Rubbing Elbows

I spent last weekend in San Antonio at the 2nd Annual Celebrity FanFest. I'd always been curious about these sorts of things but was never willing to shell out the bucks they charge at Houston's ComiCon.

I went to hang out with my friend Robert Wuhl. I had a terrific time but I'm not going to bore you with a minute-by-minute account. I'll post for pics and toss out some random thoughts and observations. BTW..if you are not familiar with Robert you can see a partial list of his credits here and read a bio here. We've been friends since we met in the dorms at the University of Houston in 1970. We were roommates at various times during and after college.

The venue, Freeman Expo Halls and Coliseum, was much bigger than I expected. I didn't even make it to the entertainment stage or the related car show (Batmobile, etc) held in the other buildings.

If you look at the Friday schedule you can see that the celebrity guests had multiple sessions and most had sessions over several days. That's very different than how sports autograph shows work.

I got to see the show from a celebrity guest's perspective. I spent a lot of time in the 'green room' which was neither green nor a room. It was a curtained-off area behind the autograph and photo opp booths which was where the celebs (and hangers-on like me) could eat and relax. Food was great, btw. I clipped this from the Saturday paper......

I gotta tell you, my pop culture knowledge is seriously lacking. Except for Batman and, to a lesser extent, Superman, I don't really know much about any of this stuff. A couple of the celebs were familiar to me. Most weren't. I had NO idea about the wrestlers/WWE/cage fighters or whoever they are.

I cribbed these two videos from a local podcast/YouTube duo who were there doing interviews. This first one covers the Friday ribbon cutting.

Robert spent Friday with a table in what they called Artist Alley. Here is a snippet from the video they did with him.

I recognized Jeremy Renner from some movies. He was pleasant but rather reserved.

My wife had an absolute fit when I told her I met Jason Momoa who apparently makes women swoon. I still don't know what he's in. Aquaman, maybe? UPDATE...Yup, he's Aquaman. Ray Fisher was very nice. I had a long chat with him about Texas. I learned from my son that he plays Cyborg. He just seemed like some guy hanging out. LOL

I did take a lot of pics out on the floor. Here is the ribbon cutting.

Robert getting interviewed on Friday prior to opening.

Here's Robert's table. This was the Friday set-up but he wasn't crazy about where it was located. Frankly, the whole show seemed to run on a wing and a prayer with plans changed on the fly.

This woman wouldn't leave the table. LOL, A lot of the work was done by volunteers. She was one but apparently didn't have an assignment other than to chat up Robert.

Dolf Lundgren was awesome to talk to. We sat at a table in the green room and had lunch and had a great time. He and Robert had some fun stories. I took this pic on the sly. The blonde woman is a WWE fighter, I think. I didn't think taking pics of the folks we were around was something I should be doing. And I didn't ask for any autographs. I was already feeling like a fifth wheel who didn't belong, so why press it?

Of course, there was a lot to see out in the vendors' area. Plenty of odd characters and folks selling stuff. Mostly shirts, Funko things (whatever they do) and about everything else related to movies, comics, fighters, and assorted foolishness.

A lot of the costumed folks looked pretty good. Some of them just looked uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable... the only regret I have about the weekend was that I never approached Walter Koenig who played Chekov in the original Star Trek series. I loved that show and still enjoy watching it. Koenig was by himself most of the weekend, sitting in the green room drinking coffee between sessions. I don't know why I didn't go over to talk to him, he didn't give off a 'don't approach me' vibe. In fact, he seemed kind of lonely. I even saw him sitting in the hotel lobby on Saturday night. Oh well, next time.

The absolute highlight of the show was spending time with Malik Rose. For some reason, he was teamed up with Robert for Saturday and Sunday. They did a panel discussion together and shared an autograph booth. If you bought a ticket for either guy you also got the other one.

Malik was awesome with the many Spurs fans who stopped by to talk or get something signed. Another sign of the show's lack of prep is that there were no photos of him available. He signed shoes, FanFest programs, T-shirts, whatever. I could have made a killing with a stack of his pics or basketball trading cards.

After spending all Saturday with him it was apparent that he's a genuine, down-to-earth guy. Unlike some 'celebs' whose eyes tend to glaze over when you talk to them Malik was interested in what you had to say and talking hoops and San Antonio sports and food with him was a blast. He came over to say good bye because he knew I was leaving soon to get home for Father's Day stuff. Like I said, genuine guy.

I really didn't do much hobby-wise over the weekend. One or two of the toy vendors had some McFarlands and similar statues available but that was about it. On Saturday I was scrolling thru my phone and found an eBay promo code for $3 off a card so I used it right there in the green room to buy this 2019 Frank Robinson. It has to be some sort of short print because it was $4 which seems high for a regular Topps card but it ended up costing me .99 cents.

And when it showed up the other day the seller had packed the card in a team bag with a bunch of other stuff, mostly these Bowmans. You never know when I'll need one for my fantasy BB binder. Pretty sweet I thought.

Reading back over this post I realize I did a terrible job of capturing the FanFest experience. I also wish I had taken more pictures but I'm pretty sure Robert will do this again (this was his first such experience). He enjoyed it. Next time I'll take my wife so she can meet Jason mamoa (or maybe I won't!! 😉 )

The Trouble with Tribbles

I've fallen way behind on scanning/posting the many great items I've received in packages from fellow bloggers/readers. I'm going to try to play catch-up here over the next week or so. I'll sprinkle in a few related items I've picked up online and at shows where appropriate. I'll go in the order that I received these (as best I can remember!)

If you are a fan of the original Star Trek television series you probably remember the Season Two episode that I reference in the title. Tribbles were fuzzy little creatures that multiplied frequently and prolifically and quickly overtook every nook and cranny of the Enterprise. That's kind of how the 1971 Topps set has been for me. First of all, it's by far the largest set I've attempted to collect piece by piece. My three column Excel checklist runs five pages. Even with narrow margins.

For the longest time, before I had a binder set up, I had little stacks of these babies all over my desk and shelves. They seemed to be everywhere. And my want list looked LONGER every time I scratched off the cards I acquired.

After one of my last postings for the set chase, I heard from John who writes Johnny's Trading Spot. He let me know that he was sending some stuff including two cards from my '71 list.

Larry Stahl was coming off a two year stretch under the Mendoza Line but was rebounding nicely when this card arrived in 1971. He had been selected off the Mets' roster by the Padres in the expansion draft after the '68 season. Which meant he lost a shot at being a part of the 1969 Miracle. His final major league at-bats came with the Reds in the 1973 playoffs. He got two hits in four trips against the victorious Mets.

Ray Jarvis pitched in 44 big league games, all for the Red Sox in 1969/70. He was traded to the Angels right after the 1970 season but didn't make the team and pitched for their AAA affiliate in Salt Lake City. He had some arm issues and was cut during Spring Training of 1972 and went into sales and eventually coaching at the college level. He had a rather long and interesting SABR bio, especially for a guy with such a short career.

Thanks again, John, for knocking off a few Tribbles 71s.

I attended the hotel card show last Saturday and added six or so 71s including a few star cards. They all came from my friend, Darryl, the show's promoter. I also lost(!) two 1971 cards that I bought from a different dealer. They simply were not in my bag when I got home. They were easy to replace since they were not SPs or anything but to simply lose $5 worth of cards is pretty frustrating.

These were among the cards that DID make it home with me on Saturday:

I'll always remember Dave Boswell for his part in the terrific ALCS Game Two matchup he had with Dave McNally of my Orioles in Memorial Stadium in 1969. With me and my father watching from our seats above the left-field bullpen he dueled McNally for 10 innings, wriggling out of a few jams along the way in a scoreless ballgame. He walked Boog Powell to start off the bottom of the 11th. Powell was bunted up to second by Brooks Robinson. Dave Johnson was walked to fill up first base and when Mark Belanger popped out it looked like the game might go to the 12th. But Billy Martin did us all a favor. He brought in Ron Perranoski who had gone almost four innings in relief the before in that 12 inning affair. Curt Motton pinch hit for Ellie Hendricks and roped one to right for a hit and Boog trucked it on home for the 1-0 win. A great weekend!

I got a nice deal on this off-condition Roberto Clemente. I've 'conditioned' myself to look past condition while building this thing. Just like I did with the 1962 set. But it's a beauty with or without nice corners, isn't it? Love this card! It's so damn Clemente.

These next two cards are really as nice in hand as they appear to be in the scans. First, here's Sparky.

That's a Reds' home uni he's got on but that sure isn't Crosley Field. I did some digging and I'm 99% sure that the photo was taken in Tampa. The original Tampa Stadium was built in 1966 and was directly behind the Reds' spring training home field, Al Lopez Stadium. It's visible in this shot which I found after a lot of digging on the net:

It's hard to tell whether the photo of Sparky was taken in Lopez Field or perhaps the Reds were working out in the football stadium. One thing I DO know...these posts wouldn't take nearly as long to finish if I didn't have this weird compulsion to know just where the photos were taken on baseball cards.

This set's design really helps to show off the better photos and especially the terrific A's green/gold unis. No question here, that's Yankee Stadium.

Finally....here is a clip from the Star Trek episode I mentioned. With a William Schallert
(Patty Duke's TV dad) sighting!

Sulu (George Takei) Signed Card

I'm a Star Trek guy. Not to a 'fanboy' extent but I enjoyed the original Gene Roddenberry show as a kid, as short-lived as it was.  And I've seen most of the movies through the years since.

George Takei, as Sulu was a great, if somewhat understated, character. In the years since he's led an interesting life, speaking out on current events and politics. He makes for an interesting Twitter 'follow' to be sure.

I don't normally pay for signed cards but I saw someone's copy of this on Twitter and thought it would make a nice addition to my collection. I found one on eBay that was significantly cheaper than the others and took a chance on it. Sometimes a cheap price comes with a 'cost'. But in this case, the card was as advertised and showed up in my mailbox packed well and in short order.

I'm not going to make a habit of buying celebrity autographs but I'm happy to have one of 'Sulu".