Saturday, February 2, 2013

UCLA Alumni Game 2-2-13

Since it was a slow weekend of graphing I decided to head out to the UCLA Baseball Alumni Game in Westwood. Surprisingly it was my first time ever attending this event. Although I went to school at UCLA I never had the time to graph back then so I wanted to check out this event. I went with low expectation since no set list of alumni were announced and with alumni games you just never know who will show up.

I arrived at Jackie Robinson Stadium with my friend Nick at around 11am and there were already a bunch of graphers there including Scotty, Dave A, Jack, Tyler, Moe, Mike, Greg, Bruce, and Steve.


I decided to take some photos of the field since i've never been to Jackie Robinson Stadium before. It was indeed quite nice similar to a minor league field but much smaller. Every seat in the stadium had a good view of the field.




As you can see it was relatively empty as seats were filled with family and friends of the current UCLA baseball players and alumni which made the entire event very casual. There was also a Jackie Robinson statue inside the stadium as well.






Autograph wise I didn't come too prepared for this event especially since I was considering not graphing today since I am getting over a flu right now. Thus I had no photos prepped but just brought cards of UCLA alumni and a few baseballs.

The first player to sign for us was Gerrit Cole who was nice as usual. He actually signed multiples for everyone and was nice enough to inscribe "No-1 Pick 2011" on my ROMLB and also signed three cards for me.




Gerrit is simply the best. Last time I met him was two years ago at the First Annual Trinity Bat Co HR Derby Benefiting Cory Hahn. You can read about the event here. Gerrit signed two baseballs for me that day thus my total signed Gerrit Cole collection is now up to three baseballs.



The next player to sign was Tim Leary who signed a card for me courtesy of Scotty. Thanks again Scotty for hooking me up with the Studio 91 card.


When Tim met Scotty he recognized him and jokingly said "Man you are everywhere." Scotty got Tim Leary's autograph a million times to a point where now he recognizes him. It's time to retire Scotty.


Next up was Garrett Atkins who signed for us near the bullpen. Thanks again Mike for hooking me up with the card.


The last player to sign for me was Lucas Giolito who initially committed to UCLA before signing with the Nationals. It was a surprise to run into him again. Lucas was nice as usual and signed a ROMLB on the SS for me along with the 16th pick inscription.







Overall it was a relaxing day of graphing. Time to get some rest and get over this awful flu.

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