2002 Autographed Reds Baseball

Not my favorite of all the autographed baseballs I have in my collection but I can't complain because an autographed baseball of my favorite team is still something I'll gladly add to my collection any day if the price is right. There are a total 14 signatures on this baseball and I can identify 11 of them: Bob Boone, Paul Wilson, Willie Mo Pena, Juan Castro, Brandon Larson, Chris Reitsma, Ryan Wagner, John Reidling, Ray Knight and Jason LaRue. While there are no Larkin, Griffey or Dunn autographs on this ball I'm still please with it.

1958 Autographed Redlegs Baseball

This is the oldest team autographed baseball in my collection. While some of the signatures have faded over time, many of the key signatures are still visible. Of the 29 signatures on this baseball the 20 that can be read include: Smokey Burgess, Bob Purkey, Joe Nuxhall, Ed Bailey, Pete Whisenant, Willard Schmidt, Alex Kellner, George Crowe, Dee Fondy, Bob Henrich, Frank Robinson, Jerry Lynch, Jay Hook, Dutch Dotterer, Tom Acker, Ted Wieand, Hal Jeffcoat, Brooks Lawrence, Vada Pinson, and Roy McMillan. Not a bad looking baseball for being almost 70 years old.

A Votto Auto!

I purchased this photo a while ago and never took the time to scan the picture to post on the blog...until now. I have a few other autographed 8x10s in my collection, but this is probably my favorite. I've always been a huge fan of the "Red Surge" because he's not too flashy and his discipline at the plate is phenomenal. Did you know that Votto has only popped out 59 times since 2008? That's just insane. Votto reminds me a lot of Ted Williams when it comes to his approach on hitting. He's very patient and hardly swings at bad pitches. Just look at his numbers from last year: .314 BA, .459 OBP, .541 SLG, 1.000 OPS, 7.6 WAR! What more can I say.

Combing the Desert

One of the projects I've been working on this past year has been to complete the 1991 Topps Desert Shield Cincinnati Reds team set. I was recently able to purchase four more card: Tim Birtsas, Randy Myers, Hal Morris and Dan Wilson. I only have two more cards until this project is complete (Paul O'neill and Eric Davis). I should be able to wrap this set up hopefully within the next few months.

By the way, did I mention I was a huge Spaceballs fan?