All of this for only Twelve Dollars!

Whew....what a weekend we had. This past weekend was the annual Christmas sports card show in Raleigh, NC at the state fairgrounds. I have to give props to Wes Starkey for all the hard work he does in getting the shows to run smoothly with Inside Pitch Promotions. It was a slow show money wise but it was a great show to find deals.

Which brings me to reason for this post. I wanted to show off a few of my pick ups from the weekend. =)

First off is a 2012 Topps Chrome 1984 Andrew Luck, a 2010 Topps Magic Tim Tebow RC, and another card I was missing of Drew Bledsoe, a 1998 Pinnacle Epic Showdown card..

Next up is a 2012 Press Pass Showcase Masterpieces Fire suit/Sheet Metal card of Tony Stewart numbered 24/99. Also, we have the 2011 Wheels Main Event Marks of Kasey Kahne 20/50.

I also picked up a nice relic card of Mark Ingram from the 2011 Absolute Memorabilia set numbered 11/50.

 I don't even know if Sean May is still in the NBA but I've always pulled for the home team. This autographed Topps Finest rookie card was a welcome addition to my collection for the cost of a buck. It was serial numbered 141/169.

Ok..this is going on longer than I thought it would. To wrap up the show and tell, here are two great cards I picked up on Listia for credits of Mo Vaughn and John Elway. The Elway is numbered 13/35. Finally, I have an Elway jersey card. =)

The cool part of it all is that I got all of these great cards for only $12! Until the next blog rolls around, 'Excelsior'!

Evolution of an Autograph

I absolutely love the game of football. I have since I was a kid where I was fortunate enough to see some of the greats of the game, like Dan Marino, Phil Simms, and John Elway, when they were still in the primes of their careers. Back in those days, we didn't have the home town team Carolina Panthers to root for, instead, we got a steady diet of the Washington Redskins.

It was during this time I was introduced to my beloved New York Giants. I loved watching Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Rodney Hampton, and Mark Bavaro play on cold Sunday afternoons. Through good and bad, even to this day, I root for them. Luckily, we've had a better team over the past few years.

When Drew Bledsoe came into the league, I became a follower of the New England Patriots, even though they weren't the best team on the field every week, Drew kept it interesting with his passing heroics. All of that came crashing down in front of me with one vicious hit from Mo Lewis of the New York Jets. Drew was essentially knocked out of the game and his New England Patriot career. A fifth rounder by the name of Tom Brady came into the game and as we all know, the rest is history.

I drifted away from the Patriots after that, mainly because I wasn't a fan of Brady after he took Drew's starting job. Still, I followed them on occasion and I've been impressed by the tight ends they drafted in 2010. Which leads me to the point of this blog. Rob Gronkowski is a beast on the football field! I noticed this early in his career and sent some cards his way through the team address, hoping he would autograph one for me. To my surprise, three months later I opened up a self addressed stamped envelope and I received this!

I was pretty excited to get this from him and a few other signed cards. Not only is Gronk the premier tight end in the NFL, he also appreciates his fans! Although he got hurt this year, he's had a monster career so far by hauling in 185 catches for 2,621 yards and 37 touchdowns. That's monster production for a tight end.

Well, I received those cards over a year ago and forgot I had sent some other ones out. To my surprise when I opened my mail today, I received these!

These cards were signed almost two years apart and their is a significant difference in the way Gronk signs now. He has shortened the length of his name from a full signature to basically an abbreviation in the R and Gronk but it still looks awesome to me.

This guy is one of the classiest guys in the NFL and I appreciate him taking the time to sign for me. Even though I'm not a huge follower of the Patriot's in the Brady years, I am a huge fan of Ron Gronkowski. I hope he never changes his outlook towards the fans.

And this was supposed to start with sports cards?

So...I finally decided to do a blog, yes, I know that it took me long enough. I had some cool vintage cards all lined up to share in my first post here but it's getting pushed to the wayside.

Why is that? Well, I just had the most awesome finds today and I had to share them here. A friend of mine who owns Micheal's Marvels, who just happens to let me sell sports cards in his store after we were forced to close ours, had a special guest today in his comic shop. Mr. Al Bigley, who has done art for almost everyone in comics including Marvel and DC, was in the shop today signing comics and doing commission work. He even did a comic cover for me of Hawkeye of Avenger's fame. I'll share that later.

For now though, I wanted to show off my new comics I picked up for a dollar each today at the shop. First up is the X-Men issue that Rachel Grey, aka Marvel Girl/Phoenix joined the X-Men.

X-Men #188

That wasn't the only X-Men comic I picked up. I also got the X-Men annual from 1980.

X-Men Annual #4

Ok, I wasn't really looking for X-Men comics, I was looking for missing pieces to go into my large Avengers comic collection. I did find a few though and I was stoked to get three I did not have.

Avengers Vol. 1 #103

Avengers Vol. 1 #225

Marvel Triple Action #17

I absolutely love all three of these books. The cover design years ago was way cooler than all the gimmicky stuff that you see with newer books. Best of all, all three covers feature my favorite comic book character ever, Clint Barton of Hawkeye fame!

After doing some more digging in the dollar boxes, I found another of my favorite titles as a kid, What If? For those not familiar with the brand of book, it basically took Marvel stories and characters and told hypothetical stories of what could happen if something went in a different direction, kind of like an alternate reality thing. I sold most of my original run in high school to go on spring break during my senior year. Little did I know at the time that I would value the memories from these books over that week from hell that I barely remember.

Here are a few of those books that I am glad to have back in my collection.

What If Vol. 1 #22

What If Vol. 1 #29

What If Vol. 1 #31

After a little more digging, I hit the jackpot! I've never been into Daredevil like most people are but I do read him from time to time. However, I am a huge fan of Bullseye! I'm proud to say that I am the proud owner of the first and second appearance of Bullseye in comics now! I also picked up the issue where Bullseye and Elektra fight it out until one goes bye-bye.

Daredevil Vol. 1 #131

Daredevil Vol. 1 #132

Daredevil Vol. 1 #181

All in all, that was a great lot of comics for under 20 bucks until you throw in one more prized comic into my collection. An original sketch cover of Hawkeye!

Uncanny Avengers #1 Custom Hawkeye art

Al Bigley did the cover while he chatted with me and my son. He is a class act guy and I hope I get the opportunity to talk with him more in the future. All in all, I have to say that my day was a remarkable success!

I know...this blog was kinda long but I promise not to be so long winded on the next and actually include some sports cards. Until then, as Stan Lee would say 'Excelsior!'