For immediate release: NUMBER 375!

March 5

With the score knotted up in the bottom of the 9th inning, GOING, GOING, GONE! crushed a hanging spitball from Indians’ pitcher Gaylord Perry, blasting it to the deepest part of the left field bleachers, to win the game and send the local fans home happy. It was the 375th home run of GOING, GOING, GONE!’s career, and it is now half way on its stated quest for 750 round trippers. GOING, GOING, GONE! thanks you so much for your support so far, and unabashedly asks you to dig deep and please pre-order a few more copies.

                                       Prize Winning All-Star Team, Week 2!

Congratulations! Top 3, Brian S., Scott W., and David B., please pick from the week 2 list, which can be found with the link in red on my website. www.SteveHermanos.com.

Everyone else, you can rank a bunch of prizes and I’ll try to make a match, but no guarantees. Also, everyone, please buy another book. EBooks are only $10. We are almost half way to the 750 mark!

Week 2 Winning Team!

Week 2 Prizes Drawing Tonight @ 6pm, Pacific. 10 Prizes. Each Book Ordered Is An Entry. Up To 10 Entries Per Teammate! Ordering More Is Easy, As Your Credit Card Is Already Stored By Inkshares. Just $10 Per eBook. I Will Track Orders Up To 6pm and Then The Prizes Will Be Drawn By Someone Who Is Not Me. Please Order Another Book Or Two. Thanks so much, Steve

First place gets first choice.
Second place gets second choice.
Third place gets third choice.

After I hear from the gold, silver, and bronze winners, I’ll try to quickly reach out to winners 4 - 10, but you might not get a choice, just some cool cards in the mail (make sure to email me your street address if you’re a winner!) 

All of Week 2’s prizes in one photo



Prize 1: Autographed and framed Perez-Steele card of Jim Catfish Hunter, autographed by the great A’s and Yankees pitcher. What a dominant pitcher in the 1970s! A winner! Click on the image and it’ll take you to Youtube and the lite beer commercial in which a comedian calls him "Catfood."



 Prize 2: Seven 1955 Topps cards. Fair-Good condition. Probably worth $1-$2 dollars per card because of their condition. 64 years old!



 Prize 3: Now we move along to a few cards from the HELMAR BASEBALL ART CARD COMPANY. Many of you know that I’ve been writing the backs of some of the Helmar cards for a few years. I love what Charles Mandel, the greatest baseball artist alive today, does with Helmar. The artwork for the cover of Going, Going, Gone! is made up of Helmar cards. All of the cards on the cover of the book are transformed into characters in Going, Going, Gone! 

This is a Helmar Oasis card. Oasis has SEVEN LAYERS of paper. They are inspired by 1870s and 80s advertising signs in the era of gaslights. Charles Mandel’s genius shines through in every card he makes!



Back of the card.



Here’s a link to the current Helmar auction on eBay.

Time out to consider pre-ordering more of GOING, GOING, GONE for every one of your baseball-loving friends! Each pre-order is another entry for prizes. Click on the book to pre-order. Pick up a few more eBooks and help the team! Thanks!



Prize 4: Another amazing Helmar card. A framed Helmar-T206. Yes, that’s right, FRAMED. With a cork matting and Japanese paper border and thin plexi cover and back and a wax seal on the back. Hello Joseph Cornell!!!! These sell for $20 - $40, depending on the player. But they should sell for hundreds! One day!



The thickness of the framed card from last week’s card. The detail on the edge!



The back of the card, with a gummed tag inspired by antique baggage tags, initialed by the person who constructed the card. And that wax stamp!



Prize 5: Another Helmar art card. The series is Polar Night. John Cahill, from Indianapolis, who played in the 1880s. Baseball players were sometimes photographed in a studio, posing with a baseball suspended from a string. Such is the inspiration for this pose.



Prize 6: About 75 high-quality, contemporary football cards, including Troy Aikman.



Prize 7: Stack of over 100 cool baseball cards spanning the past 30 years.



Prize 8: Auction catalogue from the most recent REA auction, the premiere auctioneer of a breadth of quality baseball memorabilia, from Babe Ruth’s bat, to rare cards, photos, and on the front, sheet music with a very early lithograph of a baseball game. This would be a great way to see what the baseball-collecting world is up to.



Prize 9: Late 1970s Topps card, including the 1988 Orel Hersheiser. This one is worthy of sending to get graded. It’s from his MVP season and the last time the Dodgers won the World Series. We were all so much younger.



Prize 10: High-quality reprints of T206 cards. I enjoyed poring over the players in these cards who appear in GOING, GOING, GONE. I’d stare for a long time at the images. I spent two wonderful days in the library at the Baseball Hall of Fame looking at photos of players from 1906. These aren’t worth much money, but are very cool. Make great bookmarks.

Peter G., New York Prop Dusters, SS
Charles Mandel, Helmar Antiquifyers, Owner
Laura M., Brattleboro Yankees, Mgr.
David B., East River Fishermen, P/Captain
Charlie C., Toll Bros. Demolition, SS
Ed B., SF Team Brothers ’N Sisters, CF 
Beth B., SF Team Brothers ’N Sisters, LF
D. Krasnoff, Team Navy, Coach
E. Krasnoff, Team Navy, G.M.
Elizabeth C., Team DiVino, Nutritionist
Brian S., Prudential All-Stars, CF
Barnaby C., Washington Absinthe Sippers, P/2B
Miles R., New York Value Seekers, 3B
Charles G., New York Limo Hailers, CF
Jacqui L., Mill Valley Visionaries, SS-2B
J. Redford, Marin County Muckrakers, P
Stefan, Smith, Sports Massage Marin (his real team), 3rd base coach
Devin C., Amsterdam Comedy Makers, P
Robert H., New York Skiiers, CF
Susan H., New York Museum Researchers, Mgr.
T. Wexler, L.A. Dealmakers, SS
Adam K., Ithaca Royal Palmists, CF
Bennett, J., Mill Valley Millers, 3B
Jonathan W., Mitzi Potted Parrot Fan Club, P
Jon R., Mill Valley Troubadors, P
David B., East Hampton Fly Casters, 1B 
Joe P., Sausalito Voiceovers, P
Jason A., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Stephanie A., Dalton Tigers, 1B
Jim C., San Francisco Dealmakers, P
Helen Y., Tiburon Sharks, SS
Karin T., Sausalito Winemakers, Mgr.
Adam T., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Duncan P., L.A. Guitar Riffers, P/OF
Ellen H., MVP Sister, DH
Kirk D., Arizona Tar Melters, LF
Adam K., Ontario Seal Pups, CF
Beth B., San Francisco Elites, RF
Kenneth P., Houston Stan Key, P
Douglas Zang, Santa Fe Steakmakers, C 
John B., San Juan All-Stars, P
Leila S., Sausalito Sartajians, Mental Health Coach

Every book purchased will be entered into the weekly drawing for a very cool, valuable baseball card(s). If you purchase 5, you will have 5 entries. If you purchase 10, you will have 10. Entries roll over week to week until the pre-sales campaign concludes when we hit 750 pre-sales! 

Week 1 Winners!

Hi, It’s the last hour to get in more pre-order entries for the Week 1 drawing (which I pushed back from Sun night to today). People are excited about the prizes. Thanks to you all! Click through to the prize display. www.stevehermanos.com

Pre-orders accomplished before tonight at 9pm will be entered into the WEEK 1 Prize drawing. VIEW WEEK 1 PRIZES! Drawing Sunday, Feb 10, late night. Winners announced Monday. The more pre-orders you make, the more entries you will have in the drawing. Entries roll over week to week. View Prizes: www.SteveHermanos.com

Prize 1: Not even a baseball card! But it’s so cool. It’s from the N28 series of 1887!!!! That’s not a typo: this card is 132 years old! It’s from one of my favorite sets of all time, from the Allen & Ginter tobacco company. The artwork is great. The people chosen for the set of 50 cards, including 10 baseball players, plus rowers, boxers, wrestlers, billiard players, sharpshooters including Buffalo Bill, and Annie Oakley. 

This card is worth about $20-$30, a small amount, in part because of the heavy crease going across it.



 The back of the card, listing all of the people in the set.



 Prize 2: 1911 T205 Gold Border, Frank Corridon.  Encapsulated and Graded 2 (Good) by the PSA company. The million dollar Honus Wagner is from the T206 Set of 1909-11. This is the set produced right after. Probably worth $20 - $30.



 Back of T205 card.



 Prize 3: Now we move along to a few cards from the HELMAR BASEBALL ART CARD COMPANY. Many of you know that I’ve been writing the backs of some of the Helmar cards for a few years. I love what Charles Mandel, the greatest baseball artist alive today, does with Helmar. The artwork for the cover of Going, Going, Gone! is made up of Helmar cards. All of the cards on the cover of the book are transformed into characters in Going, Going, Gone! 

This is a Helmar card of Jacob Rupert, owner of the Yankees in the Babe Ruth era. It’s worth $20 - $30, but has sold for much more.



And I’m proud to say, I wrote the text on the back. What fun it is to write the backs of Charles’ cards!
Here’s a link to the current Helmar auction on eBay.



Time out to consider pre-ordering more of GOING, GOING, GONE for every one of your baseball-loving friends! Each pre-order is another entry for prizes. Click on the book to pre-order. Thanks!

Prize 4: Another amazing Helmar card. A framed Helmar-T206. Yes, that’s right, FRAMED. With a cork matting and Japanese paper border and thin plexi cover and back and a wax seal on the back. Hello Joseph Cornell!!!! These sell for $20 - $40, depending on the player. But they should sell for hundreds! One day!



The thickness of this framed card! The detail on the edge!



The back of the card, with a gummed tag inspired by antique baggage tags, initialed by the person who constructed the card. And that gold, wax stamp!



Prize 5: Another Helmar art card. The series is Polar Night. The player is Charles Bennett, Hall of Famer, who revolutionized the catching position on the 19th Century. They considered it umanly to use mitts!



Prize 6: Three superstars from the Red Sox. Topps 1980. These cards are in pristine condition. I enjoy having cards professionally framed and giving them as gifts. These would look good framed together. Worth $40, perhaps.



Prize 7: Steve Carlton PSA 8, 1980 Topps. You can buy one just like it on eBay fro $9 plus shipping. Great condition.



Prize 8: 1978 and ’79 Topps Yankees, Dodgers, JR Richard, and Pete Rose (PSA 5). I’ll toss in some more cards from that era. I don’t know why PSA graded the Pete Rose 5...looks very nice, but knocks out much of the value other than COOL! Worth about $20. (It costs about $10 to have a card graded).



Prize 9: Back to HELMAR. This is an amazing card from an amazing set, Helmar Imperial Cabinet. This is Grover Cleveland Alexander. Ronald Reagan played him in the Winning Team. Look at the size of that card (JR Richard Topps card for size comparison). They sell for $20 - $40 and contain unlimited amounts of wonder.



Back of the card.



Prize 10: Mystery Prize worth at least $30.

Laura M., Brattleboro Yankees, Mgr.
David B., East River Fishermen, Captain/P
Charlie C., Tol Bros. Demolition, SS
Brian S., Prudential All-Stars, CF
Barnaby C., Washington Absinthe Sippers, P/2B
Jacqui L., Mill Valley Millers, SS-2B
Stefan, Smith, Sports Massage Marin (his real team), 3rd base coach
Bennett, J., Mill Valley Millers, 3B
Stephanie A., Dalton Tigers, 1B
Helen Y., Tiburon Sharks, SS
Karin T., Sausalito Winemakers, Mgr.
Adam T., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Duncan P., L.A. Guitar Riffers, P/OF
Ellen H., MVP Sister, DH
Kirk D., Arizona Tar Melters, LF
Adam K., Ontario Seal Pups, CF
Beth B., San Francisco Elites, RF

Every book pre-ordered will be entered into the weekly drawing for a very cool, valuable baseball card(s). If you purchase 5, you will have 5 entries. If you purchase 10, you will have 10. Entries roll over week to week until the pre-sales campaign concludes when we hit 750 pre-sales! 

Thanks to EVERY ONE OF YOU! (Please consider jumping up to SUPER STAR SLUGGER with a total of 5 orders or more!). Every person you know who loves baseball will appreciate the gift of GOING, GOING, GONE!

Alex S., Geneva Smeltwranglers
Jenny K.C., Philadelphia Royal Pythions
Andy B., Weston Yankees
David M., Inkshares Firecrackers
Kelsey R., Vermont Green Mountaineers
Carla P., Sausalito Sewing Crew
Jonathan W., Mitzi Potted Parrot Fan Club 
Tyler S., FC Frank Lloyd Wright
Jarom. F., 6th Grade Royal Spectators
Leo V., Chicago Inksharians
Ted S., NY Fightin’ Intellectuals
Laureen K., Inkskares Firecrackers
Richard P., Cleveland Warhols
Perry G., Team Polo Ground
Terry T., Laguna Brainy Loafers
Chris R., Dalton Tigers
Adam K., Ithaca Royal Palmists
Geoff P., New York Metropolitans
Scott K., Orlando Rooftop Solarians
Michael O., Inkshares Firecrackers

When you get to this page, SCROLL DOWN and look on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN, DOWN, DOWN and look on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE.


OPTION 3: SUPER READER

THIS IS YOU (I DEEPLY HOPE)!

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO THE BOX, BELOW

Pay attention to: Quantity: 3


CLICK IN THE BOX!



CHANGE 3 TO 5 OR 10, (or whatever you think is best for your circumstances right now)



CLICK the pre-order button!

You Will Be Added To The List of Going, Going, Gone! Star Sluggers!!!!!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for helping make the dream a reality--seeing GOING, GOING, GONE in print!

Many thanks,

Steve
 
SteveHermanos@yahoo.com
www.SteveHermanos.com
@SteveHermanos
415-497-4480