Tim Raines & Scott Brosius (01/26/13)

I recently started a collection of Official Rawlings World Series and All-Star game baseballs. My goal is to obtain the autographs of each year's Most Valuable Player(s). Rawlings started to produce MLB World Series baseballs in 1978 and All-Star Game baseballs in 1979. This means, I'm going to need a lot of luck to complete this collection.

Tim Raines, Montreal Expos 1987 All-Star MVP, and Scott Brosius, New York Yankees 1998 World Series MVP, were in town. They were signing at the Pinstripe Glory Day baseball autograph event from MAB Celebrity Services in Secaucus, NJ. This was a big event with a lot of New York Yankees greats.

Tim Raines was there early in the morning and very cool with all his fans. He took his time speaking with everyone and even took pictures.

Please don't laugh at me! I literally woke up 25 minutes before this picture was taken. I was lucky I made it on time. Haha

Tim signed my 1987 Official Rawlings All-Star game baseball and inscribed it with 1987 AS MVP.

Scott Brosius arrived later in the afternoon and there was HUGE line for him. It was his first ever public appearance in this area. He was also good with his fans and took pictures as well.

Not a great photo, but I can't complain since I asked a stranger to take it for me.

Scott signed my 1998 Official Rawlings World Series game baseball and inscribed it with 1998 WS MVP.

Overall, it was a good signing day thanks to MAB Celebrity Services for hosting a great event.

Terry Francona (01/23/13)

Terry Francona, 2-time World Series Champion Manager, signed copies of his new book Francona: The Red Sox Years at Barnes & Nobles, Citigroup Center in New York. The signing was scheduled to start at 12:30 pm, which meant I needed to take a day off from work if I wanted to meet Terry and get his autograph. I ended up requesting the day off.

Going into New York City through the Lincoln Tunnel was not bad at all. There was hardly any traffic and I found street parking one block away from Barnes & Nobles. I arrived at the signing around 11:30 am and there was about 100 people in front of me. I guess there are a lot of Boston Red Sox fans in New York after all.

As the time was getting closer to 12:30 pm, there was at least 150 people behind me. Thankfully, the Barnes & Nobles staff made sure the line kept moving smoothly. Terry arrived on time and began signing quickly.

Once I got closer, I made sure to have my blue sharpie ready to hand it to him. I always use a blue sharpie for book signings because the autograph stands out a lot better than a black sharpie. I was also hoping that Terry would inscribe my book with "2004 & 2007 WSC" (World Series Champions).

As soon as I approached Terry, he was very nice and didn't give me any problems with my requests. He inscribed the book with "04 & 07 CHAMPS," which is just as good as the inscription I wanted. It was a good time and a great experience to meet Terry Francona. The Barnes & Nobles, Citigroup Center staff did an excellent job hosting a very organized book signing.