Have a Ball or Five

At one point in my collecting days, I had a little money and a penchant for autographed "stuff".  I had an 8X10 Mickey Mantle auto, an 8X10 Wayne Gretzky auto (still have that one) and an autographed Will Clark game model bat, among other various items.  I sold most of it to pay off the debt I incurred during my dark days of collecting, but I hung on to my autographed baseballs.  I only have one that I can show Fuji.

Unfortunately, my favorite signed ball is one I had to pay for since I never met the guy in person.

I bought my Will Clark ball from a reputable card shop in Dallas (reputable at the time, if that matters).  I later bought one of these crappy ball stands and of course the card holder broke off.  You can't tell, but the card is just balanced on the stand.  This ball resides on my son's headboard since I don't really have a place to display my balls.  *And I promised myself I wouldn't go there.*

I have four other autographed balls that are stored away.  I got each of those autos in person.  I have Johnny Oates, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Roger Clemens.  The Clemens ball was signed at a card show in Arlington when the Red Sox were in town.  Back then, Roger was just a fireballin' Texas boy, not the pariah he is today.  I was extremely happy to get that ball at the time and Roger was actually pretty friendly to everyone.

If you have a few greenbacks to spare, go check out JABO's latest box break.  He's got some boxes that provide plenty of hits.