Matt Barnes (Sports Authority) (10-26-13)

Matt Barnes was scheduled to have his 1st signing of the year yesterday from 3-4 pm at Sports Authority in Hawthorne. I decided to check it out in hopes of a low turnout. I arrived about 10 minutes before 3 and was surprised to see only about 100 people there. I got in line and then Matt arrived a couple minutes before 3 and started taking pictures with staff before starting to sign for fans. He was also taking photos with fans so it took a while to finally get to him, but finally at about 3:50 I was next in line. When I got up to the table I handed Matt my basketball and had him sign it:

It didn't come out exactly how I wanted it too but I was still happy to get it. I then got a photo with Matt and left. Overall it was a great event and I thank Matt Barnes for coming out to sign. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come.

Paul Lo Duca & Shawn Green (EDCO Recycling and Transfer Collection Center) (10-12-13)

I heard about this signing a couple days ago and I knew there wouldn't be a big turn out since it wasn't highly advertised. I decided to check it out since it was from 11-1 and only like 20 minutes from my house. I ended up leaving late and got there at 11:45. There was about 20 people in front of me when I got there but the line went slow because they were taking pictures too. I finally got to the front of the line 15 minutes later and got Shawn Green to sweetspot my ROMLB and inscribe "4 HR's 5-23-02" and Paul Lo Duca to sweetspot another ROMLB for me and inscribe "4x All-Star":

Overall it was a great event and I'm glad I was able to add 2 more awesome autographs to my collection. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come.

TEX @ LAA (9-6-13)

I decided to go to the Angels game this Friday because it was the 1st game of the series between the Angels and Rangers. I got to the stadium around 5 o'clock so I waited a few minutes until the gates opened and I was in right away. I headed straight to the Rangers side and during the Rangers portion of BP Joseph Ortiz, Tanner Scheppers, and Martin Perez signed right near me but I passed on them because I only had 2 ROMLB's on me and I was hoping on getting Joakim Soria during BP and Tim Salmon post game. Joakim didn't sign but I did manage to get a toss-up from a guy who I didn't recognize:

I later got Andy Hawkins the Rangers bullpen coach to throw me a ball pre-game while Matt Garza was warming up: 

That was it for pre-game but later on in the middle of the 8th when Tanner Scheppers was finishing his bullpen warm up I asked him for the ball and he threw it to me:

That was it for the game but I was able to get Tim Salmon to sign my ROMLB: 

Even though he side paneled it I still think it is pretty cool. So thanks for reading and stay tuned for more.

Steve Yeager (Sports Authority) (8-17-13)

After the C.J. Wilson signing I decided to go to the Steve Yeager signing. I left the C.J. signing at 12:00 and the Steve Yeager signing was going to start at 1:00. The C.J. Wilson signing was in Santa Ana and the Steve Yeager signing was in Hawthorne which were 40 minutes apart so I would arrive to the signing right on time. I got there a few minutes after 1:00 and Steve was already there signing and the line wasn't too long so we were in and out within 10 minutes. I ended up getting him to sign my ROMLB on the sweet spot and asked him to inscribe "'81 WS MVP":

I also got a photo that they had their signed with the same inscription:

Thank you Sports Authority for hosting the signing, Steve Yeager for being so friendly with the fans and thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more to come. 

C.J. Wilson (Metro PCS) (8-17-13)

I expected a very big turnout since he is a 2x All-Star and is 2nd in the Angels rotation so I wanted to get there a little early. I didn't want to go too early so I decided to go 2 hours early and if it was too packed I would go back home and try the Steve Yeager signing that was going to be later that day. C.J. was scheduled to be signing from 11:30 to 1:00 so I got there at 9:30. I arrived and to my surprise I was about 80th in line. It wasn't too crowded and overall I would say there was about 150 people. C.J. ended up getting there about 15 minutes late but the line went fast so I got out within 30 minutes after he started signing. He was doing 1 per so I got him to sign my ROMLB on the sweet spot:

I asked him to inscribe 2x All-Star so he inscribed the 2 years he was an All-Star. I'd like to thank Metro PCS for hosting the signing, C.J. Wilson for signing for all the fans and thank you for reading. Stay tuned for my next post on the Steve Yeager signing later that day.

Boston Red Sox Fan Pack

I sent the Boston Red Sox a fan pack request about 2 weeks ago and I got it in the mail today. It came with a Red Sox sticker, a Boston Strong sticker and a pocket schedule:

I sent the Red Sox a fan pack request because I had heard of other people receiving dirt from Fenway Park and sure enough when I looked in the envelope I found it:

The last thing in the envelope was a thank you letter from the Fenway Ambassador:

 

I'd like to thank the Red Sox for sending me this fan pack and for giving the fans the opportunity to own their own piece of memorabilia from Fenway Park. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come.

TOR @ LAA (8-3-13)

If you read my previous entry you know that I had a pretty bad day yesterday in the sense of ballhawking and graphing with the exception of getting the Blue Jays bullpen line-up card. However, today was much different. I heard that the Angels wives were hosting a canned food drive and that with any donation you receive an Angels team photo so I took a can in hope of getting the photo signed by a few players and coaches. My brother was with me and he also got a photo and was also hoping to get it signed too. I wanted to try graphing the Blue Jays so I gave him my photo and by the end of BP he ended up with getting Jerome Williams and Michael Kohn to sign our team photos and he also got Ernesto Frieri to sign my team photo and another photo that my brother had for him:

I didn't get anything during BP but I got the Blue Jays pitching coach, Pete Walker, to throw me Esmil Rogers (Blue Jays Starting pitcher) pre-game warm-up ball:

In the 6th inning, when Sergio Santos was going up the stairs back to the bullpen bench I asked him for a ball and this was the outcome:

That was it for the game but my brother and I wanted to wait for Angels Live to end to try to get Tim Salmon to sign our 10th Anniversary World Series Ring figurine that was given out last year. On Friday my brother got Tim Salmon to sign his ROMLB so today I wanted to try to get Tim to sign for me. Since it was the weekend there were more people than on Friday trying to get his signature but right before Tim got into the stadium he signed our rings:

We tried graphing by the Angels parking lot but we had no luck there so that was it for the day. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come.

TOR @ LAA (8-2-13)

I haven't gone to any games or signings for a while now so I decided to get tickets for a game. I went to Angel Stadium today for the second game of the Blue Jays and Angels series. The pitching matchup wasn't the best but I wanted to go for Big Bang Friday. I was hoping that I would be able to get several toss-ups during BP because I was in my Blue Jays gear but it was the complete opposite. I didn't get a single ball during BP and to make it worse they ended BP 30 minutes early. I thought my luck would turn around when I headed to the bullpen to try and get Todd Redmond's warm-up but it didn't. I went back to my seat and when I saw Aaron Loup start warming up in the Blue Jays bullpen, I headed there to see if I could get his warm-up ball. With my luck I didn't get his warm-up ball or the warm-up ball from the 2 other pitchers who warmed up in the bullpen after him. At the end of the game when the coaches started to zip up the bag of baseballs I thought I was gonna get shut-out for sure. I knew there was one last hope though because I didn't see anyone grab the line-up card on their way out. So when the Angels grounds crew went into the bullpen I asked them if the line-up card was still in there and sure enough...

It was still in the bullpen and I was able to get it. So I ended up with no baseballs, no autographs, but at least I got the line-up card. I will be going to tomorrow's game so lets hope I can get at least one ball tomorrow.

Steven "Paco" Rodriguez (Sports Authority) (7-12-13)

I went to Sports Authority in Torrance today because Steven "Paco" Rodriguez was scheduled for a signing from 11 am to 12 pm. I got there about 45 minute early and there was already about 100 people in line. He started signing at 11 and I ended up getting his autograph at 11:30. When I finished getting his autograph and went outside there was about another 100 people including 50 more people inside. So overall there was about 250 people and I ended up leaving with just a signed ball on the sweet spot and had him inscribe his MLB debut since it was one per: 

Paul Rodriguez (Nike Santa Monica) (7-5-13)

I heard about this signing about a week prior to it and since he was my favorite skater and it was for the P-Rod 7 release I had to go. When I got to the signing there was way more people then I expected there was about 250 people when I arrived and grew to about 300 at the end of the event. He was signing for 2 hours but he ended up signing for about an extra 30 minutes so he could get through everyone. So I ended up getting a photo that they had the table and had him inscribe 4x GOLD MEDALIST: 

Drew League, SEA @ LAA (6-20-13), and Kenley Jansen Signing

I haven't been posting for about a month now but I am going to be recapping the past month of graphing and ball hawking. To start off on the 16th I headed out to the Drew League to watch Money Gang play because I had heard that The Game (rapper) and Kwame Alexander (Basketball player at CSUSB) were going to be playing. I got to the game early and waited until the game ended to get their autographs:

The on the 20th I went to the Angels game because the Mariners were in town. When I got there I went to the Angels team store to kill some time and as I was walking out Mark Langston was walking into the stadium. I asked him if he could sign and he did:

Then about 30 minutes later Clyde Wright walked into the stadium and I asked him if he could sign and he did:

Inside the stadium I got Blake Beaven (signed under Clyde Wright in the photo above), Robert Coello at the end of Angels BP and Jeremy Bonderman in the bullpen during Mariners BP:

During that game I was also ball hawking and managed to get a ball from Jaime Navarro the Mariners bullpen coach and Carl Willis the Mariners pitching coach. Both of those were during BP. After BP I got Carl Willis to throw me Felix Hernandez' Pre-Game warm-up ball and then I got Carter Capps to throw me his warm-up ball before he entered the game.

The last autograph I got in June was at an autograph signing. Kenley Jansen was scheduled to sign at a T-Mobile in LA and I decided to go since I didn't think there would be too many people. I was right and I was about 70th in line so I got him to sign on my Dodgers team ball:

And that is it for graphing and ball hawking in the month of June but stay tuned for upcoming posts.

Omar Gonzalez (AT&T) (5-24-13)

I found out about this autograph signing earlier this week and decided to go. Omar Gonzalez was going to be signing at an AT&T store in Carson on Avalon Blvd. right down the street from the Home Depot Center. The signing was supposed to be from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm so I was planning on getting there at 4:00 but ended up getting there at around 4:30. When I got there, there had only been 2 people in line. Omar got there at 6:00 but had to talk with a radio station and started signing at 6:15. By that time there was about 50 people. After I got my LA Galaxy soccer ball and a photo signed they told us I was able to get food and drinks that they had there. They had a radio station and gave away Galaxy tickets, a signed All-Star Game Jersey by the whole and an All-Star team soccer ball also signed by the whole All-Star team. After a while when the line got shorter I went to get another photo signed with an inscription saying 2009 MLS ROY. It ended up a pretty good day and a smaller outcome than I had thought there would be.

So overall these are the three autographs I ended up with: