Fanfest Part Three: Other Favorite Booths

I've could spend a whole week talking about the various booths and experiences at FanFest.  In the interest in time, I'll just highlight some of my favorites.   Note to anyone planning to go to FanFest in the future:  entry times are staggered out on the tickets, so if you want to go and want to have enough time to see everything, purchase your tickets early so you can get early admission tickets.  I guess I got mine a little late, because 4 pm admission was all that was available to us.  I could have easily spent a few more hours taking it all in.  On the flip side, 4 hours was probably about all my little ones would have been able to handle, so there's that.

And going to FanFest was really meant for the kids to enjoy, so while I would have liked to spend a little more time at the Cooperstown and Negro League Museum exhibits, I wouldn't trade that for watching my kids participate in the throwing and hitting activities that were there for them.

I also don't regret that I didn't spend more time looking at the card/memorabilia tables, other than spending a little time at the Topps booth.  I looked at the dealer booths long enough to see that the stuff was pretty expensive.  However, I did pick up this snazzy metal sign:

Overall, we saw a lot of great stuff.  Here are just some of the highlights:

 The Rawlings Booth had a little stage where it looked like they were holding exhibitions of the process of sewing a baseball.  Unfortunately, we never did see it happen.

 This was a big map showing all the minor league parks across the USA.

 We just missed Fergie Jenkins at the autograph booth, but I was able to catch a few minutes of his interview afterwards.

 Here is that grass that is used at the Rangers Ballpark.  Yippee.

 I thought this was cool.  There was a mock up locker room with the actual jerseys of several players.  At least I'm sure they were the real things since several attendants repeatedly advised the crowd not to touch the jerseys.

 One of the dealer booths. 

 The awards booth was very cool.  Pretty much every major award that will be given out for this season was on display, including the World Series trophy.  Above is the 2012 AL MVP award, hopefully with the name Josh Hamilton and not Mike Trout inscribed on in in a few months.

The Roberto Clemente Award

 Nap Lajoie jersey.  I have a T206 card of him...

An autographed ball from Honus Wagner.  I have his T206 card... oh wait I'm thinking of my Kris Benson rookie.

All in all, There were tons of great booths, but I'm saving the most inspiring for Monday.  Prepare to be energized...

T206 Goodness: Napoleon Lajoie

I have a small handful of vintage T206 cards.  For those of you who have printed and studied the Napkin Doon Baseball Card Solar System, you know that my T206 Ty Cobb card is the center and focal point of my baseball card collection.    Not sure why-  the more I read about Cobb, the more I can’t stand him. 

If someone was to force me to limit my collecting to one, and only one set, I would stick to the T206 cards.  They can be expensive, but these are the cards that are the most interesting, and can be shown off with pride to anyone, even non collectors.  In fact, my Chick Gandil (1919 Black Sox fame) card was the first card I showed my wife (then girlfriend).  I told her about his involvement in the scandal, and how these cards were packaged in cigarettes 100 years ago.  She probably doesn’t even remember it now, but I assume that was the moment she fell in love with me.  Or took pity on me and didn’t have the heart to dump me.  Either way, I credit that card to helping me snag her.

So when I come across a player of that era with an interesting story, I try to find a way to get a card on the cheap off eBay.  Trust me, the Cobb card was not cheap, and I had no business buying that thing.   But that was years ago, and I’m glad I have it now.  

Less painful a purchase was this Napoleon Lajoie card, although it dented my wallet as well.  Like the Cobb card, I bought this one several years ago.

Napoleon was a superstar of the era.  So much so, that when he was sent to the fledgling Cleveland franchise, he gave them instant credibility to the point where fans voted to change their team name to the Cleveland Naps.   I also picked this card up because of his rivalry with Ty Cobb.  If you aren’t familiar of the story of the famous “Chalmers” batting title race of 1909, here’s are some links:

Long Version

Short Version