Padres Fanfest 2014 Part 1

Padres fanfest has always been one of my favorite graphing events of the year. What's great about the event is that it's really laid back and well organized compared to other graphing events in Los Angeles. This was my third year in a row attending Padres Fanfest and I decided to carpool with David A, Jose, and Alex A.

We arrived at Petco Park around 8am and we were fortunate enough to get four free tickets for early entry which was at 8:30am from a season ticket holder named Greg. Thanks again Greg for the hookups. As soon as the gates opened I picked up my autograph session tickets.

My goal today was to get Carlos Quentin on a 2008 All Star ball and Josh Johnson on a 2009 All Star ball. I also wanted to check out the Padres Garage Sale which always has good items to buy at a low price. After getting my tickets I decided to check out the garage sale. As expected there was already a huge crowd of people searching for game used jerseys, bats, and other Padres memorabilia.

The only downside to this was the check out line. Luckily the cash line was shorter than the credit card line. However I still had to wait about 20 minutes in line to check out.

I ended up finding two Mat Latos autographed ROMLBs with MLB Authentication. I bought an extra one for my friend Benson who couldn't make it out this year to Padres Fanfest.

Latos is generally a tough autograph to get especially on the SS so I had to add it to the collection even though he is not the most fan friendly player, especially his wife who hates all graphers in the world.

Afterwards I decided to meet up with the rest of the group and went to our first autograph session of the day which was for Carlos Quentin and Joe Wieland. Carlos signed my 2008 All Star baseball with the 1st All Star inscription. I think he forgot to add the word "game" but it was cool to still get an inscription out of him.

My buddy Ryan ended up getting the best item signed by Carlos. I hope he gets Greinke to sign the photo as well in the future but the chances are super slim as Greinke is allergic to the pen. I wish Ryan the best of luck in that endeavor.

Afterwards we went to the Josh Johnson and Tommy Medica autograph session. I ended up getting Josh on a 2009 All Star ball with the 1st All Star Game inscription.

Afterwards we all headed out for a brief intermission to the University of San Diego to meet our friend Kris Bryant.