So I did A.J. *******'s first ever signing today

[beefycheddar]

So I got to sit down and spend a few hours today with AJ ******* who was the 17th pick in the draft this year. AJ played for my Cape League Team and was 2008 MVP of the league. He came back this weekend to visit, and the Team GM Dan put him to work signing a lot of stuff to help raise publicity and funds for the team. We will be selling balls and 8x10's of AJ at some point soon, including also some signed game bats. I took a few pictures during the signing so hope you enjoy.

AJ is one of the nicest kids you can meet, he was great with the fans, and accommodating to everyone who approached him for anything. He knows nothing about cards, and was surprised when I talked about the number of cards he probably will have to sign when he signs with any company. He laughed at the idea of sitting and signing thousands of stickers.

 

[matchpenalty]

Cool, so he signed some game used stuff? looks like that helmet and a couple bats look used.

 

[beefycheddar]

Cool, so he signed some game used stuff? looks like that helmet and a couple bats look used.

Yeah a helmet and about 9 bats he signed. I think he signed about 25 8x10's, 45 of the Cape League media guides that he was cover boy of, and probably 50 balls. The Bat you see in a tube is my bat I have had for over 20 years, it was a Cape League bat from 1988 that is signed by Frank Thomas, Mo Vaughn, Jeff Bagwell, and Will Clark. I added AJ to it today.

 

[arod305]

Alright, I am intrigued now. What do you do?

 

[beefycheddar]

Alright, I am intrigued now. What do you do?

I'm on the board of the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League. AJ was on our team last year, actually three of the first round picks (Kyle Gibson, Aaron Crow, and AJ) were on our team in the last few years. It is the premiere College Wood bat league in America. I am going to be in charge of trying to archive as much stuff as I can of our players since no one has really done that much of it in the past.

 

[FortyFour]

Wow,

Pretty cool Beefster.

 

[goblue6919]

Nice stuff.

What's the story behind the teddy bear?

 

[beefycheddar]

Nice stuff.

What's the story behind the teddy bear?

My fiancee made him, I got a picture of him with Johnny Pesky about a year ago, and she loved it. So anyone we have met since then we've had his picture taken with them. The list includes Papelbon, Pesky, Lester, Lars, Dan Bard, Bowden, Buchholz, Kris Johnson, Francona, Masterson and a ton more Sox players and even people from other sports now like Jarod Mayo of the Patriots.

 

[bouwob]

You need to get some more jearseys for the bear.

Start having the players sign the bear. Keep a few jerseys around so that you can have the top 10% of the players to sign 1.

 

[beefycheddar]

You need to get some more jearseys for the bear.

Start having the players sign the bear. Keep a few jerseys around so that you can have the top 10% of the players to sign 1.

Yeah, we do have the one that is signed. Francona, Josh Reddick and Jarod Mayo signed it. We have it framed and hanging on the wall of my sports room at our apartment. Should have had AJ sign it as well.

 

[vwnut13]

He played for the Vermont Mountaineers in the NECBL back in 2007.

If you see ******* again you'll have to ask him about the fans in Vermont that made the cards. We made cards for all the players, and I have some signed cards also.

I also have an autographed game-used, not broken, Hoosier bat of Anderson Davis from when he was on the team in 2003. Never heard of him, I can guarentee you have seen him on TV, in one of these two commercials, probably more have seen the second one as it was played during just about every game last season.

[youtube:1919767t]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULx0I0Pogo8[/youtube:1919767t]
(Discuss Thrower, played during opening ceremonies to the 2008 Olympics)

[youtube:1919767t]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzkLUNpK7Xg[/youtube:1919767t]
(Batter)

 

[beefycheddar]

He played for the Vermont Mountaineers in the NECBL back in 2007.

If you see ******* again you'll have to ask him about the fans in Vermont that made the cards. We made cards for all the players, and I have some signed cards also.

I also have an autographed game-used, not broken, Hoosier bat of Anderson Davis from when he was on the team in 2003. Never heard of him, I can guarentee you have seen him on TV, in one of these two commercials, probably more have seen the second one as it was played during just about every game last season.

[youtube:2zn5mgpi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULx0I0Pogo8[/youtube:2zn5mgpi]
(Discuss Thrower, played during opening ceremonies to the 2008 Olympics)

[youtube:2zn5mgpi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzkLUNpK7Xg[/youtube:2zn5mgpi]
(Batter)

If you have any extras of any of his cards I would LOVE to get one.

 

[vwnut13]

If you have any extras of any of his cards I would LOVE to get one.

As of right now, I can't even find mine :lol: ::facepalm::

I don't have any extras though, I only kept the one I had them auto, and gave the rest to the players.

The General Manager of the team gives us all kinds of freebies for making the cards. We get free admission to the games, a team signed game-used bat almost every year, a team signed helmet from '05, and some other stuff.

Hopefully the Diamondbacks have a farm team that plays in New England so I can see him play agian.

 

[BunchOBull]

Do you have up close pictures of the bat with all of the signatures?

 

[tramers]

my son is batboy for local minor league team and has a great time . Not far from here is a college league like yours [?]but haven't been there yet.

 

[beefycheddar]

Do you have up close pictures of the bat with all of the signatures?

We will probably sell one of the balls with the proceeds going to the team someday, and the other one is the start of my team archiving. I am placing a date of signing on the holders of the baseballs, and going to store due to the fact that so many players over time change their signature from when they are here over time. AJ actually said he had to work on a less "Old School" signature, but it made me think of what Tommy Lasorda taught the Olympic players how Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and others signed their full names. I know getting Jacoby to sign a ball today as compared to when he played for the Commodores is two completely different signatures.

 

[beefycheddar]

Finally got scans of the pictures that were signed so figured I would share.

 

[P_Manning 18]

Looks like he is signing in the bathroom.

 

[beefycheddar]

Looks like he is signing in the bathroom.

Coaches locker room. We accept any donations to help the Falmouth Commodores.

 

[imac220]

Sweet Stuff!

Seems like a real nice kid, and not stuck up.