The Cardinals were in town for a rare three game interleague series vs the Angels this past week. Initially I wasn't planning to postgame graph since the Cards are a tough team to graph. Thanks to my friends Benson and Moe I was able to get a Shelby Miller autograph on the SS before I even started post game graphing. Benson and Moe were able to get Shelby Miller's autograph for me during pregame graphing earlier during the day. Thanks again guys.
The night otherwise proved to be another slow night of postgame graphing as I was able to get Randy Choate to sign two cards for me and Daniel Descalso on one card. Randy was cool enough to switch up jersey numbers on his signatures on the two cards I gave him to sign for me that night.
Carl Crawford Rancho Quakes Rehab Assignment 7-3-13
After work I decided to go to Rancho Cucamonga to get Carl Crawford's autograph during his rehab assignment. I recently ordered some 2009 Rawlings All Star Baseballs and the perfect guy to sign it would be the MVP of the game which was Carl Crawford. Carl was scheduled to play four games for the Quakes for his rehab assignment before joining the Dodgers in San Francisco this weekend.
I arrived at the stadium late since it was after work so I knew Carl was already inside for batting practice. Plus another clue was that none of the other graphers were out there all huddled up together. The Quakes staff left the entire side gate open so I decided to go inside to check out BP.
The first person I noticed on the field was Tommy Lasorda who was giving hitting instructions to the Quakes players. If you look closely he is standing behind the batting cage wearing the light colored shirt on the photo above. It was pretty cool to be inside an empty stadium watching the Quakes during batting practice.
After BP was completed I ended up getting Carl's autograph near the dugout. He was nice enough to inscribe All Star MVP on my 2009 Rawlings All Star Baseball under the logo.
It was an easy autograph as there was zero competition and I was in and out of the stadium in less than 10 minutes.
Angels vs Cardinals Post Game 7-3-13
Although the previous night was terrible in terms of graphing I decided to give it another shot. Tonight wasn't much more different than the previous night in terms of numbers but I was happy to get Shelby Miller's autograph in person. Shelby pitched a great game and ended up beating the Halos so he was in a great mood. Shelby signed a ROMLB for me on the SS and two cards for me.
If you look closely Shelby gave me the longer version of his signature where he spells out his first name. You can compare the ball I got tonight vs the one that Benson and Moe got me the previous day.
I didn't realize until tonight that he had two versions of his signature.
While all the graphers were distracted getting Shelby Miller's autograph Ty Wigginton walked out. I was the only person to ask him for an autograph. Ty was cool and signed a card for me.
Angels vs Cardinals Pregame 7-4-13
I decided to try graphing the Cardinals one more time. Travel day is usually a bad day to graph the road team but I decided to graph the Cardinals anyways since I had some time to kill before going to my friend's 4th of July bbq.
Coach Matheny was the first Cardinal to sign for us. He was really nice and added a bible verse to his signature.
Next up was Matt Adams and Shelby Miller. Everyone was yelling at Shelby asking for his autograph and they all ignored Matt. Both players looked as though they weren't going to sign so I instead asked Matt for his autograph since I never got his autograph before. Matt signed two cards for me.
Eventually Shelby broke down and started to sign for everyone. I ended up getting my last Shelby Miller card signed which was his dual 2013 Topps Heritage Card featuring Trevor Rosenthal.
What annoys me about these cards is that I can get one player to sign but not the other. Plus I am too lazy to chase down everyone so I end up getting one player and placing the card in my binder at home instead of bringing the card everywhere with me to complete the project. Today was the exception as Trevor Rosenthal was the next player to sign.
Trevor signed three cards for me including the two pictured above and the dual card featuring him and Shelby Miller. It was cool to get both players to sign the dual card.
Afterwards Jon Jay signed a card for me.
Last but not least Matt Holliday signed a ROMLB on the SS for me. I was really happy to add Matt's autograph to my collection. I was also able to get an extra baseball signed thanks to my friend Alex H. The second ball was for Benson since he helped me get Shelby Millers' autograph earlier during the week.
Awesome! I cant believe Holliday signed!
ReplyDeleteYeah Holliday was cool and signed away. I'm stoked about finally getting his autograph.
DeleteHolliday is a nice get. Its odd, he used to sign all the time when he played with the Rockies. In fact, one time he handed me his son while he signed for a bunch of people before signing for me. I guess it depends on the team they play for usually. Nice post, have enjoyed the recent ones. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteYa he was very nice. I always heard though he was somewhat difficult to get but I guess it depends on what city he is at. Thanks for all the compliments.
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