2024 (sorta) purchase: a Dave & Buster's duo of baseballs

I haven't discussed it much here if at all, but occasionally I enjoy heading to arcades in my area for fun and prizes. To be specific I'm not referring to the old-school pump-quarters-into-Pac Man-type arcade, at least not in this case because those are fun too, but instead the ones that are ticket-driven. Instead of quarters you load up credits on a card and swipe that on various games to earn tickets you can redeem for different prizes. My favorites at these arcades tend to be the coin-pushers, especially the ones where you collect small sets of cards that you redeem for tickets (Star Trek and Willy Wonka for the card-collecting, Angry Birds for coin towers).

So there's a Dave & Buster's about a half hour from me that I started going to last year. After a couple visits and far too much money spent (though I had fun, at least!) I piled up enough tickets--20,000--to redeem for a prize I had my eyes on from the moment I walked through the prize area:

I'm sure many of you have seen these TriSTAR baseball blind boxes. You get one certified signed ball featuring any of the players listed there, or far more likely, someone else.

I wanted to get a few different shots of the box before I opened it and inevitably tossed it so you could see some of the cool examples of possible (yeah, right!) pulls.

Here's one last look before I reveal which one I got. It's pretty cool that they offer not only ROMLBs but also apparently World Series balls like Betts' here.

So what did I get on my first try?:

I'll say that I was a bit disappointed getting Juan Gonzalez only because I don't really care for him. Back in the 90s when I became a big fan of the game he was an absolute beast, piling up 40+ homers five teams and winning the '96 and '98 AL MVPs. Then in November of '99 the Rangers traded him to the Tigers for a couple players I kind of liked, P Justin Thompson and IF Frank Catalanotto, plus future All-Star closer Francisco Cordero.

His lone season in Detroit was one of his weakest but I probably wouldn't have minded that if he hadn't been so whiny about the park's dimensions. It wasn't a huge surprise when he turned down the Tigers' extension offer even though it was huge money at the time. I doubt Detroit makes their surprise 2006 run to the World Series with his albatross of a contract on the roster, and that's partly because I'm not so sure they would have put up the money to pick up guys like Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez.

Anyway, he peaced out as soon as he could after the 2000 season, signed with Cleveland, and had a resurgent year with them, then returned to Texas for a couple years, and went out with a whimper in 2004 with KC (33 games) and '05 back in Cleveland (one AB).

He's also had some steroid rumors thrown at him but who didn't back in that era? I might have at least tolerated him if he'd never come to Detroit, but that experience soured me on him. So long story short: very good player, but I'm not a fan.

That's cool because I sent the ball to Paul as part of his Christmas package after I offered it to him and he accepted it. I hope he enjoys it!

Having headed back there once or twice more I once again accumulated enough tickets to give this another shot and see which other players I might be able to get. This time I was much happier:

Let's see: HOFer, likeable player, and an inscription to boot. Now that's a winner in my book! Jim Palmer's the type of guy I could have possibly met back in the old Gibraltar Trade Center show days when I attended lots of great signings, but I guess that never happened. No problem, though, because I've got this nice keeper!

I like how they include a cardboard stand for the balls, which also come wrapped in plastic for protection, plus they come with a little card listing the players' accomplishments, as you also saw for Gonzalez above.

Palmer indeed won three AL Cy Youngs in a four-year span ('74 was definitely an off-year for him), and his eight seasons of winning 20+ games helped him to a career total of 268 in 19 seasons. He earned rings with the Orioles in '66, '70, and '83 while also losing to the '69 Mets plus the '71 and '79 Pirates. I think anyone would be thrilled to win three World Series in six tries!

Jim gave it one more shot in '84 but went 0-3 in five appearances and hung 'em up, having played all 19 of his MLB seasons for Baltimore. Six years later he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer having appeared on more than 92 percent of the ballots, joining Joe Morgan and getting in ahead of fellow pitchers Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, and Jim Bunning.

I'm glad to have Palmer's signature in my collection and will make sure to get a baseball display cube for it to add to my other signed memorabilia that's on display.

As I continue to make the occasional trip out to D&B's, will I get more of these? Very possibly, since my location hasn't really had any big-ticket prizes I've wanted to save up for. The only way I may mix it up is to shoot for one of the same company's signed football jersey boxes instead, though those cost more than twice as much as these balls. Should I get any more of them I'll happily share what I get here, and depending on the players, may even make them available in trade!