If my memory serves me well I believe I last left off in Dallas about to leave for the Mavericks/Lakers game (the night before heading back to Tampa, Florida for more Yankees signings). The game itself was unreal. J Kidd hooked it up and I was seated three rows behind the Mavs bench. It was so strong watching Kobe Bryant, J and Dirk (the now injured Dirk) up close. I was also loving watching Mark Cuban , who was seated a few rows to my right, go at it with referees all game long. Some sports are better on television (football) but there is nothing like watching hoops in person.
Anyway, the following morning I hopped on yet another flight to Tampa. Once I arrived I immediately began setting up for a plethora of signings that would take place over four days. The first two signing were that very night with Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera. While most of my trip was dedicated to a few special projects that we are working on Robinson autographed quite a few individual pieces. The most robust of all these items are a special Big Stick Ash Signature bat. It is reasonably priced and a must have for any Cano or Yankees collector in general. Another strong item that we are going to be introducing to all of our Yankees collections is the Yankee Stadium Commemorative baseball. It has an awesome blue logo on it commemorating the years of the soon to be closing stadium. Robinson signed a handful of those as well as 2008 All Star Baseballs (which, in my opinion, he is a lock to play in)
The next day I signed with the Yankee Captain Derek Jeter. Aside from building up inventory of some of our best staple Jeter items Derek also signed game used batting gloves, cleats and a handful of those Yankee Stadium balls...very strong. After Jeter was done I did a few small signing with other Yankees players including fan- favorite Shelley Duncan. Duncan is quickly becoming one of the more popular Yankees and one of the most sought after autographs around.
After the Duncan signing I spent the next two days working on these Yankees projects...which we hope to unveil sometime in the next month or so. I am really looking forward to us going out with these and can't wait for you all to see the pieces. I finally arrived home for good (for now) a few days ago after spending the better part of a month on the road (Ft. Myers twice, Tampa twice, Dallas). We have a ton of exciting things going on over the next two weeks...most of which are in New York! Check back later for some final thoughts on spring training as well as an in depth preview of the beginning of April.
Have a great weekend!