While some await the National Sports Collectors Convention, others are busy at this weekend’s All-Star Fan Fest in Phoenix. The event gets underway today, leading up to next Tuesday’s game. As we’ve reported several times, the annual auction is back with Hunt Auctions again handling the duties. One of the major attractions this year is the sale of Curt Schilling’s collection.
He was a big time accumulator of stuff before, during and after his career but now he’s parting with a large share of items from his career and his own little pieces of baseball history. Bidding is already underway online with the live portion of the event scheduled for Tuesday. Schilling talked to the Boston Globe about his stuff.
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Hundreds of fans and collectors usually make the trip to Cooperstown for the chance to snare some Hall of Famer autographs. It’s not as easy as it used to be because so many people have the same idea and the retired players are often wary of the motives of adults who come bearing memorabilia. Still, there will be signing sessions if you’re willing to pay and you might get lucky and score a few freebies too.
Cooperstown will be loaded with former greats. 52 Hall of Famers are scheduled to return for Hall of Fame Weekend to welcome the three newest Hall of Fame members. Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven and Pat Gillick – the men who were elected last winter by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and the Expansion Era Committee – will be enshrined on Sunday, July 24, as the Class of 2011. The guest list is below…although you can, unfortunately, scratch Dick Williams off the list. The former World Champion manager died Thursday of a ruptured aortic aneurysm at a hospital near his home in Henderson, Nev. He was 82.
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Tim Graham, who once wrote hobby articles for Beckett, now covers the AFC East for ESPN.com. With the lockout continuing and little news coming out of the league, he took time out to cover the rise of the NFL game-used jersey market.
You never know who makes a guest appearance in these columns, either. Check it out here.
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