Baseball Tonight Tour bus - Temple Diablo Mon March 12th

Baseball Tonight Tour bus - Temple Diablo Mon March 12th

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Interleague....I LOVE it!! Reds at O's June 25th and 26th

I will post this entry sometime this week......lots to talk about.....from very pushy Reds fans....to kids and adults stepping on my bag (on the seat) and breaking a bobblehead and ripping a Adam Jones magazine........I was very angry, also getting pushed and elbowed. I have NEVER done that...i am constantly helping people, giving kids cards (and yesterday two mini-bats), telling people where to go and what to say to players (please and thank you....which are words not familiar with young ones today). 

The O's annual autograph session had alot more people this year....and i was only able to get to 2 lines out of 6, last year I got to 5 out of 6.

Votto skipped me a couple times. I didn't get Rolen or Bruce or Cueto....all whom I wanted.

Went to Saturday game with a colleague and friend. Sat in the Club level...nice and air condition when we went in.

I am exhausted...long weekend!

Mike

Monday, June 13, 2011

Rays at O's June 12th

Nobody signed after for O's, only a few people outside stayed after the thunder and lightning and downpour we had.
But, I did very well for O's before game....Zach Britton over on 1st base line on a card, Buck Showalter on 8x10 at Camera well next to dugout. I asked Buck if he has ever had a bobblehead before (has one on June 25th) and he said, " i sure hope not" and people laughed. I said, well you got one in 2 weeks!)
Rays, I got Joel Peralta and Adam Russell on my ticket.  I got Ben Zobrist on 3 cards, Andy Sonnanstine on 2 cards, Jeremy Hellickson on a card, David Price on a card, I got James Shields on a 4 patch card, I got Evan Longoria on a patch card after he was done warming up. I was happy that Chuck (a phillies fan and fellow autograph hobbyist/collector) from NJ was here and I gave him an 8x10 of Longoria and he got it signed!

Met some nice O's fan's from Springfield, VA (Mike "chuck" -not the Chuck who is a phillies fan and Nadia?....I am bad with names, if this is wrong and your reading this please let me know and I apologize in advance).  They are  ery passionate fans who love baseball. They are good people.

Today was  a nice day, Rays are nice!

A's v O's Wed June 8th

I didn't even stay for one pitch because I wanted to get home at a decent time as I had a big day the next day for work.  It ended up taking me over 3 hrs to get home...so that was a bad decision, especially when the game only lasted 2 hrs and 16 minutes!!

I got a ride to the game by a friend/colleague, boy was I gratefully i got there 5 mins before the gates opened.  I did get Mr. Rick Dempsey on the SI in silver sharpie, but that sharpie is faded and auto came out really bad. I gotta get new silver sharpies.
I got Coach Bob Geren on a card (it ended up being his last game as the A's coach, he was fired the next day in the midst of an 8 game losing streak).
I got Kurt Suzuki on the 2011 Patch Card. He liked the card.
I got Gio Gonzalez on 2 cards, one of witch he said was taken when he was 18 years old.
Josh Willingham signed a card, i told him about the bat and he was confused and said "ok?"   was weird, thought he would have a positive reaction, he was very involved with the Dream Foundation with the Nats and charity work cause he is an amazingly great guy

Tim Kurkjian knows who i am, he remembered me as the Jays fan (i have ran into him in bmore before and at nats game and at Natsfest last year). We chatted about Lawrie, Cecil, Snider, McGowan.........It was awesome and fans around me were like "Tim Kurkjian Knows who you are, thats Awesome!" I was so excited....AWESOME!!  And he told me i went to more games than he did last year (I told him how I went to 79 games last year, 77-MLB games, 1 spring training game at Nats Park and 1 Potomac game).

Andrew Bailey chatted with me, thanked me for the card, how he really likes it.  He asked again what he could do, I was practicing on asking him for a jersey or bat and instead I asked him for a personalized game hat, he couldn't do that. I had given him my new business card, he said he would email me and work something out and send me something. I am crossing my fingers that he doesn't lose my card and emails me....that would be the best thing ever. He is already in my top 15-20 of players I like. He would so move up to top 10 if he emailed me!!

So it was a fun night (prior to game) just not a fun trip home.

Mike

A's at O's June 6th

Wow, what a night I had.....after arriving at 6:15pm I did not have much hope, but I did get Brad Ziegler on a card and then I got Conor Jackson on a bobblehead (thanks to an usher) who saw the bobblehead and when Conor went to talk with some friends he told me and other fans told me to and I ran over there and he signed for me!  Thanks Conor! (First time getting Conor, after trying many games for a couple years, 3 i think)

After the game I was hoping to get Josh Willingham to sign his Nats bat i got from the Dream Foundation, but he did not come out the back.  However, I did get Grant Balfour and Gio Gonzalez on cards and then Jeremy Accardo signed two cards, the third he and his wife liked. I told his wife that she could have it and she was thrilled. Jeremy then told me he would give me a ball the next time he saw me.  He also remembers me as a Jays fan (which I still am, I told him how I live in DC and have 13 game plan in bmore, but go to more games than that here in bmore).


Andrew Bailey, 2009 ROY and 2010 All Star with 51 saves came out with family, He would not sign. I had a 1/1 All Star Letter Patch Jersey Card (Letter "I") and i ran after him and told him what I had and showed it to him. He liked it and I told him he could have it. He asked what he could do for me and of course, I was super nervous and rambled about not being able to go Tue cause of class and Wed because of new job and not being able to get out early enough to get to game in time to meet up with him.  He thanked me and then all the guys who stayed for auto's said I should have asked for a bat or jersey.  I was very exited and he is so cool!

It was a good day.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Jays at Camden Yards - part 2

The Jays Won a game I attended....(were 0-3 this year when I went to a game).

First of all, Adam Lind, 4-4 with 2 homers and 2 singles....I was a big fan of Adam and then last year he for some reason did not like me...it upset me. But, he is still a Jay and I was cheering for him loudly as I sat 8 rows behind the dugout (i moved up 10 rows in my section--which is Sec 46 and sat with this nice lady Kathleen whom I had met at a previous game).

Ok, before the game not many Jays signed as there were over 10,000 little league players on the field before the game.  I was able to get the following autographs

2011 ball
Pat Hentgen (and he signed my ticket)--i need to get a card or something of him
John Farrell (and I told John good luck in KC!)
Marc Rzep (he also signed a photo I took of him at Target Field last year and put to Mike!)--thanks Marc! I told him he is doing a great job in the pen!
Frank Francisco (thanks Frank)--he really didn't want to sign and signed for a couple people--we threw the baseballs to him (he signed inside dugout after game for a couple more people I believe)
Edwin Encarnacion  
Jayson Nix

Also, Kyle Drabek signed two cards (i gave one card to a little kid who was crying causing his friend got a ball tossed to him by Jose Bautista and he didn't get one, i had given the two kids a couple jays cards each prior to that)....he was still crying afterwards...his dad thanked me

Jake Arrieta signed an 8x10 i had of he and I after the home opener this year....he put to Mike...he is a nice guy.  Thanks Jake!

I told Corey Patterson about my blog...i should tell more players but I want to wait until I have more of a following and when I can figure out how to get more pics (need to get a new camera, mine broke)

I will be at the A's/O's game tomorrow night....hoping to get Josh Willingham on a game bat from last year that I got from the Dream Foundation....only chance is after the game....hope he doesn't take the team bus.

Until next time,

Mike

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Jays at Camden Yards!----always fun to see my team!

I arrived at 12:37pm, only about 8 of us trying to get autographs including my good friends Chris and John.  We didn't have much luck outside. No O's signed, and only two Jays---Jayson Nix (who asked me why i wanted his autograph, because he sucks) i told him don't say that, that he DID NOT suck. Jayson signed a card for me. And I also got JP Arencibia...he is very nice and signed all three of my cards. Inside, after the game he signed my 2011 team ball as well!

Inside I did very well.  I spoke with Mr. Brian Butterfield about Nick Leyva (Nick is  my favorite coach of all-time for those who do not know, he is now the 3rd base coach for the Pirates).  I was able to get Kyle Drabek on the 8x10 photo I had with him from Fenway Park in April and he put to Mike! He signed past the third base line and then seconds later at the same location I then got Aaron Hill and asked him to sign whichever he liked and that asked if he liked the Jersey cards....he did and he signed BOTH jersey cards!

Rajai Davis signed the team ball for me before hitting. I asked if he had 18 stolen bases and he said he doesn't know (i found out he had 16, but he stole two bases in the game, so now he does have 18). Rajai also said there is nobody faster than him. He was a very nice guy.

I got Jose Bautista on a Washington Post article that was written about him. I got Edwin Encarnacion and Yunel Escobar after they were done hitting. They each signed jersey cards. Mike Mccoy signed the team ball and I thanked him for throwing me ball in Minnesota last year.

Adam Lind...that is right, ADAM LIND.....my pal, was activated from the DL and he SIgnED for me!!! he signed the 2011 team ball....I was so surprised and said thank you many times!

I did NOT get anyone after the game, though it was just me at one point (Corey Patterson and Jose Bautista came out and they got mobbed by o's fans that were kids...and they signed for every single one of the kids.  I I thanked Corey Patterson for taking pic with me in Boston and signing for me then too.  Told him i was a fan, he asked if i was from Toronto, told him from Boston, live in DC, but been a Jays fan since 05, because of Vernon Wells, Scott Downs and Orlando Hudson, he said Vernon is a great guy...yes he is! He even asked if i had a room with everything, i said eventually i would love to have everything on display. Thanked him again and congratulated him on his home run.

I had a great day overall, except for the loss...to the O's...i have bad luck with the Jays in bmore (in terms of wins)....oh Jeremy Accardo said he would sign for me tomorrow. Hope he does, former Jay i like alot.

I am going to game tomorrow, i am exhausted....going to sleep now.

Mike