Some New Adds To My Jets PC

This week I was able to add to my New York Jets PC, which I had been neglecting as of late. The adds were in form of a ttm autograph, which kicked off the start of a project I will be working on as well as a late xmas gift from my buddy.

Last year, a coffee table book called The New York Jets: The Complete History was released. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it.

It looks like a decent read and it has some great pictures, many of which I hadn't seen. My friend Mark, who has a similar book about The Mets, suggested I do what he is doing. Mark, also an autograph hound, is trying to get all the players featured in The Mets book to sign the page that they are on. He's doing a very good job with it. He has a lot of signatures in that book. But I wasn't sure I wanted to do that.

For one thing, not a lot of former Jets make as many apperances as the former Mets do. To get that book signed would be a difficult task. And two, how do you display it? I had done this with a wrestling photo book in the 90's to great success. Only problem is I can't really display the pics I got signed. And I have some good ones. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kerry Von Erich, Owen Hart, Davy Boy Smith, to name a few. Cant really display the book. Just allow people to flip through the pages to see the autos. Plus, I really didn't take care of the book. The outside is in rough shape. I won't take the pages out to display though. Rough shape or not, it will stay as is. It's one of my most prized possessions and will stay as is.

Then, an idea came to me via youtube. One of the guys I sub to, Bloodspawn, is working on a Dallas Cowboys book where he is sending book plates through the mail and sticking the plates by the player's picture. Brilliant idea. I just can't do that with this book as there is no room. It's a history of book and theres a lot of text in this book. So, I came up with another idea. I would send the players labels, have them sign that and I'd stick the lable inside the cover. If I ever see a player who is in the book, I'll have the player sign his page, but for now, ttm'ing is the way to go. So I decided to test it on a player I know signs and it worked like a charm.

Former member of the famed New York Sack Exchange, Marty Lyons, signed the above label/book plate in about 5 days. Once I got it, I stuck it inside the cover on the first page like I planned.

I think it looks great. Plus, there is enough room on the page where I can have 2 rows of autographed book plates, right next to each other going down the page. Oh, and I got something else signed.

Mr. Lyons also signed my throwback mini helmet in silver sharpie. Looks better in person than how it looks on the picture, I promise. Still, I wish I had sent a paint pen instead of a sharpie, especially since he returned the Sharpie.



My other add to the New York Jets collection is something of the vintage variety. I love vintage stuff when it comes to the Yankees, Jets, Spider-Man and Batman. I wish I could afford to buy more. I am always thrilled when I can find a deal on something older to add to my collection. If it's free, even better.

My buddy Mark (there he is again), gave me a late christmas gift of something I had been eyeballing on ebay for a while now. He found it in a flea market for dirt cheap.

He got me this vintage Joe Namath puzzle. It was something I have wanted for a while and was absolutely floored when I saw it. I don't have a lot of Namath collectables in my collection, save for the autographs I have, either certified card or IP. Ever since I watched the HBO documentary this past winter, I have wanted to get some of Namath's merchandise for the Jets PC. This puzzle was one of the things I zeroed in on.

I love the simple lettering, plain white background and pic with the Jets logo airbrushed out.

The seller told my buddy that all the pieces were inside the baggie provided.


The box is a little beat up with some stains and dents, but I don't care. It's mine, mine, allll mine! mwhahahahahaha!...excuse me. Got a bit carried away.

Anyway, it still looks great for displaying purposes once I get a cabinet to display all my Jets goodies in. And believe me, I will be displaying the box along side my signed mini helmets, figures and other Jets suff I have gotten over the years.

The Jets have some real nice vintage stuff out there that I would love to get my hands on. From programs to yearbooks. Pennants to pins, I want it all. My love for Gang Green is almost on level with my feelings for the Yankees. I go back to 1980 with the Jets, when they were still in Shea Stadium. I might be the only Yankees fan who loved Shea. Because of my Jets, my first game at Shea wasn't even a Mets game. It was a Jets game.

So, now that I can cross the puzzle off my list, I can go back to trolling on ebay for other vintage Jets items I can add to the collection. Excuse me. I can hear the "bay" calling.

The Accidental Autograph

Sometimes something pretty cool happens when you least expect it. Like today, for example. I left work trying to decide if I was hitting the gym or going straight home. I had an accident yesterday where I almost fell down the stairs in my apartment building. The super was moping the stairs and didnt stop to let me pass. I waited till he went to rinse out his mop and proceeded down the stairs. All of a sudden, he came back and started mopin again while I was going down the stairs. The mop went between my legs, tripping me up. I grabbed the rail and kinda did a Matrix thing where I fell back while my knees went forward, but never fell down. The super said sorry the way you would say whatever and went back to work. Rather than cause an incident, I went to work. Once there, I felt tightness in my lower back and knee, so I didnt get to go to the gym yesterday. Today, I felt a bit better and was on my way there when the knee started tightening, so I started to walk to the train.

On the way, I passed the new NFL Pop Up Store It's only open until the end of April. I hadn't been there as of yet, so I decided to take a look in the window. When I did, I saw New York Jets Defensive Tackle Sione Pouha inside the store at a podium signing for customers. I went around the corner and saw a small line to get into the store and a guy handing out photos. I grabbed a couple and got on line. Once inside, I grabbed a Jets mini helmet, like the kind Pouha uses. A few minutes later, I was meeting Sione Pouha. He was a great guy, spoke to me a few as he signed the 2 pics and mini helmet and I was on my way.

I didn't even know there was a free signing and had I gone to the gym, I never would have known until later. It's one of the few times I'm actually glad I skipped the gym. It's been while since I went to a free signing and now I have another autographed helmet to add to my Jets collection. I do have an extra phot that is up for trade if anyone wants to trade.

Also, if you want to find out who else will be showing up, follow the store on twitter @officialnflshop. From what I understand, the store will have a Jet or Giant signing every Tuesday and Friday. I think the next three signings are Giants players. Take advantage now, store will close on April 30th.

Recent Autograph Adds

I love this blog. I love writing it. But due to work, gym and other commitments, I barely have time to write as much as I'd like to. As you can imagine, there blogs I'd love to post and after a while, it gets backed up. I recently realized I haven't posted any of my autograph successes in a long time.

So, for your veiwing pleasure, I will post my most recent scores.

This was one autograph I wanted for a long time and was finally able to add it to my collection. I remember Mark Jackson as a point guard with St. Johns and then with the Knicks. He never had a certified auto released save for a college card. My rule is, the player has to be pictured in the uniform of the team I collect. So, I passed up the college cards. When Jackson was hired to be the coach of the Golden State Warriors, I decided to take a shot. After about 2 months, I got my card back, signed. Thrilled to finally have a Jackson auto in my Knicks collection.

Blackhawk great Bobby Hull signed this custom for me in about a month c/o The Blackhawks

Sent former Jet, Mike D'Amato a custom and he sent me back this 8x10, signed and personalized to me. Very cool success.

Another former Jet, Ralph Baker, signed this custom for me in under a weeks time.

The next couple were in person sucesses.

About a week ago, I attended the New Jersey Devils annual blood drive. Each year, I give blood to The Devils blood drives. This year, I decided to bring my 2000 Championship puck just in case. Last year, 2 former Devils showed up and while I was glad to get the players to sign pictures they provided, I need one on puck. This year, I vowed not to be left out, in case the player I thought would show up, did.

I was able to get former Devil Ken Danyeko to sign the puck for me in blue sharpie. I think it came out well. It's my second Danyeko puck. The first I got at a charity event and it was a rush job. This time, he took his time signing it.

Last, but certainly not least For my Spider-Man collection

Andrew Garfield, who will be playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man, is on Broadway performing in Death Of A Salesman. I was able to get him on this 8x10 after a performance. His shoe lace was untied and I told him so and added I was sure his Spider-Sense didn't pick it up, which got a laugh from him and the people in my vicinity. Nice kid. Hope he does well.

I'm planning to send out a lot of autograph requests in the upcoming days, so I will hopefully have more stuff to show as they come in. Hopefully, you will have as much fun checking them out as I do writing and posting them. I have a few projects in mind and will tell you what they are as the autos come back.

See you soon.

Lest We Forget....Bobbleheads!

As of late, I realize I have been blogging more about my love for all things pop culture, then my love for sports. But make no mistake, I am still a collector of all things Yankees, Jets, Devils and Knicks. I have been picking up cards here and there as well as autographs that I will show off in upcoming blogs. With baseball season soon to be here, I am very excited about the possibilty of a Yankee World Series.

But today, this is not about the Yankees. This is about bobbleheads. More specific, new adds to my bobblehead collection.

I haven't added any new pieces in quite a long time. That changed recently with a gift and 2 ebay purchases, both of which were absolute steals. I mean, highway robbery. I paid a lot less than what I have seen these bobbles go for on ebay and I am quite happy to own them.

First, we get to the gift.

A buddy of mine in my baseball card team collectors group sent this to me. Me being the non-politcal guy I am, had no idea where this particular bobble came from. I knew it was George W. Bush, but wasnt sure which team gave this out and when. A quick google search told me it was a SGA from the Rochester Red Wings back on 7/22/2002. It's a nice bobble, but again, I am not a politcal guy, so I am not sure if it will be up for trade at some point or, being that it is a gift, I will hold on to it.

Next, we come to the first bobble I bought off of ebay for a whopping 5 bucks dlvd. 99 cents for the bobble, 4.99 shipping. It's a Kerry Jenkins New York Jets SGA Knucklehead Bobble. I'm not sure of the date on the actual give away. I ran a search on it and came up with nothing. All I know is the Jets give the fans in attendance a voucher to pick up the bobbles at participating P.C. Richards in New York and New Jersey and the race is on. I'm not sure if the bobbles were limited, but I have heard of fans getting shut out on these.

I've never really been a fan of Knucklehead bobbles. The likeness on these to the players are not the best and I really hate how they make the players look like they are wearing clown shoes. I have seen Yankee Knucklehead bobbles and have held off from picking any up, even though there are a few players I would like to have in my bobblehead collection. Ever see the Randy Johnson one? Scary.

So far, I have just these 2. The Sanchez was the first one I picked up. I will be going for the set eventually, since these are really the only Jets bobbles I see aside from the Forever bobbles and the few Alexander Global bobbles I see. This set will eventually be mine.

I will post once the 2nd bobble arrives. I'm expecting it within a few days.

Haulin From This Past Weekend

Haven't been able to post up a blog this week as work has been hetic lately. My company is a black hole and likes to suck up smaller companies so when it consumes a company, that's more work for us little people. My main function is to process expense reports and cut the checks for the employee. We now have 5 companies, so that's 5 diffrent sets of checks I have to cut. Takes a lot of time going through the reports and going after the employees that are missing reciepts and whatnot. But, I am happy to say I am finally all caught up with the checks.

This past Saturday, My buddy and I went up to Poughkepsie, NY just to get out of the NYC area. Poughkepsie has some nice stores I don't have near me like a Dragon's Den comic shop and a Big Lots as well as the usual Toys R Us, Target and Wal-Mart stores. Nothing really intrested me and the stuff that did was too pricey for my liking. I wasn't willing to pay 15.99 for a Marvel Legends Iron Man figure, although I probably will sooner than later cause I do want it, as well as the new 8 inch Avengers figures. I had Iron Man, Captain America and Thor in my grubby mitts, but at 12.99 per, I put those back as well.

We went into a Salvation Army before lunch. There was the usual video tapes and crappy toys and books I could find around my area. I normally skip by the glasses and dishes, but for some reason decided to take a peek. To my shock, I found 2 glasses I was keeping an eye on ebay right on the shelves in great condidtion. Naturally, I scooped them up.

I've been picking up a couple of vintage New York Jets items as of late and was eyeballing this glass on ebay. I love coke glasses, so I really wanted this one featuring the old green helmet. I've been seening them on ebay for anywhere from 7.00 to 20.00 with about 5.99 shipping. I paid 2 bucks at the thrift store.

This one was a complete shock to find. It was hidden in the middle of a bunch of glasses, but I knew what it was as soon as I saw it. I remember these Burger King glasses from when I was a kid and never owned one. Burger King released glasses from all 3 movies. I have been wanting a few since I decided to start a Star Wars collection of just New Hope, Empire and Return. I was looking at a few of these not too long ago on ebay and the prices were similar to the prices I saw for the Jets; anywhere from 7.00 to 20.00 with 5.99 shipping. And like the Jets glass, I paid 2 bucks for it. Plus it's of my favorite Star Wars character, Luke Skywalker.

I picked up this Jets puzzle for a buck at the Dollar Tree that was right next door to the thrift shop.

There isn't a Hobby Lobby in the NYC area. We only have Michaels. There maybe an AC Moore somewhere around in Jersey or Long Island, but I never been in a Hobby Lobby before. Not much diffrent from Michaels. The only aisle we were concerned with was the model kit aisle. Not that I can put together a model, cause I can't. And painting might as well be rocket science to me. If I buy a model kit, I usually keep it in the box and on the shelf, like I have with the Aurora Spider-Man reissue kit or my Monkees Mobile. This model is one I will put together

I have been looking for this snap kit of the 1966 Batmobile for sometime. As you might have gathered from my previous post, I'm a huge fan of the 1966 Batmobile and try to grab as much merchandise of it as I can. I just started grabbing stuff recently. I'll post a blog dedicated to my 1966 Batmobiles at some point.

Here it is with a Deluxe Batmobile model kit I bought last year and haven't put it together as of yet. I really need to either hire someone to put it together or attempt it myself. I have some of the Johnny Lighting Batmobile model kits that came out awhile back that I'd love to have put together at some point cause they all would look great on a shelf.

I really lucked out. I never really find anything good when I hit a thrift store and I never thought I'd finally find the Batmobile model kit either. It's nice that I could pick up some vintage/throwback goodies for my collections.

Its Finally Happened.

Right now, I'm in the laundromat, watching my clothes wrestle each other in the dryer, bored out of my mind. I decided to try to post a picture-less blog to give you all a quick update to what I've been up to the past few weeks. Plus, I get to test this Blogger Android app that I downloaded off the Android Market.

I finally decided that I've had enough of binders. I currently have close to 30 binders that house my Yankees, Jets, Devils, Knicks and Islander cards. I am running out of space to put more binder. Plus, to be honest, I'm thrilled with having to shell out 3-7 bucks a pop for binders, then 15 dollars for 9 pocket pages. With all the cards I pick up during a calender year, I will have to buy a home that has a massive library just to house the binders. Plus, I have close to 15 boxes of cards I have yet to organize. Sheesh!

So, I finally have joined the many masses that are puting their card collections into monster boxes, top loaders and penny sleeves. Not exactly what I wanted when I started collecting again, but with room at a premium, I have no choice.

So, I have started with Topps. I have made dividers from index cards and been moving the base into the box. I plan to keep the inserts in the binders as well as the player collections I have of Mark Teixeira, Martin Brodeur, Mike Bossy, Mark Teixeira and Patrick Ewing.

I'm hoping this works out for me. I'm tired of having to decide how I am storing my cards, especially between my Team Collectors group, trades, box breaks and ebay, I get a lot each month.

I also have been looking to build up my Knicks collection. Of all the teams I collect, they are the team I have the fewest of. So, I've been picking up a few cards as well as some Ewings. Its been coming along nicely and pretty soon, I should have a nice Knicks collection.

Marvin Washington TTM Autograph

Yesterday, the first of my New York Jets requests came back. I had sent out about 5 letters to former Jets players a couple of weeks ago and Marvin Washington was the first to respond, sent in care of his home.

Marvin Washington is a former defensive end who was drafted by the Jets in the 6th round of the 1989 draft. He went on to play 7 seasons with the Jets before moving on to San Fransisco twice and Denver, where he won a super bowl in 1998.

Mr. Washington signed these two cards in silver ink.

I'm very please to add the autographs to my Jets PC. I just wish they weren't signed in silver, but what can you do? No complaints here.

Recent Adds to the Jets Collection

I was recently able to add some new cards to the Jets PC. I have actually been ignore it for a while and while I was looking through the collection, I noticed I was missing a lot of players I've wanted in the PC.

I went on ebay, placed some bids, winning one and made a deal with a football card collector on sportscardforum.com.

Here are the new additions

I have been wanting a Vinny Testeverde auto for sometime now and I was happy to be able to add this card. Testeverde is one of my all time favorite Jets and Now I can cross him off the want list.

I used to collect Chad Pennington. This card will be a welcome addtion to the PC

For some reason each time I participate in a group break, I always seem to pull a Dustin Keller game used card, but never an autograph. With this ebay purchase, I was able to rectify that and cross Keller off the want list.

This is a nice one for the PC. I love to collect the patch cards and this one has a piece of patch, as you can see.

This card covers my love for patches and autos. It was a must have as I don't know if Edwards will be a Jet this season. He's a free agent and although his drops have considerably, well, dropped, I think Santonio Holmes is a must sign. Glad to add Edwards to the Jets auto PC with his beauty.

The trader threw in this Leaf Certified Red card. Nice add to the collection.

I have another card coming in off ebay soon. Hopefully, it will arrive today.

I was glad I could add to the Jets collection, especially since I have been working on organizing the Jets base cards I have. Will probably add more in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned.

J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!

Rex Ryan Book Signing

Last week, I attended the Rex Ryan Book signing at the Jets Store in Manhattan. Over 200 Jets fans attended the signing. I managed to be about the 70th person on the line, having gone straight from work.

3 of the Flight Crew, which is the Jets Cheerleading squad also showed up to greet the fans and sign autographs while you stood on line.


The store has a wide range of merchandise for the Jets fan in your life. Here's my personal favorite, jerseys.

And once you got inside, you were greeted by the man himself, Coach Ryan. He was extremely nice. I got to thank him for the tremendous job he and his staff has done in the 2 years he's been coach and I couldn't wait till he bought home a Super Bowl Title. He seemed genuinely thankful by that remark and told me it was fans like me that he's busting his tail to bring it home.

Here's the swag I bought home:

Signed photo by three of the flight crew.

Book by Coach Ryan

Inside of book, signed by Coach Ryan.

It was a fun day to be a Jets fan.

New Adds to Yankees Autograph PC

I attended the Westchester County Sports Card show last weekend. I initally went just to meet former Yankee Stan Bahnsen. I didnt want to spend too much money and thanks to the dealers there, I didnt. Almost everything was overpriced so I didnt buy much of anything except vintage New York Jets cards from the 60's, 70's and 80's for 10 cents a piece. The most I spent was 2.00 on a 1969 Don Maynard card. I have been meaning to try and put together all the Topps Jets team sets and I'm now on my way to doing that. I also came to the conclusion that if I am going to come home with a nice haul, I better stay away from game used and autographed cards. Not that there arent any deals to be had. There are. It's just that the Yankees are always over priced, the Jets are on their way to being and finding Knicks and Devils stuff is pretty hard.

I did manage to add 2 hard to get (well, for me anyway) autographs to my Yankees autograph collection. First up is this signed Matt Nokes card.

If you have been a regular reader of my blog, you would have seen an earlier blog where I wrote about how Nokes had sent back my request RTS. It was the third time I had sent out to Nokes and he didnt sign. So I found this signed card in a pile with other signed cards for a buck. Now, I finally got you Nokes, mwhahahahahahahahaha!

In the same pile was this signed card by another former Yankees catcher, Don Slaught. He was another who I wrote to and never got back. With Slaught though, I wrote to him when he was coaching the Pirates and he got canned right after I sent in the request, so I'm guessing he just never got the request. I was never able to find another address for him, so I was happy to pick this up for the PC for a buck as well.

1 new add to the Yankees signed baseball collection, 2 new adds to the Yankees autographed card collection and a bunch of new Jets Topps cards. All in all, a pretty successful day for my collections and I barely spent 10.00 for the day.

Al Toon TTM

I finally have an Al Toon auto in my Jets collection. And it only took me about 2 years to get it back.

I sent Mr.Toon a Upper Deck Legends football card and a custom generic Jets card for him to sign and promptly forgot all about it, so when I recieved them back, I was surprised. Still doesn't beat my all time record of 4 years to get Ben Oglive back.

Could be worse. Could have been like what Ben Sheets did when he took 2 years to return my card, unsigned.

Al Toon played for the Jets from 1985 to 1992. He was drafted by New York in the first round, 10th overall, of the 1985 NFL Draft out of Wisconsin. He was a 3 time Pro Bowl and 3 time All Pro player who caught for 6,605 yards and scored 31 touchdowns in his NFL career. Unfortunately, he had to retire at the age of 29 years old due to suffering at least 9 concussions. He suffred from Post concussion syndrome after his NFL career was done, but recovered enough where he was able to participate in a triathlon in 2004. I understand he serves on the Board of Directors for the Packers these days.

Another Jet is crossed off the list. I am hoping I can cross another off within a few days.