention anymore) and went on my way. Davis is always somewhat arrogant so the experience is about what I expected.

Tom Wopat and The Dukes of Hazzard

Growing up in the early 1980's, there was no bigger show on television than "The Dukes of Hazzard". Depicting Bo and Luke Duke, along with their cousin Daisy, the show generally featured an adventure that ultimately ended up with the brothers running from the law. However, the true star of the show was the orange "General Lee" car that they drove. Making death-defying leaps and jumps, the heroics of the "General Lee" were playground fodder with kids mimicking and reenacting the stunts over recesses. "Dukes of Hazzard" was simply something that a kid never missed on Friday nights at 8:00 pm.

This weekend the touring musical "Chicago" is performing all weekend long at the Aronoff Center here in Cincinnati. One of the stars of the show is Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke on "The Dukes of Hazzard" television program. I arrived armed with some great cast shots from the show. "Chicago" ended around 10:30 pm and in a matter of less than five minutes, Tom Wopat was standing at the merchandise booth. There was a variety of "Chicago" merchandise for sale, as well as three of Wopat's music CD's. As people purchased CD's for $20.00 each, Tom generously asked their name and autographed their purchase. I approached Wopat, mentioning to him that I had met him several years ago after a show with the Cincinnati Symphony at Music Hall, in which he had appeared with his co-star John Schneider. He remembered that show and I asked if he would autograph my photographs. Wopat graciously signed all five with the black Sharpie he was holding and on the last one asked me my name. He personalized it, "To Brent, All the Best! Tom Wopat". Another collector I know then posed for a picture with Wopat who then said, "Okay, switch it out", knowing that I wanted a picture with him as well. Getting a photograph with Wopat was cool since Wopat was still wearing the black tuxedo that he wore during the his performance in "Chicago". Appearing at the merchandise booth is definitely a business for Tom Wopat, as he quickly tallied up the number of CD's that he sold with the merchandise booth attendant, even before I was able to leave.

Heading to Notre Dame: Coach Brian Kelly

Much of the talk in the local sports media has been regarding Univeristy of Cincinnati football coach Brian Kelly. As expected, Charlie Weiss was fired as coach of Notre Dame this past Monday and speculation has been rampant for weeks that Coach Kelly would be his successor. Kelly has avoided much of the discussion and has referred to the University of Cincinnati coaching job as a "destination" position, while piling on accolades for the strength of the university's football program.

Brian Kelly's last appearance of the season tonight at the original Montgomery Inn for his weekly radio show, The Brian Kelly Show, might very well be his last appearance ever on 700 WLW FM as UC's coach. Signing autographs during commercial breaks, Kelly was friendly to all who approached him for autographs. I spotted people getting footballs, helmets and caps signed by Kelly, whose reputation is skyrocketing as one of the best up-and-coming coaches nationwide. Kelly signed three photographs in silver sharpie for me with requested personalizations and the "Go Bearcats" moniker. I approached Kelly again with three photographs that he signed as I wished him the best and a Merry Christmas. Kelly used the opportunity to inscribe one of the photos "Merry X-mas, Brian Kelly". Signed in silver Sharpie marker, these are quality items that have a lot of visual appeal.

Ken Broo from channel 5 WLWT interviewed Coach Kelly, immediately after the conclusion of the radio show. After Kelly shook a few hands, as he was departing, I posed for a picture with possibly the next coach of the Notre Dame football team. I hope it's not so, but if I were to venture a guess, I believe Kelly will accept the Notre Dame job when it is offered. For all Coach Brian Kelly has done in building the Bearcats' football program, the fans of Cincinnati should thank him and wish him the best in whichever direction he chooses to go.

The Who Tragedy in Cincinnati

Tonight marked the 30th anniversary of The Who concert tragedy in Cincinnati, Ohio. On December 3, 1979, eleven concert-goers were trampled to death in a crowd that rushed the entrance to the Riverfront Coliseum (now called US Bank Arena) building to get into The Who concert. Many of the details of the evening are still disputed, but this tragedy was a culmination of several unfortunate events with lethal results. WKRP, a popular television show at the time, even had a special and somber episode that paid tribute to the incident. Many safety practices and procedures guiding the operation of concerts to this day are a result of the breaches that occurred that deadly night in Cincinnati.

A glaring injustice is that thirty years after the fact, no memorial, plaque or other destination exists on the site of this great concert tragedy. It truly is a shame as the eleven people who lost their lives that evening were mainly just kids trying to see one of their favorite bands in concert. Here's to hoping that City Council and Hamilton County are able to work together to create some recognition for those who died unnecessarily that fateful night.

I Scored With Bronson Arroyo

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo made an appearance at a Bigg's grocery store to promote an energy health supplement drink. It was a great chance to obtain some Arroyo signatures but apparently the main purpose of the event -to promote the milk-based drink - is for naught, as I can not even recall the actual name of the drink! Scheduled for 5:00-7:00 pm, I has presumed that the attendance might be light at the autograph signing as it was being held on a weekday and at a time when many people are still either at work or on their commute home from work. There also was not a lot of promotion of the event so all this led to a line of approximately 15 people waiting in line when Arroyo arrived. Bronson spent a few minutes talking to a couple of people at the front of the line and then got down to the business at hand. Arroyo had small promotional pictures with him and most everyone in line seemed to have brought multiple items with them for the signing. The line moved slowly as Bronson willingly autographed multiple items and chatted with fans as he signed for them.I approached the table with a variety of photographs and Arroyo immediately loved a cartoon photograph that I presented for signing. Using a blue sharpie, Arroyo inked all seven of my photos with his bold autograph, accompanied with a "61", his uniform number. I waited a few more minutes and went through the line a second time, getting Bronson to autograph my Bronson Arroyo bobble head doll and three more photos (one Reds and two Red Sox). Since the line was non-existent with more than an hour left, I went through a final time giving Arroyo copies of the photographs he liked earlier. He also asked me if I could print a large photo of him as either a member of the Cincinnati or Boston Red Sox for an event being held at his former high school. As I had a stack of over-sized photographs for him to sign this time, I pulled a large photo print of him pitching for the Reds from the stack and handed it to him. He thanked me and willingly signed six more items for me, including three copies of varying sizes of a photograph of Arroyo meeting President George Bush. The former President threw out the first pitch on Opening Day a few years ago so it was cool to get copies of this historical moment autographed. Signed in silver Sharpie, the final result is amazing and Arroyo inked the other three photos in a blue Sharpie.

Sarah Palin Book Signing

On November 20, 2009 Governor Sarah Palin made an appearance at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio, the fourth stop on her on-going book tour for "Going Rogue". In the week leading up to the event, the book store was pre-selling copies of the book, which included a line number for the book signing. All available pre-sale copies sold briskly and were sold out by the evening of November 16 - more than three days before the event! Luckily, I had a friend who had an extra line number so even though I missed out on the pre-sale, I still had a line number for the event. Each line number entitled the bearer to get two books signed.

As I arrived at the event, just before noon, I spotted the Sarah Palin tour bus in front of me, also arriving at the event. The bus pulled behind the store and Governor Palin was already inside the store by the time I parked and got around to take pictures. Contrary to prior statements that the store would be closed for business, I entered Joseph-Beth Booksellers to find it bursting with people and barely enough room to navigate my way to the autograph line even though I was holding a VIP ticket. Weaving my way through the crowds, I eventually took my advance place in line and awaited my time to meet Governor Palin. The book signing was held in the area at the top of the steps on the second level of the store. The area was surrounded with flowing, blue curtains and Sarah Palin was not even visible until I was at the top of the steps. A table was set up there where any bags or packages were to be checked. We also were reminded constantly that no cameras were allowed and photographs were prohibited once entering the area where Sarah Palin was signing. However, we were informed that a professional photographer would be taking photographs as we met Governor Palin, which would be available for us to access on the internet, afterwards. Two different store staff members made sure that each person had the book turned to the tile page for signing and yet another staff member took each person's book upon approaching the table. As I approached governor Palin, she smiled, looking right at me, extending her hand and asked, "Hello. What's your name?" As we shook hands, I answered and Sarah queried, "What do you do?" I replied, "Small business owner...Here in Cincinnati and in Los Angeles." She asked me, "How are things right now?" "Good, but they would be better with you in office," I responded. Smiling even bigger, Sarah said, "Thank you, that is very sweet of you." Palin signed both of my books with a big, bold signature with the black Sharpie she was wielding. In a moment the moment was over and upon exiting, a staff member handed me a business card with a website that stated that photographs from the event would be available in 5 days. I can say that even today, closing in on two weeks after the fact, the photos have still not been posted to the website: http://www.shealahcraighead.com/. With the book signing scheduled from noon-3:00 pm, Palin's bus pulled up to the backdoor exit of the bookstore a little after 3:00. She came out, got on the bus quickly and it took off for the next stop, a signing that evening in Columbus, Ohio. With well over 1,000 people in attendance, it was amazing to see Governor Palin handle the overwhelming crowds so well and take the time to engage in conversation with attendees. Sarah shook each person's hand before she signing their book and truly seemed to be enjoying the event. It was an honor to meet Governor Palin and I look for her to run for President of the United States in 2012.

A few minutes after the bus departed, a staff member began walking through the store, offering "signed" bookplates to anyone purchasing copies of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue". Unlike the signatures that Sarah signed earlier that resembled "S-A-P-A-L-I", these were every letter, spelled-out autographs: "S-A-R-A-H-P-A-L-I-N". I was given four of these bookplates and the fact that these were complete, unrushed autographs made them that much more desirable. My elation over these perfect autographs was short-lived, as upon closer inspection the next day, it became apparent that these "signatures" are autopens. All of the bookplate signatures are signed exactly the same and since no one signs exactly the same every time, it is obvious they are autopens. Autopens also exhibit a bit of a mechanical, shaky appearance which was also evident in the bookplate autographs.

Racking Out Larry Johnson

"Racking Out" is a term used for when you acquire multiple items signed at one time. If this is the definition then my autograph pursuit with Larry Johnson earlier tonight was the epitome of "racking out". All of the wasted time of waiting around for hours, in search of autographs yet walking away with nothing, were made up for with my experience with Cincinnati Bengal Larry Johnson.

700 WLW FM hosts a Bengals radio show every Monday night from 6-9 pm during football season. "Bengals Line" is hosted by former Cincinnati Bengal player Dave Lapham and local radio host Lance McAllister and features discussion and analysis of the previous Bengals game. One, and many times two, current Bengals players make an appearance at Dickmann's Sports Cafe in Northern Kentucky to appear live on Bengals Line and sign autographs for fans during commercial breaks. This season star rookie Rey Maualuga, Keith Rivers, Chris Crocker, Cedric Benson and Andre Caldwell are some of the players that have showed up for Bengals Line.

The early report before Bengals Line was that Larry Johnson and Jonathan Fanene were appearing on the show this evening. I was running a bit late tonight, so I was listening to Bengals Line while driving to Dickmann's. The show hosts were taking telephone calls from listeners and promoting the fact that Larry Johnson would be the guest "during hour number two". Since I did not hear Fanene on-air, I assumed that he was not appearing after all. Upon arriving at Dickmann's, a fellow collector informed me that only Johnson would be appearing this evening.

Larry Johnson arrived around 7:00 pm to great applause and took his place in the radio booth. He did not immediately begin signing, as he was engaged in conversation with the radio show hosts off the air and appeared to be texting on his cellphone. Eventually, Larry started signing for the line that had formed and after a few minutes I was at the front of the line. I handed 5 photos and a silver sharpie to the staff member, who in turn had Johnson sign them for me. I had some really nice photographs of Johnson from his time in Kansas City and some from yesterday's game against the Cleveland Browns. I gathered my items, went to the end of the now quite lengthy line and started waiting, once again, for my chance to get some additional autographs of Larry Johnson. After a couple of commercial breaks and not progressing much in line, I decided to go up to the staff member who was in charge of passing fan's items to Larry Johnson to be autographed. Since I have given the staff member photographs for his own personal collection in the past, I figured now was my time to call in the favor. I asked him if he could work my items in to be signed, at his convenience, and he said sure. I handed him the items and went back to my place at the end of the line. After about 20 minutes, I was back in front of the line and handed over another 5 photographs to be autographed by Larry Johnson. It was a major score when the staff member handed me back those 5 photographs signed, as well as the previous 5 that I had given him minutes earlier. Larry Johnson is one of the stars of the National Football League with Pro Bowl appearances and multiple seasons of putting up numbers that have established him as one of the best running backs over the last 5 years.

Opportunities do not come around often to add even a single autograph from a star NFL player to the collection, so I definitely took advantage of the situation to get as many signatures as possible. A few things worked to my benefit this evening. First, the staff members assisting with the signing know and like me, as I have often talked with them at previous signings. Secondly, the staff members take your items to be signed and hand them to the player. They often line up several items in queue so the player does not realize they are signing multiple items for one person. Thirdly, I have given these same staff members photos in the past which has helped position me in their good graces. Not that I do nice things expecting something in return, but never underestimate the benefits from being polite, friendly and even generous to those who are working an event or signing. While they might appear unfazed by the celebrity in attendance, the truth is that the event workers are fans, just like the rest of us. Protocol makes it inappropriate for them to bring stacks of photos or other memorabilia to get signed, so they truly appreciate it when someone thinks of them. Of course the value to me personally of the additional Larry Johnson autographs received tonight far exceeds the costs of photographs that I have provided to staff members in the past.

I ended up trading a collector some unsigned photos for a Bengals mini helmet so I had Larry Johnson autograph it as well. As Larry Johnson was leaving, he posed for a photo with me. Someone asked him to sign an autograph so I also had him sign a team-signed Bengals helmet that was already signed by several other Bengals players. Larry Johnson is under contract with the Cincinnati Bengals only for the remainder of this season so if he continues to succeed on the football field, there is a good chance that he will be a starting running back elsewhere next season. Overall, I ended up with a total of 19 items autographed by Larry Johnson making it was an extremely successful night.

Two Hall of Famers: Marichal and Cepeda

A great source for meeting sports celebrities and obtaining their autographs is by attending sports card and memorabilia shows, also referred to as "baseball card shows". These shows have a multitude of dealers offering up everything from baseball cards, autographs, bats, helmets, photos, collecting supplies and anything else that is associated with sports and collecting.

Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio is the site of one of the longest running shows in the country, as it has been held every weekend after Thanksgiving for nearly 20 years. Moeller is known as the high school attended by several Cincinnati-area athletes who went on to play Major League Baseball including Barry Larkin, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Buddy Bell. I remember just a few years ago when it was commonplace to drop $200-$300 dollars each day of this weekend-long show, with high caliber, quality memorabilia being offered by dealers for sale. It was a treasure hunt, uncovering rare and one-of-a-kind items that I had never even seen before! The autograph guests making appearances usually, but not always, would have a Cincinnati connection. Past autograph guests signing autographs, for a fee, have included Frank Robinson, David Concepcion, Ed Bailey, Joey Jay, Bob Purkey, Richie Ashburn, and Bob Feller. Over the course of a typical three day weekend, seven or eight sports celebrities would make appearances throughout the weekend to sign autographs. The times have changed and now this show is nothing more than a glorified swap meet. The items offered for sale at this most recent show were nothing out of the ordinary and certainly not anything that can not be purchased any day of the week on any one of the on-line auction sites. I was unable to find even a single dealer in attendance this weekend who specialized in vintage, autographed sports cards, my main area of interest.

The autograph line-up, consisting of two members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, was the bright spot of this card show. The "Dominican Dandy", pitcher Juan Marichal and the Orlando "Baby Bull" Cepeda were on hand all three days of the show to sign autographs. Both spent a majority of their careers playing for the San Francisco Giants and both were very reasonably priced at $20 dollars per autograph. The only negative was that any additional inscription, other than the autograph itself, was an additional $10 dollars. Thus, many collectors were passing on having either player add "HOF" for "Hall of Fame" and the year of their induction, as is customarily done. More recently, card show promoters have become more focused with increasing their revenues from these autograph signings, so I see more and more autograph shows charging additional dollars for inscriptions. Twenty years ago, these inscriptions were added for no additional fees by the athlete merely by requesting them to do so. Marichal and Cepeda typically get $40 dollars per item each at most card shows so I guess I can't complain too much since this show was relatively so much more value-priced. I had Orlando Cepeda ink a mini Topps poster from the 1960's depicting him as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals and Juan Marichal beautifully signed the sweet spot of a baseball with his gorgeous autograph. Both gentlemen posed for a picture with me, with Marichal even standing up from his chair to make it an even better photo opportunity. Cepeda was polite but didn't say much and Marichal was friendly and smiling throughout my encounter with him. Overall, a good experience and a nice opportunity to add a couple of baseball legends that you don't encounter often to the collection.

Eddie Milner also appeared all weekend long, but I don't think there was a huge demand for the former Cincinnati Reds outfielder. Priced at $10 dollars per autograph, I felt that Milner was a little too expensive. Especially since you could get either of the much more difficult to obtain autographs of Cepeda or Marichal for only $10 additional more dollars. Milner answers autograph request through-the-mail and like most Hall of Fame baseball players, Cepeda and Marichal do not. I was on my way to my car when I stopped and began a conversation with a fellow collector. Soon afterwards, the door to the gymnasium, where the card show was being held, opened and leaving the show was Eddie Milner. He stopped and talked with us for a few minutes, with me asking if he still resided in Columbus, Ohio. Milner stated that he was living with his father and was extremely friendly, as always. At this point I realized that Eddie's parents were a few steps ahead of him and they continued walking towards the parking lot. Milner shook each of our hands and said that he would be at the show tomorrow as well and to come up and say hello to him. Dressed in a black leather coat, Milner is still in great shape physically and it truly is a shame that his addiction to cocaine played a role in him not reaching his full potential during his playing career. Milner seems to be on the right track, with a positive attitude and his life in order. It is nice to see and hear that things are going well for him.

Josh Hutcherson: A Young Actor on the Rise

Tonight I attended the annual lighting of the Christmas tree on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Appearing at the ceremony was local resident and one of the hottest up and coming actors, 17 year old Josh Hutcherson. Josh first appeared in the Jon Favreau-directed "Zathura: A Space Adventure" and has appeared in a string of films the past five years. Josh is also sure to garner more media attention as he is playing the character "Robert" in the remake of "Red Dawn" that is scheduled to be released in 2010. So, this "Light Up the Square" event was a good opportunity to meet a movie star who has and will continue to receive accolades and national exposure.

As nice as Cincinnati weather can be during the summer, the fall and winter temperatures can be quite cold and today was not an exception. After scouting the staging area and some tents behind it, I went over to the Westin Hotel lobby to warm up for a little while. Fifteen minutes later, around 6:15 pm, I crossed back over and saw that Josh Hutcherson was already backstage. I'm not sure when or how he arrived to the event but there were only two of us collectors waiting there to meet Josh. My friend and fellow collector, Brian, asked one of the staff members if she would let Josh know that we were interested in meeting him and getting an autograph. She walked over to Josh and sure enough, he immediately headed over to us. I said, "I've got a few different photos here...they're all different as you have been in quite a few films". Josh smiled and replied nicely, "I don't mind. Yeah, I've been in a few." He graciously and without hesitation inked my DVD cover to "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and followed it up by signing all 6 of my photos from his films, including "RV", "Bridge to Terabithia" and the previously-mentioned adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Josh seemed to search for just the right place to neatly place his autograph on each item presented to him to sign. After signing all our autographs, Josh posed for a photograph with each of us and then even stayed and chatted for a few more minutes. Josh told us that he had recently been in Detroit, Michigan working on the new "Red Dawn" movie. I asked him whether he was still living in Northern Kentucky or was he living out in Los Angeles. Josh told me that he travels back and forth between Cincinnati and Los Angeles and I said to him that I was doing the same thing. I also mentioned that I lived in Pasadena, with my sister, and Josh said that he liked Pasadena. He stated that he had some friends who lived at the Colorado Paseo, a high-end housing development attached to the retail shopping mall. I mentioned that we live right there in that area as well, just a block or two away. I also said that we go to the movies there at Colorado Paseo and also at the Arclight located on Sunset Blvd. Josh indicated that he knew the Arclight and seemed to enjoy discussing life and living in Los Angeles. From our conversation, it was obvious that Josh realized that I knew what I was talking about. Since Hutcherson seemed so nice, I pulled out my last available item and asked him if he would mind signing my DVD disc of "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Josh didn't care and politely signed the DVD in a silver Sharpie. By this time a line of 3 or 4 young girls had lined up and Josh moved on to deal with them one by one, signing their autograph requests and posing for pictures with them.

I wish Josh Hutcherson the best with his career and I certainly wish that all autograph encounters were as successful as this most recent one. The upcoming "Red Dawn" features an up-and-coming cast and big budget special effects so it's expected to do well at the box office. Josh appreciates his fans and his friendly approach towards fans means that I will not only go see "Red Dawn" at the theater but I also plan on supporting Hutcherson's other future projects.

How Did I Begin Collecting Autographs?

I guess the roots to this blog can be traced all the way back to 1976. To completely understand my interest in autographs, it is necessary to go back to the first autographs I ever received. I was only 4 years old at the time, but it marked the first time I had ever been in the presence of "greatness". In this case the celebrity was Doug Flynn, a back-up infielder for the World Champion Cincinnati Reds. My parents had taken my sister and me to a newly opened Bank One that was celebrating their grand opening. I remember meeting Mr. Flynn, who was quite nice and gave each of us a ceramic coffee cup emblazoned with the bank's logo on the side. While I did not request any autographs on this particular occasion, it certainly created an impression on me as this one of my earliest childhood memories and this celebrity encounter still remains vivid in detail over 33 years after the fact!

My first autograph would technically be that of Darth Vader - not of David Prowse, who famously portrayed the villain in the "Star Wars" trilogy - but "Darth Vader" dressed in full regal costume, meeting and greeting young fans at a car dealership in Montgomery, Ohio. Being at the height of "Star Wars" mania, I can still recall the chaos of couple hundred mothers with children in tow, who were in equal parts awe and scared out of their daylights at the prospect of approaching "the" Darth Vader. The thought of being in the same room as the evil Darth Vader was numbing in itself, let alone mustering up the courage to find the words to ask Mr. Vader for an autograph. As if this wasn't terrifying enough, Darth Vader was accompanied by a couple of Jawas, also in full costume. Sinister, glowing amber eyes gleamed from under their hoods as the Jawas stared back at us in silence. The photo that I got signed that day is long gone but I still remember the inscription, "Greetings Earthing! Darth Vader". I remember that it was a black and white photo of Darth Vader, signed in a black marker of some sort and it seems like the "Greetings Earthing!" portion of the autograph was pre-printed on the photo already. For a kid in the late 1970's it didn't get any better than this - if Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker was the hero of "Star Wars" then Darth Vader was certainly the star of the show.

Like any other All-American boy, my interests soon revolved around Major League Baseball and specifically, my hometown Cincinnati Reds. The star pitcher at the time was future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who lived not 5 minutes from my home, in the luxury condos located on the Jack Nicklaus golf course in Mason, Ohio. At some point during the 1981 season, I put pen to paper, writing my first fan letter to a celebrity and asking Mr. Seaver for an autograph. I do know that I knew early on the include a SASE (Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope) but I do not recall including an item for Tom Seaver to sign. I anxiously sealed the envelope and rushed the letter to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, where it was picked up by the postal worker who started my first TTM (Through the Mail) request on it's way. I am sure that at the time it must have seemed like years or even centuries of waiting for a response but after a few weeks, lo and behold - I had a piece of mail from Mr. George Thomas Seaver himself! I carefully ripped into the envelope and there was the treasure that I had desired - an index card boldly autographed in blue sharpie by Tom Seaver. I remember carrying it around with me for hours on end, even taking my newly acquired prized possession to school to show my friends and classmates. Now I had an autograph book that I would routinely present during my in-person autograph opportunities with members of the Cincinnati Bengals at one of their in-store appearances or one of the local television newscasters who would appear in my 3rd grade classroom to read a book to us during "Right to Read Week". But what to do with my through the mail acquired Tom Seaver autograph that wasn't signed directly in the autograph book? After putting great thought to the issue, I smeared a glob on paste on the backside of the index card and pressed it flat with my fingers onto a blank page within my autograph book. Now my first baseball autograph and TTM success finally took it's rightful place in my autograph book along with the likes of Bengals greats Louis Breeden, Steve Kreider, Dave Lapham, Glenn Cameron and local Cincinnati sportscasters Donn Burrows and Dennis Jansen. A hobby had been found and a lifelong passion for the study and collecting of autographs was born.