My First Autographs

Since I started this blog almost four years ago, I had always intended to write this post at some point, and I'm finally getting around to it. 

Below are the first autographs I believe I ever got in person, and I guess you can trace my autograph obsession all the way back to them. They were obtained at a Harrisburg Senators game in 1990, when I was only 7 years old. At the time, the Senators were the AA affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates and were a relatively new franchise, having started up just a few years before in 1987. I grew up in Carlisle, PA which is about 20 miles west of Harrisburg, and the Senators were by far the nearest professional baseball team to my town. 

Beginning in 1991, the Senators formed a partnership with the Expos/Nationals that exists to this day. They still play in the same stadium, now Metro Bank Park, which I knew as Riverside Stadium, but it received a major upgrade in 2009-2010. The stadium is unique in that it is located on City Island, in the middle of the Susquehanna River. 

I can't recall what caused me to get my cards signed that day, but I would speculate that I saw some other people getting autographs and liked the idea. I was obviously an autograph rookie at the time since I tried to get the players to sign with a dried up black pen. I'm guessing that I caught my dad off-guard by wanting to get autographs that day, because not long after this we started to carry a sharpie when we went to games. 

As far as I remember, Miguel Garcia was the first autograph I ever obtained, but his time in the Majors was behind him and he didn't leave much of an impression on me. Since he's from Venezuela, it's also very possible that he didn't speak English, which clearly would have made it difficult for seven year old me to relate to him.

But John Wehner was another story. He was a Pennsylvania native and rising star in the Pirates system. (Disclaimer- I was a Pirates fan back then, partially because of the Senators and partially because Sid Bream, who was from Carlisle, played for them. My Orioles allegiance began a few years later.) I remember that he was very nice to me, and upon having trouble signing the front of my card, flipped it over and signed the back. 

John never had much success in the big leagues but played in the Majors for 11 seasons, and I always supported him. My dad had him sign his Senators cap that day, and I believe the hat is still around the house somewhere. It was a great day for my dad and me, and it started a lifelong passion for autographs. 22 years later and I still enjoy getting baseball players to sign pieces of cardboard for me, but now this autograph collector is older than many of the players who sign for me. 

I also had to share these small "certificates of authenticity" that I used to create for all of the autographs I got in person to differentiate them from autographs I purchased at card shows. 

 Awesome, right?

Andy Van Slyke Private Signing

Recently, a fellow autograph collector on Sportscollectors.net hosted a signing with Andy at a golf tournament and I was very happy to knock him off of my need list. If you're an autograph collector and you've never checked out SCN, you are missing out. They don't pay me anything to say this, but it's my favorite site for researching TTM information, trading with fellow collectors, and learning about private signings that are being held around the country. So click the link, and then come back to finish reading my post!

Anyway, Andy is only about a 1% TTM signer and never returned the request I sent him in April 2009, so I don't think that one will ever come back. At the time I sent it, Andy was in his fourth season as the Detroit Tigers first base coach. I also tried to get his autograph when the Tigers were in Baltimore for a series during that season, but even though Andy was standing next to the left field wall at one point during batting practice, he didn't sign for me, or anyone else. 

I was a big fan of the Pirates growing up, which I know isn't very common for older O's fans who experienced the Orioles heart-breaking World Series losses to the Bucs in 1971 & '77, but that was before my time, and since Sid Bream was from my hometown of Carlisle, PA, I was a Pirates fan back then.  Besides Sid, Andy was one of my favorite players on the the team and I still have a cracked bat of Andy's that I bought at a Pittsburgh collectors store back in the day.

Andy played in the Major Leagues for 13 season with the Cardinals, Pirates, Orioles & Phillies and is best remembered for his 1988-93 seasons during which Andy was a three time All-Star, five time Gold Glove winner, three time MVP vote getter, and two time Silver Slugger. He also had one of the most powerful arms in all of baseball, and supposedly could reach 100 mph from the mound during batting practice. 

His time in Baltimore was very short; he only played in 17 games at the start of the '95 season before being traded to the Phillies, but he was a big enough star that there are four or five cards that depict him in a Orioles uniform. And now his autograph is a part of my collection, after all of those years, I'd say it's about time.