CyberErik's Success Thread- just starting out, feedback and help welcome!

[lambeauleap87]

Those Stocktons are quite real...I have one myself. Unfortunately, it was creased to hell to fit into my SASE, but cool nonetheless.

[cyberer]

Mine was folded too- oh well you can barely tell now that I've framed it up!

[cyberer]

I went from being ice cold for weeks to being back on a hot streak. Today I received a piece in the mail that immediately becomes one of my top 10 favorites in my collection. I grew up watching this guy play and my first sports memories are of him.

RANDALL CUNNINGHAM!



This is my 4th attempt with Randall- the previous had returned with too busy to sign letters or not returned at all. Some people on this thread (gysot) saw some recent successes from him and told me to send- AND IT WORKED! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I have seen people get him without a donation, but I decided to try my luck with a small (very small) donation. I sent a buck in the envelope and wrote "donation enclosed" on it.

He returned it with a letter that had a price list on it. It did not, however say that I owed anything- it asked me to invite others to donate.

I couldn't be happier with this. I seriously was dancing in celebration when I opened the envelope.

THANKS RANDALL!

[lambeauleap87]

Awesome! Guess I know for a fact, now, that I need to send with a donation. Explains why I didn't get mine back; congrats!

[jtbruds9]

Is this the address you used for Randall? I have never sent to a football player before but growing up by philly he is a guy I would love to get.

325 East windmill lane
Las Vegas NV 89123

[cyberer]

Yeah I posted my success in the database, so you can see which one I used. I'm pretty sure that's it.

[REDANDGOLDPRIDE]

Good for you! That card looks great.

[lambeauleap87]

Got my Cunningham back today, unsigned, with a note stating he's too busy to sign autographs. I'm fine with asking for a donation, but don't give me that note...

[cyberer]

That's a bummer man- I posted in your thread about it. Just send a dollar and it should work.

[cyberer]

Tonight was a great but CRAZY night at the Phils Phestival. Druce on these forums was AWESOME enough to give me a FREE admission ticket to get into the phestival- this thread is made possible all because of him.

However, admission tickets don't come with autograph tickets, so I knew I would have to get down there and wheel and deal. I decided to bring 30 or 40 autographs from my collection, hoping to trade an autograph for a ticket or something similar.

I got there and got in line with a buddy. However I soon left our spot in line and started walking around the massive crowd trying to buy and trade.

Very soon after I got there I bought a Joe Blanton ticket for 5 dollars, because I needed him for my Sports Illustrated cover.

Very shortly after that, MY BEST LUCK OF THE NIGHT HAPPENED. I told people that I needed Hamels, and a lady asked me what I had to trade for it. I handed her my list of autographs from home.

She and her kids really love Carlos Ruiz, and he wasn't signing at the Phestival today- he was in the photo booth. So she saw a certified Ruiz auto on my list, AND TRADED ME A HAMELS TICKET FOR IT STRAIGHT UP!!!

So now I'm packing Hamels and Blanton. I was pretty content because I needed both for my SI cover and I didn't have any extras to trade. I thought that this would be it.

However soon a guy came up to me and asked me about Wilson Valdez- he had a ticket for him and attended the game where he was the winning pitcher. Well I just so happened to have an 8x10 of Valdez standing on the mound and he really wanted it. He traded me tickets for Gload and JC Romero for the 8x10. AMAZING!

I then made an epic series of trades:

-Romero for Contreras
-Contreras for Madson
-Madson Sold Madson for 15 bucks cash (-5 dollars earlier that I used to buy Blanton put me ahead 10 bucks net)

-Gload for Blanton
-Blanton for Polanco
-Polanco for Hamels
-Hamels for Rollins

I then sold the Rollins for 50 and used the profit from the Madson transaction (10 net dollars) to buy an Utley for 60.

Enough wheeling and dealing for you? I was like a man possessed!

So then I got in the lines when the gates opened. I did the Hamels line first because I figured (correctly) that I could get in and out in 10 minutes. I got him to sign the Sports Illustrated cover and got a handshake.



Next, I got in the Utley line. It was the longest line in the place I think. I waited over 50 minutes in a 2 hour event for it. But it was worth it. While in line, I saw him sidepaneling all the balls. "Oh great," I thought to myself why even bother.

However when I got up there, I asked him to sweetspot and he was very nice about it and did it without batting an eye. THE SIG LOOKS AMAZING!







I then got in the Blanton line to sign my sports illustrated. It moved fast and he was really nice about it. He got me on my SI cover, and then he hit duplicates for me. Rich Dubee was also in his booth, and he signed for me as well:







I was now fresh out of tickets, and it was now 7:20. The event was over at 7:45. I heard at the end of the night that they open certain lines up for a 10 dollar donation. I went to the Cliff Lee line and the guy running it said that they were taking donations but there was no guarantee you'll get an auto b/c it was 7:25 when I got there and they said he was out of there at 7:45. I waited in a really long line, I didn't think I was going to get him.

I was lucky, though, as right after I got in line about 50 more people showed up with the same idea. I wound up getting to the front of the line at 7:47, so he stayed a bit over his scheduled time, and signed my SI cover!

Here is a pic of him signing, AND a pic of the SI itself (which I had been conveniently holding back for suspense ).





I got Oswalt in May, and I got Hamels, Lee and Blanton tonight.

But my night wasn't over- I decided to go for the complete package. I heard last year that a few lucky people got Roy Halladay to sign as he was coming out of the photo booth. So at about 7:55 I waited by the photo booth for him. Also around me was a guy with a big Halladay poster and a little girl holding a baseball.

I think to myself "This is great! He will sign for this little girl and we'll all get him!"

So he comes out surrounded by security, and they literally push the little girl out of the way and say he's not signing today. The security guard steps out of the way and lets Halladay get on the little golf cart thing. This created a small gap for me to step in. I stepped into this gap and stood right in front of the cart inches from Halladay. I said:

"Mr. Halladay, please? You are the last one I need on this!"

He said "Sorry not today!" and the golf cart pulled away. UGH! Still, I got close as close can be, and I'm sure I'll get him eventually. They probably won't put him on the photo booth 3 years in a row (he was on it this year and last year).

So yeah, I cleaned up today, and the only thing I paid net was 10 dollars and a Carlos Ruiz certified autograph and I got Lee, Hamels, Blanton and Utley. UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't know if I can expect to get that lucky with trades every year, but I'll definitely be going back every year I can from now on. It was awesome!