Talk About Your All-Time Backfire

I have done my best to steer my son toward my passion of baseball.  His first word was "ball" and he continues to be obsessed with playing ball.  He recognizes the Oriole Bird from my hat, and hearing a child say "O-we-ol" is heart melting.  At a year and a half he could recognize Cal Ripken from posters.  I couldn't be happier.

In an effort to bring my love of baseball into parenting, I bought a few things from Target to use as rewards.  Toilet training is difficult and any incentive is a welcome one.  Candy works too well but stickers are fun and don't set a bad precedent.

So I bought a pack of 2014 Topps Stickers to use in the Potty.  It was riddled with Yankees players.  At first I was bummed but quickly realized the only place for a Yankee should be the bathroom.

For something a little different I also snagged a 2013 Topps Big League Mini pack to give him a new baseball toy.  I got this guy:

In case you can't tell, it's Derek Jeter.  The epicenter of my dislike for the Yankees.  Yuck.  Gross.

Time to throw it out right.  Nope.  My son loves it and even referred to it as "his Dad."  Several times.

Good thing he has the attention span of a two-year old.  I will be leaving this guy in a restaurant in the near future

Taking Stock

I haven't been nearly as active as I would like over the last few months.  With the baseball season in full effect, it would stand to reason my collection would be suffering greatly. 

Thanks to the Orioles limited roster moves this season, I am not doing so bad.

I currently have 872 of the 977, 89.25%.  So damn close to my 90% goal.  Only eight autographs stand in my way.  That got me thinking.  Eight should be real easy.  Should be the operative word.

Of the 105 autographs I need, 61 players are deceased.  Thus, they are expensive and aren't readily available.

Of the 34 living players only 9 are active, with a handful of them being good signers.  I am going to need to work hard to get myself over 90% before the Orioles start calling up players during the stretch run.  I am sitting on 10 signed cards of players that may be called up.

I am hoping to make some dents in the next few weeks, or at least start posting a little more.  Wrangling a 2 year old during the day and then working the night shift has sapped any creative energy I had.  Looking forward to reading more about your exploits out there.