More than 20 superstar celebrities from across the country will join the nation's leading producer of sports collectible events, Tri-Star Productions, Inc., at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center for the annual Bay Area Labor Day Collectors Show. Nine members of theSan Francisco Giants, including Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, will be onhand to meet and greet fans with six players, including Bill Mueller,Shawn Estes, Joe Nathan, Doug Mirabelli, Armando Rios and Ramon E.Martinez, signing free autographs. They will be joined by several members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bill Russell.

Another exciting highlight at this show will be The McFarlane Collection, featuring the world's most valuable piece of sports memorabilia: Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from hisrecord-setting season. Todd McFarlane will sign free autographs for fans at the show, beginning at 2:15 PM on Saturday, Sept. 2. The Collection will be available to attendees throughout the event.

Former television sitcom stars Ken Osmond ("Eddie Haskell" from Leave It To Beaver) and Erin Murphy ("Tabitha" from Bewitched) will provide a nostalgic trip down memory lane for fans of these populartelevision shows. In addition, WWF star Crash Holly will be on handto sign free autographs for wrestling fans on Friday evening at theshow.

There will be hundreds of tables of sports cards, collectibles, memorabilia, bean bag toys and Pok�mon products on hand foreveryone from the casual sports fan to the avid collector at this event. In addition, collectors will have the opportunity to submit their cards for grading companies including Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Beckett Grading Services and CTA Grading Experts will be on hand throughout the weekend accepting card submissions.

The show runs on Friday 4 to 8 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 7 PM, Sunday 10 AM to 6 PM and Monday 10 AM to 4 PM. Admission is $5 at the door. For more information, including purchasing tickets to the event, visit http://www.tristarproductions.com.

In related news, if you want to listen to Todd talk about The McFarlane Collection and other sports related talk, be sure to check out an archived interview he didlast week with San Francisco radio station KNBR, and Bay Area sportscaster, Gary Radnich. If you go to this link http://www.broadcast.com/radio/archives/knbr/radnich/ and then select August 23, you can listen to the interview. Todd begins speaking at 2:26:40 into the show. You'll need Real Player to make this work.

The McFarlane Colletion will also be traveling to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.,. Shoppers can relive that period of baseball history and more by viewing 10 of McGwire's and Sosa's 1998 record-breaking home run baseballs through The McFarlane Collection in the Rotunda, Sept, 8-10, 2000.

Mall of America is the first of nine scheduled visits to shopping malls across the United States, and represents the first time everthe Collection has been in a retail location. The mall tour will continue into November.

Mall of America, the nation's largest retail and entertainment complex, attracts more than 600,000 shoppers weekly, boasts more than 520 stores, including 22 sit-down restaurants, 27 fast food restaurants, eight nightclubs and more.

For information about the mall tour, visit the McFarlane Events Calendar on http://www.spawn.com. For info specific to the Mall of America, visit www.mallofamerica.com, or call (952)883-8800.

[Posted 9/01/2000]