A buddy of mine just celebrated his 30th birthday and one of the things he asked me for was an autographed baseball signed by his childhood hero, Albert Belle.  Wow!  How flattering that he put his hopes in me to grant him that birthday wish?  The power that I had from that request was just overwhelming.  To add to that, I just happened to be in Goodyear, Arizona the same day that Albert made his return to the Cleveland Indians (as an alumni, of course).  If I could get Albert Belle, who has not had any communication with the Indians since he left in 1996, to sign a baseball for my friend–what a hero I would be!  Just…wow!  I would probably go down as the best friend of all time!

Didn’t happen though.  Are you kidding me? I’m not doing that!

My job is to get autographed items to help grant charitable wishes, not the wish of a friend who has had 30 years to get the autograph himself.  Is it my fault he never asked Albert to sign anything when he was one of the only 500 fans at the old Cleveland Stadium and players were signing anything that moved?  I don’t need to be a hero, or your best friend.  Here’s a baseball signed by me, Justin Sherman.  Happy Birthday. (Please note: If you are interested in an autographed Albert Belle ball, we will have one to bid on at our Opening Day silent auction to benefit Cleveland Indians Charities on April 5.  Section 153).

Speaking of autographs, I was recently down at the Indians Spring Training complex in Goodyear, Arizona coordinating our big “Signing Day.”  During Signing Day, we have a little over 4,000 items (bats, balls, photos, jerseys, etc.) for the players to sign.  The items signed will go to many different things over the course of the year depending on which front office department requested items, but the majority will go towards our donations to local charities/benefits as well as silent auction items for our own charity, Cleveland Indians Charities.  Keeping with my amazing public speaking skills, I recorded a little something about Signing Day to give you a quick inside look at the process.  As always, thank you to Dan Mendlik for taping and editing it together.