Top 10 Autographs of 2014

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great one like I did. I did a Top 10 Autographs of 2013 post last year, and it's time to do it again for 2014.

I'm making this list with the following rough guidelines. 

• How good the person is. (All Star, Award Winner, Hall of Famer, etc.)
• How much the person means to me. 
• How I got the autograph. (Through the mail, in person, etc.) 
• Any fun story behind getting the autograph. 

With that, let the countdown begin. 

10. Harrison Barnes-Golden State Warriors Forward

One of the finest young players in the NBA today, Barnes did something few athletes do in today's world. Early in the summer, Barnes posted THIS message on his Facebook page. He invited fans to send him items for him to sign with specific guidelines. The day I saw that message, I sent out a 4x6 photo. A couple weeks later, I got the photo back signed in silver. He is now having a pretty good season playing for one of the top teams in the NBA. This was a great success from a class act to say the least. 

9. Trevor Gillies-NHL/AHL Hockey Player 

Up until this point, the NHL career of Trevor Gillies has been brief and full of controversy. He only has two NHL goals, but he is more known for his fighting skills. He was one of the main players in the famous brawl against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011. Now, he is playing for the Calgary Flames AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Flames. I went to see their morning skate a few weeks ago, and Gillies was as nice as could be. Click HERE for the full story. He might not be a great player, but I saw him with the Islanders and he will always be a fan favorite for me. Also, how can a guy who draws a mustache on his autograph not be on this list? 

8. Matt Kemp-MLB All Star

The first in-person autograph I got at Citi Field last season was that of MLB All-Star Matt Kemp. He was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the time. He was recently traded to the San Diego Padres. He signed for a few minutes before the game, and I was lucky to get his autograph on the sweet spot of an official MLB ball. There was a huge mosh pit of people, and I was very happy to get this autograph. 

7. Al Arbour-Hockey Hall of Famer, Former Islanders Coach

The Islanders have had many legends over their 43 year existence. Few are greater than coach Al Arbour. He was the Islanders coach for all four Stanley Cup Championships, and was the coach for exactly 1,500 games over his career. I attended game number 1,500 in 2007. It was an amazing experience, and the Isles got Arbour his 740th career win that night. I have autographs of pretty much everyone whose banner hangs in the Nassau Coliseum rafters, but Arbour's has been hard to find for a long time. I sent him a couple photos and an autograph card in hope of getting a response. To my delight, I got everything back signed in the mail. It was great to finally add his autograph to my collection. 

6. Dwight 'Doc' Gooden-Former Mets and Yankees Pitcher

One of the most celebrated pitchers in recent baseball history, Dwight Gooden is also one of New York's beloved baseball stars. He won a World Series for both the Mets and Yankees during his time in the MLB. However, he also had problems with drugs and alcohol during his career. Over the summer, he appeared at the Nassau County Health and Fitness Expo to give a speech on how his addiction made his life difficult. He also did an autograph signing that day, and he signed three cards for me and took a photo with me. One of the cards was previously signed by Wade Boggs. It was great to meet him and hear him admit his mistakes. 

5. Darryl Strawberry-Former Mets and Yankees Outfielder

Similarly to Gooden, Strawberry is also one of New York's beloved baseball stars. He was Gooden's teammate for many years on both the Mets and Yankees. Over the summer, he was a part of the Meet Mr. Met Tour, a Mets sponsored tour of Citibank locations that featured various Mets alumni. I met Strawberry twice over the summer, and I took a photo with him and got three autographs from him over the course over the summer. He was a nice guy, and I was happy to get his autograph.

 4. Curtis Granderson-Mets Outfielder
A man who made this list last year returns again. I got his autograph in the mail last year and said I hoped he would be in a Mets jersey next time I saw him. It turns out I was correct. Granderson didn't have the year I hoped he would, but he's a Met and he's here to stay. He has a reputation for being one of the nicest current players in baseball, and he lived up to that reputation over the summer. I met him two separate times over the summer, and got five autographs from him. He is truly a class act, and I hope to meet him again next season. He also gave my aunt a shoutout, as you can see in the video below.

3. Jadeveon Clowney-Houston Texans Linebacker
Although Jadeveon Clowney didn't have the rookie season anybody planned on, I had a good experience with him before the season started. I had won a free ticket to meet Clowney at the Steiner Sports Store on Long Island. I got him to sign a photo I printed out. He was a funny guy, and if you want to read the full story from that day, click HERE. Hopefully Clowney will be ready to star for the Texans next year, or he could end up being another top draft pick bust.

2. Dave Coulier-Actor/Comedian
I very rarely get autographs from people that aren't related to sports. However, the perfect opportunity arose when I found out Dave Coulier would be doing a free comedy show on my college campus. Since I grew up watching Full House, I knew I had to get his autograph. After his hilarious comedy show, I went to try and find him. Long story short, I did get his autograph and a picture with him. HERE is the full story from that night. He is one of my favorite actors now, and one that I will always remember. 

1. Denis Potvin-Hockey Hall of Famer, Former Islanders Captain
As I mentioned earlier in this post, I have autographs of nearly every Islander who has a banner hanging in the Nassau Coliseum rafters. The one player that eluded me for most of my life was Denis Potvin. He was one of the league's top defensemen and the captain of all four Islanders Stanley Cup Championship teams. I finally met him in November when I was home for Thanksgiving. HERE is the full story from that night. The fact that I was finally able to meet him after many, many years puts him in the number one slot as my top autograph of 2014. 

Thanks for reading and good luck graphing! Happy New Year!

Autograph Adventures: Jadeveon Clowney

If there is one sports memorabilia company that you know you are going to get a good product from, it's Steiner Sports. They have the exclusive autograph rights to some of the best athletes in sports, such as Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Henrik Lundqvist, and Carmelo Anthony among others.

A few weeks ago, they held a contest on their Instagram account for a free ticket to the Jadeveon Clowney signing they were having on July 18. Somehow, I won the contest and gave my info to the Steiner representative on the phone. The person on the phone told me I had won a free autograph on a flat item from Clowney, the top pick in this year's NFL Draft. A flat autograph from Clowney at this signing cost about $80, so I was thrilled to have won a free one.

After winning the contest, I immediately had trouble deciding what to do. I could have bought an 8x10 photo directly from Steiner for $6. But I took a different route. As cool as 'The Hit Heard Round The World' is, I didn't want a college photo signed. Eventually, I found a good picture of Clowney in a Texans uniform and printed it out on glossy 8.5x11 paper in my house.

Fast forward to Friday, July 18, the day of the signing. After going inside the Steiner Store at Roosevelt Field Mall, I identified myself as the contest winner and was given my ticket to the signing, which you can see on the right. The signing was scheduled to begin at 6:30 and go until 8 p.m. I was going to wait for my friend to show up before I approached Clowney so we could both meet Clowney together.

The line of people wasn't more than 20-30 people deep during the whole signing. However, at 7:30 p.m., my friend still hadn't showed up. There were no other fans in line for the signing, so Clowney decided that he was going to get some dinner. He and his manager went to Chipotle in the mall, where he apparently was hitting on girls and nobody really knew who he was, which is surprising because there aren't many people who are six and half feet tall walking around the mall. As Clowney was walking toward Chipotle, my friend showed up. After talking to the people at Steiner Sports, they assured me that I'd meet Clowney in the private signing room.

After about a half hour of standing around in the Steiner Store, my friend and I were told it was time to go to the private signing room. After going down a few escalators, stairways, and down a few creepy hallways in the bowels of the mall, a door was opened. Inside the room, tables filled with photos, helmets, footballs, jerseys and other items were waiting to be signed by the man sitting in a chair getting items handed to him.

I was standing in the room with my friend waiting to meet Clowney. The other people in the room said he had to sign a few more helmets before he could sign my item. Realizing that it might take a minute to sign the helmets, I figured I would take a picture of him signing a helmet. Unfortunately, it came out blurry (see right) and Clowney realized that I was taking a picture. "Let me see that," Clowney said pointing at my camera.

Photo Credit: Jadeveon Clowney

I handed Clowney my camera because as logic dictates, when someone bigger and stronger than you asks you to do something, you do it. He then questioned me as to why I was taking pictures. With my camera on his lap, Clowney signed a couple more helmets before questioning as to why I was taking pictures. After I said something that probably didn't appease him, he took the camera, pointed it at me and said something I won't ever forget. "You can tell your friends that Clowney took the f***ing picture," he said as he took a picture of me that you can see on the left. I was holding the photo I brought to get signed as well as a sharpie one of the Steiner people handed to me.

After taking the photo of me, he took a few selfies with me, which you can also see below. After taking one, he asked to see it because he thought it was blurry. He did agree that it was blurry, and took a few more selfies with me on my camera, which also turned out slightly blurry.

Photo Credit: Jadeveon Clowney

Photo Credit: Jadeveon Clowney

Sometime in the middle of everything, I can't exactly remember when, I told Clowney that I had won a contest to get to meet him. After explaining what the contest was to him, he clearly wasn't impressed. "You're a real winner," he said jokingly. After two selfies with me, I said my friend needed to get into the picture, so Clowney took a few selfies with my friend in the frame as well. One of them isn't that blurry. You can see that one on the right. The other ones are just too blurry. It's a good thing Clowney has a day job, because he wouldn't do well as a photographer, or at least a selfie photographer.

Eventually, Clowney signed the picture I had printed and then one of the Steiner people took a better picture of us. The picture came out perfect, as you can see on the right. The autograph was perfect as well, as you can see below. One of the Steiner people put a small hologram sticker on the bottom corner of my photo and handed me a matching certificate of authenticity. I've never gotten one of those at a signing before, and that is just another example of how Steiner is top notch when it comes to sports memorabilia.

Overall, it was an unforgettable experience. It was the first time I had ever been to a signing at the Steiner Sports store, and I will be back again whenever I can make it to a signing.

I'll end with a lesson for all who may meet Jadeveon Clowney: Don't take pictures without him knowing. He may steal your camera and take selfies on them.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!!!