Each year, the Giants send out a care package to their season ticket holders and this year’s package included the Giants banner that you see below. What I decided to do last year (and probably for the next few years) was to try and get the banner signed by as many players as possible (there is usually a few players that sign at each game).
So far, the following players has signed (17 autographs): OJ Anderson, Plaxico Burress, Shawn O’Hara, Amani Toomer, Hakeem Nicks, David Tyree, Leonard Marshall, Brandon Jacobs, Kareem McKenzie, Jessie Armstead, Pepper Johnson, Mario Manningham, Victor Cruz, Ahmad Bradshaw, Henry Hynoski, Zack DeOssie, and Chris Snee
I will update this post after each home game with the signatures I was able to obtain.
OJ Anderson and Plaxico Burress Sept 11, 2022Plaxico Burress Shawn O’Hara and Amani Toomer Oct 16, 2022Amani Toomer & Shawn O’HaraHakeem Nicks with SB Inscription Nov, 13, 2022Hakeem NicksDavid Tyree Nov 13, 2022David TyreeLeonard Marshall HOF Inscription. Nov 13, 2022Jessie Armstead Nov 13, 2022Leonard Marshall and Jessie ArmsteadBrandon Jacobs Nov 20, 2022Brandon Jacobs & Kareem McKenzieKareem McKenzie Nov 20, 2022Kareem McKenziePepper Johnson Dec 4, 2022Pepper JohnsonMario Manningham Dec 11, 2022Mario ManninghamVictor Cruz Dec 11, 2022Victor CruzAhmad Bradshaw Ahmad Bradshaw Oct 22, 2023Zak DeOssie Nov 26, 2023Zak DeOssieHenry Hynoski Nov 26, 2023Henry HynoskiChris Snee Nov 26, 2023Chris Snee
Owner the past few months, I have gotten back into watching WWE wrestling and started up the collection. I have been finding it more fun to collect then the football and basketball I usually collect. Since I haven’t posted any of it here, I am going to do so in one post.
The Mouth of the South
One weekend, my son and I weren’t busy so we decided to take a ride out to the Wrestling Universe to check out what figures they had in stock. When we walked into the store, to our surprise, there was “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart talking with the owner. We quietly walked past him and I nudged my son to ask if he knew who that was. He did. As it turned out, he was doing a signing there later that day. When we walked past him again, he said hello, so we started to talk with him. I asked if he wouldn’t mind signing now since we were there and he obliged. He was extremely friendly and took out his bullhorn and asked if we wanted to hold it. How could we not!! He asked us where we were from and started to call us the U-Hall Boys, guessing because we were far from home. Overall, it was a great spur of the moment experience.
Mankind
A few weeks ago, we had a chance to meet the WWE Hardcore Legend Mick Foley, who portrayed Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love over the years. He was very friendly, made conversation and took his time signing. You can see by the photos below of the pictures we got signed that he was thoughtful of what colors he used and the placement of the autograph. Luckily, we bought the 3 Faces of Foley package where we got 3 autographs and were able to cut the line as the line was around the block. Otherwise we would have been there for hours.
The KO Collection
Kevin Owens has become one of my favorite wrestlers so I started a small KO collection. I won’t bore you with the non-hit. So below is a 2021 Topps Fully Loaded autograph #/99 with a chair relic, a 2021 Topps green autograph #/99 and a 2023 Select relic.
Legendary Autographs
I started buying some 2022 Prizm Legendary autographs. I have already posted the Road Dogg, Lita and Mick Foley. But I have since added Sgt. Slaughter and Iron Sheik (have to have him if you have Slaughter). And I just picked up a 2023 Don Murco Select blue #/49 to go with the Jimmy Snuka auto.
WWE House Show
We had the chance to see a house show at out local arena. It is a small 3,000 seat venue, but all the stars were there. The show featured Zayn and KO vs. The Viking Raiders, Ripley vs. Natalya, Sheamus vs. Theory, a 4-way Intercontinental Title match with Gunther vs. Riddle vs. Priest vs. Nakamura, Lynch vs. Bayley, Usos vs. The Brawling Brutes, Miz vs. Rollins, and Rhodes vs. Balor. What a set of matches it was!! Excitement from being to end, with no commercial breaks. I also was able to pick up a Codey Rhodes and Matt Riddle signed photos at the merchandise stand. They have some of the wrestlers sign them before each show.
Mini Title Belts
When at the show, I saw some mini titles and they peaked my interest. They looked like they were well made with great details to the original titles. Since the show, I have picked up a few. Below is the Intercontinental Championship Title, the Championship Spinner Title and the Randy “Macho Man” Savage Legacy Championship Title with case. I have two more incoming, the Hardcore Title to go with the Mankind autograph and the NXT North American Championship Title.
Other Autographs
Below are a couple other pickups (Carmelo was the hit from an NXT 2.0 box).
Randy “Macho Man” Savage’s 1st WWF Match
Going to close out the post with an item I have kept since 1985. My dad used to take me down to the Garden every so often to catch a show. As I was trying to locate the matchup card from the Snuka vs. Muraco cage match (I was there but don’t have the matchup card, only the program), I came across this matchup card with Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Leaping Lenny Poffo matches at the bottom. Seemed odd for a Savage match to be at the bottom. So when I looked it up the match, it turned out to be Savage’s and Poffo’s 1st match in the WWF. While I may not remember it, I do have proof I was there.
My newest addition is this 2022 Illuminated Ink Gold autograph #/10. This joins the Base #/49 and Green #10. That leaves only the platinum #/1 to complete the short rainbow.
It is crazy that I am now up to 170 unique autographs. If you have missed any, you can check them out on this blog. There are three pages of them.
Since today is Opening Day, I thought I would finally share my dual autograph set. There are some greats: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Justin Verlander, Roy Oswald, Cole Hamels (2x), and Miguel Cabrera. Some guys that flamed out: Dan Uggla (3x), Hanley Ramirez (2x), Mark Prior, Chief-Ming Wang (why did he have to hurt his foot running the bases!), Branden Webb, Dustin Pedroia, and Matt Kemp. Some guys I am not sure why they were in the set: Yusmeire Petit, Scott Olsen, Chuck James, and Rich Hill. And some guys that everyone know but never really panned out like collectors hoped: Lasting Milledge (2x), Jason Bay, Justin Morneau, and Joel Zumaya. And there was one redemption that Topps never fulfilled: David Wright and Chase Utley (mine redemption was replaced with a Fernando Martinez Bowman Chrome rookie auto…ouch). Unlike the single autographs, the dual autographs doesn’t tell you about their Finest Moment or why the two players were paired together. Besides maybe being on the same team or playing the same position, I can’t tell why they were paired together.
Today’s installment brings us the last card (30th) in the autograph set titled “Zim Sends ‘‘em Home”. The card celebrates Zimmerman 11th inning game winning hit. This was his 3rd walk-off in less the a month timeframe (his other two were home runs). He was the 1st rookie to do this in 1986.
Zimmerman played his entire 16 year career with the Washington Nationals (2005 to 2021). He was the National’s first draft pick after they moved from Montreal, earning him the nickname “Mr. National”. He is a 2x All-Star, 2019 World Series champion, 1 Golden Glove, and 3 Silver Slugger awards. He hit 284 home runs, 1,061 RBIs, and a .277 batting average. The National’s have retired his #11 last year.
Today’s autograph add is the 2nd version of this card that I have in my collection. It goes well with the Gold #/15. Only six more to go for the rainbow! Only issue is that are all low numbered. I am doing decent with the non-autographed version of this card. See the Tiki Other Card page if you missed any.
I have been able to add quite a few Tiki’s the past few months. First off are the 2022 Mosaic Overdrive. Below are 6 of the 7 versions (only missing the #1/1): Base, Silver, Blue #/99, Purple #/49, White #/25, and Gold #/10.
Next is the 2022 Panini Classics. I was able to add four more to the collection: Red Timeless #/75, Gold Timeless #/99, Red Back #/99 and Premium Silver #/10. I am up to 11 versions (9 non-auto and 2 auto).
Lastly, a few random adds: 2019 Impeccable Base #/75 and Gold #/10, 2020 Legacy Blue #/50, 2021 Obsidian Atomic Material #/100, and 2006 Bowman Chrome Blue #/150.
Today’s installment brings us the 29th card in the autograph set titled “Now That’s Rich”. The card celebrates Hill becoming the first Cubs rookie in seven years (as of 2007) to throw a shutout, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 10 against the Reds.
While you may not consider Hill a star in the league, he has played 18 seasons (2005-2022). And is currently signed by the Pirates on a one-year, $8 million contract. He sports a lifetime 82-59 record, 3.85 ERA, 1,259 innings and 1,294 strikeouts while playing for 11 different clubs.
There’s not much else I could find on Hill besides that he pitched for the Dodgers in the 2017 and 2018 World Series (Dodgers lost to Houston and Boston). And his highlight video show what a nasty curve he throws.
Tiki has been in quite a few products this year. This is the only version of this card that I have. Haven’t really seen any of the other versions pop up yet: Base #/35, Lighting #/10 and Kaboom! #/1.
I have been making decent progress with the 2022 Spectra rainbow. Today brings 2 more adds. The 1st is the only autograph version in the Spectra product this year. This one is #/60.
The next add is the Base Spectra card. I now have 9 of the 19 versions: Auto, Base, Silver Base, Celestial #/99, Silver Hyper #/75, Pink Die-Cut #/20, Neon Orange Die-Cut #/15, Wave #/11, and the Neon Splatter #8/8. So now I am up to 7 of the 18 versions (plus 1 autograph). Only 10 more to go: Interstellar #/60, Blue Die-Cut #/50, Astral #/40, Neon Green Die-Cut #/30, Meta #/25, Universal Die-Cut #/10, Psychedelic #/5, Neon Marble #/4, Nebula #/2, and Gold #/1.
Today’s installment brings us card #28 in the autograph set titled “Martin Jolts Giants”. The card celebrates Russ hitting a 10th inning home run to end a scoreless game against the Giants during his rookie season.
Russell retired in 2022 after playing 14 seasons with 4 different clubs. He had a respectable career being a 4x All-Star (for the Dodgers, Yankees and Blue Jays), 1x Golden Glove and a 1x Silver Slugger. And finished with a .248 average, 191 home runs, 771 RBI while throwing out 30% of the base runners that tried to steal on him. He led the league in 2015 at 44% (caught 32 base runners), but he also lead the league in passes ball (19) that same year.
Today’s installment brings us card #27 in the autograph set titled “Howard Slams Braves”. The card celebrates Howard’s 10th inning grand slam to beat the Braves, being only the 3rd rookie in the last 20 years (as of 2007) to hit a grand slam in extra innings (see video below).
Howard had a great career. He was the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year, 2006 NL MVP (3 other times in the top 5), 3x All-Star, 1x Silver Slugger, led the majors in RBI (3x) and Home Runs (2x) and is a World Series Champion. He played his entire career with the Phillies. On the negative side, he did lead the league in strikeouts 2x. He is also the fastest player in history to reach 100, 200 and 250 home runs.
Howard retired after the 2016, finishing with 382 home runs, 1,194 RBIs, 1,843 strikeouts (hold the record of most career golden sombreros – 4 strikeouts- with 27x) and only a .258 batting average. He was up for the Hall of Fame in 2022 but only received 8 votes (2%) so he has fallen of the ballot. He is one of those fan favorite players that will always have a special spot in Philly fan’s hearts.
Below is a 2010 Bowman Platinum relic auto refractor #/199. I got this from a case that I won in the eTopps program.
If you want to see the grand slam, it’s the 2nd one in the video below (9 21 05):
I have been able to add quite a few Spectra to the rainbow Chase the last few weeks. I started with the original 2 (Pink Die-Cut #/20 and Celestial #/99. Below is the Silver Base, Silver Hyper #/75, Neon Orange Die-Cut #/15, Wave #/11, and the Neon Splatter #8/8. So now I am up to 7 of the 18 versions (plus 1 autograph). Only 11 more to go: Base, Interstellar #/60, Blue Die-Cut #/50, Astral #/40, Neon Green Die-Cut #/30, Meta #/25, Universal Die-Cut #/10, Psychedelic #/5, Neon Marble #/4, Nebula #/2, and Gold #/1.
I almost have the 2019 rainbow but still missing a few of the lower print run version: the Wave #/10, Psychedelic #/5, Nebula #/2 and Gold #/2.
Today’s installment brings us card #26 in the autograph set titled “Petit Freezes Hotlanta”. The card celebrates Petit throwing three scoreless innings in a game against Atlanta. Kind of a stretch for a reason to produce a card. Maybe they just wanted to dump some of his autographs as he really didn’t seem to hit his stride until 2012 when he was with the San Francisco Giants.
While many most likely don’t know anything about Petit, he did play 14 seasons (with the last being 2021) for 6 different teams. He pitched in 515 games (59 starts), 50-44 record, 3.93 ERA, 8 saves, 2 complete games, 904 innings and 767 strikeouts. Not too bad. He did win a World Series in 2014 with the San Francisco Giants.
Petit does hold the MLB record for 46 consecutive batters retired (go to the link below if you want to read more on this). And he is the only player to win a Little League World Series Championship and a World Series Championship (as of 2019).
If you want to see all 46 retired batters.
Petit discussing the Little League World Series and World Series
I don’t recall seeing this card pop up too often, so when I saw it on eBay a few weeks ago I knew I had to get it. I probably over paid a little, but the cards surface looked good so I didn’t mind paying extra for it. Now I am one card closer to having all the 2005 Topps Chrome cards. The last one I need is the Black #/100. There is one currently on eBay, but it is $25 and the surface doesn’t look the best.
A few weeks ago, I posted the 2022 Classis Timeless Tributes. Today, I was able to obtain my 1st autographed version of the card. This particular one is the Gold #/15. Unlike the non-autographed cards that have 29 versions, there are only 7 autographed versions: Gold #/15, H2 Purple #10, Purple #/10 (one version looks to be a solid purple boarder and the other looks to have the wavy lines to it), Green #/8, Orange #/5, Blue #/3, and Black #/1. I have seen a few pop up on eBay the last few weeks, but nothing for a reasonable price yet.
Today’s installment brings us card #25 in the autograph set titled “Cano Can Do”. The card celebrates Cano being the sixth player to drive in runs in his first two postseason games during his rookie year in 2005. As a Yankees fan, this was a big card to acquire.
For those that don’t remember a time when Cano was a Yankees, I will remind you how great he was. During his 9 seasons in New York, he batted .309, 204 home runs, 822 RBIs, 1,649 hits, and played in 159+ games 7 straight years. He was 2nd in voting for ROY, 5x All-Star, was in the top 6 MVP voting his last 4 years, a home run derby champ, and a World Series Champion.
Then Cano signed his big contract in Seattle (10-year, $240 million) and the New York fan base forgot all about him. While with Seattle, Cano was a 3x All-Star and in the top 8 of MVP voting 2x. He did bat .296, but his home run and RBIs rate slipped a little. In total, Cano played 17 seasons (the last two are forgettable and assuming he will not play in 2023) earning him 8x All-Stars, 5x Silver Sluggers, and 2x Gold Gloves. Cano could have a strong case for the HOF, but his suspension both 2018 and 2020 for PEDs will probably hurt his chances.
Autograph #165 is from Obsidian, a product that I think is underrated. There are 5 versions. I have the Yellow #/10 and the below Green #/15. There is also the Base #/25, the Red #/5 and the Blue Finite #/1. I don’t see these pop up for sale too often.
With Spring Training about to start, I am going to finish showing the remaining 2007 Finest Moments autographs.
Today’s installment brings us card #24 in the autograph set titled “Hafner Gives Peace Garden State A Chance”. The card celebrates Hafner being the fifth native of North Dakota to hit a Major League home run. He currently hold the record for most home runs for a player born in North Dakota and shares the MLB record for grand slams in one season (6) with Don Mattingly.
As to Hafner’s career, he did have a four year stretch with 100+ RBIs, averaged 30+ home runs, batted around a .300 average and was in the MVP voting 3 times. And his career lasted 12 seasons (missing a lot of time due to injuries), but no other time did he come close to those numbers.
Barber is in quite a few 2022 products so far. Started with Classics, then Mosaic and now Spectra. Spectra has 18 versions. I almost have the 2019 rainbow (missing the Wave, Psychedelic, Nebula and Gold). But now it is time to start working on the 2022 version. So far, I have the Pink Die-but #/20 and the Celestial #/99. Only 16 more to go.
#/20#/99
Mosaic is the next product with Barber being a part of the Overdrive insert set. There are 7 versions; Silver (below), Blue #/99, Purple #/49 (below), White #/25, Gold #/10, Black #/1 and Mosaic. So far, I have 3 of the 7. Not sure if I will be able to get some of the others as the asking prices right now are ridiculous.
Below is a 2021 Panini XR Gamers autograph relic. There a 7 #1/1 parallels (including printing plates) and 4 non #1/1 parallels; Base #/25, Blue #/15, Gold #/10 and Green #5. The below Base parallel is the 1st one that I obtained.
For those that care about the relic ACTUALLY being game used, the front of the card notes the game in which the relic was take. December 3, 2006 Giants vs. Cowboys. Based upon the relic being gray, it looks to be from Barber’s pants.
Cali's Card Corner 