Angels Workout 3-30-14

Thanks to a tip from my friends Yosh and Joe I decided to graph the Angels Workout during their off day. The workout was voluntary as only half of the Angels showed up to get their workouts in prior to Opening Day.

The workout was quite a productive day of Angels graphing compared to the previous day where I was only able to get Matt Shoemaker's autograph.

I ended up getting cards signed by Hector Santiago, Joe Smith, Kole Calhoun, and John McDonald.

Tyler Skaggs ended up signing an entire page of cards for me after we had a conversation regarding a pair of Nike Roshe Runs he was wearing that day.

Josh Hamilton signed my 2009 All Star ball for me and a standard ROMLB on the SS. For some reason no bible verse today.

Last but not least I was finally able to get David Freese's autograph on my 2011 World Series ball. For some reason I was nervous when I asked him for his autograph and accidentally asked him to inscribe 2012 World Series MVP instead of 2011 WS MVP. We all got a good laugh about it and David was in good spirits after I told him I messed up because I was nervous. He happily signed my 2011 WS baseball with the correct inscription.

Yosh didn't have anything for Freese since he already had Freese sign his items at Spring Training so he helped me get a ROMLB signed on the SS with the same inscription. Thanks again Yosh.

It was cool of David Freese to also include his old jersey number on his autographs. Another cool thing he did was for my friend Jeremy. For some reason his bic pen failed on him so the autograph came out really light since the pen didn't start initially. David ended up going back and retraced the signature carefully so it would look nicer without even Jeremy asking him to resign the baseball.

Angels vs Dodgers Game 3-29-14

After the whole Fiesta Angels fiasco, Benson and I decided to check out the Angels vs Dodgers game. Thanks to Benson who had an extra ticket for me we were able to graph the Dodgers during batting practice.

It just felt good to be back after a long absence from the stadium during the offseason. It was also a reunion of some sorts since all the graphers were there along with all the nice ushers at the stadium.

In the beginning there wasn't much action going on in terms of graphing but I did get my first BP ball of the year from Joc Pederson.

The first player to sign over the dugout was Matt Kemp who has always been cool with me and signed my 2012 All Star Baseball under the logo. The reason why I had to get this baseball signed was because I needed something to match my Matt Kemp 2012 All Star Homerun Derby jersey. I really hope Matt has a comeback season this year.

Next up was Zach Lee who signed a ROMLB on the SS for me.

That was pretty much it for BP graphing. It was certainly a slow day at the office today. Post game graphing wasn't any better as only Dee Gordon and Chone Figgins signed for us.

Dee was strictly one per today but thanks to my friend Ryan I was able to get two cards signed by Dee.

The highlight of the night was getting Chone Figgins' autograph. I've always wanted to add his auto to my personal collection since I'm trying to get every key member of the 2002 Angels World Series Championship team on a single SS ROMLB. I've been trying to chase down Chone since his Mariner days so it was nice to finally add his autograph to my collection. Chone was also nice enough to inscribe 2002 WSC on the baseball as well.

Mike Trout Press Conference/Fiesta Angels 3-29-14

After getting our photos signed by Hank Conger and Chris Iannetta, Benson and I headed straight towards Angels Stadium.

We decided to head towards the Angels parking lot to check and see if any of the Angels would sign coming in. Sadly nobody signed except Matt Shoemaker who signed my first 2014 Topps heritage card for me.

Afterwards we headed out to Fiesta Angels.

The Mike Trout press conference was actually held inside Fiesta Angels inside the stadium parking lot. As soon as the gates opened we decided to go straight towards the stage where Mike Trout was going to be hoping to get his autograph. The Angels held a press conference for him to announce his six year $144.5 million dollar contract extension. You can read about it here. 

Our goal was to position ourselves to get Mike Trout's autograph after he was finished talking to media at his press conference.

Unfortunately we chose the wrong side as Mike Trout entered on the left side of the stage while we were stuck on the right side. Many Angel alumni and current players such as Albert Pujols, Jered Weaver, David Freese and Raul Ibanez were on hand to support Mike on his new contract extension.

However in the end the positioning didn't matter as Trout and the rest of the Angels in attendance didn't sign any autographs coming in and leaving the press conference. 

More bad news was the fact that Fiesta Angels was a complete bust as none of the current players of the Angels were part of the autograph sessions.  The first autograph session included Gary Disarcina, Don Baylor and Steve Soliz. The afternoon autograph session included Chuck Finley and I think Mark Langston. Pretty much guys that always sign so autograph wise the Fiesta was a complete bust so I skipped the entire thing.

On a side note the Angels need to revamp their fanfest aka fiesta and follow what other teams do. First of all they should release an autograph schedule of who is signing to make the event more organized. They can also sell autograph vouchers like what most other teams do with all proceeds going to charity. Maybe do a charity donation of $100 per person who wants to get an autograph from top players like Pujols and Trout and maybe a $50 donation for players like Hamilton and Weaver and $20 for the rest of the other players. It was just a thought. In terms of season ticket holder benefits I think the Halos are way behind compared to the benefits that other season tickets holders get from other mlb teams.

Since Fiesta was a complete bust we decided to grab a quick bite and headed towards the stadium to graph the Dodgers during BP.

Hank Conger and Chris Iannetta Signing at Stadium Nissan 3-29-14

Today was going to be one of those long all day graphing affairs. It's been a long time since I graphed so it was nice to be back for baseball season. The first stop was the Hank Conger and Chris Iannetta signing at Stadium Nissan. The signing at Stadium Nissan was scheduled to take place from 11am-1pm.

The last time I was here was when Peter Bourjos and Ernesto Frieri had an autograph signing. You can read the recap here. The main goal why I even attended this signing was to get my Hank Conger 11x14 photo signed. I had this photo for over two years now. My friend Cherine was the one who gave me the photo as a gift but I was too lazy to chase Hank around the stadium to get it signed until today. Hank is usually great about signing but whenever I ran into him last year I wouldn't have the photo with me or i'd bring the photo on a day he wasn't signing. Today was the day to finally get the photo signed.

I arrived at around 10am since I didn't expect a large turnout. Luckily I was right as only about 30 people were ahead of me when I got in line.

I met up with my friend Benson who was nice enough to hook me up with an 8x10 Chris Iannetta photo since I was too lazy to properly prepare for this signing. Thanks again Benson for the photo.

The line ran smoothly as it was strictly one autograph from each player per person. Since the line was short a lot of people went back in line to get multiple items signed. I was just happy to get the photos done today. Chris was the first to sign and he signed my 8x10 photo for me.

Afterwards Hank signed my 11x14 photo and was nice enough to inscribe "Go Halos." I asked him if he had a Korean signature but unfortunately he told me he didn't have one but is learning how to write in Korean.

The picture above shows Hank staring at the photo Benson brought him to sign. Hank was literally staring at the photo for a few minutes so Benson and I were both thinking that Hank had trouble deciding which area would be the perfect spot to sign. Hank was impressed by the photo and told us he really liked it so we offered to hook him up with the same photo next time we run into him at the stadium.

After we got our photos signed we headed straight towards Angels Stadium to check out the Mike Trout Press Conference and Angels Fiesta.

Ken Landreaux Signing Saturday March 15, 2014 from 3-4pm

Randy Johnson at USC, Coach Rod Dedeaux Statue Ceremony

I decided to go to USC this morning to check out the unveiling ceremony for a statue to honor legendary Coach Rod Dedeaux. Scheduled guest speakers included Randy Johnson and Tommy Lasorda. The ceremony was scheduled to take place at 11:30am.

I arrived at Dedeaux Field about an hour before the ceremony. As soon as I arrived there were already about 20 graphers waiting for Randy Johnson inside the stadium. Randy was also there talking to one of the organizers of the event.

It was weird to see everyone just waiting for Randy but then I found out Randy denied everyone but promised that he would sign later. For me it just felt odd being in enemy territory since i'll always be a UCLA guy.

Before the event started Randy was being interviewed by KCAL 9.

I could tell that Randy was genuinely a humble guy and preferred to be out of the spotlight. He literally stood about a foot away from us in the back of the stage area and didn't sit in the VIP section throughout the entire ceremony. He was actually one of two people to donate money to create the statue to honor Coach Dedeaux.

Here is a photo of Randy below giving a speech to the crowd discussing his personal memories of Coach Rod Dedeaux.

Here is a photo below of Tommy Lasorda talking to the crowd as well.

After the speeches were completed they unveiled Coach Dedeaux's statue.

Afterwards Randy walked out of Dedeaux Field and signed as he was being escorted by security to his car. He did end up keeping his promise but he was mobbed by about 50 people including both graphers and casual fans asking for autographs. Randy ended up signing about 10 autographs. Luckily I was one of the few to get his autograph today. Even though it was a side panel short version of Randy's autograph it was nice to add his autograph to the collection.

I want to give a shoutout to all of my fellow graphers including Matt Crocker, Jose, David A, Josh, Jordan, Clint, Eddie, Larry, Jesse, Stephan, Roberto, Tyler, Mike, Gabriel, Steve Z, Michael, Greg, Jared, Bruce, Daniel and the rest of the graphers who were out there today.

Padres Fanfest 2014 Part II

We headed back to Petco Park from Fowler Park. Luckily both stadiums were close to each other so we didn't miss much during our brief intermission. The next autograph line we went to was for Jedd Gyorko and Casey Kelly.

Casey was cool as usual and he signed three cards for me.

Jedd ended up signing a ROMLB on the SS for me and was nice enough to add the "Go Pads" inscription above my baseball.

Afterwards we went to the Cameron Maybin and Kyle Blanks autograph session.

Cameron jokingly said he doesn't like to sign Florida Marlins cards. I initially thought he was being serious so I told him I didn't know and that it was my bad for bringing the card. Luckily he was joking as he ended up signing the Marlins card as well as three other cards for me.

Kyle signed two cards for me

I ended up going to the Eric Stults and Eric Owens autograph session to help my friend David A get his cards signed. I had nothing for both guys. I did take this photo of the jersey that Eric Stults was wearing today.

If you look closely he is wearing his own signed jersey with MLB authentication. I'm guessing this jersey will eventually end up at a Padres charity event in a silent auction one day.

Afterwards we went to the Everth Cabrera and Dale Thayer autograph session. I didn't have anything prepped for Dale to sign so I ended up getting a standard Padres Fanfest card signed by him. Everth signed two cards for me.

Next up was Nick Hundley and Tommy Medica. I had cards for Nick and nothing for Tommy so I ended up with another Padres Fanfest card signed. Tommy for some reason signed the card backward.

Afterwards we decided to go to the Xavier Nady autograph session. There I ran into my friend Spencer who as no surprise brought his Yankee plaque with him. Spencer travels all across the country with that famous plaque getting all the significant Yankees on that piece. It's simply impressive. Here are two photos below of happy Spencer and stone-faced Spencer holding his famous Yankee plaque.

Xavier ended up signing two cards for me. As he was signing he asked me how the event was going and I let him know I had no complaints since the Padres always do a good job of organizing fanfest. Xavier mentioned that he has signed at several different fanfest events over the years and told me that the Pirates Fest is the worst since it is totally unorganized. I hope members of the Pirates organization never read this comment. Hopefully Pirates Fest is more organized now that the team is playing much better these days.

Afterwards we went to the Player Forum Q and A session near the home dugout to hear Yonder Alonso, Chris Denorfia, Josh Johnson, and Joaquin Benoit talk to the fans and answer questions regarding the upcoming season.

Yonder ended up signing a card for me once the player forum was over.

The last autograph session of the day was for Nick Vincent and Andrew Cashner. I had nothing for Nick to sign so I ended up getting a Padres Fanfest card signed by Nick and Andrew signed four cards for me one of which (not pictured) was for my friend Alex A who was too tired to wait in line.

Overall it was another awesome day of graphing in San Diego. It was fun graphing and chatting it up with everyone today. I want to thank the Padres as well as the staff for running another successful and well organized Fanfest this year.