[mouschi3]

I am overwhelmed by all of the comments - keep them coming! I love it, but I knew you all would respond, because y'all are great. I was very much so looking forward to writing this when I got back home, and my expectations have been exceeded.

So much happened during the trip, that it was hard to post all here, like when a guy ran out to me to ask to take a selfie with me because of my mustache. I swear, he was *this* close to either asking me for my autograph or kiss me. Thankfully, it stopped at a warm / awkward embrace and a picture.

Also, this morning, I looked at my email, and saw this:



HYPED!!!

I have had a mega busy last few days getting back in the swing of things, so I didn't want to show any of the customs just yet, but I figured I would leave this little video clip right here of us playing cards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD-4qLdKbX8

One other thing to note - as I regularly stock ebay now for Canseco cards I don't have, I found out that I missed out on two that I really, REALLY wanted while I was away, even though I was checking ebay as much as I could, still. How strange is that ... being bummed that you missed out on a few pieces of cardboard with the picture of the dude you have gone to hang out with!?!? Jeesh, we player collectors are a strange breed.

[UPDATE: Turns out one of the cards I wanted was picked up by a friend, so I was able to do a deal for it! If you are reading this and you picked up the '00 Stadium Club 1st Day Refractor /25 Jose, lemme know!]

Speaking of, I don't believe I have ever posted a picture of my entire collection in one shot, so here is one of my goofy mug posing with them for something else:

[dustin12368]

You should do tours and charge admission to see the greatest Jose Collection in the world.

[elberson]

I have a good question for you........does jose collect cards?

[mouschi3]

I have a good question for you........does jose collect cards?

Nope!

[madamson]

Very few things render me speechless, but this is AMAZING! Congratulations on such a remarkable experience that quite possibly no one else will ever have happen to them!

[mouschi3]

You may or may not remember buried in this post that I had created a Jose Canseco Simpsons card from the episode "Homer at the Bat". I had to re-draw the entire thing to make sure it was nice and clear.



I just had to get this autographed, after I thought up an epic inscription, but I wanted to give a bit of back story on it all.

Remember this lovely lady?



The one and only Mrs. Krabappel.

In the episode "Homer at the Bat", starring Jose Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and tons of other players, the script called for Jose and Mrs. Krabappel to have a torrid love affair. Jose's wife Esther at the time did not like this one bit, and insisted it be pulled. This put the writers of the Simpsons in a scramble to come up with something else last minute. They instead had Jose go into a woman's house that was on fire to save various objects from the fire.

The whole thing gave me the idea ... what if I had Jose inscribe it "To: Mrs. Krabappel" ???
I would absolutely love that, and think Simpsons / Canseco fans would go nuts over that, given the back story.

So, I handed him the card to sign:


He said "Mrs. Krabappel...that is a strange name." I said "that is the name of the teach..." and he finished my sentence "OH OH OH yeah ... the teacher on the Simpsons, ok!"

Here it is!

To Mrs. Krabappel, Jose Canseco


Step aside, Madonna! It looks like Mrs. Krabappel had his heart back then.

After it was done, I wished it had been signed perfectly in the white area, but what can I say? The man signed 170 or so items ... some are bound to not be perfect.

But then I started to think about it.

What if I redrew Steve Sax's face behind the Isotopes logo (shown at the top of this post), invert it all, erase 80% of the card and print on acetate, then overlay it on the card?

It is worth a try, right?


Here is the final product ... and might I say BAM!!!



It looks just slightly faded in the middle on purpose to have him sign there. I"m really happy how well it turned out. As a matter of fact, it is one of my three favorite inscriptions from that day, next to "Faster than Rickey" and his inscription personalized to me.

[djohn]

That Simpsons auto is awesome. I love the touch-up with the acetate to adjust the look. You did an incredible job at taking a sloppy signature location and making it better.

[mouschi3]

I just posted this thread to the guys at Intentional Talk using the url /tinyurl.com/qjlp75n with the hash tag #ITFanShow - I suggested they do a segment about interactions between fans and their heroes. I hope this gets traction - please feel free to tweet @intentionaltalk with the the same! My handle is @tanmanbbfan . Thanks! I am in love with that show.

[elberson]

Nope!

Wow, I always figured that players collected and got first dibs from the card companies with new product

[natejeffries]

crazy stuff why arent you in charge of making cards for companies?

This is great writing too I haven't finished it all but it is a fun read.

Nice job.