THE BEST LAID PLANS...
 

Well, I'd thought ahead.   Since I work for the World's largest and most cumbersome bureaucracy, (the Federal Government)  I have to have my vacation request in by December 1st for the upcoming year.  The Triple A All-Star game at Memphis looked fun, so I scheduled that week off. Soon I begin hearing rumblings from Nancy. Her mother is in the process of moving to new York to live with Nancy's sister and husband.  Nancy would really like to go to New york.  Well, I'm not averse to going either, but leave my two weeks at the end of August alone.  Those are my :"clean-up" weeks.  You know, stuff like "Oh my God. was South Bend ever late with their set.  Looks like I'll have to catch them up at Beloit,"or 'Sioux City is at joliet, and I have a mittfull of cards for both teams.  Road trip!"  The week in October is etched in stone for a big family get-together in Duluth, MN to celebrate my Father's 80th birthday.  Looks like I've got to jettison the All-Star trip.
 

Oh well,  the first thing an autographer will do is pull out his Baseball Directory and muse on how to incorporate as many evenings of baseball as possible into this trip.  Leaving Monday morning.  Got to get further than Indianapolis.  Nancy wants to visit an Aunt in Rennsalaer, IN in the afternoon.  Maybe Ft Wayne.  I've never seen Coveleski Stadium.  That would make a long next day to Elmira though.  Better eschew baseball the 1st night and get as far east as we can.  By the second night we should be in Elmira.  Northeastern League ball.  Allentown will be visiting. That means Ed Ott and Rick Wise, the latter never easy to hit up for an autograph.  I remember him from his time in the Midwest League as a pitching coach.  He labors under the assumption that all autographers are going to take the stuff he signs, put it on E-Bay, and retire independently wealthy.  "Are you a dealer?  Are you a dealer?" is the oft asked question.  This if someone has handed him 2 or 3 cards even.  Oh well, forget Wise, or try and get the expected rebuff.  I downloaded the Elmira and Allentown rosters and called Allentown to see if their 2003 card set was out.  It wasn't, but I was able to order the 2002 and a program.
 

Two games in Elmira.  The 3rd night of our visit I see that New Britain is coming to Binghamton.  That looks like only a 50 minute drive.  Better yet, it's players I've gotten to watch in the Quad Cities.  Even Joe Mauer will be there.  I definitely will have to be nice to Nancy and/or my brother-in-law.  I'll work the players I know on the New Britain side and hope either Nancy or Joe will help me with Binghamton.  Yes, I got on the phone and ordered the 2003 and 2002 team sets and the Eastern League Top Prospects.  Of course I've downloaded both rosters and am pulling cards at a furious rate. 
 

Leaving Elmira Friday morning we hope to angle up to Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Museum.  Then angle down to Akron to catch the Aeros playing New Haven.  Immediately I download the rosters. Wow!  New Haven has FIVE first roundpicks playing for them.  I call the team.  Nope, the 2003 card sets aren't out yet.  Time to start digging through my cards again. 

There's a lot of singles that I could use.  Time to e-mail Jay's Cards.  I discovered his site in the Beckett listings.  I can get the current singles that I need from him and only pay one shipping charge.  This is far less time consuming than fishing for the cards one at a time that I need on e-bay.  For the Jersey cards, x factors, chrome-numbered and gold cards, though, the pricey items, you can probably fish a little on e-bay and pick up some bargains.  Jay has always treated me well and ships in a timely manner. 
 

The next night, Saturday, I hope to return home via Joliet.  Gary is there, and I've got a lot of cards for their team, including Garry Templeton and son, and Wes Chamberlain.  I've promised Nancy though that that game will just be an autograph stop, as we hope to return to Monmouth Saturday night, probably late.
 

That's how I prepare for the baseball end of my vacation.  A stop at AAA gets me the tour books necessary to feed my history and siteseeing vices as well.  I remember the first vacation that we took.  I had the whole itinerary planned, and was so proud of my advanced planning.   By the end of the third day I was lopping off huge chunks of the itinerary as though they were chunks of meat off a carcass.  It was a good education into allowing time to VISIT these places as well. 

 

As you've probably guessed, I do a lot of surfing on e-bay.  Once in a while you can pick up an unbelievable bargain, and I did just that last month.  I picked up 35 different 1979 minor league sets for $71.  The ad was a bit unclear.  I read it the way it was meant to be read, but I can see where a reader might have thought that it was 106 signed cards from 35 minor league sets.  Not only were the sets all complete, but by the time I got done pulling the autographed cards I had close to 150, including Hoyt Willhelm as a coach for the Columbus Clippers, the late Alan Wiggen, Jesus Vega, a hard to get major leaguer, and 14 other players that up to this point I had no autographs of.  Not only that, but the sets will be a great source of digging in the future for coaches and roving instructors.  All this for $2 per set.  I doubt if I'll run into a deal like this again for a long time. 

 

Speaking of autographs, I've just availed myself of a chance to fill another gap in my Smalling.  Jack "Stretch" Phillips responded to my autograph request by sending my index card back unsigned, but sending me a list of items that he's got for sale at pretty reasonable prices.  I ordered an 8x10 career collage featuring a captioned picture of the Yankee '47 World Series Team, a Yankee action picture of Phillips, a picture of his Topps '52 Pirate card and a picture of his '57 Detroit Tigers card plus his major league stats and his pro career highlights.  Not badly priced at $8.50.  You'd have trouble touching a card of his for that now.  Jack played from 1947 to 1957 and his signature is a nice addition to anyone's scrapbook.  He's put together a couple nice items and is selling them at a reasonable price. 

 

No, I haven't been bragging about my fantasy team this year.  I thought I had a great draft.  In a 12-man league, I got Griffey in the fifth round, and had balanced pitching and hitting with players like Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran, Kevin Brown, Magglio Ordonez, Kevin Millwood, Corey Patterson, Joe Randa, Junior Spivey, Eli Marrero, Orlando Cabrera, Aaron Boone, Odalas Perez, Randy Wolf, Javier Vasquez, and Matt Lawton.  For reserves I had Brandon Phillips, Jack Cust, Ben Petrick, Jeff Weaver, Brad Penney and Danny Graves among others.  You knowledgeable baseball fans can see the problem with this team already.  Griffey went out with an injury early, Beltran has been fighting one, Corey Patterson is out for the year as is Eli Marrero, and Matt Lawton has been plain non-productive.  Ditto Brandon Phillips.  Worse yet, my only replacement outfielder, Jack Cust, can't escape the minors, and my only replacement catcher has the same problem.  Needless to say, I'm in last place, which is a source of much amusement to the other members of our league.  Oh well, best way to curse a player is to have me draft them, I guess. 
 

That's all for now.  Take care and have fun with the hobby.  I sure try to.

~Rich Hanson