Featured autographs - Edgar Martinez and 2001 Seattle Mariners All-Stars

I sent in a 2001 Seattle Mariners All-Star 8x10 and paid $35 to have it signed by longtime Mariners star Edgar Martinez - I bought the photo in 2002 since the Mariners were coming off a 116 win season and they were one of the top teams to chase for autographs [at the very least for Ichiro], though I didn't realize it would take 12-13 years to complete.

I even brought the photo to a Seattle trip I took earlier this year, hoping I'd random see Martinez at the lone Mariners game I was able to go to - no dice on that, but I eventually saw a post through the SCN message boards where someone was taking items for Martinez to be signed.

I thought it might be a good opportunity to get the photo signed and not have to worry about carrying it around - though it seemed pretty ballsy to send the photo in to a random person who was going to get it signed for a fee.

I assume the person taking items has some sort of agreement to get at least a certain number of items signed - from what I stumbled upon, I assume the signing was at Sun Times show - Martinez was scheduled to appear on Sunday [Nov. 24], so that was when my item was probably inked up.

My biggest fear about this whole deal was something catastrophic happening - maybe my Priority SASE gets lost or banged up, the autograph was signed on the toploader [not likely, but who knows] or the autograph is imperfect and/or comes back wrecked.

I sent my photo, money order and SASE out early in November and got my package at the end of the month - upon closer inspection, the autograph was just a little imperfect, so I let out a faint groan, but it doesn't look bad at all and I can finally put it away, knowing it's finished.

The toughest autograph to get was Kaz Sasaki - he wasn't fond of signing or being mobbed, but I managed to get the 8x10 infront of him, where he relented to scribble on it.

Ichiro was running with black when I got him to sign - that kind of messed things up, but can't worry about when he maybe one of the toughest.