Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ My IP Autograph Thread, 5/20...Reds & Will Smith

[otis0220]

Not a very good day in the city today. What was going on:

Cleveland Indians
NBA Draft Picks
Jimmie Walker on Letterman
Anthony Davis and Charlie Sheen on Fallon

Things didn't go very well with the Indians.

Joe Smith 2/2
Carlos Carrasco 2/2 (He was mistaken for somebody else twice until we found out who he was. Very nice guy)
Ubaldo Jimenez 2/2
Aaron Cunningham 1/1
Lou Marson 1/1

When you can't even get a coach, you know it's been a bad day. One player I missed while getting Ubaldo was Derek Lowe. Security didn't allow you to get players that were boarding the bus. Absolutely ridiculous, can't recall this happening before. Can't wait to hear what happens tomorrow...

I left early to check out Letterman if I could get a pic with Jimmie Walker, he starred on Good Times. But he went in and didn't acknowledge anyone. After that I didn't even bother going to Fallon for top pick Anthony Davis or Charlie Sheen. I went over to see if I'd see some of the NBA draft picks. I wasn't really prepared at all, I actually forgot about this. I heard Davis didn't sign but I did see UConn's Andre Drummond. He signed a blank for me and got a picture with him. I didn't want to stick around long.



Cool how I met Andre Drummond but if it wasn't for Ubaldo Jimenez, the day would've been an absolute waste. I might go to a couple minor league games over the next few days, one of them with my Little League team. Thursday I'm not sure what I may do regarding the NBA Draft. Also Friday I'm aiming to do the White Sox. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Hey guys. Nothing much for autographs today. I went to a New Jersey Jackals game with my Little League team tonight. I didn't concentrate much for autos today, only brought 3 cards. Only wanted them to try and get autos right after the game. Literally like 30 seconds before the first pitch I got one of the coaches on the Quebec Capitales, Goefrey Tomlinson. I actually signed an autograph for one of my kids, because I am awesome lol. I also caught a foul ball during the game, I believe it was hit by Angel Berroa. After the game I had Goefrey sign for them. He was the only guy on Quebec they knew by name, because of me haha.

[otis0220]

I did the White Sox today. As soon as I got there, things weren't looking good. I'm usually there at the right time but today they were earlier than usual. I missed some of the guys I was hoping for, including manager Robin Ventura. I was really looking forward to getting him on a Mets mini helmet. I also missed Jake Peavy, one of the main guys I made photos of. Things improved little by little.

3B coach Joe McEwing 1/2
Bullpen coach Juan Nieves 2/2
Bullpen catcher Mark Salas 1/1(I barely got him, he thought I was another guy trying to get him again. Nice guy)
Alex Rios 1/2
Addison Reed 1/1
Dayan Viciedo on Cuban flag 8x10 (Signed just because of the flag)
Philip Humber 2/2
Youkilis 1/2
Broadcaster Steve Stone 1/1
Broadcaster Darrin Jackson 2/2
Alexei Ramirez on Cuban flag 8x10 1/2




Missed Gavin Floyd, Pierzynski and Orlando Hudson (who I had for a dual auto card). Gordon Beckham and Konerko didn't sign for me. I said please Konerko I come from New Jersey and he says, "That's tough." I mean c'mon...Harold Baines barely even signed, he's tough. Not sure if I'm doing anything next week. Might goto a minor league game tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Did the Angels today. Thought I'd wear an Angels hat but had no effect. Bad day for me.

Broadcaster Mark Gubicza 2/2
Isringhausen 2/2
Scott Downs 1/1
GM Jerry DiPoto 1/1



Hours in between getting Gubicza and Isringhausen. Waited with some people on one side for a little too long and we missed a good portion of the team boarding the bus. Happened so quickly. Trout signed only a few. What really got me mad was not getting Torii Hunter. Printed a photo for him, was sure I'd get him. But there were just too many people. Bunch of people double dipping. I really wish athletes had a radar where they can tell apart the collectors and the ones that want to sell. Bunch of these guys will be back the next 2 days. I'm just sick of this sometimes. Also I tried getting a pic with Isringhausen but my camera was acting up. Of course it just happens to be Friday the 13th...I just want to forget about the day. Tomorrow I'm going to a minor league game and next week I might do the Blue Jays and then goto the game against the Yankees. Haven't been to a Yankee game in maybe 13 years. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Hey guys. I went to the New Jersey Jackals/Rockland Boulders game tonight. Not much for me to go for but I had fun. The 3 main guys as of right now are Angel Berroa, Ed Ott and Gustavo Chacin.

Berroa 2/2 (SS ball and card)
Ott 2/2




Didn't spot Chacin at anytime. About the Berroa ball...that was a Berroa foul ball I caught at a game a few weeks ago. I thought hey, why not get the foul ball signed by that player? At least a notable player. I kept in mind the date of that game so I told him this is a foul ball of his I caught and asked him to put the date and "Good catch" (I know, corny) and he also wrote "God Bless You!" above it. Very nice guy, hope he can make it back to the big show in the future. Also came close to winning a Yogi Berra signed ball. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Yesterday I hit up the Blue Jays then went to the game against the Yankees. It was another bad day for me. I also had a little injury it was a little uncomfortbale for me throughout the day.

Manager John Farrell 1/2
Kelly Johnson 2/2
Broadcaster Pat Tabler 3/3
J.P. Arencibia on Cuban flag 8x10
Broadcaster Alan Ashby 1/1

There was a big time difference between Johnson and Tabler. When the players were boarding the first bus, barely anyone even signed. Among the players who refused were Brett Cecil, Encarnacion, Cordero, Rajai Davis, Ben Francisco, Darren Oliver, Romero and Travis Snider along with the rest I had nothing for. There were under 10 people waiting. Only a couple scrubs signed. I heard everyone on the team signed Monday except for Bautista, Vizquel and couple others. I really wish I went Monday instead.




After that I went on my way to the game. I didn't get any autos during BP (which I expected) but I did get my first BP home run ball. Was hit by some Yankee, unfortunately their balls have "PRACTICE" stamped on the sweet spot. Well I'll have to see what I hit up next. Was thinking about the Dodgers Friday but I kinda doubt it. Will it end up being worth it? I might do the Nats next week (probably not) and I'll also be going to 1 or 2 Jackals vs Worcester games next week. Jose Canseco is playing, yes PLAYING, for Worcester and let's see if I can get him, I've heard he's been tough. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

I hit up the Orioles today, did very good. Could've hit 20 if I was more aware.

First autograph of the day...

Jim Thome on mini helmet!
Ryan Flaherty 1/1
Lew Ford 2/2 (back in the bigs for 1st time in 5 years)
Manager Buck Showalter 1/1
Wilson Betemit 2/2
Tommy Hunter 1/1
Matt Lindstrom 2/2
Endy Chavez 2/2
Mark Reynolds 1/1
J.J. Hardy 1/2
Chris Davis 1/1




Got an extra Chris Tillman signed for someone. Only person that really denied me was Luis Ayala. Could've gotten Adam Jones but forgot my card at home....missed a few other players and coaches. Just really happy about getting Thome. So next up for me, I may go to a Jackals game this weekend. Trying to goto a Marlins game next week too. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Went to the Jackals/Newark Bears game this afternoon. I really needed to knockout some cards here from the order I made online. Out of a maximum of 16 cards, I did pretty good.

Kyle Greenwalt 1/1
Jorge Vasquez 1/1
Quentin Davis 2/2
Ed Ott 1/1
Angel Berroa 2/2
D'Angelo Jimenez 1/1
Anthony Pluta 1/1
Julian Sampson 1/1 (Got as he was making his walk down to start the game. Try doing that with a pitcher at an MLB game LOL)
Daryle Ward 2/2



Ward was the only guy I got after the game, only guy I saw I actually needed. Newark coaches Raines and Oberkfell weren't there, hope they'll be back tomorrow. Also couldn't spot Jackals Craig Clark and Jeff Lanning. On the Jimenez and Pluta, I experimented with this light blue marker, it looks bad in the pic but didn't come out as good as I hoped. Ed Ott was signing more things than the players before the game. Knocked out a bunch of cards for a couple guys. Very nice funny guy. After the game, the Jackals players had a signing but didn't stick around for that. I only needed 2 players and these guys were out of uniform so I couldn't tell who from who. Tomorrow I'll going to a Newark Bears game against the Kansas City T-Bones. Main reason I'm going, coach and Royals great Frank White. Unfortunately I don't have any good things for him to sign. Just cards. Wish I had a Royals mini but couldn't get one short notice. Well thanks for reading.

[Silly]

lots of additions as of late nice!

I noticed Steve Stone printed his name for you. He is not very well liked around here because of that. He will only print his name if he feels you are a dealer and it will end up on ebay. He has done many radio appearances where things for ugly because people got mad at him for ruining their baseball with a printed name. Even the radio stations were in shock.

[otis0220]

Haha that's interesting, thanks for letting me know that.

Another fun day at a minor league game. Newark Bears hosted the Kansas City T-Bones. Like I said before, only reason I wanted to go was because Frank White was a coach for KC. Spoiler alert, appears he doesn't travel. So now it was just Newark. Here's how I did:

-Before-

Quentin Davis 1/1 (Talked with him about a minute, getting to be one of my faves)
Mike Ness 4x6 (Threw a no-hitter last month)
Jorge Vasquez 1/1

-After-

Daryle Ward 2/2
Julian Sampson 1/1
Good 'ol Tim Raines 1/1




Tim was happy to see me. First home game I've been to all year. Just love going to Newark games because of the low attendance. My friend and I were talking with 1B Patrick Reardon and KC 1B Coach Bill Sobbe throughout the game, just having fun. Pat had me cracking up early in the game. Threw each of us a ball during the game. I was expecting to get a couple foul balls but barely any were hit on our side. Gotta see what I'm gonna do next week. Trying to goto a Jackals game Sunday and maybe hit up the Rangers. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

I went to the Jackals/Quebec Capitales game tonight. Turned out to be a double-header. Jackals and Capitales split the games. Here's how I did:

After game 1/before game 2:

Coach Goefrey Tomlinson 3/3
Craig Clark 2/2, 1/1
Angel Berroa 2/2
Kyle Greenwalt 1/1
Sebastien Boucher 1/1

After game 2:

Coach Ed Ott 1/1
Jeff Lanning 2/2



Only guy I wasn't able to get was Quebec P Karl Gelinas, a player told me he wasn't with the team. Also know the problem why I couldn't get Lanning last time I went and didn't see him before the 2nd game. Their site says he's #18 but he's actually #9. There's a small possibility that I'll be going to a Newark/Quebec game this weekend. Monday I'll be going to the Mets/Rockies game, finally my first Met game of the year. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

I went to the Mets/Rockies game last night. It was a pretty good day for me. Such a nice cool day too. I hit up the Mets in the afternoon and kept an eye out for any Rockies arriving. It wasn't a good time to get the Rockies since most of the notables were injured. No Helton, no Gonzalez, no Giambi etc. There were only 3-6 fans there for autographs.

Added 7 on team ball - Ronny Cedeno, Jeremy Hefner, Kelly Shoppach, Josh Edgin, Manny Acosta, Andres Torres and Chris Young
Had Chris Young sign my 2011 team 8x10 too
Coach Tim Teufel 2/2
Ramon Ramirez 1/1
Jason Bay 1/1
Scott Hairston 1/1
Tulowitzki 1/1 (Wasn't sure if I should print something out for him, oh well)
Jeff Francis 2/2
Ron Darling on Mets mini-helmet

-Inside-
Batting practice was cool. Got a ball from Met coach Tom Goodwin (I think). Later I came close to snagging a bouncer and then Jhoulys Chacin tossed it to someone else. I was joking around with him for a couple minutes, saying how tough it is to grab one of those bare-handed. Yelled that he owed me one, had some friendly exchanges. Next one he got he threw to me. Thank god for smartphones, I wouldn't have known who he was if I didn't load up the roster haha. First time I got more than one ball at an MLB game. Anyway a couple minutes after I got the ball, I noticed Eric Young Jr was signing in the next section over. I had nothing so I decided to have him sign that ball on the sweet spot.

Eric Young Jr SS BP ball
Jonathan Herrera 1/1

I also ran into Zack Hample a couple times. He's a legendary ballhawk, been doing this for around 20 years. He has own blog, mostly about his adventures. Very interesting guy. When I first started to hear about him, I wasn't really crazy about him. But then as I started to read his blog more, I understood him more and got to like him a little. I first met him last year so this was the 2nd time I actually talked to him. Near the start of the game he was near me so I decided to have him sign my ticket. He actually does sign autographs too, he has many fans.






Only like 6 people for guys like Niese, Pelfrey, Wright, Thole, Parnell, Ike Davis, Justin Turner and don't want to sign. Few of those guys arrive together and think they're the ######. Turner's gone over to the 'evil' side. Even Matt Harvey didn't sign and I heard he's been a good signer since being called up. When the crowd dwindled to 3, still couldn't get Francisco, Tejada, Valdespin and Johan to sign. You'd think they'd be more willing to sign for people they usually don't see. So I got 19 autographs yesterday, 20 if you count Hample. Anyways, I'll try to get a pic of the Young Jr ball up. I'll have to see if I do anything soon. I might consider doing the Mets/Astros Friday. Might go to a minor league game and or Yankee game next week. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Well I did Toronto today. I was keeping an eye out for the forecast the past few days, I'd been 50/50 about going. Well I decided to go, there was like a 70% chance of rain at 12pm and then 30-40% chance of t-storms couple hours after. Well small showers came around that time and then it started to pour. I was a little worried about that 30-45 min period. Few people didn't sign, including the manager. Then things cleared up and was looking good. I got:

JA Happ 1/1
Kelly Johnson 2/2 (Got him last time too, has to be the friendliest on the team)
Brandon Lyon 1/1
Yunel Escobar on Cuba flag 8x10
Brandon Morrow 2/2
Yorvit Torrealba 2/2 (Got help with the other)
Omar Vizquel 8x10! This was the big one for the day, didn't think I'd get him.





Missed guys like Adam Lind, Ricky Romero and Chad Jenkins. Rajai Davis (guy just doesn't sign), Steve Delabar, Darren Oliver, Encarnacion and Rasmus didn't sign. Also missed broadcasters while waiting for Vizquel etc. I expected more compared to the first day last series but I am so happy to get Vizquel. Two Indian greats to end last month (Thome) and this month. For the next week I'll be going to a minor league game or 2, it's nearing the end for these teams. Also next week I might do the Braves. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Well yesterday afternoon I went to the Newark Bears/Worcester Tornadoes game. Worcester actually signed Jose Canseco this season but he only played for the first month or so. This wasn't really much of a graphing day for me. Just had 2 items on me. After the game I got Tim Raines on my Marlins mini helmet (he was a Marlin for his final pro season). I also got batting gloves from Quentin Davis. Remembered me from last time and glad I got him to hook me up with something. If I go to the final game tonight, I'll have him sign them. The other thing I had to get signed was for Daryle Ward but didn't see him today. Thanks for reading and enjoy your Labor Day.

[otis0220]

Ok I've hit up a couple things past few days. I decided to give it a shot and did the Jets with a friend after their game Sunday afternoon. I heard from someone that it was just as easy at MetLife as it was at Giants Stadium. It's not hard but players are not as willing to sign. We got lucky because as soon as we got there we saw coach Rex Ryan. If we would've arrived a couple minutes later we would've missed him. At the end the other guy we got was rookie wideout Stephen Hill. I should've had the fullback Conner. I saw him sign down by one end. He signed for maybe 5 people and when I approached him he was picking up a bag he put down and didn't feel like signing for me. Sanchez came out and signed a few and Mangold ignored the few people that tried for him.



Part 2. I went to the Mets/Nationals game yesterday. I got there a little earlier than usual. Didn't do as well as my other times at Citi. A few more players declined to sign compared to other times I tried. I got:

Coach Ricky Bones 1/1
Fred Lewis 1/2
Jason Bay added to the team ball
Kurt Suzuki 2/2
Bobby Parnell 1/1
Dillon Gee 1/1 (Looks like he recently changed his sig. Looks great, usually just a D and G)
Broadcaster Ron Darling 1/1

Then inside I got Mark DeRosa on 2 cards. If you noticed on the 2nd card, I asked him to put 'Go BC'. He actually went to my high school, only MLB player that went there, I think.




I got 10 autos, which is good but not compared to my other 3 times at Citi so far. At least I'm averaging double-digits. I was hoping I could get Matt Harvey this time but he didn't sign. I heard he was a good signer the first couple weeks but then he found out his stuff was going on eBay. Hate it when the dealers ruin things for everyone. Also probably missed a few of the call ups because we couldn't recognize most of them. Also I got a ball during BP last night. Ricocheted off a few hands and it landed in my arms. I didn't like the logos were all smudged but it was a Shea Stadium Final Season ball from 2008. I might upload a pic of it later. So next for me I think I'll be going for the Rays on Friday. Thanks for reading.

[redwing40]

Cool stuff Jason, I used to go to the Red Wings games early to hopefully get a IP auto, but its so hard to get one from one of the players! Congrats!

[otis0220]

Thanks Paul. I can sort of imagine that.

Yesterday I went into the city for the Rays. I was expecting a great day, especially since I got 17 last time with them. Well the first couple hours were awful, thankfully things improved at the end. Also I didn't realize David Price was also starting that night so it seemed like I wouldn't have a chance to get him.

Broadcaster Brian Anderson 1/1
Fernando Rodney 1/1
Kyle Farnsworth 2/2
Coach Dave Martinez 2/2
Coach Tom Foley 1/1
Matt Moore 1/1
Matt Joyce 1/2



Brian Anderson is the man. He's up there as one of my favorites. Price, Longoria, Upton, Pena, Maddon were just a few of the ones that didn't sign. Some others signed too but had nothing for them unfortunately. I'll have to see what's up for next week. Could be a pretty busy week. Also might do the Giants/Bucs tomorrow, will have to see. Thanks for reading.

[otis0220]

Decided to try for after the Giants/Bucs game. It's very tough to get opponents, unless the people waiting actually know someone personally. I did get a picture with former Bucs QB Brad Johnson, he's not associated with the team, just happened to be there. After that I thought I might as well go for the Giants. I ended up getting 2.

Hakeem Nicks 1/1
Sean Locklear 1/1

Missed few players like Antrel Rolle and Pierre-Paul.

[otis0220]

Well I made the right choice (a great one) to skip going to NYC today and went with my friend to see former Giant Ottis Anderson at a bar few hours ago. Got him on 2 cards and a simple 4x6.




On the 4x6 I asked him to put "To the other Otis...SB 25 MVP (Put champs)...and The U! (Miami). He misunderstood and underlined 'U' instead of an exclamation point. Oh well, got couple nice pics with him. Even one with one of his SB rings. Tomorrow I'll be doing the Athletics and then going to the Marlins/Mets game. Thanks for reading.

[osufan2383]

very nice meet. Did he take photo ops