Happy 4th of July and My Autographed Baseball Collection

Happy 4th of July!

Fuji, of the blog The Chronicles of Fuji is having a "Check Out My Balls" contest. To enter you just have to answer the following questions.

1. Do you have autographed balls in your collection?
2. If so, do you have a favorite?
3. Why is it special?

I have several autographed baseballs that I display on shelves in my "man cave". I have a few additional baseballs that I need to get cases for. These pictures aren't great, but here goes:

Top Row: Paul Goldschmidt, Justin Upton, Nolan Ryan, K.Gibson, J-Up, & Miguel Montero on 2011 All-Star Ball
Middle Row: Buck Showalter, Andy Benes & Matt Williams on a 1998 D-Backs Opening Day Ball, Freddy Garcia, Paul Molitor, Travis Hafner
Bottom Row: Brewers AZ Rookie League Team Ball from the early 90's, Darren Lewis on game used minor league ball, Luis Gonzalez, Raul Mondesi

Top Row: Mark Reynolds, Dan Haren, Matt Williams, Dana DeMuth, Jared Mitchell

Middle Row: Don Mattingly, Ken Griffey Jr, Bud Selig, Don Newcombe, Randy Johnson

Bottom Row: Whitey Ford, Enos Slaughter, Johnny Vander Meer, Bob Feller, Bobby Thomson & Ralph Branca

Top Row: Carlos Beltran, Rafael Palmiero, Mark Texiera

Bottom Row: George Brett, Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro

So which is my favorite? It's the one signed by MLB Umpire Dana DeMuth.

He personalized it to me. "To Dan, Always be "safe".

If the ball looks a little dirty it's because it was used in he 2009 World Series. 

I had a co-worker that was cousins with Dana's wife and she got this ball for me. I knew she was going to be seeing him over the weekend so I asked her to ask him a couple of questions for me. Just like what was his favorite part about his job and if he had a favorite baseball memory. When I got to work the next Monday she had this ball for me. I was schocked! She said she hoped the World Series Ball was okay because it was either that one or one from the 2009 All-Star Game.