I know it has been quite awhile since my last post. I returned home from my Los Angeles trip early last week...which was nothing short of amazing (saw a few shows including an epic Sunday nighter with the hottest second set in recent memory!). Anyway, a mere hours after touching down at JFK I walked into the set up for the largest team signing I have ever done. This signing with the 1969 Jets team was to begin a day later so we had to jump right on the elaborate set-up. It was, by far, the most amount of helmets I have and probably ever will do with a team. We secured a huge room outside of our office..in the same complex. It took practically the entire day just to cart all the helmets to the location (let alone set them). In the end it was a strong job by all involved and we were ready to roll to following afternoon. The plan for the signing was simple...23 guys in 54 hours. Joe Namath had signing the pieces about a month ago so, in the end, it would be a total of 24 signatures on our impressive product. What I had not realized going into the monster signing was that it would take a minimum of 6 and 1/2 hours to complete the marathon. It actually took most guys somewhere between 7 and 1/2 and 8 hours to get through it. That made for quite a long night on the first day (we did not begin until about 2:00 PM that day) and then we started really early on Thursday. When all was said and done we were..somehow..in unbelievable shape by the last shift on Friday. The last two guys to sign were Matt Snell and Emerson Boozer who were finally done about 7:00 PM. As the last guys signed we had a strong crew shadowing them and breaking down the set-up..and carting everything back to our warehouse. Timing wise (other than a slight jam-up on the first shift) everything worked out perfectly. The end result is ridiculously strong. Unlike the current Giants pieces you can perfectly read every single name on the product. Each guy wrote out every letter of their name which makes for arguably the most robust team items we have ever gotten signed...a close second is the 1999 Women's World Cup team product (which is nothing short of incredible). I am extremely proud of the pieces and of everyone involved in the process...especially Margaret who coordinated everything.

This is actually a fairly quiet week for me. Traditionally the week before Memorial Day weekend is not too busy with signings....there may be one or two small signings so still keep a look out. Anyway, over the next week or so I will be previewing June as well as talking about some exciting non-signing related things going on here. We all know by now it is going to be a long summer here in New York with both baseball teams underachieving so feel free to email me questions and suggestions on ways for the blog to remain strong and competitive...unlike our teams as of late.

Yesterday morning I conducted private signings with two key members of the Yankees depleted pitching staff. The first signing was with legendary clutch pitcher Andy Pettitte. This was actually my second signing with Andy in as many weeks (remember I took a break from the blog last week). I always enjoy my time with Pettitte. He, just like all my Yankee friends, are well aware of my loyalty to the Mets. This always makes for great conversation as I can literally go inning by inning with Andy of that classic 2000 World Series Game 5. Ironically it was during that disaster of a game (cheap Sojo hit) that I first understood how good Pettitte really is. He matched Leiter basically pitch for pitch and kept the Yankees in the game...which unfortunately they won despite Andy getting a no-decision (which he also got in Game 1 where he pitched well enough to get a W) Anyway, we always end up talking about that as well as a few other Subway Series moments. The focus of Andy's two small signings were mainly on a few special projects we have been working on. I know I have been hyping these up for weeks so hopefully you will all agree on the strength of the product once it is finally done. Aside from the project Pettitte also signed Yankee Stadium Final Year Commemorative baseballs as well as 2008 All Star balls. As you can see we have been doing these special balls with every Yankee that signs. They are undoubtably a must-have for any Yankees collector (not to forget a case for all of them).



About an hour after Pettitte finished Ross Ohlendorf came up to sign. I met Ross on Saturday where he had an appearance at Last Licks Thornwood. He has shown unbelieveable potential and is sure to be a vital cog in the Yankees bullpen. Ohlendorf also autographed some of the special Yankees projects as well as Final Year baseballs and MLB balls. After the signing I gave Ross a quick tour of our facility. I don't think anyone has a real understanding of the scope of what we do here until they walk through our warehouse. To say the least Ohlendorf was extremely impressed with the strength of it all.



This Saturday we have Yogi Berra appearing at Last Licks Thornwood and Osi Umeniyora signing at the Steiner Store. Both appearances should be great so come out if you can.
With all that said and recapped I am about to head out to California for a short vacation. I will be back Monday evening (after Phil Lesh show at the Greek Sunday!)
and back in bright and early Tuesday to start prepping for our massive 1969 Jets team signing.
Lastly congratulations KB24 on earning his first MVP award. Enjoy the weekend! Go Lakers!

I know, I know..I have been slacking on the blog posts over the past few days. There are only so many times I can talk about the same athletes and same signings. So, with that in mind, I took a hiatus for a few days to regroup, rethink and hopefully retool the blog (there will be positive changes and a few new adjectives introduced next week when I return from a small vacation). I am writing this one at a little after 2:00 AM. I just did a private signing with Yankees star (and Red Sox cult hero) Johnny Damon. Damon has always preferred to sign a little bit later- after games rather than earlier in the day before one. I never mind knocking out a signing late night as there are few distractions and it's quiet. It was also great to catch up with Johnny who I have known well since October 2004. I first met Damon shortly after the Red Sox won the World Series that year (to be exact it was the night after the parade). Over the course of four days (starting the night after the Sox won it all) we knocked out my first real big team signing (I have done my share since then as any of you faithful readers would attest to). I probably learned more about this business in the t hose four days than anyother span of my run. Shortly after that team project Damon ended up signing with the Yankees, which could not have worked out more perfectly for us.
Since then we have done our share of signings to say the least. It has been awhile, however, since we have introduced some new pieces to our ridiculously strong Johnny Damon collection. Earlier this evening Johnny signed Yankee Stadium Final Year Commemorative balls as well as some serious game used pieces. Three nights ago Damon had a monster game against Seattle (3 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBI's..strong!). Ironically enough we had just gotten in game used balls and bases from the game (it really does work that fast) so Johnny signed and inscribed each of these unique pieces. I haven't talked much yet this year about the Yankees/Steiner relationship and all the incredible items we have and will continue to have from the final season at Yankee Stadium. Over the next few weeks I am going to get much more into depth on the exciting things we have going on to commemorate this historic season.
In a few hours I will be doing a small private signing with Yankees ace Andy Pettitte. Check back later for a recap.