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.