Just got back from another Spring Training game...

...unfortunately, the Phils were not in a signing mood today. The boys and I only got three things signed, although they were by two of my favorite PHils growing up and my favorite Phil that I watched go through the farm system.

Juan Samuel signed a ball -- I loved Sammy in the mid 80s...

...then Vance Worley came by -- he remembered me through the little league clinic we did together and our mutual friendship with Scott Mathieson... he already signed my son's pic of he and Vance as well as his jersey last go-around, so he just signed his ball and we chatted a little bit (about a minute) as he caught something that I wrote on Scott's facebook wall - - it's neat to know that these guys do the social media thing and remember certain people. He SAID (and I stress, said) that he's not "too big time" to do another clinic at our little league and would do it next year. We'll see.

Right behind Vance was this guy. Had him sign what I got last game...



Then, right before the game started, a player signing ... one that I'm very familiar with - that I've seen in person with another FCB member, one that I've gotten an personalized auto for one of the mods, and one that I even received 2 personalized jerseys, and 2 auto bats from in trade for his web domain. I've seen him pitch well over a dozen times in person, be it for the Threshers or Phillies.... We have sooooooooooo many autos of his, Carson and I felt bad even getting it... but what the heck... when in Rome...

So, thankfully, I had not worn the Ruiz jersey I was gonna wear... took this one off, and had him sign it (mind you, I've gotten no more than 3 or 4 autos for myself in the past 5 years -- everything is on my son's balls (that didn't sound right) or pics of him with the player)...



Oh yeah, and this guy sat across the aisle from me...



Nice day with the family at the ballpark...

Nice autos!

Am I supposed to know who that last pic is?

If you're a Phillies phan you will.

Think... architect.

That looks like Ruben Amaro Jr. Its been 20 years since I have seen him but I remember him from when I worked for the Cubs and his dad was a coach for the team. They both always had time to say hello and had a smile on their faces. I remember them coming in off a road trip at three in the morning and as they came into the ballpark in the dead of night they were more than happy to say hello and ask how we were doing! Who knew at the time that he would go on to be the General Manager of the Phillies and win a worlds championship!! At that time he was just trying to hang on with a team somewhere.

Sweet
Happy i got this when i went
Got the foul ball from perlozo after victorino hit it then had him sign it the next day at steinbrenner

Vic signed for my son last week too. Which actually, was odd, as in the ~30-40 games we've gone to since Vic has been in CF, he's NEVER signed during ST.

theres nothin better then free autographs!


GLST

Gotta
Love
Spring
Training

And so it begins again... Saturday's game.....



I watched a little just now on mlbtv. I had front row seats in 112, then went over and hung with some friends in the front row of 114. Caught me and the boy on camera on the replay on MLB.tv a few times.

What I've done over the years is get pix of my older son with Phillies players, then have them sign them later in Spring Training... that way my son has a picture of him, autographed with the player, to keep for the rest of his life. REally neat as we've gotten just about everyone - Mike Schmidt, Cole Hamels (as a Thresher and a Phillie), Utley 2x, Papelbon, Ryan Howard, Jim Thome, Hunter Pence, etc. It'll be great as he'll be in the major leagues in 10-11 years.

Here's today's haul...



Really high on this guy - saw him a lot as a Thresher last year, Cody Asche, and it looks like he's got the 3B job to lose starting 2014.


Ya don't go 15-1 in the minors and not have SOME stuff. Hoping Tyler Cloyd sticks around.


This next guy - he looked pretty good in the minors at 2B. Just hope the Phillies don't trade him away. I know it's crazy, but I think he may just be able to have a HOF career....

And this guy looks really weird, without the 'stache....signing the boy's ball.

Nice stuff for sure. But I thought you hated grown men getting autos. Change your mind or do I have you confused with someone else?

I didnt get any autos. And hate is a strong word.


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I need a Schmidt for my HOF collection. Read his book if you haven't, pretty decent, and it pains me to see Ryno in a Phills jersey

Bob Loblaw said:

I didnt get any autos. And hate is a strong word.


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Not really trying to pick a fight with ya. Just saw this and was like wth? It's all good. Glad you and you and your boys had a good time.

I dont get autos at st. Last year cole was there, signing, I had my Cole jersey on, there were no kids around who hadnt gotten an auto so I figured what the hell... but st is for kids to meet players and get autos, not for adults to get autos that will wind up on ebay.

Typically, the only time I ask the player for anything is for 1) a pic with boy (s) or 2) to sign said pic...

Hell, I didnt even have my hero growing up, #20, sign anything for me....



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Bob Loblaw said:

I dont get autos at st. Last year cole was there, signing, I had my Cole jersey on, there were no kids around who hadnt gotten an auto so I figured what the hell... but st is for kids to meet players and get autos, not for adults to get autos that will wind up on ebay.

Typically, the only time I ask the player for anything is for 1) a pic with boy (s) or 2) to sign said pic...

Hell, I didnt even have my hero growing up, #20, sign anything for me....



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Well just remember not everyone sells and it's ok for you to get an auto. I always let kids worm their way to the front( hell...they'll do it anyways) but the way I see it, if you're standing in line patiently for one auto you're not going to sell, you've done nothing wrong. Besides, if people are out there getting stuff to sell, let em. Because honestly they'd be better off working a shift at the local McDonald's. I see it here too. You'll get a guy who'll wait 10 hours in line to make all of a maximum of $50. Just let em. It's their problem.

predatorkj said:

Well just remember not everyone sells and it's ok for you to get an auto. I always let kids worm their way to the front( hell...they'll do it anyways) but the way I see it, if you're standing in line patiently for one auto you're not going to sell, you've done nothing wrong. Besides, if people are out there getting stuff to sell, let em. Because honestly they'd be better off working a shift at the local McDonald's. I see it here too. You'll get a guy who'll wait 10 hours in line to make all of a maximum of $50. Just let em. It's their problem.

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I had a long response typed out, then my battery died.

Essentially, it was this:

The scumbag auto resellers ruin it for everyone -- the kids.

My experience: In the past, the Phillies primarily sign up the 3rd base line. I typically act as a human shield/bodyguard for my son -- through the years he's grown, but he is still a kid. Ive always stood behind him, either to protect him, to get pictures, or both. MANY times Ive had to stand my ground as people pushed against me to try to push forward to get autographs. Im HAPPY to take a ball or whatever from someone behind me and give it to the player (once my kid has gotten his) but don't push and shove to try to get a Chase Utley autograph. It's not worth it. Ladies, he's married.

Now, apparently since the beginning of last spring training, the Phils have instituted a new policy -- if you don't have tix in the first 4 rows of the sections along the auto area at 12:20 (the Phils usually come out at 12:15), ya gotta go. They actually check tickets. There are ways around this -- but one doesn't want to tick off the 70 year old security team too much. So . .. the main chance a kid has to get an autograph is gone because the powers that be saw all of the pushing and what not.

Because people are rude, and the majority of those pushing are adults fitting the bill of wanting to resell the autos... they ruin it for all.

Bob Loblaw said:

I had a long response typed out, then my battery died.

Essentially, it was this:

The scumbag auto resellers ruin it for everyone -- the kids.

My experience: In the past, the Phillies primarily sign up the 3rd base line. I typically act as a human shield/bodyguard for my son -- through the years he's grown, but he is still a kid. Ive always stood behind him, either to protect him, to get pictures, or both. MANY times Ive had to stand my ground as people pushed against me to try to push forward to get autographs. Im HAPPY to take a ball or whatever from someone behind me and give it to the player (once my kid has gotten his) but don't push and shove to try to get a Chase Utley autograph. It's not worth it. Ladies, he's married.

Now, apparently since the beginning of last spring training, the Phils have instituted a new policy -- if you don't have tix in the first 4 rows of the sections along the auto area at 12:20 (the Phils usually come out at 12:15), ya gotta go. They actually check tickets. There are ways around this -- but one doesn't want to tick off the 70 year old security team too much. So . .. the main chance a kid has to get an autograph is gone because the powers that be saw all of the pushing and what not.

Because people are rude, and the majority of those pushing are adults fitting the bill of wanting to resell the autos... they ruin it for all.

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And it's nothing you can control so just do your thing and be on about your business then. Idiots will be idiots and they will ruin it for everyone. But they'll ruin it for themselves more than any fan. Around here, even the sit down autograph signings are starting to change. Used to, you could bring your own items to get signed. Lately, they've been changing that. Baseball is still ok. But football and basketball stuff is getting to where all they'll let you get signed is a little card or poster they provide. Which can be cool. I just got Hakeem Olajuwon during the All-Star game festivities and was happy as hell to get him on their poster. But it kills the ability to get projects finished people are working on (championship related items and such). And a lot of it is because of the dealers. The people running these events do not like having the athlete churn out free money. I mean, these people literally screw themselves. They work themselves out of a job. I say let them do it. Nothing you can do to stop it. Plus I figure if that's what they want to do, so be it.

Bob Loblaw said:

I didnt get any autos. And hate is a strong word.


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I strongly HATE olives!

Here's my question -- who buys this IP unauthenticated stuff?

Unless they're submitting it to PSA/DNA / Spence for authentication... I suppose I could submit the jersey I got last year for authentication, and then my $40 Hamels jersey becomes a $200-250 PSA/DNA auto'ed Cole Hamels jersey.

Eh. Not for me.

I think I can differentiate it this way - I have no problem selling an autograph on card pulled from a pack - the player was compensated for that. However, an IP auto, the player is not compensated for (at ST), and as such, I find it reprehensible to make money from that. Yes, you could argue that the player is being paid to be at ST and autos are part of it... but.. eh.

FWIW, I've never had a player turn down the picture request. Ever.

And I've gotten some not so-fan-friendly players...

Thome
Schmidt
Sandberg
J-Roll
Utley
Abreu
Burrell

...they've all agreed to a quick pic. Heck, when my son was younger, both Todd Pratt and Milt Thompson pulled him over the railing and held him up for pics...

goldenegg1 said:

I need a Schmidt for my HOF collection. Read his book if you haven't, pretty decent, and it pains me to see Ryno in a Phills jersey

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read it when it came out. Wasn't a big fan of what he was writing. Seemed like a bitter old man.

Ryno never should have worn blue pinstripes. Should have always been a Phillie.