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Greg Cleveland
Well-known member
Well, I could have went today, but I am exhausted. I volunteered for three days (Fri., Sat., and Monday) and went one day for fun (Sunday). I could have went today--the pass that volunteers were given allowed admission each day--but I've had enough! Like any fest, there's a lot of walking and a lot of waiting in line. But I had a lot of fun volunteering, and would love to go to Cincinnati next year. I met a few folks who have volunteered year after year, make it a vacation every summer. We'll see if I can pull that off.
Anyway, Friday my first shift was 8-1, at Rookie League--the little kids play area--and it was a lot of fun. [MENTION=1953]Musial Collector[/MENTION] stopped by to see me hard at work, so that was cool to see a friendly face. Then I had the rest of the day to look around and get an auto or two. Mostly I worked on getting Topps cards from their booth . The deals they had going were For three wrappers of 2014 Topps product you got your choice of one of five special cards. For a Target receipt showing a purchase of 2014 Topps cards, there was a Miguel Cabrera card. I would guess there were less of these handed out simply because you had to come prepared for that one. They also had a special factory set with an offer. With the factory set came 5 special All Star cards of Mauer, Trout, Kershaw, McCutcheon and Cabrera--something else for you super collectors to look for--and then you had your choice of one of 5 patch (manufactured) cards of Mauer, Carew, Killebrew, Jeter, Yount and Cobb numbered to 150. (Yount and Cobb make you go, "What the--" but that's what they had.) Set was $50. 10% off with a coupon at the Make your own card booth. So that was there. I bought the 5x7 sized NL and AL All Star sets. These look like the jumbos you've seen Topps sell on line, but these are smaller, and were only sold at Fanfest. I haven't checked, but I'm sure these are on eBay. I'm keeping some, but will sell others, so if you really want your All Star team, PM me.
Autographs of the day: Scott Leius on 1992 Score factory World Series card.
Saturday: started my day at the Oxy Strikes Out Stains booth. Basically how fast can you throw the ball. I topped the radar at 44 mph. Pretty lame. Top speeds for men, women, teens and seniors could win a prize by the end of the day, but I have no idea what they cold win. By the time I was finished there, I was too late to get in for Fred Lynn's auto. so I milled around, decided that I was ready to go, and it was pouring rain. I didn't want to walk 5 blocks up to the light rail in the rain, so I went back inside--because I could thanks to my volunteer pass. Went back to the Orlando Cepeda line, and it was trickling down, with the line for the next signer forming already. I waited in what they called the "overflow" line, and waited it out. They would let 5-7 people in at a time, as they felt realistic to let in for him to still sign in the time left. I made it in with the last bunch of folks. (I'll show the pic in a bit as I was working on a theme.)
Sunday. My day off. Considered not going, but thought this would be the day I could go and get inside before it started and be in front of an auto line. Hey, if its a perk, then use it for all its worth. So I went straight to the line for Juan Marichal, and ended up second in line, behind a fellow volunteer). Gaylord Perry was also signing at the same time, but Gaylord had been there the day before, and would be there the next day. Pretty easy to get a Gaylord Perry auto over the course of the weekend. That proved to be pretty smart, since I got Marichal and was easily able to run over to the Perry line and get him. I went through my cards, and tried to find a set that I had something of all tree of them. Sadly 2000 Fleer Greats was not one of them, and it took some looking--always two of this one, or only two of that set, not as easy as I thought! Had a couple of choices, and ended up going with this:
After Perry, I went down to the Women in Baseball booth. Yes, they still go to shows, and they still have a few ladies who come out to sign autographs, and talk about their experiences. But today, they had Jennie Finch appearing for half an hour. I dug out some 2007 A&G cards that I thought would be perfect for a signature. But of course, that plan was foiled, because she was only signing a provided postcard. Nice, but I was disappointed, and so was the lady in front of me who had a 2009 Sports Illustrated she wanted signed. Bummer for both of us. Still, nice post card, and yes, she is still very pretty.
Milled around a little more after that, had a card made, and headed home.
Monday. Today, my wife Janet came with me. We parked in the garage across the street ($12, not so bad) and she went down the street to the bar/restaurant where Mike & Mike were broadcasting, and I went to check in. The plan for the day, was to try to get Kurt Suzuki who was appearing from 11:15-11:45 today. Paul Molitor was the first big name of the day, and he was appearing at the same stage, with overlapping times. As the story goes, Mollie was late, and he and Suzuki would share the line, and people would have the option of getting either one, or both. The autograph system worked this way: When you got into line, they would take your first name, last initial. Then when you go to the front, they would check it again. This eliminated cutting and saving places in line for others. We weren't planning on getting Mollie, so Janet had nothing for him to sign, so she used her ticket. For Suzuki, I had him sign the oversize Topps All Star card. I'll get Perkins to sign his later.
So now we had time to look around, get photos made--there had to be ten opportunities to have your photo taken for a souvenir on the floor. everywhere. Under Armour had the coolest. They had you go through three stations and get photos taken. Running, catching (making a diving catch in front of the ivy at Wrigley, no less!) and a full Matrix-like ten camera shot of your swing. They would instantly print a collage of your running and catch pics, and three of your swing. The full swing pics will be e-mailed to me. pretty hard to walk away without a free photo. If you didn't, you really didn't know what you were doing, then.
While I was waiting in the Under Armour place, Janet went over to the Q&A place. Tony LaRussa was speaking for half an hour, and she wanted to see if he would sign afterwards. He had been at the Publishing Kiosk, where they would have autograph guest there, but only to sign AS programs--Kris Bryant of the Cubs was there on Sunday--or in Tony's case, his current book. Janet has seen he was signing other stuff too as the line went on, so she felt confident in getting an auto. I told her they always sign for pretty redheads and not for schmucks like me. Janet said he was very cordial and signed for quite awhile after finishing his session.
After Under Armour, Janet wanted to wait in the pin line for the next collector pin. I like pins, but this was a whole 'nother level of pin collecting going on that I did not want to get into. They would give away 100 pins of a certain kind at the top of the hour, then you could trade or keep it. Janet just wanted that pin so she waited in line for the next session. While she waited, I went back to see what was going on with the end of the Dwight Gooden signing session. Like Cepeda, he was near the end of his time, and the line for the next signer was starting. Still...
So for autographs, I did pretty good.
Time for a typing break! More stories and a scan or two to come!
Anyway, Friday my first shift was 8-1, at Rookie League--the little kids play area--and it was a lot of fun. [MENTION=1953]Musial Collector[/MENTION] stopped by to see me hard at work, so that was cool to see a friendly face. Then I had the rest of the day to look around and get an auto or two. Mostly I worked on getting Topps cards from their booth . The deals they had going were For three wrappers of 2014 Topps product you got your choice of one of five special cards. For a Target receipt showing a purchase of 2014 Topps cards, there was a Miguel Cabrera card. I would guess there were less of these handed out simply because you had to come prepared for that one. They also had a special factory set with an offer. With the factory set came 5 special All Star cards of Mauer, Trout, Kershaw, McCutcheon and Cabrera--something else for you super collectors to look for--and then you had your choice of one of 5 patch (manufactured) cards of Mauer, Carew, Killebrew, Jeter, Yount and Cobb numbered to 150. (Yount and Cobb make you go, "What the--" but that's what they had.) Set was $50. 10% off with a coupon at the Make your own card booth. So that was there. I bought the 5x7 sized NL and AL All Star sets. These look like the jumbos you've seen Topps sell on line, but these are smaller, and were only sold at Fanfest. I haven't checked, but I'm sure these are on eBay. I'm keeping some, but will sell others, so if you really want your All Star team, PM me.
Autographs of the day: Scott Leius on 1992 Score factory World Series card.
Saturday: started my day at the Oxy Strikes Out Stains booth. Basically how fast can you throw the ball. I topped the radar at 44 mph. Pretty lame. Top speeds for men, women, teens and seniors could win a prize by the end of the day, but I have no idea what they cold win. By the time I was finished there, I was too late to get in for Fred Lynn's auto. so I milled around, decided that I was ready to go, and it was pouring rain. I didn't want to walk 5 blocks up to the light rail in the rain, so I went back inside--because I could thanks to my volunteer pass. Went back to the Orlando Cepeda line, and it was trickling down, with the line for the next signer forming already. I waited in what they called the "overflow" line, and waited it out. They would let 5-7 people in at a time, as they felt realistic to let in for him to still sign in the time left. I made it in with the last bunch of folks. (I'll show the pic in a bit as I was working on a theme.)
Sunday. My day off. Considered not going, but thought this would be the day I could go and get inside before it started and be in front of an auto line. Hey, if its a perk, then use it for all its worth. So I went straight to the line for Juan Marichal, and ended up second in line, behind a fellow volunteer). Gaylord Perry was also signing at the same time, but Gaylord had been there the day before, and would be there the next day. Pretty easy to get a Gaylord Perry auto over the course of the weekend. That proved to be pretty smart, since I got Marichal and was easily able to run over to the Perry line and get him. I went through my cards, and tried to find a set that I had something of all tree of them. Sadly 2000 Fleer Greats was not one of them, and it took some looking--always two of this one, or only two of that set, not as easy as I thought! Had a couple of choices, and ended up going with this:
After Perry, I went down to the Women in Baseball booth. Yes, they still go to shows, and they still have a few ladies who come out to sign autographs, and talk about their experiences. But today, they had Jennie Finch appearing for half an hour. I dug out some 2007 A&G cards that I thought would be perfect for a signature. But of course, that plan was foiled, because she was only signing a provided postcard. Nice, but I was disappointed, and so was the lady in front of me who had a 2009 Sports Illustrated she wanted signed. Bummer for both of us. Still, nice post card, and yes, she is still very pretty.
Milled around a little more after that, had a card made, and headed home.
Monday. Today, my wife Janet came with me. We parked in the garage across the street ($12, not so bad) and she went down the street to the bar/restaurant where Mike & Mike were broadcasting, and I went to check in. The plan for the day, was to try to get Kurt Suzuki who was appearing from 11:15-11:45 today. Paul Molitor was the first big name of the day, and he was appearing at the same stage, with overlapping times. As the story goes, Mollie was late, and he and Suzuki would share the line, and people would have the option of getting either one, or both. The autograph system worked this way: When you got into line, they would take your first name, last initial. Then when you go to the front, they would check it again. This eliminated cutting and saving places in line for others. We weren't planning on getting Mollie, so Janet had nothing for him to sign, so she used her ticket. For Suzuki, I had him sign the oversize Topps All Star card. I'll get Perkins to sign his later.
So now we had time to look around, get photos made--there had to be ten opportunities to have your photo taken for a souvenir on the floor. everywhere. Under Armour had the coolest. They had you go through three stations and get photos taken. Running, catching (making a diving catch in front of the ivy at Wrigley, no less!) and a full Matrix-like ten camera shot of your swing. They would instantly print a collage of your running and catch pics, and three of your swing. The full swing pics will be e-mailed to me. pretty hard to walk away without a free photo. If you didn't, you really didn't know what you were doing, then.
While I was waiting in the Under Armour place, Janet went over to the Q&A place. Tony LaRussa was speaking for half an hour, and she wanted to see if he would sign afterwards. He had been at the Publishing Kiosk, where they would have autograph guest there, but only to sign AS programs--Kris Bryant of the Cubs was there on Sunday--or in Tony's case, his current book. Janet has seen he was signing other stuff too as the line went on, so she felt confident in getting an auto. I told her they always sign for pretty redheads and not for schmucks like me. Janet said he was very cordial and signed for quite awhile after finishing his session.
After Under Armour, Janet wanted to wait in the pin line for the next collector pin. I like pins, but this was a whole 'nother level of pin collecting going on that I did not want to get into. They would give away 100 pins of a certain kind at the top of the hour, then you could trade or keep it. Janet just wanted that pin so she waited in line for the next session. While she waited, I went back to see what was going on with the end of the Dwight Gooden signing session. Like Cepeda, he was near the end of his time, and the line for the next signer was starting. Still...
So for autographs, I did pretty good.
Time for a typing break! More stories and a scan or two to come!
