Late yesterday afternoon I did a small private signing with Danica Patrick at her hotel in Manhattan. She is in the city to receive a March of Dimes award for Sportswoman of the Year. It was a lot easier doing the signing at a hotel than at the racetrack (see the last Danica post). Danica is still one of the fastest signers I have ever encountered. It took her no time to complete the photos, replica cars, mini-helmets and pit-crew shirts. The cool thing about Danica is that she actually helped set up and pack up the product. It is always difficult to do a signing at an athlete's room or home...reason being is that, as a signing agent, you have no time to set up exactly the way you want to. The athlete is already there and ready to sign as soon as you enter the room. Danica was nice enough to help move the process along faster and more efficiently. I think that shows a lot about her as a person. I have been doing this for a long time now and have never seen an athlete do that (probably won't again until the next Danica signing). I also met her husband who happens to be a trainer for the St. Louis Cardinals. It still amazes me that everyday I am somehow reminded of the Cardinals and the Game 7 disaster. Anyway, we got some great product signed including two awesome new photos and some very cool pit-crew shirts.
Tomorrow I am off to Atlanta for two days with Hank Aaron. Check back for updates from Georgia.

Friday morning I flew down to Tampa to do a signing with Dwight Gooden. Doc was, by far, my favorite of all the Mets. I have been to countless sporting events and concerts but nothing compares to having been in attentance at Shea when he was on the mound. (Possibly Springsteen at the Stone Pony?, which I am proud to say I have seen) There was an indescribable energy to those games. It is similar to when Pedro Martinez pitches but, in hindsight, it's not even close. It was simply insane there when the guy was on the hill.
Anyway, this trip's mission was to add Doc to our incredible 1986 Mets team product. I landed in Tampa early Friday afternoon. Doc was knocking on my door ready to sign less than ten minutes after my arrival to the hotel. We started immediately. I was so glad to see Dwight looking healthy and happy. I added him to all the '86 Mets photos and baseballs. The product is now complete and looking great. They are arguably some of the best team pieces we have ever gotten signed. My favorite of all the items is the "Pile Up" 16x20 photo. There are also a few amazing (to use a Mets term) auction items which I added Doc to. These include a 1986 yearbook which is rare enough unsigned, let alone team signed.
Friday night I spent some time boxing up and shipping back the product. Then Saturday I flew back to New York where I headed straight to see Hot Tuna and Railroad Earth at the Beacon Theatre. (I had to throw that in there. It was my first Railroad Earth show and for those of you who are crazy enough to like the same music I do- go see these guys. They are the real-deal)
We have a lot going on this week including a private signing with Danica Patrick, a Tuesday night appearance with Brandon Jacobs, Jim Finn and Jared Lorenzen, and a two day trip to Atlanta.
Check back for updates from the road.

Over the past few days we have booked some great private signings for the upcoming month. I should be pretty busy from now until Christmas. This Friday I am off to Tampa for the day. Then next week we have a signing with Danica Patrick. Thankfully this signing will be in a conference room rather than the Richmond International Speedway. From there I head to Atlanta for a few days with my main man Hank Aaron. Then shortly after returning from Georgia I am flying out to Indiana for a private signing with Celtics legend Larry Bird. Then on December 19th I am off to South Bend again to work with Charlie Weis. I am really looking forward to checking out the rest of the school. It should be pretty cool considering the team will be practicing for a huge bowl game by then. Aside from what I have listed there are sure to be a few surprises along the way. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Check back Friday for an update from Tampa, Florida.

After a few days off I returned to our office to meet up with Steiner's newest exclusive Yadier Molina. I must admit that I did not think I was going to like Molina. After all he was the guy that prematurely ended the Mets season with that clutch 9th inning homerun off of Aaron Heilman. It turns out that I really liked the guy. Yadier is extremely nice. We talked about that game, the World Series, hot stove baseball and today's football games. I told Yadi about my trip to St. Louis a few weeks ago and about how much I enjoyed speaking with Tony LaRussa. Molina, just like all his teamates, loves playing for Tony. We got some incredible product signed including photos of the monumental Game 7 NLCS homerun as well as World Series caps. I even got a few web exclusive 16x20s with inscriptions. The pieces came out great.
I found out yesterday that the Mets open up the 2007 season in St. Louis on a Sunday night. I am already planning my trip out there for it. That also happens to be the game where the Cardinals will receive their well-deserved World Series rings. As much as it will pain me to witness it I am extremely happy for Yadier, Soup and Tony LaRussa. We could not have asked for better guys as Steiner Exclusives.
Check back throughout the week as there will be a lot going on including a Friday trip down to Tampa.

I am back from my trek to South Bend, Indiana for our first signing with Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis. My journey began yesterday morning when I flew to Chicago to catch a connecting flight to Notre Dame. The plane to South Bend is really small but it is appropriate considering the size of the airport. South Bend Airport is exactly like the one from that old show "Wings'. (Remember that show? NBC, Thursday nights?) I finally arrived at Notre Dame at about 4:30 Tuesday afternoon. The signing was scheduled for about 8:00 PM (after the team's practice) and was to take place on the loading dock next to the team's locker room. It took until almost 7:45 to finished unpacking and setting up all the helmets, mini-helmets and footballs.
Coach Weiss arrived on time and began to bang out the signing. I really enjoyed the two hours that I spent with Charlie. We talked about pretty much everything from Springsteen to the Yankees to Rutgers to the NFL. It turns out that we know a lot of the same people from the time he spent with the Giants as well as some of the Patriots players from when I did the team signing in 2005. The highlight of the signing was, by far, when Charlie spoke on the phone with a new recruit. It was pretty cool to hear Coach Weis speak to an excited High School senior. We also spoke about Weis' foundation Hannah and Friends. Coach has dedicated so much to helping special needs children. I urge you all to check out the website and try to help in anyway possible. It is such an important cause. We finally finished our marathon first signing before 10:00. Thanks to the help of some of Charlie's guys I was able to complete the pack-up pretty fast. We got some awesome product signed including Notre Dame Wheaties boxes and Play Like A Champion Today posters. I also got two incredible photos signed in both 8x10 and 16x20. I flew back to New York this morning but, due to the weather, did not make it back until a few hours ago.
I think , at this point, I am a little bit desensitized to some of the experiences I have at this job. This experience was not one of those. It was really incredible to walk through the locker room at Notre Dame and ever more amazing to spent some time with someone like Coach Weis. I am already looking forward to our next signing which is towards the end of December. Next time I am planning on staying a bit longer so I have the opportunity to check out the field and campus.
The next post will be on Sunday after our first signing with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. I will never forget Molina's game winning homerun against the Mets in Game 7 of the NLCS. We will be getting some great photos signed from that game as well as World Series baseballs. I will be sure to ask Yadier how my heart is doing after he ripped it out a few weeks ago. One thing for sure though is that the kid is a big game player. We are all excited about having him as an exclusive.
Enjoy the weekend and be sure to check back Sunday night.

Unfortunately the Tiki appearance scheduled for tonight at Last Licks Scarsdale has been postponed. Keep checking back for a rescheduled date. Here are some photos from the Yogi Berra signing this past weekend. I would like to thank my boy Leonard for filling in for me. As you can see he is a much better photographer than I am.
Tomorrow morning I am off to South Bend to execute our first signing with Charlie Weis. I am really looking forward to the trip as I have never been to Notre Dame. Check back tomorrow for an update from Indiana.

A few hours ago we had our appearance at Hall of Heroes with Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca. Lo Duca has emerged as my favorite and, judging from the crowd, a lot of people's favorite Met. He is a throwback, scrappy player who would have fit in great on the '86 team. It amazes me how less than a year ago we were all down on him for replacing Mike Piazza. He has definitely won us over. There was a huge line awaiting Lo Duca. We booked this appearance only three weeks ago and still there was an unbelievable number of people there. Paul, as always, was awesome with the public. He took photos and chatted with everyone. People thanked him and also wished him a speedy recovery from the surgery on his left thumb. We were able to get a few great items signed including the photo of the double play from the NLDS. I also got some sick game used pieces signed including baseballs and champagne bottles.
Tomorrow we have Tiki signing at Last Licks in Scarsdale. There is no need for last names when mentioning Tiki. He has become that much of an icon here in New York. I am looking forward to him running all over the Bears in less than an hour. Then on Tuesday I am off to South Bend for our first signing with Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis.
Check back for updates all week.

I just returned home from our appearance with 1988 World Series hero Kirk Gibson at Last Licks in Massapequa. I had heard the news last night that Kirk took the bench coach job with the Arizona Diamondbacks. I have been doing signings with Gibson for many years and was thrilled to find out that he will be back in the National League. At the store there was a good mix of both Tigers and Dodgers fans as well as some fans of neither team that just wanted an autograph from a legend. There were even a few Mets fans in attendance. I will never forget how Gibson burned us in Game 4 of the '88 NLCS with a game winning homerun off of Roger McDowell in the 12th inning. He also hit a three run blast in Game 5 off of Sid Fernandez. I guess those knocks were a sign of things to come. Great players, like Kirk Gibson, always seem to come through in big moments. We spoke a little bit about that series and also got into it about this year's NLCS. Time will tell which one will hurt more. We got some awesome product signed including the classic homerun photo and a few great web exclusives with unique inscriptions. This business is driven by special moments and that homerun is one of the biggest in World Series history. That photo is definitely a must-have for any collector.
Check back tomorrow for a recap of the Paul LoDuca appearance at Hall of Heroes.

There is a lot going on in the next few days so I figured I would give you all the rundown. Tomorrow Yogi Berra will be appearing in Armonk at 12:00. That is the rescheduled date from last weekend's postponed signing. Also tomorrow we have Kirk Gibson at Last Licks in Massapequa at 12:00. I will be at that one so be sure to come by and say hello. Then on Sunday Mets catcher Paul LoDuca is appearing at Hall of Heroes at 2:30. We have the photo of the amazing double play at the plate from the NLDS. I am really excited about getting that image signed. Hope to see you all there.

I just got home from Martin Brodeur's house where we did a small private signing. I have said this many times but want to reiterate it- Marty is awesome. Aside from being an incredible goalie he happens to be one of the nicest athletes I have ever worked with. The only problem with this signing was the inclement weather. It was a nighmare driving out to Jersey and even worse getting home. It took me two hours to get to New Rochelle from 16W on the turnpike. Thankfully I had disc 2 of Phish's A Live One and 6/23/88 (the Blackbird is out of control!) going in the car. It is never fun loading and unloading the product in the rain or snow....but, as always, we made it work and got some fantastic new product signed. We have added a new photo to Marty's great line of items. It is an incredible new image of him, in goal, against the Maple Leafs.

Tomorrow morning I am heading up to Boston to do a signing with David Ortiz. Check back tomorrow night for a recap.

Earlier this morning I did our first signing with Bears quarterback Rex Grossman. Rex is one of many new exclusives that we have locked up in the past few weeks. Despite Sunday's loss Rex and the Bears are having an incredible season. I first saw Grossman play in the Orange Bowl four years ago against my Marlyand Terrapins. He absolutely killed the Terps completing 20 out of 28 passes for 245 yards and 4 touchdowns. The amazing thing about that game is that Rex didn't even start it. We spoke about that game for a while. It is definitely somewhere in my top ten worst defeats as a fan. Grossman is looking forward to Sunday night's game against the Giants. This game should decide homefield in the NFC through the playoffs.
One last note about Rex is that he has an awesome signature. There are very few young players (especially in the NFL) that take their time and give you such a great sig. We got some sick new product signed including Bears helmets and minis, Florida helmets and minis, footballs and four photos. There is also a web-exclusive Bears helmet signed in orange. It is very cool.

Check back later as there is a lot going on in the next few days including a signing with Martin Brodeur and a trip to Boston to see David Ortiz.

Here are a few more cool photos from the past week.

Please note that the Michael Strahan/Osi Umenyiora appearance at Last Licks in Thornwood tonight has been postponed. There will be a rescheduled date posted on the website soon.

Here are some photos from the '86 Mets reunion that we had this weekend. We got some incredible new product signed. Check the site for images of amazing new photos, team signed '86 World Series balls, batting helmets, bats and jerseys. It is some of the best product we have ever had. I am extremely proud of it and everyone that helped out. I was loving every minute of the three days of signing. Aside from Straw, I really don't get to see most of those guys. As a Met fan, it is unbelievable to hear them catch up with one another and share stories.
Check back later for more on the '86 Mets.

I arrived at LaGuardia at about 9:30 Thursday morning from St. Louis. I immediately headed out to New Jersey to pick up Chien-Ming Wang who was slated to sign at our office. I finally was home at our office a little before noon. This was the first time Wang was meeting most of my co-workers. I gave him a tour of our warehouse. He is a big NBA fan and was loving the Jason Kidd, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant product. Chien-Ming was so great to everyone that works here. He took a few photos with and shook hands with practically everyone. After the introductions we got down to business and signed for a few hours. We got some great product signed including a new game-used dirt collage. At about 3:00 we dropped Wang back off at his home. He seemed really excited about going back to Taiwan for a few months. I am already looking forward to hanging with him down in Tampa during spring training.
I was able to go home for about an hour before returning to the office to jump in on the 1986 Mets team signing.
Check back later for more on the '86 Mets signing.

Last night I completed my fourth straight days signings. Today, on one of my few days off in recent memory, I will try to get you all up to speed on what has been going on. Last Wednesday (is it that long ago already?) I took the first flight out to St. Louis. We had just locked up Tony LaRussa and Jeff Suppan to exclusive deals and I was flying out there to expedite the first signings with them. As soon as you walk off the plane you are bombarded with Cardinal merchandise. I picked up a few cool items for our auction site and then caught a taxi to the airport. I had never been to Missouri before so I made sure to take some photos along the way. I took some great images of the famous arch. My hotel was right across the street from the ball park. It appears just as it does on television. It is and looks brand new and clean....a far cry from Shea Stadium (though it does lack the nostalgia and history. People can say what they want about to Shea but the bottom line is that Game 6 was played there and nowhere else)
After spending a few hours setting up for the signing Jeff Suppan was the first to arrive. He is a great guy. We immediately got into it about the Mets series. I have never hid my affiliations with any athletes I have been with. I feel that may be one of the reasons that I have gotten along so well with these guys. It pained me a lot, however, to ask Soup to inscribe "NLCS MVP" on some of the product. I had not realized until the CS how good a pitcher this guy is. He has been a big game pitcher for years. If not for him we all would have been at a parade in New York last week. Instead, Soup was lights out and was able to steal a Game 7 on the road. He deserves all the accolades and, honestly, it could not have happened to a nicer guy. I truly enjoyed talking with him.
About an hour after Soup finished Tony LaRussa walked through the door. He could possibly be the smartest baseball man I have ever spoken with. We talked, in length, about the playoffs. He explained to me so much about momentum and things like that. I have heard players use the term "good baseball man" alot. It usually applies to an older guy who has been there and has a ton of knowledge. I never 100% understood the term until I spoke with Tony. LaRussa and I also talked about the charitable work that he does. He is very involved with ARF which is a foundation dedicated to animals. It deals with animal adoption and rescue. It is such an important cause and Tony is quite passionate about it. If you have a chance check out the website at ARF.net. He is doing incredible work.
After LaRussa finished signing I spent a few hours boxing up the product and prepping it to ship back to New York. Thankfully I was able to get a few hours of sleep before waking up at 3:00 AM to catch the first flight back to LaGuardia.
It really was a great trip. I will be posting all the photos shortly. We got some amazing new product signed including World Series baseball, Tony LaRussa tip cap photos and Jeff Suppan 06 NLCS MVP inscription baseballs.
Check back later for a recap of last Thursday which includes signings with both Chien-Ming Wang and several members of the 1986 Mets.

I just returned home from a two day trek which took me from Queens to St. Louis to New Jersey and, finally, to our office where we began our team signing with the 1986 Mets. In the past 48 hours I have been with Jeff Suppan, Tony LaRussa, Chien-Ming Wang and several members of the '86 champs. Check back tomorrow for a recap along with some great photos.