Leather and Lumber

No, I'm not talking about the Donruss sets of the early 2000s (although I have been tempted on numerous occasions to put one of these together). I'm talking about the "elements" that make up the game we cherish. The elements that comprise the balls, gloves and bats of the game. I shared in a previous post my autographed Pete Rose Rawlings black bat and today I've decided to share with you my autographed Pete Rose Louisville Slugger ball glove. There's a bit of a water stain in the glove where Pete signed, but it hasn't affected the signature. Pete will be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame the weekend of June 24th-26th. In case you're wondering, the ball that I have displayed in the glove is from the August 13, 1999 game when the Reds took on the Phillies at Cinergy Field. It's the only time I've caught a foul ball during a game and it was a nice surprise to occur on my birthday of that year.  The Reds won that game 5-4.

The Grass is Always Greener...When it's FAKE!

Another relic I have from Riverfront Stadium (aka Cinergy Field) is this 9 inch by 9 inch piece of AstroTurf that was used prior to it's removal and installation of grass just before Cinergy Field's demolition after the 2002 season. This is a nice oddball piece in my collection, and while I wish I would have been able to snag a piece with the foul line on it, I guess beggars can't be choosers. I am hoping to eventually get some game used dirt from both Riverfront and Great American Ballpark, which I think would complement this turf nicely. I don't suppose anyone would know where I could get a brick from Crosley Field or an usher's uniform used at Crosley?

Take a Seat

A while back I posted about some seats available from Crosley Field on eBay (and how I would like to eventually purchase one for my Reds Man Cave). I finally decided to follow that post by sharing with all of you a pic of my Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field seats my wife and I received as a Christmas gift back in 2002 from my Mother-In-Law. These are probably one of the coolest gifts I've ever received. I love the fact that one of the seats is #10 the same number as the uniform number of the greatest manager the Reds ever had....Sparky Anderson! These seats are fantastic. The arm rests are a little weathered with some loss of paint, but that's to be expected after being left in the elements for more than thirty years. It's also amazing to think of the history these seats were witness to from the rise of the Big Red Machine, Pete Rose's 4192 hit to surpass Ty Cobb as the Hit King, and the 1990 Reds Wire-to-Wire Championship season. A very cool piece of history that I'm glad to have in my collection.

Pete Rose Bobblehead

December is bobblehead month here at Redscardcollector and what better way to start out bobblehead month with none other than Mr. Red himself....Pete Rose. 40,000 of these nodders were passed out on September 23, 2002 at a charity softball event held at Cinergy Field that featured many players from the Big Red Machine, as well as other celebrity players including Steve Garvey and Ozzie Smith. The pose for the bobblehead was based off of Rose pointing upward from first base immediately after his 4,192nd hit to pass Ty Cobb as the all time Hit King. So I guess you could say that this wasn't an official Red's bobblehead since it was given out at a charity event at Cinergy and since Rose has been banned from baseball for life...but I still think it's a great bobblehead.

Another Print for the Man Cave

So I scored another print for my Cincinnati Reds Man Cave yesterday. I was able to pick up this panorama of Cinergy Field (which will go nicely with the panorama of Great American Ballpark I purchased a few weeks ago). I'm still keeping an eye out for a Cincinnati Enquirer Griffey HR 600 newspaper that I can pick up for a lot less than this http://www.ebay.com/itm/CINCINNATI-REDS-KEN-GRIFFEY-JR-600-HR-ENQUIRER-6-10-08-/300316968944?pt=US_Baseball_Fan_Shop&hash=item45ec4947f0. I'm also looking to score a couple of Reds pennants as well. But my most ambitious purchase will be a seat from Crosley Field to go with my stadium seats from Cinergy Field.