Thursday, July 26, 2007

Vermont @ Williamsport II

I was batboy for today's game so I really didn't get much of a chance to graph. My friend managed to get for me though:
Bill Rhinehart 2/2
Joe Savery 2/2

That's all for today.

Tommorrow, I leave for Cooperstown. It's going to be nuts up there, and I hope to get a lot of sigs.

Vermont @ Williamsport II

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Vermont @ Williamsport

This was New York-Penn League rackage at it's finest.

Pre-game:

Got D'Arby Myers 3/3 walking to the line. He was hanging out by the clubhouse door.

Inside:

It was the most crowded I've seen it this year with tons of guys with cards but I still did excellent.

Colten Willems 52/52 (Didn't really talk and had a frown on his face the whole time, but still racked. May be getting tired of racking for everyone.)
Glenn Gibson 2/2
Phil Schelzo 1/0 (Clubbie was handing out team set cards of him from last year)
Darnell Coles 9/9 (Seemed nice contrary to what I've heard)
Tony Tarasco 10/10 (Even did a 96 ALCS Maier photo!)
Rusty Meacham 27/27 (Nice guy, talked with me the whole game, flipped the pages in my book without asking.)
Scott Mitchinson 18/18 (Going up to Lakewood tommorrow so I racked.)

I saw Mike Compton and Joe Savery charting so I went in for the kill.

Mike Compton 3/3 (Phillies rover, really nice guy, only has 1 card though)
Joe Savery 3/15 (Prick... Here is how the exchange went:
"Joe do you want any of these cards"
Joe: "Huh"
Me: "Do you want any of these cards?"
Joe: "Do I want any of these cards??"
Me: "Yes for yourself"
Joe: "Of course not"
Then he signs 3 and purposely smears all 3 , puts my sharpie in my book with the cap off, slams the book shut so hard and throws it back at me, a few cards fall out of it and he makes me pick them up at his feet, doesnt even make a move or appologize, he also ruined 5 of his cards because of the sharpie being left in the book. I went and erased the cards because they were really terrible. I went up to him after the game and told him that the cards he signed for me earlier turned out really bad so I erased them and asked if he wouldnt mind resigning them...
Joe: "You erased them?"
Me: "Yeah"
Joe: "How do you erase sharpie"
Me: "A dry erase marker and an eraser"
He then signs them over, reluctantly. I can tell this is going to be a pain.)

Next up is the same matchup tommorrow but I'm not sure if I'll be able to graph because I am going to be batboying the game. Should be fun.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Devil Rays @ Yankees

I made the annual trip up to this hell hole of a stadium just to mainly watch a ball game. You cannot get autographs outside the stadium, and the security/ushers are all jerks, so I wasn't expecting much nor did I bring much. I did get lucky and got something actually cool, and got to see a 21-4 game, so I was pleased.

Scott Kazmir 1/1 8x10 (He was playing catch with Casey Fossum and slowly moving toward the dugout after every throw so to avoid the autograph hounds. Fossum overthrew him, however, and Kazmir would have to give the ball back to the fan who got it. He then signed at this spot when he was done for about 10-15 people using the same ball point pen for mainly kids with cheap baseballs. I stood there with my 8x10 right in front of him and begged "Scott take the sharpie." the whole time. He finally did, signed my 8x10 as his last autograph, and ran in. Pretty pumped to get this puppy signed.)

Edwin Jackson 2/2

Next up - Vermont @ Williamsport tommorrow.


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Charlotte @ Scranton

Wow, talk about International League hell. There were 4 rehabers this series (Karstens, Hughes, Podsednik, Erstad) and it was as crowded as I have seen it besides the Clemens game. There were at least 75-100 people inside and outside. I still got 150 done but it was really tough and frusturation and mostly thanks to the Yankees great habits. Here are the totals:

Yankees pre-game:

Andy Cannizaro 5/5
Steven White 3/6 (Differents)
Charlie Manning 2/2
Colter Bean 2/7 .5/.5 (Had a game-used jersey from earlier this year that came pre-signed so I got him to incribe that up. He also did 2 cards. He was in a hurry. Understandably not in a good mood from getting shelled the night before.)
Raul Chavez 11/11 (Sighed at the rackage.)
Omir Santos 12/12 (See above)
Angel Chavez 2/2
Ross Ohlendorf 7/7
Dave Eiland 1/2
Butch Wynegar 3/9 ("I'm only gonna sign 3 of these right now." Seemed nice though and let me pick which ones I wanted done.)
Chris Basak 3/3 (card, 8x10, and game-used bat. Skills.)
Ben Kozlowski 9/15 (Wont rack for me anymore. Said that all these cards had been in circulation for awhile and he wanted a new card. I pointed out the 2007 team set and he said "Yeah but that's not a real card." Sorry Ben.)
Darren London 1/1 (Trainer. He spilled his coke. Felt sorry for the man.)
Justin Christian 8/8
Juan Francia 7/7 (Like his signature)
Brett Gardner 1/1, 1/1 (Played it safe and got help.)
Philip Hughes 1/6 ("You guys weren't here yesterday. I'll do 1 for everyone I have to go get a rubdown." I can see him having a big ego and being tough in the bigs.)
Erubiel Durazo 1/1 (Jerk. Signed for 3 of 7. I feel just a bit of my pride slipping away having to walk with Erubiel Durazo.)
Steven Jackson 6/6
Eric Duncan 1/1
Chris Britton 4/9 (Did differents because he was running late.)
Sean Henn 9/10 (Didn't notice the 8x10 and I didn't notice he didn't sign it until later.)
Tyler Clippard 2/2 (More starting pitchers should do this.)
Kevin Thompson 3/4 (Did 5/6 for another lady. Random limit.)

then went over to catch Charlotte bus #1. Got big leaged by everyone. Ryan Sweeney, Casey Rogowski, Scott Podsednik, everyone just ignored us. Jason Childers signed for minorleaguetraveler but I couldn't get there in time.

Bus #2 came an hour later and it was more of the same. I did manage to get Gavin Floyd to stop and got him 1/1 on an 8x10 that he liked.

Inside:

Jason Childers 9/11, 1/1 (Didn't see the stragglers so I quickly handed 1 off to my friend. Came out just to sign for us. Excellent.)
Juan Nieves 9/10 (Didn't see straggler. Horrendous signature. My 1 card might be the worst ever. He gives a very inconsistent scribble.)
Casey Rogowski 3/7 (Nice enough despite the limit.)
Nick Massett 1/1 (8x10)

That was it. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

I spotted Gavin Floyd in his metro-sexual outfit charting and managed to get him 1/1 on a jersey card. I kept my hat down low the whole time.

Gavin Floyd again 1/1 charting

Outside after the game:

It was nuts, 100 people and multiple players coming out at the same time. We were getting turned down left and right. It sucked. 5-6 players would come out at once. One of my more frusturating graphing experiences.

Casey Rogowski 3/3
David Eckstein 1/1, 1/2 (Quiet and did 1 for everyone. Was easy to double up on. Came out with security so I thought we were going to be told that he didn't want to sign.)
Edwardo Sierra 9/9
Gavin Floyd signed again but didn't sign for this one kid about 5 years younger than me with completely different looks who hadn't gotten him yet. His reasoning: "I signed that cool 8x10 earlier for you." Yikes, thought the kid was me.
Wiki Gonzalez 0/3 (Signed for 2 people and then got to me and said no. I followed him and said "Please just 1 more it's for a set." He then yelled at me "NO! MANANA!" Washup Wiki.)
Kenny Kelly 1/2 (Bad signature.)
Vladimir Nunez 0/8 (Got to me and said no. Same thing as Wiki. Too pissed off to beg.)
Tomas Perez 0/9 (Same as above.)
Scott Podsednik 0/1 ("Not today boys.")
Andy Sisco 0/1 ("No.")
Earl Snyder 0/15 ("Not now I've got family here." 3rd turndown from Earl of the day.)
Ryan Sweeney 0/3 ("Not today.")
Danny Richar 0/1 (8x10, "That's not me." Unless MLB.com has the wrong photo of you up then it certainly is.)
Tack Wilson 1/1
Ernie Young 1/2, 1/1 (Skills.)

Then I went back over to the Yankees side to see what I could salvage.

Erubiel Durazo 0/1 (Signed and walked again. Got about 5 this time. Skipped over me. Wouldn't sweetspot for another guy.)
Dave Eiland 1/1
Kevin Thompson 3/4 (Stopped signing halfway through.)
Sean Henn 1/1 (Got the 8x10 done. Kind of funny I would see him in Yankee Stadium less than 12 hours later.)

Eric Duncan and an unidentified player went to the other side of the stadium to hop in Jeff Karstens' get-away car.

Phil Hughes' car was still in the lot when I left at midnight for the 2 hour drive. Would have camped out if I didn't have to be up for Yankee Stadium in the morning.



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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Wow, It's been Awhile

I appologize ahead of time for this lengthy update. I have been real busy and have not had much time to supply the great wit and amazement that you hounds so desire. There is a bunch of games I need to update for and I will try to do all of them in 1 post. Let's do this....

Tri-City @ Williamsport

Day 1:

Pre-Game:

Joel Chimellis 3/3 (All I had for Tri-City. Sad.)
D'Arby Myers 11/16 (Gave him 5. I like D'Arby but he is WEIRD. Don't go up to him with only 1 or 2 cards because he will ask your name, and write it real big over his facsimilie signature. No "To Dan" or anything just "DAN" written real big over the facsimilie. Its not so you cant sell it, it's just D'Arby being D'Arby, but it looks horrible. My friend also came up to him with a Shaquille O'Neal shirt today (his cousin) and said "Hey D'Arby look at this shirt." Before my friend could move D'Arby took a pen and signed the shirt, right over the chest really big. If D'Arby ever signed my shirt, on my chest, while I was wearing it, randomly, I may have to stop asking for his autograph.)
Jerry Martin 18/18, 4/4 (Help, Phillies rover, machine)
Greg Legg 3/6 (I'll get the rest later....This man is killing me. Jerry Martin will sign 18 but Legger will only sign 3. Apparently he will sign 1 for every game be played in the 1988 season!)
Bill Bliss 9/9
Also got 10 guys on this Meet the Team thing in the local newspaper. It will look nice when I'm done with it.

Post-game:

Ken Dominguez 5/5

Day 2:

This was one of those games where you just went because it was 5 minutes from your house.
Tommy Cruz - 1/1 IC (Brother of Jose, Uncle of Jose Jr., 2 cups of coffee with the Cardinals and White Sox. He was here for his son.)

And the big cheese of the night:

Greg Legg 3/4 (I just hold my head and weep...)

Day 3:

Pre-game:

Had nothing for Tri-City so I broke out a team sheet and got 18 on it. Tri-City literally lines up to sign for you.
I then spotted Jeff Bittiger, who is a scout and has cards from 1989. I got him 6/15 (Weird, he got 3 89 Bowmans and 3 89 Scores but 0 89 Topps and 0 80 Upper Decks. This would simply not suffice. He said "There, I signed enough for you." Straight from the school of Gregory Legg!)I got some help and got 3/9, 3/3, 3/3. At least I got them all done...

Post game:

Mike Durant 1/1 Grand Slam ball I got during the game, 15/18 cards (gave him 3).

Then I took a break from graphing due to other obligations. Obviously nothing can be as important as adding 18 more Joe Borchard's to my collection, but you got to do what you got to do.

I did not graph again until July 15th.

Hudson Valley @ Williamsport

I only swung by for post-game and couldn't get my Hudson Valley cards prepped in time so I just did Williamsport.

Mike Durant 2/2
D'Arby Myers 18/18 (gave him 5)

How honored I am to add these 2 fine fellows to my collection once again.

I came back on the 16th and this time I was ready.

Pre-game:

Ozzie Timmons 6/6 (Slow signer, but does have a nice signature. He kept telling people who had more than 2 or 3 that they should mail them. When he saw me go up to Shawn O'Malley, note he only saw 2 pages of 9 not the whole shabang, he said "That is not respectful to Shawn. You need to mail these cards so he can sign them on his own time." Nice, but weird.)
Rafael Montalvo 1/1
Shawn O'Malley 92/92 (Nicest guy ever. I got to explain to him what a 50/50 was and he was awesome to sign them all. He's only batting .200 though, but I hope he progresses because he defiantely deserves to.)

Then I headed over to Williamsport's side.

Bill Bliss 8/9 (Gave him 1)
Abel Gomez 13/13 (2nd signed printing plate ever)
Scott Mitchinson 2/2 (New guy, Williamsport has so many guys with cards. I love it.)

Postgame:

D'Arby Myers 18/18 (gave him 5)
Edgar Garcia 18/18

Very nice day. Probably the most quantity I've ever gotten at a Penn League game.

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Next up will be Charlotte @ Scranton on Saturday. I will try my best to update Saturday night but I can't promise anything because I'll be going to Yankee Stadium on Sunday so I can get 2 autographs and sit in uncomfortable seats.

Friday, July 6, 2007

State College @ Williamsport 7/5

Another excellent day in the New York-Penn. I met State College's bus early and got:

Mike Moriarty 18/36 (Made me sware up an down that I only had the two pages...it's a good thing he didn't flip or I would have been screwed. Really nice and talkative guy though.)

Wilson Alvarez 18/18 (Always excellent.)

I got 6 balls in BP as well.

I wasn't able to do pre-game inside, but I made it for postgame and got:

Turner Ward 0/3 (Shook me off. I am really starting to hate Turner Ward.)
Missed Matt Clarkson getting blown off by this asshole.

D'Arby Myers 16/20 (Gave him 2 regulars, and he saw the chromes on the page and was like "C'mon man hook D'Arby up with some chromies(sic)!" D'Arby is easily the most friendly and willing signer on the team.)
Mike Durant 1/1 (Got my first printing plate signed. It looks amazing. I have another one for Abel Gomez coming in the mail.)

I also got some help and ended up getting 10 more Moriartys done. He is really a great guy and don't be afraid to go up to him with a page or two.

I also got my Auburn stuff back from my friends. I got back 2 Dennis Holmberg's and 15 J.P. Arencibia's back. Arencibia was doing 4 per.

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I forgot to mention that yesterday I purchased a Colter Bean signed game-used jersey at auction at the game. I'm gonna try to get it inscribed up next time I'm in Scranton (2 weeks). It looks sick!

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Next up is Tri-City @ Williamsport on Saturday. I will probably do Williamsport, as I don't think I have anything of Tri-City.

I better start putting my signed cards away. These are my signed cards from the last 2 weeks.

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