The last two weeks will give you an idea of my devotion to the hobby.  I had the last two weeks off.  Given that Nancy can only manage two weeks of vacation a year, whereas I can pull five, I devoted the past two weeks for chasing autographs, watching baseball and catching up on mail. 

The bomb dropped a little after 7  when Sandberg appeared to sign autographs.  All he would sign (since this was a charity signing) was a baseball with the charity's logo on it ($25) or a 16 x20 poster ($10).  That was all.  There were a lot of upset people, made worse by the fact that he had his agent, a wizened little man, with him, going down the line endorsing the edict.  I was not happy either.  I vented.  I had Sandberg sign the poster, but after that I confronted the agent and demanded that he sign it too.  He refused at first, but I insisted, so he did, asking me why I wanted his signature.  I told him that Sandberg had worked hard and had put up Hall of Fame stats during his career, but "if you can stand here near him and tell him what he can and cannot sign, then you must be a bigger man than he is."  Yup, I lost a lot of respect for Ryno on that deal.  What it was about was obvious.  Sandberg's agent doesn't want fans to bring in personal items during a $10 and $25 charity signing, when he knows that he can command bigger fees for his client's signature at card shows.  Yup, that's what it's all about for some ballplayers.  I was just surprised to see Sandberg among those ranks.
 
Tuesday was the Midwest League All Star game.  It took place in Peoria.  I got there about two o'clock to buy an All-star set, then I bee-lined out to catch some of the players as they came in.  2 pm wasn't early enough.  I'd missed the first three buses.  It was a nice card set.  60 All Star players for $12.  By the end of the night I'd scored 42 of them, only one or two cards of each, since there were lines that one didn't want to hold up, but still, not a bad evening.  The bulk of the cards were signed during the autograph session from 5-6.  From 6-7 was the home run derby, which was won by the Chief's Ryan Harvey. (How come the home team's player always wins the home run hitting contest?)  The East beat the West 5-2, with my Bee's Luis Cota taking the loss.  I bought another 4 card sets, 2 for friends that I trade with and 2 for a friend in Des Moines, where I was headed Wednesday.  Before I move on though, kudos to Peoria for putting on a fine event.  They did a very good job.  I had a great time.  One of the Burlington fans bought a block of twelve tickets, so we were all able to sit together.