Garrett Richards Eco Challenge Day Signing At Angel Stadium 7-26-14

I decided to attend the Eco Challenge Day Event at Angel Stadium last Saturday to donate some old clothes and to get Garrett Richards' autograph on a 50th Anniversary Angels Commemorative baseball with his MLB debut inscription.

I arrived at the stadium around 7am and there were already about 100 cars parked ahead of me in line.

The first 200 cars to bring household hazardous waste, e-waste & gently used clothing can choose between four free tickets to the Angels Game on July 26, 2014 or four free tickets to the Discovery Science Center. Each donation gave you priority access to the Garrett Richards signing which took place from 9am to 10:30am.
 
There were three separate lines formed at the parking lot and they started handing out wristbands at around 7:30am.

Garrett arrived on time and started signing for everyone in line. He signed multiple items for the first 20 people in line but then the handlers of the event cracked down and only allowed one autograph per wristband. 

Garrett was nice as can be and was kind enough to sign my Angels 50th Anniversary baseball under the logo with his mlb debut inscription.

 
Since I arrived a bit late the free Angels tickets ran out so I was stuck with four Discovery Science Center tickets. Thanks to my friend Phil, he traded me two of his Angels tickets for two of my Discovery Science Center tickets. Thus I was able to attend the game that night. Thanks to my friend Brian, I ended up trading two of my Discovery Science tickets for an extra wristband which helped me get another Garrett Richards autograph. This time I asked for the autograph on a ROMLB on the SS with the "Go Halos" inscription. 

 

Angels vs Tigers Series

I decided to graph the Tigers last weekend with the goal of getting Miguel Cabrera's autograph in person for the first time. As everyone knows he has been my white whale for quite some time. The goal was to get his autograph for the first time on my Miguel Cabrera Tigers authentic jersey. My second goal was to get Torii Hunter's autograph on my Torii Hunter Angels jersey.

The first autograph I got was from Torii Hunter who is always nice to the fans. He is an class act in baseball and always treats his fans well. I wish he still played for the Halos. Torii was kind enough to sign my Angels jersey along with a 2010 All Star baseball for me under the logo.

The next autograph was from Nick Castellanos who signed a ROMLB on the SS for me. I love taking risks with prospects so I had to drop a baseball on him. It also helped that he was a cool guy in person so I hope he has a good career in baseball.

The biggest surprise autograph was from Justin Verlander. He ended up signing four baseballs near the dugout and I happened to be in the correct position at the right time. I knew he was a side paneling reverse rawlings machine so I dropped a regular ROMLB on him expecting to get side panelled. I even asked for it under the mlb logo but he ignored my request. Luckily he was running with a blue pen and was only signing baseballs. He was side paneling commemorative baseballs so I settled for a standard ROMLB nicely signed reverse rawlings style which is the way I love it.

The sweetspot MLB authenticated Verlander I obtained was via a trade last year so it was nice to finally obtain his autograph myself. I'm happy to say I have two Verlander signed baseballs in my PC.

The next autograph was from future HOFer Omar Vizquel who kindly signed my ROMLB on the SS for me.

And finally the drought was over. I ended up getting Miggy to sign my jersey.

Mariners and Orioles Graphing Recaps

Here is a relatively short recap of Mariners and Orioles graphing.

I did poorly when I graphed the Mariners partly due to my work schedule which caused me to miss out on both Cano and King Felix when the series began on Friday.

However I was able to get Kyle Seager on a 2014 All Star baseball with the 1st All Star Game inscription.

Corey Hart also signed my 2008 All Star baseball under the logo as well. However he denied my request of adding the 1st ASG inscription.

I also got cards signed by James Jones, Justin Smoak, Endy Chavez, Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Chris Young.

On a brighter note I did get Mike Trout on a 2012 All Star ball thanks to my buddy Caligraphs. Thanks again for the Trout baseball. Everyone make sure to follow him on IG even though he is planning on retirement soon. Caligraphs will be missed.

I also got a Pablo Sandoval on a 2011 All Star ball as well from my friend Matt. Thanks for the Pablo baseball Matt.

I didn't graph the Orioles much due to work. The one and only autograph I got postgame was from Manny Machado who signed a 2013 All Star ball for me.

I also ended up getting Nelson Cruz on a 2014 All Star ball with the assistance from my friend Tyler who was able to get me Nelson's autograph during the second game of the series which I missed once again due to my busy work schedule.

I want to thank Tyler again for his generosity.

Stars and Strikes Celebrity Bowling Classic

I'm basically not even going to get into details of this event since my friend Ryan summed it up best on his blog.

It was a charity bowling event hosted by Bobby Wagner of the Seahawks and Omar Bolden of the Broncos who were both local NFL players that grew up in the Inland Empire. A donation of $75 basically got you in the door.

We were there with the hopes of meeting Superbowl hero Russell Wilson who was one of the invited guests to the event along with NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, Darren Collison, Duke Ihenacho and Chris Carter.

The handler at the door who was from Russell Wilson's Pass Academy even confirmed that Russell would be at the event so we had no problem making the donation to get inside the event.

Unfortunately out of the invited guests only Darren Collison, Duke Ihenacho and Chris Carter ended up showing up. Collison showed up after the event was over. We were all upset since we were misled by Russell's handler who falsely told us that Russell would be attending the event to draw more people in for more donations.

What made matters worse is how Bobby Wagner, who was one of the hosts, treated all of us in a rude manner and was a complete jerk to us. He seemed annoyed when people were asking him for autographs or photo ops. I thought that since it was his charity event, I expected the host to be nicer to his guests.

I ended up getting one photo signed by Bobby Wagner. Again it was rushed since he wasn't in the mood to sign. I guess people change for the worse when they win the Superbowl.

On the other hand Omar Bolden was extremely nice to all of the guests posing for photos and signing for anyone who asked for his autograph. I ended up getting a photo signed by Omar as well.

Finally Darren Collison showed up after the event ended and I ended up with two signed photos.

Mark Appel

I decided to check out the Quakes vs Jethawks game after work today with the purpose of getting Mark Appel's autograph. I know Mark has been struggling in the minors this year but I still wanted to add him to my PC since he was the number one pick in the 2013 MLB draft.

Mark was kind enough to sign my ROMLB on the SS.

Afterwards I left and skipped post game graphing. It was another long week at work and I needed a break.

Blue Jays Graphing

Normally I would skip this series as well since it was on a weekday but I had to meet up my friend Josh aka Dodgerbobble to complete a trade we had completed weeks ago. I also had to meet up my buddy Rob to pick up my order of 2014 All Star baseballs.

Speaking of the trade I want to thank my buddy Josh for another successful transaction. Here's Johnny Cueto.

Thanks again Rob for picking up the 2014 All Star baseballs for me. I hope to get some of these signed this year.

As for the autographs I ended up getting Colby Rasmus, JA Happ, Josh Thole, and Juan Francisco on cards. Apparently Juan Francisco doesn't sign 2014 Heritage cards since the guy pictured on the card isn't him. He was cool though and signed four out of five for me.

I also got a haggard autograph from RA Dickey. I forgot to ask him to personalize my baseball so he ended up destroying my 2012 All Star baseball.

Last but not least I got Melky Cabrera on a 2012 All Star Game baseball. Although he was implicated for PEDs I still had to add him to my personal collection since he was the MVP of the All Star Game in 2012. He's also a tough autograph so I was happy to add him to my PC. Sadly he denied my request for the "ASG MVP" inscription. Apparently he can't inscribe since he is under "contracto."

Giants Graphing At Petco Park Sucks Ass

The title just says it all in this graphing recap. My buddy Ryan and I decided to carpool to San Diego on 4th of July to watch the Padres play the Giants. Our goal today was to get as many autographs from the Giants as possible and to also get as many 2014 Topps Heritage cards signed as well since Ryan is collecting the set.

Since Ryan has season tickets were were able to get inside Petco Park 2 hours before the game started. Normally regular fans without season seats can enter 1.5 hours prior to the start of the game.

As soon as we entered the Padres were already at batting practice.

We decided to wait for the Giants over the dugout.

The first player to sign was Gregor Blanco near the outfield. We raced over there but we got there too late. He also signed again over the dugout but literally skipped us and signed to the group to the left of us and then to the right of us. 

The only current member of the Giants to sign for us was Brandon Crawford who signed my Topps Heritage card for me.

The picture above shows two cards signed by Santiago Casilla and four cards signed by Will Venable. Those autos were obtained postgame. 

The highlight of the day was running into Aubrey Huff who we ran into randomly near the homeplate seats. He was there with his two sons celebrating 4th of July at the ballpark. Aubrey was kind enough to sign my 2010 WS baseball under the logo with the 2010 World Series Champ inscription.

Post game graphing at Petco Park was terrible. Apparently the Giants have a team rule they don't sign outside the ballpark when they are in San Diego. We were literally denied by every Giants player except Santiago Casilla when we approached them for autographs after the game. Ryan and I had a talk with Tim Hudson and he told us about the rule where the Giants aren't allowed to sign in San Diego. Apparently some idiot grapher in SD was too aggressive trying to get Buster Posey's autograph at the hotel. Idiots ruin it for all of us. I hate aggressive graphers in general. 

On a brighter note it was still a fun day chilling with my friend Ryan. I hope our next trip to SD is more successful. If any of my readers have extra signed 2014 Heritage cards available for sale or trade make sure to contact Ryan. He's collecting the set right now.

Astros Graphing

I devoted one day to graph the Astros. Normally I would take time off and not graph the Astros but I got suckered into the hype of Jose Altuve and George Springer.

I got cards signed by Scott Feldman, Jarred Cosart, Carlos Corporan, Jose Altuve, Brad Peacock, and Jonathan Singleton. Scott was a cool guy as usual. He helped me get Jarred Cosart and Brad Peacock to sign for me as well.

I finally dropped a baseball on Jose Altuve. He's really underrated in my opinion due to his diminutive stature but the guy can hit. He was kind enough to sign my 2012 All Star baseball under the logo with 1st All Star inscription.

Finally I got George Springer. He was signing up a storm as some graphers ended up getting 8 Sports Illustrated magazine covers signed this past weekend. I was happy to get my 1 ROMLB signed on the SS.