More Luis Salazar...

Well, as I figured would happen, my weekend turned out much too busy to make the big semi-annual local card show. I helped someone move on Friday. All day Saturday was taken up by my sons' Little League Opening Day parade and a game for each of them. Both won their games and each had a clutch hit. Nice!

The Cubs were beating the Braves but I got home just in time to watch the bullpen unravel and the Upton brothers destroy our closer on WGN. Not nice!

Sunday was the day I thought I'd be able to sneak away for a bit and snag some good deals from dealers who didn't want to lug as much stuff home with them but it was not meant to be. We had some out of town company over (not that it wasn't great to see them, it was) and they weren't the type to hang out at a card show. Later in the afternoon though, I did manage to catch the tail end of Potomac National/Lynchburg Hillcats game. The Nationals were leading but gave up 7 late inning runs to fall 11-6.

Some of you may have been following this blog long enough to remember, I had pretty good success getting some autographs from former Cub Luis Salazar since he has been the manager of the Hillcats. For those who haven't, I recapped it some here and here.

Since I missed the beginning of the game, my older son and I decided to wait after the game. It was a getaway day so all the players filed out of the locker room and into the awaiting bus. Of course, the manager was the last one out but he signed a quick one each and then he and we were on our separate ways.

The first card was one of my new ATCRCS/A&G hybrids. I had found a nice color picture to use a while back (but after I had already gotten the regular ATCRCS card signed) so I put it to use. I haven't whipped up a back for it yet but will soon.

The second card was a 1987 Topps Traded. The guy who has been helping me at the Sun Times shows in Chicago is working on getting the entire 1987 Topps and Topps Traded set signed so I thought it was time to repay the favor. I checked his list and this Salazar card was on it.

I do need to add Salazar to the Boys of Zimmer poster I just showed off but I didn't have time to get it printed yet. Hopefully next time he's in town!

Another Day at the Ballpark

Last Monday I did a write up on our day at the ballpark. Last night we decided to hit another game because Mondays are $1 tickets and $1 hot dogs. Can't feed and entertain the family for much less than that these days, right?

Armed with a Lynchburg Hillcats team set and Carolina League Top Prospects set we had just picked up on Sunday at the card show, we did pretty well. But to be honest, my son did most of the work with those as I had a mission of my own. Here's his haul, mostly pregame with a couple in-game from pitchers who were charting pitches in the stands behind home plate.

Top Prospects Set:

Nick Ahmed, Cody Martin, Edward Salcedo, David Freitas

 A couple more P-Nats we didn't get last week:

Shane McCatty, Neil Holland, David Freitas, Robbie Ray x2, Adam Olrychowski

 Lynchburg Hillcats (Single-A affiliate of the Braves)

Nick Ahmed, Caleb Brewer, Matt Chaffee, Dimasther Delgado, Chris Garcia, Juan Jaime

Cody Martin, David Rohm, Edward Salcedo, Braeden Schlehuber, Gus Schlosser, Blaine Sims

Matt Weaver, Luis Salazar, Derek Botelho, Ty Cobbs, Bobby Moore, Jason Curry

I wish more Major Leaguers signed autographs as much as their Minor League counterparts did but I think I did pretty well with my own mission. Last week, I said I didn't have enough time to process my ATCRCS card of Xavier Nady to bring to the game with me. Surprisingly, he was still with the team rehabbing so I came prepared this time. Nady has had a goatee and mustache every time I've seen him before so when he came out clean shaven, I wasn't sure it was him right away. I confirmed his number and called him over. He took a good look at the card but didn't say anything as he signed it.

My first in-person signed ATCRCS card

Not only did he sign the card, but I forgot to mention last week that my older son also caught a foul all off the bat of Nady. So we brought that with us this week and asked him to sign that too.

My mission did not end there though because across the diamond managing the Hillcats was another former Cub, Luis Salazar. You might have noticed above that my son got his team set card signed. Well, I walked away with a signed ATCRCS card and a 1991 Topps Desert Shield card for my collections so as far as I'm concerned, mission accomplished!

My 2nd in-person ATCRCS card and 25th overall!

1991 Topps Desert Shield Luis Salazar

That brings my signed collection of 1991 Topps Desert Shield cards to....drumroll.....two. Oh well, slow and steady wins the race, right?