Eddie Guardado's and Michael Young's 3rd Annual Stars and Strikes Bowling 1-26-14

I decided to hit up one of my favorite charity events of the year which is Eddie Guardado's Stars and Strikes Bowling Tournament to benefit children with autism. This was my 3rd year graphing this event but the difference this year was that Michael Young was also now a host of this event and the venue changed from Tustin to Anaheim.

Each year the graphing crowd gets larger at this event which means more scuffling and more competition to graph. Luckily 75% of people there are all of my friends from LA and Anaheim that graph with me on a regular basis so it was nice to see everyone again after a long time off from the offseason.

The first to arrive to the event was Michael Young and Eddie Guardado as expected since they were both hosting the event. Both were cordial and nice to all the fans who waited outside and signed for everyone.

Sadly this was the only picture besides the first photo I took all night. Due to the massive crowd I didn't get a chance to take more photos of the players signing.

I didn't have anything for Eddie but I did get Michael Young to sign a 2009 All Star ball.

My goal this year is to add more signed commemorative baseballs into my autograph collection thanks to my friend Jose who inspired me to follow in his footsteps.

Next up was a player I usually get skipped over by which is Adrian Beltre. I've had numerous graphing encounters with Adrian and each time he has the habit of skipping me. I think my success rate getting his auto overall is at about 20%. Today was my lucky day and he finally signed my 2010 All Star ball for me. Another project I am working on this year is getting superstar player autographs on their first All Star baseballs.

 

The rest of the night was kind of a blur since each player arrived at different times. Someone who wasn't on the guest list but did show up was Nomar Garciaparra who signed a ROMLB on the SS for me.

Next up was Ian Kinsler who signed my 2008 All Star ball under the logo and was kind enough to inscribe 1st ASG for me as well.

After the event was over I ended up getting Troy Percival to sign a ROMLB on the SS with the 02 Champs inscription.

Then Brian "fear the beard" Wilson signed my ROMLB on the SS.

Finally I got two photos signed. One was from Nick "Shredder" Punto and the other one was from Agone who ran with a blue sharpie all night.

I want to give a shoutout to all of my fellow graphers including Benson, Alex A, Alex G, Rob G, Franz, Josh, David A, Scotty, Tyler, Jack, Kyle, Matt C, Mike, David M, Jesse, Stephan, Robert, Joe, Brian, Jose, Clint, and everyone else who was out there graphing this event. It was cool hanging out with everyone.

UCLA Alumni Game 1-25-14

It was nice to be back in Westwood to watch the UCLA Alumni Game. As soon as I entered the stadium I noticed a few changes.

That's right 2013 National Champs. It was nice to see the entire team again. Hopefully UCLA can defend their national title again this year.

As soon as I entered the stadium I ran into Tyler who brought me a Dan Haren signed baseball. Thanks for the deal Tyler. It was nice to finally add Dan's autograph to the collection.

The only autograph I got during the day was from Gerrit Cole who signed a photo and a baseball for me. Fame, glory and money did change him as he was reluctant to sign for everyone today. I miss the days when he was more humble and was nicer to the fans. The days of inscriptions and multiples are over.

I want to give a shoutout to Alex A, Tyler, Joe, Jack, Steve Z, Jared, Jesse, Stephan, and Greg. It was nice graphing with you guys today.

Steve Sax Signing Saturday February 15, 2014 at Dr Liu's Optometry Office from 2-4pm

Offseason Graphing Pickups

First and foremost I want to thank all of my friends who traded autographs with me during the offseason. It was nice to trade with you guys and I hope we can complete more deals in the future.

I want to thank my friend Jose for hooking me up with an Aroldis Chapman ball at the end of last season.

I also want to thank Dr. Liu for hooking me up with this 11x14 Canseco photo from his private signing at his office. Thanks again Dr. Liu for being a class act as usual.

Although Jose Canseco admittedly took steroids he's always been one of my favorite baseball players growing up.

I also want to thank Jaret for another smooth trade. Thanks to him I was able to add another McCutchen ball to the collection as well as a Starling Marte signed baseball.

I want to thank my friend Spencer for finally completing our first trade. Thanks to Spencer I was able to add another Tony Gwynn signed jersey to the collection.

I want to thank my friend Ryan as well for completing several blockbuster trades with me. Here are some notable autographs.

Roy Halladay

Matt Harvey 

Adam Jones

BJ Upton

Jason Varitek

Jacoby Ellsbury

Miguel Cabrera

Matt Moore

Wade Boggs

Edwin Encarnacion 

Neftali Feliz

Don Sutton

I want to thank Ryan for giving me this Francisco Rodriguez aka K-Rod autograph as well.

RG III

Mike Trout

I went a little bit crazy over the offseason and pretty much tried to hoard as many Miguel Cabrera baseballs as I can. I wanted to get all the variations to his signature along with his rookie signature and his autograph with his old number 20 back when he played for the Florida Marlins.

The goal this season is to get him in person myself on a jersey.

I also added some of my heroes growing up into my collection as a birthday/Christmas gift to myself. Two happen to be famous Juniors and the the other was one of the best pitchers in our generation and one of my all time heroes in the game.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Cal Ripken Jr.

Pedro Martinez

I also finally joined the Albert Pujols full signature sweetspot club.

Another favorite addition to my collection was the third member of the Yankees core four. Now I just need Jorge Posada to complete the entire core four collection.

Andy Pettitte

I also added another Bryce Harper autograph into the collection. This one is a fuller signature compared to the rookie graph I previously obtained via trade with Jaret.

Here are the rest of the signed baseballs I obtained over the offseason.

Jim Thome

Giancarlo Stanton

Justin Upton

Justin Verlander

Lance Berkman

Troy Tulowitzki

Chien-Ming Wang

Cliff Lee