Pedro Martinez

Today I went shopping at the Home Goods in Bedford, MA. I walked up and down the aisles, looking for a great deal....

Dishware,
Furniture,
Lamps,
Cy Young Winners.

The best deal in the greater Boston area this weekend was definitely at this special event on Saturday, where Pedro Martinez hosted a charity toy drive to benefit cancer patients at the Dana Farber Institute and underprivileged children in the Dominican Republic. By donating two toys, you could receive an autograph from Pedro on anything you wanted.

I saw some pretty impressive pieces, including a full stadium seat from Busch Stadium where the Sox reversed the curse in 2004. It seemed like most of the attendees had been waiting for years to get Pedro on some team-signed items, but I didn't really have anything in particular I needed signed.

Still, the prospect of getting a Red Sox legend and future Hall of Famer like Pedro for a few toys was a steal. It also gave me an excuse to patrol the toy aisles at Target to see how much cooler Lego's and action figures have become since I was a kid.

The line moved fairly slowly, but fortunately the store was very strict about one autograph per person. It seemed like Pedro signed inscriptions when requested, which may have attributed to the slow moving line. I was very happy to get cards from the 2008 Allen & Ginter and 09 Topps sets signed with some help.

It was great to get a few autographs and help out some needy kids during the holiday season, and I couldn't have done it without the help of my sweet, charitable, and kind fiancee', who will no doubt be watching this blog post closely for me to thank her for standing out in the cold with me for four hours. Without her help, I wouldn't have been able to get the nice looking Allen & Ginter signed that you see above.

When I came home tonight, I was surprised to see a headline stating that Pedro would be officially announcing his retirement in the next few days. If he truly does decide to retire now, then today's event seemed like a fitting farewell for the local crowd after so many memorable years in Boston.