I consider Martin Luther King Weekend the best weekend of the year. Mr. King did many wonderful things for our country, but that is not the reason I love this weekend so much. Since 1997, the Cardinals have held their annual Winter Warm Up this weekend. 3 days of nothing but Cardinals baseball filled with autographs, awesome memorabilia, and just hanging out with thousands of fans.
This was my 10th straight year attending. It started as just my wife and I, then both my daughter and son joined us, and most recently it turned into a father and son trip. Last year my son could not attend because of the flu. We got a small health scare on Wednesday when he developed a cold, but it did not keep him from attending this year. We attended all 3 days this year. Today I will recap Day 1 from Saturday.
We arrived shortly before the doors opened at 9:00. Before long we were in our first autograph lines.
Alan and Andy Benes sign almost every year for free. Before too long I will have all the base Topps cards signed. The 1997 Finest card looks great in person. I was a little worried the protective film would not come off, but a minute or two with a hair dryer fixed that problem.
Our next stop was a 10:00 presentation from the Cardinals Museum staff about the history of the World Series trophy. I did not know that the Cardinals won the first version of the current trophy in 1967. The Museum was also giving out a mystery bobblehead to the first 50 people in line for the presentation.
I already had this Dean bobblehead, but I sold both of ours to help pay for some autographs. Since 2015, the Museum gives away 2 different bobbleheads each year if you buy an annual family membership for $85. These are a lot better quality than the typical ones given away at the stadium. They are also more rare, so selling them is not a problem.
After the presentation, we hit up the vendor area. I remember the first few years I attended WWU it was packed with baseball card dealers. It has shifted to more memorabilia now. We did not make it through the entire area, but I did find a couple of bargains.
Anytime you can find an autographed 8x10 of your favorite player for $5, you buy it. A local shop in Belleville had Lankford in for a signing back in 2018 that I attended. I saw this picture then, but had other things to get signed. Good thing I waited.
Vince Coleman was also at that signing. He and Lankford were inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame the day before. Here is my
recap of that weekend. This 8x10 was $15. As you can see, both signed it plus it is Beckett authenticated. My son waited while I flipped through the boxes with the photos. The worker who took my money noted how well behaved he was and gave him this:
This 1978 Topps Hrbaosky is in better shape than the one I have. Al signs a ton in person around St. Louis. I have a few of his cards, but nothing this old or nice. This one will go on my son's dresser.
We next hit up a 12:00 Museum presentation highlighting the career of recently name HOFer Ted Simmons. We were numbers 50 and 51, so only 1 bobblehead this time.
I also have this bobblehead, but planned on having it signed some time later this year. As we left the room, someone offered me $50 for it. I plan to use the $50 to get a Simmons autograph later this year.
We only had 5 minutes left to get to our next autograph signing. Players sign for 1 or 2 hour time frames. I knew if we attended the Simmons presentation, we would cut it close. We were the last in line.
A few years ago a Motte autograph would cost $30-$40. Now that he is retired, it was free. I love the dual signed card with Tyler Lyons. Since we were that last in line, he talked to us a few minutes about closing out the 2011 World Series. He remembers being on the bottom of the dog pile after game 7. He shouted out that his pitching had was getting crushed. Yadier Molina told him to enjoy the moment and that he would not need that hand until February.
After taking a break for lunch, we hit up the 2:00 Museum presentation about preserving your card and memorabilia collection. We both received the bobblehead this time.
Again I already had the Hornsby. I am a member of a Facebook group who collects Cardinals bobbleheads. I managed to trade one pretty quick, still have one left. Will show the results of the trade in my day 2 recap since that is when I received it.
We had 2 more autographs to get on the day. First up was Harrison Bader.
I bought this 10x14 card from Topps during the 2018 Black Friday sale with the intent of having it signed at the 2019 WWU. His autograph tickets sold out very fast that year. With his down year in 2019, his tickets were not in as a great of a demand. This turned out really nice. Bader has started to sign his full name. Earlier in his career it was a HA B.
Right after Bader, we got Andy Van Slyke. I have never seen him at the WWU before.
I started this ball back in 2009. Thought it would be neat to see how many players from the 1985 World Series team I could get. Van Slyke's signature is the 15th . It will never be complete due to some players passing on, but it is a fun project that reminds me of a great team. That wrapped up our day 1. It was a long day. We did not leave until a few minutes after 5:00. Sunday would be less hectic. More on that in tomorrow's post.
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