David's Autograph Signings: Dodgers vs Dbacks Graphing Weekend Recap

Dodgers vs Dbacks Post Game Graphing 8-31-12

Benson and I decided to graph the Dbacks post game on Friday. We arrived at the stadium around the 8th inning and waited near the Vin Scully Press Box with the hopes of getting Luis Gonzalez's autograph. Luis replaced Mark Grace as one of the announcers due to his recent DUI arrest. Luis already signed for some of the graphers that day pre game during BP.

Unfortunately the game went into extra innings and the Dodgers lost to the Dbacks after Jason Kubel hit a solo HR on the top of the 11th inning. Sadly there was still no sign of Luis Gonzalez thus we went back downstairs to the field level to try to catch some players leaving the stadium.

The first player to sign for us was Josh Collmenter who signed my 2012 Topps card for me. The signture came out nice especially since he had more room to sign since the card is horizontal.

After the fireworks show ended Dodger security and staff kicked everyone out of the stadium so we waited outside near the buses to catch the players coming out. The next duo of players to walk out were David Hernandez (who I played catch with at Angel Stadium which you can read about here) and Tyler Skaggs. David Hernandez was really cool as usual as he ended up calling out Tyler since Tyler was about to leave and not sign for the fans. As Tyler was heading straight towards the bus David called out Tyler and told him "Hey young buck, you better come back here and sign for the fans." How cool is that. Thus both players ended up signing down the line for everyone. I had David sign my 2012 Topps card for me and Tyler sign my ROMLB on the SS.

Then there was another group of players to walk out which included Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Lindstrom and Jason Kubel who all signed cards for me. I had to give Jason props for hitting the game winning HR even though it was against the Dodgers. Plus he's always a good guy when it comes to signing for the fans.

The last player to sign for us was Ian Kennedy who signed four cards for me.

The last set of players to leave were the coaches. As usual Kirk Gibson denied all autograph requests as he noted that he signed "a ton" for all the fans inside during the game. He walked out with Alan Trammell who also ignored all autograph requests as well.

Dodgers vs Dbacks Game 9-1-12

Thanks to my friend Josh who let us borrow his MVP pass, Benson and I were able to enter Dodger Stadium 3 hours before the first pitch. We arrived at the stadium around 3:15 which is a bit late in terms of graphing standards as most of the graphers and ballhawks were already inside the stadium when we entered. My goal today was to get one of my three jerseys signed; either my Matt Kemp 2012 HR Derby authentic jersey, my authentic 2012 Hanley Ramirez Dodgers Home jersey, or my Adrian Gonzalez game used Padres BP jersey signed. The only thing that sucked was that I had to carry a backpack full of baseballs, cards, jerseys and photos.

Since it was already a bit crowded Benson and I decided to switch up our game plan and hang out near the bullpen instead of near the Dodger dugout which proved to be very beneficial today. The scheduling was a bit off today since it was Bark in the Park day at Dodger Stadium where fans were able to walk their dogs inside the stadium 1 hour before the first pitch. Thus when we entered Dodger BP already started. Normally BP doesn't start until an hour of stretching and warm ups. In the end we lost an hour of graphing time due to the dogs.

When I entered the stadium I asked Ronald Bellisario for a baseball. Ronald is one of the most fan friendliest Dodgers and is always generous with fans when hooking them up with baseballs. As soon as he caught another baseball he tossed it straight towards me. It was my 2nd 50th Anniversary baseball I got from Ronald this year.

I ended up giving that particular baseball away to a fan who helped me get Matt Kemp's autograph later in the day.

The first Dodger to sign for us was Brandon League who is always good to the graphers. Ever since his days as a Mariner he has always been nice about signing for us. Brandon signed two cards for me, my 2012 Allen and Ginter and my 2012 Topps card.

The next Dodger to sign for us was Chris Capuano who is also another nice player who likes to sign for the fans. Chris was nice enough to sign two items for me; a photo and my 2012 Topps card.

Next up was Tim Federowicz who was recently called up from the minors. After finishing up a bullpen session he signed two cards for me, his 2012 Allen and Ginter Rookie and his 2012 Topps Heritage Rookie Card.

The biggest surprise of the day was Chris Young who walked out of the Dodger bullpen. He looked as though he was lost. Chris was nice enough to sign down the line near the Dodger bullpen. I found this to be weird since whenever he is hanging out with Justin Upton he tends to ignore all autograph requests. I guess he was in a good mood today and luckily he wasn't hanging out with Justin today. Chris signed my 2011 Allen and Ginter card for me.

Afterwards all the Dodgers ran into the clubhouse after BP was over. Remember how I said previously that the Bark in the Park day shifted the schedule by 1 hour. Well it was 4:10 which meant it was time to line up on Aisle 27 to get Dodger autographs during BP. However since Dodger BP ended there were no autographs to get today in the autograph corral since the Dbacks were on the field for their portion of BP. The ushers noted that today there will only be two groups instead of the usual four due to the schedule change. Benson and I decided to wait it out to see what would happen after the first group went into the autograph corral. As we expected nobody came out to sign. Thus the first group got nothing. Since I had nothing else to do I ended up going in the second group. Again no action from any of the Dodgers since they were all in the clubhouse. I guess I wasn't going to get any of my jerseys signed today.

Fortunately while I was in the autograph corral the Dbacks were in their session of BP. I ended up getting Eric Young's attention and he batted a baseball directly towards me while I was in the corral. The ball was my 2nd 50th anniversary ball of the day.

Eric then walked over to greet some friends. After he finished talking them I politely asked Eric to come over and sign my baseball he just gave me. Sure enough he did and he signed my baseball under the 50th logo.

I was happy since I always wanted Eric Young's autograph. I ended up with Eric Young's autograph even though it looked like I was going to get shut out at aisle 27 out due to the schedule change. Normally you end up getting at least 3-5 autographs in the autograph corral at any given game.

Afterwards there was no action until the Dodgers came back out on the field to stretch prior to the announcement of the starting lineup. As usual Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp were stretching along left field and they always sign autographs for fans after they stretch. Sure enough Ethier began to sign for the fans in the Prime Ticket Club seats. What sucks about this is the ushers block that area off. Thus if you don't have tickets to the prime ticket club seats then you cannot gain access when Kemp and Ethier are both signing. I had to get at least one of the three jerseys signed today so I ended up asking a fan named Jessie to see if she could get me Kemp's autograph for me. Jessie mentioned that her three daughters were already trying to get Kemp's autograph and that she'd gladly help me get his autograph today. Even though there was no guarantee I thanked her for trying to help me out. I gave Jessie my jersey so she could hand it off to one of her daughters who were waiting by the railing as Kemp was stretching. Kemp began to sign and a swarm of fans started to surround Matt Kemp.

At this point I couldn't see if my jersey was getting signed or not due to the high volume of fans surrounding Matt Kemp. I lot of thoughts raced through my mind as I was hoping my silver deco wouldn't dry up and that Matt wasn't running with a dry sharpie. To my surprise after the signing session was over I was presented with a signed 2012 Matt Kemp Home Run Derby jersey. To thank Jessie and her daughters I handed one of her daughters the Dodgers 50th anniversary baseball I got from Ronald Belisario during BP. Thanks again Jessie for helping me get Matt Kemp's autograph on my jersey.