IP Autograph: Jesse Barfield

One of the things I'd like to start showing off in this blog are some of my autographs and tell the stories behind how I aquired them. I love autographs and one of my goals is to try and get as many autos of players who played for the Yankees, Devils, Knicks and Jets. One of the main requirements I do have is that the player must be pictured in the uniform of the team I collect. I do realize it might be hard to do that as the player might have played only a handful of games and not had a card made in that particular uni. Thankfully, I can find a pic on the internet, use photoshop and make a quick custom. Good way to build the collection.

Today, I have this auto from Jesse Barfield to show off. When Barfield came to the Yankees, his offensive skills were diminishing. His best season as a Yankee was in 1990 when, after being traded for Al Leiter (a trade that still doesn't sit well with me), hit 25 home runs.

To me, what defined his brief Yankee career (he retired in 1992), was a play he made against the Indians that summer. I was at the game, sitting on the 3rd base side when the Indians hitter, who's name escapes me, hit a screamer past a diving Mattingly toward rf, geting an easy double. The hitter, feeling a bit froggy decided to go for three, especially after seeing Barfield slip and fall on the grass. Barfield, from his knees, gunned the ball to 3rd and got the runner out by a mile. His bat might have slowed, but the arm still had a few bullets left.

I was able to get this card signed by Barfield outside Yankee Stadium in Sept of '90, I think. Could have been '91, not too sure. The card was given out by the Yankees in a set made by Score. Barfield was a real nice guy and still is. I recently saw him at a card show in Westchester. He was passing me by and I put up my hand and he gave me a high five. Still has some strength cause it hurt like hell as well.

Nice to see some players still appreciate their fans.

Bobbleheads

Today, I was able to meet up with Andy Matz, who I met on the Spawn boards. He has a collection of bobbleheads, McFarlanes and Starting Lineups that would make even the most experianced collector swoon. He has most in his office in midtown Manhattan, which is where I met up with him this afternoon. After inviting me to sit down (on a seat from Dodger Stadium no less) we talked about bobbles.

He's been collecting them since the late 80's. It was a progression that started from his collecting of Kenners Starting Lineups and grew from there. He has just about every bobble you can think of from stadium give aways to retail. He has just about every team in baseball represented. also has a nice collection of hockey bobbles. I think I might have seen some football as well. His collection of Starting Lineups as well as his McFarlane Sports Picks also took up residency in his office.

Some of the nicer bobbles were the stadium give aways. I saw a bobble sporting the old Toronto Blue Jays powder blues, a Roberto Clemente, a very nice Joe Torre Dodger bobble and a Mr.Met that caught my eye. His collection of McFarlanes were no less impressive as it seemed like he had every single one on his walls, including the Team Canada figures, the boxed sets and a lot of baseball. He even showed me some autographed Starting Lineups signed by Darryl Strawberry and Willie Randolph.

He reached out to me when I posted a thread on the Spawn forum asking if anyone had any bobbles of teams I collect. He had replied and told me he had three I might be intrested in. A Mariano Rivera Yankee Stadium SGA, a Jason Giambi Yankee Stadium SGA and a Hideki Matsui Trenton Thunder SGA. We negotiated a price and I went to pick them up today. When I went to pay, he told me they were on the house. He wanted to help jump start my bobblehead collection. I was overwhelmed by his generosity. Andy, If your reading this, I'd like to thank you again for your hospitality, your time and generosity.

Now, on to the bobbles

Mariano Rivera Yankee Stadium SGAJason Giambi Yankee Stadium SGA

Hideki Matsui Trenton Thunder SGA

Martin Brodeur Gold Base Team Canada Bobble that I bought from a Canadian Spawn Boardie. Beautiful piece.

Now the rest of my collection

From left to right; 2002 Derek Jeter Upper Deck Bobble, 2003 Hideki Matsui Upper Deck Bobble, Derek Jeter Forever Bobble, Mark Teixeira World Series Champion Bobble, Whitey Ford Cooperstown Forever Bobble, Phil Rizutto Forever Bobble

From left to right; Patrick Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise, Martin Brodeur, Chad Pennington training camp give away. The Devils Bobbles were part of a partial plan. Bought tickets to 4 selected games and you got the set free. Looks like not a lot of people bought them so they sold the set in the team stores then gave them out during game one of the playoffs.

Lastly, from left to right; my Spiderman bobbles; comic and movie versions; my generic Mets bobble I picked up at Shea and my generic Brooklyn Cyclones bobble I picked up at Keyspan Park. The Pennington you see here is a statue.

Here's my goal. I want to collect as many bobbles from my teams (Yankees, Jets, Devils and Knicks) as well as a HOF collection. I also will pick up a bobble from every stadium, arena and park I visit. If I could have a collection that comes halfway to Andy's, then I'd be a very happy camper.

3/1/2010-Mailday

Hey everyone,

Happy March to you all. The beautiful thing is we get spring training games starting tomorrow. I can't wait to see baseball again.

I looked into seeing if you can upload pics from your cell phone and apparently you can. However, I have sprint and spirnt doesn't allow that, so I'll need to figure out another way to upload pics to my blog until I'm able to get a new laptop.

Today bought in former Yankees pitcher Walt Terrell. He signed 2 cards and a custom Yankee Stadium card for the Yankees PC. Nice success.

1/30/2010

No mail makes me a sad collector. I haven't gotten a TTM success in a while. I am hoping for some of the batch I sent out a couple of weeks ago to start trickling in this week.

I also made up my mind regarding my collecting. It seems to me I have been concentrating more on getting hockey and basketball autos. Yes, I enjoy watching The Devils and Knicks play and am equilly happy when one of their players (former and present) will sign an autograph for me. But, in the process of working to write letters, create customs, I have neglected the one team I truly love, the New York Yankees.

I have been a Yankees fan since 1976. In fact, the first game I watched was Game 5 of the '76 ALCS when Chris Chambliss hit the walk off home run to put the Yankees back into the fall classic since 1964 only to get swept by the Big Red Machine of Cincinnatti. I have been a follower of the Yankees since. My love for autographs started out in the 80's when I was old enough to go to Yankee Stadium by myself. I would wait outside for the players to come out. Some were awesome signers like Lou Pinella, Don Mattingly while some seemed to take glee in turning down a kid like Graig Nettles, my former favorite Yankee. He was mean then and is still pretty nasty to this day. Back then, the metal bars seperating you from the players walking in was not far at all. As the years past, the metal started getting further and further back from the entrance until they were right by the Yankee Clubhouse Store at the old stadium! If you are at all fimilar with the old Yankee Stadium, you know how far away that is. You needed binoculars just to see who was entering the stadium. Now at the new stadium, The players can just drive in to a private parking garage that is built inside the stadium. Earlier this year, you werent even allowed to go downstairs to watch batting practice or try for autos like in the old stadium. That changed though thanks to the public outcry. I guess the people who paid 2 grand for their seats didn't want a ham and egger like myself standing in their area, trying to get Teixiera to sign.

It seems I went off on a tangent. Fact is, the Yankees are my favorite team. When I started to write for autographs, I wanted to concentrate soley on the Yankees players, past and present. Over time, I started to add players who played for the Jets, Knicks, Devils and Islanders. I think it was because I was buying and trading for certified autos on baseball cards that I didn't need the ones who were signing ttm. Plus, there were some players that I just didnt have cards of. Now that I have learned to create custom cards, that shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, my quest to get as many autos of the players who played in Yankee Pinstripes has officially rebegun. Doesn't mean I will stop ttm'ing my other teams. It just means I will make a more concerted effort on the Yankees.

Anyways, thanks for reading my tangent. I hope to have some successes to report this week.

Mike