I have hit the jackpot.

Well guys, it looks like my troubles are officially Over.

Because today, Joe hit the sports memorabilia jackpot.

Today, I went to Girard avenue, between 63rd and 62nd, to get a chair I saw thrown out.* It was gone, but I saw a pair of ice skates sitting in a box on the corner. There were about six large boxes. Anyway,I went to get the skates, and that's when the magic started happening. The skates were signed. They were signed by Bill Barber, who played on the Philly Flyers in both of their Stanley Cup championship wins. As any normal person would have done, I almost had a brain aneurysm.

As I went through the apparent junk in the boxes, I started finding gold: Signed photographs of individual players, rosters, posters (some signed) game programs,workout schedules,etc.I found things signed by Charlie Leach, Bob Kelly, Ed Van Impe, Gary Dornhoefer, and a program and an autograph book, both signed by the entire Flyers starting roster.There's also some sort of orange card with Bobby Clarke on it. It says "You were there!" and 100 points. It looks rather like a fake check, or a large fake bill. I also have a 1974/75 issue of NHL Action Players, the stamp album. It hasn't been filled out. By then, of course, I had had several heart attacks brought on by shock.

Oh, but it gets better. While I am certainly a real** Flyers fan, All of you who are sane know that I'm a Phillies fan to death. I would kill several people if needed, If I could own something signed by Greg Luzinski, or Ron Shcueler, or, by some miracle, Jim Kaat.

And guess what I found?

A 1972 Phillies yearbook, a 1976 Phillies Magazine,a ticket to the Phillies VS. Mets game of June 1,1981,  a press field pass for the same game, a small signed photo of Steve Carlton (My favourite pitcher from the 76' Phillies)  and two pages from some sort of sports magazine signed by most of the 1970 and 1976 Phillies starting rosters.                                       He's not a Phillie, he was a Met, and later a Cub (Where he had his best season in 1970), but I have a medium-sized signed photo of Jim Hickman.By then, I was  ready to pass out.

I have a large color photo of Larry Csonka, and some Iggles memorabilia too. (Mostly magazines) and some Sixers memorabilia. (Mostly programs.) I have one game program from 1973/1974, which has some signatures on the cover. I haven't read the signatures yet, so I don't know whose they are. I have a think book-sort of thing from Super bowl IX (1975) 

Now, some of this stuff absolutely cannot leave this house. It will stay here till I leave this mortal earth. I guess I could sell some of it, but I don't know what any of it is worth exactly, or who to contact about selling it. The Phillies stuff and two of the signed photos, I plan to keep unless I get a really good offer on it.

I also found (and fellow Star Trek fans will freak the same way I did) a signed photo of George Takei and DeForrest Kelly, signed by those two as well as  Majel Barrett.

So, uhh.....I don't know what to do, besides recover from the health conditions brought on by the finding of this stuff.

* It was nice. Sort of a dark cherry, and the style matched the furniture in my room.

**No bandwagon for me.