The first player to walk out and sign for us was Zach McAllister who signed my 2012 Topps Rookie Card.
The next player to sign was Jason Donald. Jason Donald made graphing history at Angel Stadium today. When he was dropped off at the visitors tunnel before the game he actually walked up the tunnel to sign autographs for my friend Matt. That simply never happens. The rule is when the hotel bus, driver or taxi drops the players down the tunnel no player ever walks up the tunnel out of their way to sign autographs for fans. Sure enough Jason Donald did sign autographs for Matt today so he deserves to be in the graphing HOF. Jason was really nice and signed two cards for me, my 2012 Topps Heritage and 2012 Topps cards. Here is a picture of my friend Keith getting his cards signed.
Next up was Shin Soo Choo who was escorted by security. Choo has been on my wish list for quite some time especially since he is the only Korean player in the MLB right now. I asked him politely in Korean for an autograph but he replied back saying that if he signed for me he would have to sign for everyone. He was also in a rush to leave. He was really polite about the entire situation so I wasn't too upset.
Choo was having an autograph signing the following day at Hanmi Bank in Buena Park, another signing I couldn't go to due to work. However I knew some of my friends would be there to get me an autograph so I didn't stress out about it.
The next person to sign for us was Justin Masterson. Justin is also an HOFer in the autographing community. I never met a player so friendly and so nice to his fans. He literally stopped and signed everything for us and posed for pictures with fans. Some graphers even had pages of cards signed by him. I have to thank my buddy Ryan for this moment. You can read about what happened to Ryan and Justin Masterson in his blog. We had a full on conversation with him. We asked Justin where the most ruthless graphers were and he mentioned it was New York as expected. He then told us a story about a rude grapher in Baltimore, who complained when Justin didn't sign for him by sending a complaint letter to the Indians organization for being a bad person and mean to fans. We had a good laugh about that one since it absolutely made no sense since Justin has a reputation of being nice to his fans. Every player has the right to not sign for certain fans who are rude to them. Justin even stated that he's a willing signer for all fans as long as they are not rude to him. Justin signed four cards for me as well as an ROMLB on the SS. Thanks for being a class act Justin.
The last Indian to sign for us was Coach Manny Acta who signed my 2012 Topps Heritage card for me.
Before I left I met up with my friend Matt. Since Matt knew that I really wanted a signed Felix Hernandez baseball we worked out a trade.
Ironically two days after the trade Felix Hernandez ended up throwing the 23rd Perfect Game in MLB history. Thanks again Matt for the baseball.
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