Autograph collectors are certainly not the easiest people to purchase a gift for.  That is what makes purchasing an autograph for someone who is not an autograph collector so much fun.  Imagine a family member who is a New York Yankees fan receiving an Aaron Judge autographed baseball.  Or a friend who is a Star Wars fan receiving a Daisy Ridley autographed photo.  That is the magic of autograph gifts.…

I recently had the honor and pleasure of meeting David Proval.  The venue was SopranosCon in New Jersey.  I wanted to add his autograph to my Mean Streets photo.  The photo already had the autographs of Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese on it.

I made all of the necessary preparations.  I placed the photo into a protective folder, and then into a protective envelope.  I tested my blue Sharpie, so that his autograph would match Robert De Niro’s and Martin Scorsese’s…

On June 18, 1978, my father treated me to my first New York Yankees baseball game.  We sat in the upper deck.  It was Bat Day, and I could not wait to see Reggie Jackson play.  He put on an incredible show during batting practice, hitting one baseball out of Yankee Stadium and onto River Avenue in the Bronx.  At least that is how I remember it.  I was eight years old.  Unfortunately, his performance in the game was not as exciting.  He went 0-4, striking out four times.

Four years…

It was my freshman year of college in the spring of 1988.  I walked to a local convenience store to purchase a few necessaries.  While I was checking out, I noticed a box of Topps baseball cards on the counter.  I could not resist.  With the exception of one pack in the spring of 1986, I had not purchased baseball cards since 1981.  That was the year that the New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

I spent the entire summer of 1988 completing that set.…