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This morning I headed out towards Last Licks in Huntington for a public appearance with the Sack Exchange. The Sack Exchange consists of Marty Lyons, Joe Klecko, Abdul Salaam and Mark Gastineau. In 1981 these four Jets combined for 66 sacks. They are, arguably, the greatest defensive line ever. There was good crowd there to meet these athletes. Lyons, Klecko and Gastineau still live in the area. A lot of fans brought multi-signed pieces for Abdul to sign. He does not appear very often so many took this opportunity to complete their pieces. There is an amazing photo of the four of them standing, in uniform, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It is really interesting to watch the sign the photo. The four sit in order of where they are in the photo and I simply passed each one along. Along with the photo we got some helmets signed. We also got some great single signed helmets from Mark, who inscribed each one 107 1/2 (his incredible career sack total).
This should be an interesting week with both the Mets and Yankees starting postseason play. Check back for updates.

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Last week, amidst the '69 Jets event, I did signings with a few of the Yankees. The first was with rookie pitcher Jeff Karstens. Karstens has been solid since being called up. He has really good stuff and will only improve over time. I enjoyed talking with him about all the great prospects he had seen this year in the minors. I was happy to hear great things about Mets pitcher Henry Owens. You all may remember him from earlier in the season. The guy was lights out for a few appearances in July. As you all can tell, as much I like doing signings with the superstars, I love spending time with the younger players. Karstens signed some great product including baseballs inscribed with the date of his first win.
While Jeff was in our office we had a customer up who actually met Karstens at a game. As the story goes the young girl asked Karstens for an autograph as he was walking on the field before his first MLB game. He was unable to sign that day but took the time during the next game to go over and sign and talk with the kid. Jeff immediately recognized the family when he ran into them at our office. You gotta love that.
Later in the week I did signings with both Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera. There isn't much more adulation I can give these guys that I haven't already. They are having monster seasons and, undoubtably, will have continued success in the playoffs. I did, however, have the privilege of meeting some of their family members. I had an unbelievable lunch, courtesy of Robinson's mother. It is easy to see why these guys are so level-headed despite their success at such a young age. It's all about upbringing. Robinson and Melky both signed MLB baseballs as well as some great photos. We did some awesome web exclusive product with Melky.
My last Yankees signing of the week was with my boy Chien-Ming Wang. Again, I have had countless posts on Wang. This one will be a little bit different because Wang really has become the ace of the Yankees staff. Back in July (on this blog) I said that he was well on his way to being the number one starter. It turns out that Chien will be pitching Game 1 of the ALDS. He seemed extremely focused and I am really excited to see him pitch on the big stage.
Good luck to them all in playoffs....until the World Series (of course).

Here are some photos from Day 3 of our marathon signing with the Super Bowl champion 1969 Jets. Sometime next week I will do a complete recap of the signing including photos of Joe Namath. One of the guys that signed today was Matt Snell. Snell had the game of his life in Super Bowl 3. Matt had 30 carries for 121 yards and scored the Jets lone touchdown. All the guys could not say enough about his performance in that classic game.

Here are some great photos from day 2 of the Jets signing. Check back later for a recap of the Jeff Karstens signing as well as more on the '69 Jets(including some information on some amazing Jets web exclusive products).

Yesterday we began out team signing the '69 Jets. Randy Beverly, Jim Hudson and Curley Johnson were the first three to sign. I thought it would be cool for you guys to see photos of the progress of the helmets. Here are a few images.
Check back later for some photos from Day 2 as well as a recap of my signing with Yankees pitcher Jeff Karstens.

We have a ton of great signings coming up this week. Starting today we will be conducting a private signing with 1969 New York Jets. This will be completed by Friday. We are getting some great product signed including helmets and some awesome photos. Then throughout the week I will be doing a few Yankees signings. The first will be a private signing with Melky Cabrera tomorrow.

Check back later for an update.

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting young Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez. He is having an incredible rookie season. Sanchez has an ERA of 2.80 and pitched a no-hitter earlier this month against Arizona. Last night he gave up 1 run in 7 innings against Pedro and the Mets. He told me that Pedro was joking with him about how, even with the 3 Cy Young awards and all the wins, Martinez has yet to throw a no-hitter....while Sanchez throws one in his first season. After spending some time with Anibal and taking a good look at the Marlins I am really hoping they do not get the wild card. They can be really dangerous with those young arms. Sanchez, unlike a lot of the younger players, has a great signature. He signed baseballs with the inscription "No Hitter 9/6/06". Anibal even added his number to each signature.

Check back later for a preview of the upcoming week which includes several Yankees signings as well a 1969 Jets team signing. It should be quite a week.

Last Friday, again in the middle of our 1986 Giants team signing, I headed into Manhattan for another signing with "Big Papi" David Ortiz. Ortiz is now capping off an incredible season. Even though the Red Sox have falled out of contention, statistically David has been nothing short of amazing. Last night he hit his 50th home run which tied the Red Sox team record. He is sure to break that in the next few days. He has also had his share of walk off moments. We got some great product signed including a collage 16x20 of some of Ortiz's greatest moments.
After completing the signing I drove back to our office and jumped right back in middle of the Giants signing. We knocked out two guys Friday night which left one player yet to sign. Pepper Johnson was coming to sign on Saturday night. We were lucky that the Patriots were in town to play the Jets. Johnson is now a coach for New England and came up at about 9:00 Saturday night (after practice and meetings) to sign. He, and the project, finally was finished at about 11:30.

So that brings us current on signings. Later today I will be with Marlins rookie phenom Anibal Sanchez. Check back later for an update.

Last week, amidst the insanity of the Giants team signing, I did a private signing with Johnny Damon. After a day of getting helmets signed I headed out to meet up with Damon that evening after his game. I have known Johnny since the Red Sox won it all in 2004. I have done countless signings with him as both a Red Sox and Yankee. He is one of our exclusives and, by far, one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His enthusiasm and positive attitude seems to have rubbed off on the entire Yankees clubhouse. The team appears to be having a lot more fun than in year's past...being around Johnny can definitely do that. Damon has come up so big all year. I wish him all the best in the postseason until the World Series, where he should be going up on against the Mets. Johnny signed baseballs as well as some great game used product.
Check back later for a recap of a signing I did with one of Damon's old teammates.

Here are some great photos from the past few weeks. Check back later for a recap of a few recent surprise signings.

I apologize for the lack of updates this past week. We had 35 members of the '86 Super Bowl champion Giants up here to do a team project so it was a little crazy here. The product came out unbelievable. We got helmets signed as well as a few celebration photos. It was great to see the guys interact with one another. Many of them still live in the area. The culmination of the week was an appearance at Last Licks Thornwood with Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor. There was a great turnout as always for LT. I was amazed by the love the fans showed for Harry. So many fans came out to congratulate Carson on his long overdue induction to the NFL's Hall of Fame. It was quite a week. Check back later for more photos and a recap of a few more signings from last week.

Saturday morning I had an appearance with Berra, Larsen and Bob Feller at Hall of Heroes. This has been quite a year for Larsen. It is the 50th anniversary of Don's perfect game in the '56 World Series and already has had countless events and appearances to commemorate it. It was great to see Yogi. I have known him for a few years now but haven't seen him in a while. I normally am not present at the Berra public signing as we always have a few appearances going on at the same time. We do a few appearances a year with Berra and Larsen and it never ceases to amaze me that there is always a big crowd. Those guys deserve it. They are awesome.
Yogi and Don were paired with Hall of Famer Bob Feller for this signing. I did not know much about Bob before doing some research last week. I had met him up in Cooperstown last summer and knew he was in the Hall. That was basically it. I now know how amazing a pitcher he was. Bob had 20+ wins six times, a lifetime ERA of 3.25, 2581 K's and 266 wins over an 18 year career. Those are pretty serious numbers, especially considering his era. Bob signed a few great photos and some Hall of Fame inscription baseballs.
So there it is...all caught up and ready for the new week. This week we have a team signing with the 1986 Giants. Check back each day for a recap of the signings. We are starting tomorrow and will be done Friday. There may also be a few Yankees signings.

Friday night, after returning from the Mia Hamm signing, I did a small signing with Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Tony Perez at his hotel. Tony was in town to do an appearance at Last Licks in Massapequa Saturday. I first met Perez last summer up in Cooperstown. He is a really good guy and loves to talk baseball. Tony now works with the Florida Marlins and is pretty excited about the young talent they have down there. We finished the signing at about 11:00 P.M. at which point I headed home to get some sleep before the next day's events.

Last Friday I travelled into Manhattan for a signing with soccer star Mia Hamm. The signing took place at a hotel in Times Square. First of all, it is not easy to unload anything (let alone 100 plus soccer balls) in Times Square. We got it done though and set up quickly for Mia who, unlike most athletes, was on time. She was in town with her husband Nomar Garciaparra whose Dodgers had a series against the Mets. We actually talked a lot about baseball. Mia has a lot of insight into the game having been around it for a few years. She told me how unhittable Tom Glavine was the previous night (I had missed the game due to the Osi/Strahan signings). It took about an hour to finish the signing at which point we packed up the balls and headed back towards our office for a few more signings.
I am almost caught up now so keep checking in for more posts.

Michael Strahan arrived at our offices at about 8:30 last Thursday night for a private signing. Michael has always been one of my favorite Giants. The guy has been so good for so long. He says this is probably the most balanced of all the Giants teams he has been on. Usually the Giants problem has been a great defense with no offense. That is no longer the case. When healthy they have all the weapons needed to get to a Super Bowl. I am still partial, though, to the defense on the late '90s/00-01 teams when they had Jesse Armstead and Keith Hamilton lining up with Strahan. Michael signed footballs, mini-helmets, helmets and also some great photos. My favorite photo, by far, is the one of him coming out of the tunnel at Giants Stadium. We also have a great shot of him sacking Brett Favre from the record-breaking game.
Check back later for a recap on Friday's signings (One day down, two more to go!).

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora came up to our office for a private signing last Thursday. Osi has quickly become on of the most feared defensive players in the game. He is really excited about the new season (despite last night's loss). He and Michael Strahan (who I will be blogging about later today) anchored last year's team to a division title. The defense should be even better this year with addition of Lavar Arrington. Osi signed some great new product including an oversize photo of him standing over Drew Bledsoe after a sack. The image is almost lifelike. It is very cool. Check back in a little while for some more posts so I can get you guys up to speed on the past few days.

Last night Tiki Barber came up to our office for a private signing. Tiki has become one of the elite running backs in the league and is extremely excited about the upcoming season. Last year he had the best season of his career and broke many Giants rushing records. This season's team, barring injuries, is a serious Super Bowl contender. Barber came up after yesterday's practice where the team was preparing for Sunday's opener against the Colts. That game should be pretty special with Eli Manning. squaring off against his brother Peyton. Tiki signed some great product including a limited special web-exclusive football. I have to run and go set up for some more Giants signings. Later today I will be doing signings with both Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora. Check back tonight for an update.

Last Thursday we did a small signing with Packers legend Jerry Kramer. Kramer became one of the best guards ever under the coaching of the immortal Vince Lombardi. He played eleven seasons at Green Bay and won five NFL titles and two Super Bowls. Jerry spoke to us, in length, about Coach Lombardi. He told us about how great a motivator he was and, more importantly, how great a person he was. We got an incredible photo of Kramer and Lomabardi signed. It is, by far, one of the best images we have ever done.
Check back tomorrow for a recap of the Tiki and Reyes signings.