Paul Henderson Jersey Tour

Let me start off by saying I should have a rule. Never ask for an autograph from a Toronto Maple Leaf! I went to the Henderson Jersey Tour in Montreal with hopes of getting the famous 72 summit series goal signed by Tretiak, Henderson and Cournoyer (all of which attended the event in Montreal). Right from the start the event set up was quite strange. I arrived about 30 minutes before the players were scheduled to arrive. There was a large crowd outside waiting in line, I asked one of the show handlers if they were waiting for the autograph session. The handler replied "Well their isn't an autograph session and no one here knows why these people are waiting outside." I went inside the venue and spoke to the manger who confirmed that there will be no autograph session but getting an autograph is possible if the players are willing.

By the time the players arrived the venue was filled beyond capacity, picture your living room with 500 people in it. Paul Henderson was the first to arrive and addressed the crowd by saying "I have not signed an autograph on this tour and I will not start today". Photo's with the players was the only thing that could be done. The irony here is everyone in the crowd wanted an autograph which would have been easier then taking photos as the place was beyond packed.

Photo of the crowd.

Lucky for me and most who came out for this event Cournoyer and Tretiak did sign for the fans.  After the way Henderson addressed the crowd I was no longer interested in his autograph (I heard he did end up signing for a few). Tretiak being one of my favorites I really wanted him on a Montreal Canadiens puck as he was drafted by Montreal but never made it over due to the issue with the USSR at the time. Yvan Cournoyer also was nice enough to sign a Montreal Forum project I started (which I posted in a previous post).

Here are the results from the event.

Tretiak signed puck.

Updated:Montreal Forum Project (Lafleur,Cournoyer,H.Richard)

To recap I never thought I'd want a auto from a leaf but made an exception for Henderson due to the Summit Series but this confirms it. Never again lol!

All Stars Dealers

After seeing countless auction and picker shows there is finally a reality show I can call my own. "All Star Dealers" is based solely on sports memorabilia. Although the show is lacking in detail. I would have preferred more insight on the sellers parting with their collectables, rather then seeing how much Grey Flannel Collectables are making. Still an interesting show for a memorabilia junkie such as myself. Take a look....

Carey Price 1st Shutout + P.K Subban Rookie Cards

Today I got a chance to go to the Canadiens practice facility to try and get Carey Price on the photo bellow. I have the ticket stub from Carey's 1st NHL shutout and wanted it framed with a photo. Waited about 15 minutes or so and Carey Price came out after practice and had no problem signing this for me and even included the "1st NHL shutout" inscription to the photo. Once I got it done I went straight to the framers to complete the piece.

Other players come out as well and felt it would be rude to send them off without wanting their auto so I also got this done.

On Photo-Rene Bourque,PK Subban,Chris Campoli,Erik Cole,Raph Diaz,Andreas Enqvist,Mike Blunden,Yan Weber,Alex Emelin,Josh Gorges

A week after my encounter with Carey Price I got to get PK Subann Rookie Cards autographed. I don't usually do cards, this was a first. Given the size of my collection I have decided to downsize. The facility was surprisingly packed today about 50+ people waiting after practice. When I see a crowd of this size I usually leave but PK came out as I got there. Luckily my girlfriend was able to obtain these for me (She's much better looking then me which has helped my collection a lot). I didn't try for anyone else as the place was a zoo.

As a bonus while organizing some stuff in my house I found some old ticket stubs from the Canadiens Stanley Cup playoffs of 09-10. I thought the tickets had a pretty original design I thought you guys might want to take a look. Sadly none of these games where attended by me. A friend was nice enough to keep the stubs for me. For the most part I use old stubs as bookmarks and things of that sort but given the history behind these ones I guess I'll just keep them stored away.

Bluejays Winter Tour

In all honesty one of the best run events I have ever attended. I arrived at the venue approximately 45 minutes prior to the event; to my surprise I was alone about five people back in the line which was great. Closer to the time of the event it started to fill up to around 75 people. Montreal isn't a big on baseball or Toronto (lol) but the turnout was decent. 

View from my spot in line as I arrived. Hardly a packed event.

Bluejays GM Alex Anthopoulos was just hanging out prior to the event, I got to chat with him for a few minutes. Extremely approachable even talked a little baseball with me. Most interestingly he mentioned that Prince Fielder was asking for Pujols money and he wasn't a option for the Jays. He was also nice enough to shoutout the rantingrocket for me.

 When the event got started it was run very smoothly (which is a change from most public signings) I was able to get two autographed baseballs  from Ace Ricky Romero and up and coming youngster Brett Lawrie. Both guys were really great and also took the time out to shout out Rantingrocket.com(will post later). Overall a great success happing with what I managed to get. 

Baseballs I got signed from the event.
To recap: Two Ricky Romero, Two Brett Lawrie, One Alex Anthopoulos all on baseballs.

Russel Martin IP

Russell Martin held a baseball clinic in Montreal today. I was only able to get to the clinic as it ended. In fact when I pulled up I could see kids leaving the building (Bad Sign). When I entered  I saw Martin taking photos with kids but explained to everyone that due to the amount of people he would not be signing anymore autographs.  Quite disappointed I stayed around just in case. He did a interview with a local sports station as the building cleared out. I was left with a one on one chance. Russell gladly agreed to sign my baseball however my pen died as he started to sign (Terrible Luck!). One of the older security people offerd me his pen and Russell was nice enough to go over his previous attempt. All and all very happy with the auto.

Mike Cammalleri Event

By far the more interesting interactions with an athlete. I only heard of this sighing a day before it happened. I began on the hunt for a variant Mike Cammalleri mcfarlane. I was lucky enough to find a fan from terrbonne who was willing to overnight it to me. I got the mcfarlane about 2 hours before the event. Once I got there Mr. Cammalleri he jokingly told me after I requested for him to sign with a blue sharpie "Blue sharpie? straight to ebay!". Funny to say the least I manged to tell him I have a website but I dont sell my stuff. I'll try and tweet the proof to him lol. In anycase here are the results from the event.

White Mike Cammalleri Mcfarlane (On the left) obtained at the signing!

Hockey news magazine already framed on my wall from the event!

Flea Market Finds

Over the weekend my girlfriend and I decided to head over to a flea market. Now for those who know me know how much my girlfriend dislikes "dirty" places. Well my friends, this was the mecca of "dirty" places.  Are outing to said flea market started earlier in the week when my girlfriend spotted a full sized Patrick Roy cardboard cutout at a garage sale near our home.  I did a little research and confirmed this cutout was a promotional item for Provigo in 1994. To be honest as a kid I always wanted one of these cutouts so I bought it. I'm not sure what I will do with it as it is quite large. However as we speak full size Patrick Roy stands in my office.

1994 Promotional Patrick Roy From Provigo Grocery Stores

After Purchasing this fine item from the man at his garage sale he mentions these cutouts go for 100+ at flea markets (which I took with a rather large grain of salt). However I do like to go places to find vintage sports items so I convinced my girlfriend that this would be something to do on a Sunday afternoon.


After overcoming the initial shock of the smells and characters found in this place, the whole day ended up rather fruitful. Initially I purchased a few novelty items which I always get a kick out of. First up a Pete Rose expos glass circa 1980's and a Albert Pujols Jack-In-The-Box that plays "take me out to the ball game".

Albert Pujols Jack-In-The-Box

1984 Provigo "Pete Rose" (Montreal Expos) Promotional Glass

 

After that, I found the first real gem of the day. In 1996 when the Montreal Canadiens closed the Forum they gave a framed poster to season ticket holders of all the ticket stubs for that year which included head shots of some of most influential members in team history.  In 2006 www.classicauctions.com had this frame at a starting bid of 200$, which is quite some ways from the 10$ I paid at the flea market. Notice the same gold frame in the auction photo as the one I purchased (link below).

 http://www.classicauctions.net/Default.aspx?tabid=263&auctionid=34&lotid=242

1995-96 Montreal Forum Framed Ticket Poster

The other gem(s) I was able to find were 1945-1954 Quaker Oates 8x10 vintage posters from the likes of Montreal Canadiens legends Maurice Richard, Butch Bouchard and Boom Boom Geoffrion. I purchased all three photos for 15$ and the Maurice Richard photo alone is currently posted on ebay anywhere between 100$ and 300$ dollars! A great find which I plan on framing individually with signed pucks I have of all three players.

Quaker Oates 1945-1954 Vintage Posters.