More than autographs

As much as I enjoy being a hound, I've learned along the way that there's more to it that simply loading up on signatures. Sometimes, such as this past Saturday, it's just as fun to take in a baseball game from a different perspective.

If you haven't checked out Baseball Mondays, a baseball hounding blog that occupies my time during the hockey offseason, now is as good of a time as any. Soon enough, hockey season will be back.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Well, well, well

It was more than a hunch that our last day of Colin's summer vacation yesterday might include getting some autographs from NHL players. What I didn't know, though, was that it would involve Dallas' Brad Richards and Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis.

But that's exactly what happened, as we took in the final minutes of an informal workout by a handful of NHL players at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon. Richards, a former Bolts player, and St. Louis were among those skating. Other confirmed sightings were Tampa Bay defensemen Brett Clark and Mattias Ohlund.

Colin hustled to have Richards and St. Louis sign the pucks shown above. St. Louis, who was in a downright jovial mood, signed the new 2004 Stanley Cup champions puck in the top left corner. Richards signed the others.

I didn't get shut out, either, as Richards and St. Louis signed this photo, showing Tampa Bay's old Big Three celebrating Canada's championship in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Now, all we need is for Vinny Lecavalier to complete this photo.

Each and every one

Not that I'm any sort of technological genius like my good friend Moody, but I couldn't figure out why the old Vault wouldn't list our complete collection of autographed pucks.

Hopefully, that's all been taken care of now.

The Vault, Part I: Pucks A - L
The Vault, Part II: Pucks M - Z

Card show

Once Colin completed his Florida State League team ball project and loaded up his Dunedin Blue Jays batting helmet, we're down to getting cards signed as we start to close out our 2010 Summer of Baseball over at Baseball Mondays.

Minors accomplishment

As our 2010 Summer of Baseball winds down, we're putting the finishing touches on some of our summer projects. In this case, it's a game-used Dunedin Blue Jays batting helmet signed by 31 members of the Florida State League squad.

You can read about the helmet, as well as another summer project, at Baseball Mondays, our hockey offseason hounding blog.

Boys will be boys, but men are still boys

Editor's note: Just making sure that Hound Central readers know this post is by Moody, not Puckhound. I'm thinking Moody may have gone a little batty waiting for the season to begin. Still, though, the man makes a point:

My wife tells me this all the time, and, as a man, it frustrates me to no end. I work hard, I provide for my family and always try to do the right thing.

Well, after looking over some photos of the Stanley Cup, I realized just how juvenile a grown man can be. I can now agree with the missus everytime she says those words.

Take a look at Hall of Famer Frank Selke's title as it's printed on the Stanley Cup. (Editor's note: Even better, how about Arc Campbell's? Figures, too, that it's the Loafs.)

Yes, I realize it's a bit childish to giggle at this, but I did and I still am as I write this post. I also chuckled a bit when I noticed that even the team's mascot even got his name on the Cup.

I apologize now for this immature post, but man, oh, man.

What it's all about

Take a moment, please, to read a letter from Dan Goldie, one of Moody's recent TTM successes. It's a good hockey story.

Goldie's a Buffalo kid to boot, too.

Caught up

It may have taken more than five hours, but all 147 pucks that needed to be catalogued and cared for can now consider themselves done. To be honest, I expected it to take a little longer.

With only a 30-minute break for dinner, I spent most of my afternoon off sitting at the table shown above, processing the pucks that we'd collected, some as far back as last November, over the 2009-10 hockey-hounding campaign.

In a way, chronicling a collection is much like a production process. Each puck gets logged into a master file (really, it's just a piece of paper), receives an identification card (another piece of paper), like this one for a puck signed by Tampa Bay's general manager Steve Yzerman, and put into a case.

From there, most end up in a 72-case box that's put in storage. A handful, though, find their way into one of our two burgeoning display cases.

I may not be ready for the upcoming 2010-11 campaign, but I'm considerably closer. I'm sure the bag will be packed by the time Lightning players start their informal skating sessions this month.

Catching up

Every so often, I get asked what I do with or how do we display all of our autographed pucks. Lately, it hasn't been all that well. Between being a Daddy and a husband, work, freelance work and enjoying Colin's company this summer, I haven't had much time since early April to put away the fruits of our labor.

Today, though, will be different when I asked Colin what he wanted to do today, he suggested we have a "chill out" day, where we do nothing but hang out at home. To me, it was a good idea.

Now that he's busy working yet another Lego creation, I've started putting away pucks, some from as far back as last November. As you can see, I have my work cut out for me:

Pucks obtained during the Tampa Bay Lightning's Young Guns camp;

These pucks were signed during the last 10 days of the regular season;

More from our late-season hounding efforts; and

The first batch of pucks I'll put away.

With any luck, I'll complete this project tonight.

Twelve down, none to go

Thanks to the Fort Myers Miracle, Colin completed his main 2010 Summer of Baseball project -- getting team-signed baseballs from all 12 Florida State League clubs. Check it out at Baseball Mondays.

Love those zebras

It may have taken hours for me to get Stevie Y and I may have looked a tad bit foolish while doing so. That's okay in my book.

I decided to speed things up a bit in my last hounding outing. I went over to the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon because I knew that Jonny Murray, an NHL linesman, was running a power skating camp there. In less than five minutes, my patience paid off.

Jonny signed four photos for me on his way in to the forum and even took the time to ask where I got them. He even went through the work-in-progress "Officials" team sheet, below, and tried to name the others who'd signed.

There are still plenty of camps going on this summer. Take the time to research your local ice rinks and see what kind of gems you can haul in.

Welcome back, Rocco

For those of you outside the Tampa Bay area, the news that former Tampa Bay Rays player Rocco Baldelli is attempting a comeback might not be that important. For Rays fans, though, it's a big deal that he's playing with the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League.

Over the past few weeks, we've watched Baldelli play in a couple of games, serving as the Stone Crabs' designated hitter. Of course, his presence draws a crowd, ourselves among it. Though he signs only after games, he doesn't leave fans disappointed.

Among the postings at Baseball Mondays:

~ a signed 8x10 showing Baldelli's first-ever FSL hit -- a double against the Clearwater Threshers;
~ a single-signed baseball from Baldelli;
~ the 11th team-signed ball of Colin's 12-team FSL team ball project; and
~ Colin's first FSL team sheet of our 2010 Summer of Baseball.