I didn’t quite know what to expect today. I have never paid to get an item autographed before, but one of our rapidly growing consignors, SwagCards, recently acquired a unique item and asked if we could do a little research. So today I headed up to Mill Creak Sports where Cal Ripken Jr. was doing an autograph signing.

Here is the card that I am holding in the picture. The word is that this is an extremely rare autograph that was pulled out of 1993 U.S. Playing Cards Aces. We were hoping to ask some questions about the item, but the line was super long and we were only able to get the picture taken.

In order to get in line to take the picture I had to get an item signed, and I had just the right item. In our year end meeting we gave a “trophy” to the employee that put in the most hours during Q4. Since this was our Ironman award, I found a 1984 Topps Super #1 – Cal Ripken to serve as the trophy.

Not surprisingly, Q4 is a very heavy shipping quarter, and the award went to our shipping manager, Doug Lowe. Today I had the trophy autographed and inscribed.

I thought it would be great to have it say “To The Ironman of Shipping.” Cal added the “Keep the streak alive!”. Cal shook my hand, took his time inscribing and autographing the item, and then took the picture with me. He even commented on me being taller than him. What a class act! I have always thought highly of Ripken, but today he earned another fan.