The Tour de France concluded the other day. I know nothing about the guy that won. I stopped carrying about bike races after Ricky Potter beat me in a race in 4^th grade. I do regret all those great baseball cards I ruined attaching them to the spokes, too (but damn did it make a great sound).

This blog isn’t about that, but an event Lance Armstrong took part…

If you’re not a baseball fan but an autograph collector, you have to at least appreciate getting a baseball signed on the sweet spot. That white background, and a ballpoint pen signature…while you smell hot dogs in the background.

The two baseballs I regret not buying are Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. At a baseball card show, a guy was selling a Mantle ball for $125. I…

The Confederate flag. I’m not a fan.

I remember 25 years ago, meeting a friends husband from South Carolina. He had one on the back of his Army jacket. We had this debate about it, and I could totally see his points for having pride in it. I didn’t have a dog in the fight, so I didn’t debate the topic with him for that long. I was also younger, and my debate skills…

I’m lucky that Rush has never been one of my favorite bands. Otherwise, it would’ve killed me that I never got to get their autographs. Now, don’t get me wrong. And all you Canadians that can’t get enough of them…I’m not saying I dislike them. I own three of their albums. I’ve seen them in concert twice and have a Rush T-shirt (although I only bought it because it was…

The Tom Brady situation is back in the news (both with the commissioner reviewing the case and his few scenes in the movie Ted 2). Yet instead of dissecting whether or not a 4-game suspension was too harsh for one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, I found this a much more interesting story.

One of the balls used in that famous game is up for auction on July 17^th. Bidding will be starting at $25,000 – and it’s a must-have for any Patriots fan on your list.

This…

Harper Lee, the author of the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” was back in the news recently. Her second, much anticipated book “Go Set a Watchman” which deals with the characters 20 years later, is set to be released soon. Usually that makes collectables sell for a lot more. Often times a movie adaptation of a book will spike interest also.

Christie’s in New York…

Here in my hometown, there’s been a neat little discovery. For a music lover like me, it would be the equivalent of another discovering that nice painting your great grandmother always had hanging in her living room, was actually a Monet.

A music studio in in San Diego, Marc Intravaia’s Sanctuary Art and Music Studio, had a 1962 Gibson J160e guitar. They played it…

It was always fun listening to former prosecutor and bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi on various talk shows. He died at 80, and I couldn’t help think it was after hearing this latest bit of news: there’s an autographed copy of the White Album signed by the Manson family.

For those that don’t know, Bugliosi was the guy that successfully prosecuted Charles…

Johnny Manziel can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The Heisman Trophy winning quarterback was drafted 22^nd by the Cleveland Browns. They traded to move up, hoping they had their franchise QB. Rumors were that he was a bit of a head-case and liked to party. He promptly ended up in rehab, and I’m guessing the Browns are now regretting this whole thing.

While at…

There’s a venue here in San Diego (well, Solana Beach), that has the best concerts. It seats about 600, the acoustics are fabulous for no matter what type of music is being played…and it’s been around since 1974. The amount of bands I’ve seen here is in the triple digits, easy.

Since they get a lot of big names looking to play smaller venues, those tickets sell out…

David Letterman has only been retired a few days and he already seems to be enjoying his days off. The long-time race fan (and team owner) was at the Indianapolis 500 and of course, he was asked to sign autographs. He obliged for many fans before the race started.

I have two Letterman autographs. One is on a Late Night T-shirt. I bought it at a…

So, as the week is about to start, thought I’d write about some of the thoughts and stories popping into my brain. It’s almost 1 a.m., so forgive me if it’s not as clever as it seemed late at night, right before bedtime.

Since the guitar George Harrison played (I wrote about it a few weeks ago in a blog) recently went at auction for almost $500,000, I couldn’t help but…

I thought about doing a blog with a bunch of jokes that came to mind. Since the announcement was made about Tom Brady being suspended for four games for deflating footballs against the Colts, I immediately thought about Pete Rose and autographs. There was the time an entrepreneur got Rose to sign a number of baseballs with the inscription “Sorry I bet on baseball.”

The…

The biggest game the White Sox have ever been involved in probably involved the “Black Sox” scandal in the 1919 World Series.

Well, the game they played against the Orioles yesterday was the biggest game the Sox will play this year. That’s because the game in Baltimore at Camden Yards had no fans in the crowd, which is a first for major league baseball.

All of…

I always like pointing out autograph scenes in movies. The latest is in “The Age of Adaline” (you can read my review here: http://fox5sandiego.com/2015/04/24/the-age-of-adaline/  )

There’s a scene early in the movie where Adaline needs some fake IDs. She goes to a kid that’s living with his parents. He’s got a few autographed baseballs that she glances at. At first I thought she was going to say, “Oh, Willie Mays. I…

There were a few autograph stories the last few weeks. One of them involved Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She was on David Letterman, and showed a picture of a guy that held up a sign asking for an autograph. It said, “Will Work for Julia Louise autograph.”

She thought it was cute and of course, signed the autograph for him (she’s always been a good signer). She did mention how he spelled her name wrong on the sign, which got Letterman and the crowd laughing.…

It’s a shame that even after the great movie The Imitation Game (my review here: http://fox5sandiego.com/2014/12/23/the-imitation-game/ ), Alan Turing isn’t a household name. Well, even if he’s not, it didn’t hurt the bidding from Bonhams in New York. His handwritten notebook just went…

There are many great things about living in San Diego, but for fans of autograph collecting, one of them is the many opportunities the residents all had to meet Mr. Padre – Tony Gwynn. The Hall of Famer passed away last year, which was heartbreaking for this city; especially since it came on the heels of Mr. Charger – Junior Seau, killing himself.

Gwynn would sign for…

At a pet adoption charity auction recently at Bloomingdale’s in Michigan, there was a football autographed by Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. It’s always nice when athletes donate things to charity. Not so nice when they don’t receive a single bid!

The “Chosen Man’s Best Friend and Factor Felines” event didn’t exactly have a football crowd. The items that got bids…

The week started off with a very funny “Bizarro” cartoon by the very talented Dan Piraro, who was nice enough to sign a draw a photo in a book I got at Comic Con one year. I was lucky enough to attend a party with him the following day, too. Class guy. But I digest (just ate dinner).

The comic strip showed a fly in a suit, and somebody has their arm extended with…