Pawtucket Vs. Norfolk 5/29/12(Miguel Tejada)

I went over to Pawtucket last night because former MVP Miguel Tejada was in town, as he is attempting a comeback.

Norfolk was a really, really bad signing team. Post game hardly anyone came over, including some of the guys who aren't even very good.

Inside, i was able to get hitting coach, Denny Walling, who signed 3 cards for me:

Also, Blake Davis:

The game didn't even end til like 10:45, probably the longest game I've ever been to, my dad told me
to wait for Tejada though, which was chill because I didn't really want to keep him out that long, but anyways, while waiting for Tejada I was able to get:

Pedro Ciriaco:

 And another Mark Melancon:

Then, at probably 11:58, Tejada finally came out and signed for about 4 people, I was really happy, as he was one of my favorite players as a kid:

 

Total Autographs for 2012:320 

Lee Brice @ Mohegan Sun 5/25/12

Country star, Lee Brice, was playing a show at the Wolf Den Friday night, and afterwards was scheduled to sign copies of his new album. Over the past few years Lee has become a pretty established singer in country, and has been rising through the ranks.

I got in line exactly an hour early, and I was the first one. Of course, I wanted to get more than one autograph for the time I was putting in, and he did 2 no problem. he was extremely nice, and talked with every fan.

 

He also took pictures with whoever wanted them.

Total Autographs for 2012:311

Pawtucket Vs. Toledo 5/25/12

Yesterday I headed over to Pawtucket to get some pre game graphing in for the first time in a while. I did really well with Pawtucket, but I had to leave for work before the 2nd Toledo bus came so my totals for them were not good.

Pawtucket:
I believe the first player in was Alex Wilson, he has been nicer this year than in the past, which is nice, his attitude was pretty crappy last season. He did 2/8.

 The first is a Tristar Pursiut, and the second is his Donruss Extra Edition.

Next up was Clayton Mortenson, who is a really nice guy. He signs whenever he doesn't have his baby, and he did all 6 for me, 3 are pictured here.

Will Inman is a really cool guy as well, you can get him talking, and he always signs whatever you have.

I had 1 Brandon Duckworth card(I'm sure I'll end up finding more)

I was finally able to get Mark Melancon again, who has been lights out since he was sent down.

I almost am done with my Gerald Perry stuff again, I only have 1 left now after this game.

I also found this Mike Rivera from the other night in my book, so I will put it in this entry.

Toledo:

The coaches came in a separate vehicle again, and I was able to get Nevin and Durham. Durham didn't sign the night before, but there were only 3 other people with me yesterday.

Doesn't Durham have one sweet autograph?

Zach Miner:

 In the midst of players coming in, Red Sox Senior Advisor Jeremy Kapstein showed up so I got him on a GU ball I had.

25 Autographs at this game.

Total Autographs for 2012:309

Pawtucket Vs. Toledo 5/24/12

I was back in action locally for the first time since my Baltimore trip. Toledo is in town and I finally had a good amount of cards for a series. I did pre game inside, and was able to get a few guys while hanging my boards. the guys I were abe to get while hanging were:

Matt Young 1/1:

Adam Wilk x2, nice guy, picked up one of my cards that had fallen:

Jeff Frazier x4:

Apparently Rhode Island's favorite security guard thought it was a disturbance to patiently wait on the concourse for Casey Crosby, so I waited until after the 9th:
2/3

After the game I was able to get both, John Meter Perell and Ken Ryan:

Another Adam Wilk:

I decided to get manager, Phil Nevin on a ball because he had a pretty decent career:

I didn't stay very long, but on the PawSox I was able to get Pedro Ciriaco, who came out with his brother who plays for Toledo:

And finally, Junichi Tazawa, who I had nothing for:

Total Autograpghs for 2012:284

Baltimore Trip 5 /21/12 and 5/22/12

I was really excited for my yearly trip, but going into it the weather was looking miserable. Even riding into Baltimore, I had never seen such dark skies. But anyhow, I got to the stadium and it ended up being really nice for both days.

Last year in 2 days, the only player who signed for me was Mike Cameron. This year I got 15 autographs, so I was very happy.

Day 1:

After the first 30 minutes, non season ticket holders are allowed to go anywhere in the stadium so I went over towards the Red Sox side, and the first person I saw was Daisuke Matsuzaka. I really wanted to get him because he would be my 99th Red Sox player.

There were maybe 10-15 people trying to get them, and he did about 5 or 6. I was one.

I knew all I had to do to get my 100th Red Sox was get ONE more, and I really was hoping to get it done in Baltimore.

I took a break from graphing the Sox for a few minutes because there was a former Orioles signing going on, which was free and had a very tiny-no line. The players featured were:

Joe Orsulak:

Fred Valentine:

 

Nate Snell:

 All three guys were very nice, and also took a cool photo with me.

After that I went back down to the dugout and got Rich Hill to sign(he has been on my list for a few years now so he was not #100.)

Before I go on, I'll just mention that all of these are signed in blue, the camera/lighting didn't seem to pick that up.

My next success was near the top of my trip. I will also mention that there was not batting practice because it had rained all day. Bobby Valentine ended up coming out, and talked to who I think was some family. He was probably one of the classiest baseball people I have ever met, and signed and took pictures with whoever asked. I talked to him for a minute about also being from Connecticut as well. I was the second person to get him.

Next up is not a big success or anything, but I saw Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, who is also on NESN, and got him to sign an OLB:

 My final autograph from day 1 was Orioles legend, Boog Powell. As many of you know, Boog owns a restaurant type place in center field and is often signing autographs:

Day 2:

I knew after such a strong first day, it would be hard to follow up. I was able to add 3 more autographs though.

A few people were asking Nick Punto, I was the only person to get hm yesterday because I was quick with the name:

 Nick became my100th autograph of a Red Sox player!

Next up, I saw former Red Sox general manager, and current Orioles general manager, Dan Duquette visiting people in the Sox dugout so I got him:

I got Boog Powell again to conclude my trip:

I also got to see Che Hsaun Lin get his first MLB hit!

Total Autographs for 2012:268

Former Patriots Charity Event 5/19/12

I had heard from a few people that there was going to be a charity softball event about 20 minutes from my house throughout the last few weeks so I decided to go. The players weren't the most appealing choices,  but it was still nice to meet some former players, and worth going in my opinion.


After I got my stuff signed, nobody else seemed to have a marker, and Ellis asked me if he could borrow mine, I didn't really care regardless, but I also wasn't going to say no to a former OT.
 
The best player was Patrick Pass, who won 3 Superbowls with the Pats:

 Ed Ellis:

 Ed was really funny, he loved the pictures and was like,"Look how fat I was!"

The last player was Harold Shaw:

 He signed another one as well, that is not pictured.

Total Autographs for 2012:253

My Baltimore Dilemma

So as you may or may not know by now, I am going to Baltimore next week for 2/3 of the Boston series. I have gone the last few years, and last year I graphed Camden Yards for the first time.

The problem is that my favorite team, the Red Sox, of course is a horrible signing team. last year during the trip, I was only able to get Mike Cameron. I have been debating over the last month whether I should just try for Red Sox again, which would mean more personally to me, or try for Baltimore players, which I could potentially get a lot more of. I am leaning towards the latter because I already have a lot of Red Sox guys:
Atchison
Bard
Beckett
Buchholz
Doubront
Hill
Lester
Miller
Saltalamacchia
Aviles
Gomez
Gonzalez
Middlebrooks
Pedroia
Nava

I know there is little to no shot getting guys like Ortiz and them, so I will probably just try for Baltimore players.

Twitter Mailbag Edition 6

What is the most amount of autographs you ever got from one player at one time and who?

The most a player has ever signed for me at one time was 6. I believe I have done this twice, the first time was Rich Gedman and the second was Stolmy Pimentel.

This question does bring up another one, and that is,"How many is too many?"

The way I see it, is that a page(9 cards) is probably the cap that is reasonable to have out for a player. This is because if you have that page in front of them, they can sign what they want and just stop when they are ready. Generally I don't have even close to that many cards for a guy anyway, but if I did, 9 would be the max.

What I don't like is when guys have more than a page for a single guy. It's fine when the guy is definitely going to go down the line, but what if he signs 16 or so cards for the first guy, and the 4th guy in line gets shafted? There is a such thing as too much. Most of the time there is never an issue, but there are graphers out there who will try to get 40 of some guy game after game, and what is even the point? I'm not even talking about dealers(whole 'nother debate). What on earth are you going to do with 40 Daniel Nava, or Michael Bowden autographs, I just cannot fathom why someone would need to do that. Obviously everyone collects differently, but there is always that hazy area where the ethos of the hobby can be questioned.

To follow up the last paragraph, people wonder why guys stop signing, and become less friendly. Your answer is those guys who ruin them by putting out 20 cards a game, and for what? 

Pawtucket Vs. Columbus 5/14/12

Today was pretty much just short of an autograph disaster. I originally had planned to attend this game, but going into last night, it appeared that it was definitely going to rain. Because of this I set my alarm to 7, and looked online at the weather, and it was still calling for at least a 50% chance of rain. I then went back to sleep not planning to go, and then when I woke up at 11, to my surprise there was virtually no chance of rain which was frustrating. I would have went hours before to do pre game, but I ended up getting there in the bottom of the first.

On top of that, during the game I realized that in my rushing out of the house, I had forgotten my book with my cards in it. Luckily, I had a team sheet, and a media guide, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

After the game, I went outside and there were only 3 other collectors there, I was thinking, "Man everyone will sign today."

5-10 minutes later, about 30 screaming kids come over and go to the end of the line and all of us just looked down in disappointment. I love kids don't get me wrong, but what player is going to stop when kids are yelling and pushing, and have no idea who they are even asking for.

Anyways I ended up not being shut out, as I got 8 Columbus players somehow:

1)Chad Huffman
2)Scott Barnes
3)Corey Kluber
4)Russ Canzler
5)Beau Mills
6)Hector Ambriz
7)Eric Berger
8)Ezequiel Carrera

The only Pawtucket guy that I got today was Pedro Ciriaco:

Mark Melancon wouldn't do it again.

It was a rough day, I'll be in Baltimore next Monday and Tuesday so we will see how that goes.

Total Autographs  for 2012:246

5/12/2012 Pawtucket Vs. Columbus

Today I went over to Pawtucket to do Pre game for the first time this season, and I was quickly reminded how much more stuff I can get signed before the game rather than after. I ended up with 31 items, which is a solid day in my book.

Columbus was THE worst signing team I have ever seen come through, not one guy signed off the first bus. On the second bus I was able to get:
Ezequiel Carrera,
Scott Barnes,
Chris Seddon

I also was able to get hitting coach, Phil Clark, who played 3 games for the Red Sox at the end of his career:

The last guy I got was Matt Laporta:

 As I said, they were extremellllly weak signing wise, good thing Pawtucket was very good.

When I arrived at the park, I noticed a really nice SUV that was clearly a player, pulling in at the same time. We both parked and Justin Thomas, who was just designated for assignment by Boston, got out of the SUV. I started talking to him, as I was the only one there at that point, and he said he would sign for me once he was finished moving boxes in and out of the clubhouse.

When I finally got him, there were a number of people there, and he signed for everyone. I found this really classy, as this is a guy who has no idea where he will be living, never mind playing tomorrow.

He signed two things for me, my media guide, and a team ball which will be pictured later:

 Next up was hitting coach, Gerald Perry who had a long career in the Majors, I was astonished when he signed 6 cards for me, because in the past he has not been friendly at times:

 I got Clayton Mortenson on this nice commemorative SI, I still can't believe he got sent down, I don't care how many options he has, he was pitching lights out every day, and should still be in Boston:

I had some Brandon Duckworth cards leftover from last year so I got those done as well, he always signs 2, so I still have more to go:

I was able to get Garrett Mock for the first time today, but not without some awkwardness. "Garrett can you please sign? ... "I'm not Garrett, I'm Ryan Lavarnway." Everyone just gave him a weird look after his dumb comment, and he signed for everyone anyway:

I got a number of other guys for the first time as well, including Ross Ohlendorf:

Doug Mathis:

 Josh Kroeger:

Justin Germano:

There were a number of guys that I have met before, but got them today as well. Those guys were:
Will Inman:

Alex Hassan:

Tony Pena Jr.(Who hardly ever stops to sign):

Pitching Coach, Rich Saveur:

And now for my updated team ball. Today alone I added:
2nd to bottom:Mauro Gomez
Bottom:Tony Pena Jr.

2nd to bottom:Che-Hsaun Lin
Bottom:Mike Rivera

4th to bottom:Justin Thomas
3rd to bottom(very tiny):Junichi Tazawa
2nd to bottom:Nate Spears
Bottom:Alex Wilson(He was nice today..... armageddon?!?)

To end, I just want to say that since returning from the majors, Ryan Lavarnway has made a complete 180. He was INCREDIBLY nice last season, a great kid. Now he has an attitude, and is apparently, "running late" 5 hours before games. He is a jerk now, which I could have never imagined coming from him.

Other than Ryan, Mark Melancon and Jose Iglesias also denied.

Overall though, it was a fun day, and I got a lot of new players. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

31 Autographs at this game
Total Autographs for 2012:237