April Recap! Top 'graphs of month 1

It is very hard to believe that baseball has been being played for over a month now, and even harder to believe that this past month was my best baseball month ever. I got some really quality autographs, and I had the best 4 day stretch in the hobby I have ever had at one point during the month.

In case you missed it, I met 2 hall of famers, first Ryne Sandberg, and later on Paul Molitor:

I met current Red Sox starting pitchers, Jon Lester(for the first time), as well as Felix Doubront:

I even met 2 other former major leaguers, Wally Backman, and Bob Tewksbury:

A top prospect who is absolutely raking in AAA:

 

 And a veteran fighting for a roster spot(Aaron Cook):

 

Overall, it was my best baseball graphing month ever, and I certainly hoping that May will somehow top it.

Twitter Mailbag 4/28/12

What is the oddest thing you've ever gotten signed and oddest you've seen signed?


I usually don't get "odd" things signed, at least in my opinion. Sometimes if I don't have a card for a guy I will get him on a ticket stub, but I find that fairly normal. Sometimes I do a team sheet, if I really don't have anything. But really, I don't get odd stuff signed.

Regarding the second part of the question, I have seen pretty much everything. People getting scrap paper signed, napkins, etc. I can't think of anything too obscure that I've seen, I mean I've seen a few women ask to get certain body parts signed, but that's just a typical pink hat I suppose.

Other than that, I really haven't seen anything overly odd.

Keep the questions coming!

Twitter Mailbag 4/26/12

Who would you say has ever been the rudest to you while trying to get their autograph?


When I saw this question, I cracked a smile because I knew exactly where I would go with this. As a collector, you have to get used to players/celebrities saying no, but on one occasion a player was overly rude about it.

That player?
Lars Anderson.

I have forgotten bits and pieces of the conversation, but the dialogue went something like this.


Another Collector: "Lars can you please sign?"
Lars: "How many have I signed for you?"

He then went on and signed it angrily.

(Lars then turns to me)
"What about you? How many have I signed for you?"

Me:"Just a couple."

Lars: "How would you guys feel if I came into your work and asked you for more than one autograph?" He then continues on this rant for a period of time.

He the turns to this mentally disabled gentleman and gives him attitude(not knowing he was mentally disabled).

When the gentleman went to respond, Lars realized what he had done, and the look on his face was priceless. He deserved the embarrassment.

Lars has always had quite the attitude, so I wasn't surprised that all of this occured, but I guess karma hit him when the last part happened. He still has an attitude, and he is one player I don't exactly wish the best for. In the past I have asked him things as simple as signing in blue and he threw the black marker down.

Other than Lars, I haven't really had rude encounters with players, just some attitudes. Thanks for the question!

4/24/12 Pawtucket Vs. Empire State Yankees

I went over to Pawtucket after school yesterday as I had a lot of Yankees stuff to get done. To say the Yankees are a bad signing team would be a huge understatement as I only got 3 guys, only one being someone I had a card for. I don't know what the deal was, but maybe they are all grumpy because they are playing their entire season on the road.

I really wanted to get Manny Delcarmen, but he only signed for 2-3 people and left, simply bad luck so no big deal. All of the big prospects didn't really sign, maybe 1 here or there but not that I can remember.

I did get Kevin Russo:

Apparently he is 1 per, I had 6 cards...

The only other Yankees I got were Nelson Figueroa, and Steve Pearce:

 The PawSox were pretty decent signing wise, barring a few disappointments.

Rich Hill and Mark Melancon both came out at I believe the same time. I think they are staying together, I got Hill to sign(he's always been a really nice guy, pretty friendly) but Melancon seemed to be in a rush, a bunch of people got him and I was the very next one to get him, but he said he had to go. Not that I'm upset over not getting Melancon, but he would have been my 90th Red Sox.

Andrew Miller also didn't sign, he was an absolute signing machine last year though so no big deal, I just wanted him on my team ball.

I did get slugger Mauro Gomez, for the first time:

 Rich Hill as mentioned from earlier on my team ball, along with Aaron Cook, and Tony Thomas who signed as usual:

Former MLB Pitcher, Bob Tewksbury, now works as a sports phychologist for the Red Sox and was in attendance for tonight's game, I decided to get him on a ball because I had never met him, and he played in the league for over 10 years:

I decided to end the entry with Will Middlebrooks, because he is just putting on a show that really, I've never seen before. I thought Ryan Lavarnway was doing this last season, but Middlebrooks is even trumping that. He is THE best player in minor league baseball right now, and he is a really nice kid. He signed as always:

Total Autographs for 2012:165

4/22/2012 New Britain Vs. New Hampshire(Hall of Famer Paul Molitor)

My original plan going into the weekend was to go over to Pawtucket today, however New England was a complete wash out. I then heard that Paul Molitor would be in New Britain, and I just couldn't pass on meeting another Hall of Famer.

I got a cheap ticket and went inside to see if anybody would be outside or in the dugout during the rain delay. The game was very shortly postponed, and I went looking for the clubhouse door(This was only my 3rd time in New Britain ever). I found it, and waited until players started coming out. I got 7 guys on this team sheet:

1) Aaron Hicks
2)Deibinson Romero
3)David Bromberg
4)Daniel Turpen
5) Pedro Florimon
6) Luke French
7) Steve Hirschfeld

After about 20 minutes or so, after all the players had left, I was waiting patiently hoping that Molitor would come out. I saw the door open, he looked right over at me, and signed a ball for my buddy and I. I asked him to take a picture with me, but he said,"I think I'm going to run for today, but I'll be here for a few days so just come back."

I was happy enough getting another Hall of Famer to sign, and he was pretty nice. This wraps up a pretty good weekend for me.

 

Total Autographs for 2012: 155

4/21/2012 Uconn Baseball Vs. Rutgers

I didn't have much to do before work today, so I decided to go and check out Uconn baseball at Dodd Stadium. I didn't have much to get signed, and that wasn't my main intention anyway, but I got a few things.

I got Uconn's best player LJ Mazzilli, whose father played in the majors for a number of years. Mazzilli is considered one of the top 100 college prospects in the country:

Game used ball I got:

I also took this picture of him, after reaching base:

I also got catcher Joe Pavone on this poster:

Finally, I got 3 guys on this team sheet:
#36 David Mahoney
#7 Billy Feritter
I believe #22 Dan Feehan

Game-wise, it was terrible, Uconn lost 15-0!

Total Autographs for 2012: 146

4/20/2012 Jon Lester & Felix Doubront

The numbers were certainly not in my favor going into tonight.

1)I had to work to 7:30
2)I work at least 35-40 minutes from Mohegan Sun
3)They would be handing out bracelets to the event at 8:30
4)Only 200 bracelets would be given out

When I arrived at Mohegan, there was quite a line forming, but I realized that I was probably in the top 100 people so I felt good about my chances. I ended up getting my bracelet at probably 8:45-9:00, which guaranteed(so they said) meeting the players. I hoped for the best, and waited.

For the first time ever at a signing I have been to, the players showed up EARLY. Only 5-6 minutes, but people who go to signings know that players are generally late.

The security was being very strict about the no outside items policy to my surprise, but I didn't care because I had never met Lester.

Of course, I have met Felix Doubront a number of times, but not since he has been in the rotation.

The photos they gave out were pretty nice, and my dad had asked me if he could come so I was able to get 2 of each. Lester was personalizing for older people it seemed, but I kind of just stayed quiet, and he didn't personalize mine.

I am really happy with how this went, Mohegan ran it really well, and I will be going back for future signings. There was also a professional photographer taking pictures of everyone, I'll have to look out for those.


Total Autographs for 2012:140

Mailbag/ New Twitter theme

So lately I have been thinking about creating a new kind of  "feature" for the blog, to make up for spots of more than 4-5 days when I can't get any graphing in. I thought it would be interesting to turn to Twitter for readers to ask questions/ my opinions on certain things autograph/sports related, hell I'll even talk about politics if you want.

I am going to offer this as a way for people to ask my opinion, or even for advice about autographs, or what my plans are for the near future.

With that said, I have 2 questions that were asked to me:


1) Who are you most looking forward to seeing/ getting this season?


Going into this season, I had a few major goals.
1) Get Bryce Harper, given the opportunity.
2)Get a nicer Ryne Sandberg item than last year's "sharpie ball".
3)Get as many of the Red Sox top 10 prospects as possible.

Every year I also have the more broad goal to add to my "Red Sox player collection". Currently I am up to 89 different players who have played for the Red Sox, which can be seen here:

I have already completed goal number 2 on the list, and I have 4 of the current top 10 prospects.(I use this list): 
www.soxprospects.com


2) How are the NHL playoffs in your opinion this year so far?

I have a number of opinions about the playoffs so far, which have quite a wide range.

1) I love the intensity as always, everyone knows I love baseball more than any sport, but man nothing beats the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But with that intensity has come some extremely poor acts of sportsmanship/ cheap shots. Obviously being a Bruins fan, the first thing that comes to mind is how Nicholas Backstrom had the late hit behind the goal, that lead to his 1 game suspension. Come on, I understand the pressure gets to guys, but when the game is ending you don't intenionally lay cheap shots on guys. He got what he deserved.

The second shot that pissed me off was Raffi Torres' hit on Hossa. That was about as cheap as it gets, and it injured a significant player. It reminds me a lot of the hit on Horton in last years' playoffs. I haven't heard if any discipline has been handed out yet, but I'm sure it will come.


Another opinion I have about the playoffs is that it is fantastic that Los Angeles is killing Vancouver. Not because I hate those bastards, but because it is great for the league. How often does an 8 seed ever even have a remote chance of beating a 1? It has never happened, and I think it is GREAT for the league that it will probably happen. It is exciting, and it is always nice to see a "cinderella story" in sports.



If anyone ever wants to ask me a question, you can reach me on here through comment, or certianly on Twitter at @gbaseball_93

4/10/12 New Britain Vs. Harrisburg

Tonight I headed over to New Britain, more to just watch a baseball game than graph, but I ended up getting a few anyway. It was a very late decision, so I just printed a team sheet up and decided to see what I would get. The players came out later than usual for warm ups but I was able to get 5 of them to sign. The best was Aaron Hicks, the 4th ranked prospect in the Twins organization by Baseball America.
I actually didn't think he was going to come over, because at first he gave me the, "one second" signal, then warmed up, went to the dugout, and after 5 or 10 more minutes, came out and walked over to me. I actually got a nice picture with him as well. I got to see him hit a home run during the game also.

1)Steve Hirschfeld
2)Nathan Hanson
3)Aaron Hicks
4)David Bromberg
5)Chris Hermann

Total Autographs for 2012:136

4/7/12 Pawtucket Vs. Lehigh Valley

If some of my regular readers remember, I talk about how difficult it was for me to get Ryne Sandberg last season. I think I went 1 for 5, and it took until the playoffs until I finally landed him. This is somewhat odd because he is a nice guy, and overall a pretty solid signer.

Anyways, I was headed to Providence for a little while anyway, so I decided to head over to the stadium for after the double header. I got there in the top of the 7th(last inning in double headers in the minors), and got my place to wait for him. It took Lehigh Valley much longer to come out than usual, I'm sure they took their time because it wasn't very late.

A few minutes before the bus left, Mr. Sandberg walked out and came right over to sign. I think I was probably around the 5th or 6th person to get him, no more than 10th. He even added the Hall of Fame inscription without me asking. My buddy also got a ball done for me, so after one night, I have double the Sandberg autographs that it took me over 6 months last season to get.

After Sandberg went on the bus, I was able to get last year's Phillies #1 Prospect, Domonic Brown. Brown has already played for the Phillies in 2010 and 2011, and he is a very good right field prospect.:

I wasn't able to get Philippe Aumont, he would have signed, he just didn't hear me. He racked for people.

Believe it or not, I did not get a SINGLE Pawtucket autograph, I think that is a first in the 7 years I have been graphing here.

The quantity was not there last night for me, but the quality more than was, so I left happy.

The PawSox are headed on the road after Monday I believe, so I won't be up there for a while, but I may find somewhere else depending on the schedules.

Total Autographs for 2012:131

Pawtucket Vs. Buffalo Day 2 4/6/12

I headed back to Pawtucket after work last night, because Thursday was pretty disappointing autograph wise. I did a little better tonight, as I put in more time, and the players were friendlier.

As soon as the game ended, it wasn't 5 minutes until Aaron Cook came out. My guess is that he was charting. Aaron has a May 1st call up clause in his contract, so if the Sox don't call him up by then he can be granted his release. He has been around quite a bit, he pitched in the 2007 World Series for the Rockies. He is a cool guy, and signs whatever you have. I got him in my media guide as well as a ball, because he will be on the Sox as soon as something goes wrong in the rotation/bullpen:

I added 3 more guys to my team ball last night as well, Daniel Nava:

Clayton Mortenson, who nearly made the Sox as well:

Will Middlebrooks, who is probably going to be the next Red Sox third baseman:

I also got the Mets' 4th top prospect, Jeurys Famila, who was really nice, he was talking to somebody that he knew for a good half hour before the bus left, and came over for everyone. He did side panel everyone's' ball, but no big deal:

Finally, I was able to get 1986 World Series Champion Wally Backman, who is now the manager of Buffalo, he has some really crazy rants on youtube, but he is a nice guy:

Once again, unfortunately I wasn't able to get Matt Harvey.

I was planning on going up for Ryne Sandberg today, but since it's their first time through this year it will probably be really crowded so I'm not sure if I want to.

Total Autographs for 2012:128

4/5/12 Pawtucket Vs. Buffalo(Mets) Opening Night

Before the graphing even started, the night was interesting because it was under 40 degrees. My graphing for the night certainly reflected the bitterness.

My main goal for the night was to get Matt Harvey, because he is a good prospect who is from New London, CT. I wasn't able to get him. I asked him to sign when he was at his family's car, and he said he had to go.

I only got one autograph from Buffalo, because I didn't have any cards for them, and didn't try for much other than Harvey.

Josh Satin:

I did get a number of Pawsox autographs, a lot of guys ignored, such as Tazawa, and most of the pitchers, but One of the Red Sox top prospects, Will Middlebrooks, stopped for everyone:

 Tony Thomas is also back with Pawtucket this year:

New to the system, Will Inman:

I also semi started a team ball, I got Pedro Ciriaco, who looked very good in Spring Training, and had 4 hits tonight, as well as Chorye Spoone:

 This is Pedro Ciriaco:

 Finally, recent American Idol vote off, and 10th place finisher Rhode Island native, Erika Van Pelt was in attendance to sing, "God Bless America." I was able to get her outside while waiting for players.:

I think I'm going up Saturday to attempt Ryne Sandberg and Lehigh Valley, as well as some Sox top prospects.

Total Autographs for 2012: 121