To commemorate Memorial Day the players were wearing camo hats and camo lettering and numbering on their jerseys today. I took a few photos of Kershaw, Capuano and Ryu warming up.
Ronald Belisario was sitting by the outfield signing for fans. I didn't have anything for him so I didn't get his autograph today. There wasn't much signing going on today during Dodger BP.
Benson and I decided to get in line for the autograph corral in aisle 27. Then we noticed that Josh Hamilton was signing near the Angels dugout so we walked over there to get Josh's autograph instead. We should have headed straight over there as we later on found out that Josh handed out four pairs of batting gloves and signed them for fans. Josh was literally signing for about 15 minutes for everyone. This reminded me of the Josh Hamilton press conference where he literally signed for everyone. Josh belongs in the HOF of graphing as he is one of the most fan friendly superstars in the game. Josh ended up signing my 2011 Rawlings World Series ball for me.
As soon as I got the autograph from Josh I got a text from my friend Alex that Beto Duran the reporter for ESPN Radio in Los Angeles posted a picture of me getting Josh's autograph on his twitter page along with his instagram page.
I swear it's insane how fast information travels nowadays through social media. I can't hide from all the graphers anymore.
It was already a nice start to the day.
Afterwards Albert Pujols began to sign over the dugout after BP. Thus me, Benson and Rob headed over to the dugout to get Albert's autograph. Albert signed down the line until someone threw a baseball out of turn. Rob and I were in line to be the next ones to get his auto and as you know it Albert stopped signing. This was a bummer since Albert was in a good mood and was giving out his medium quality signature and not the crappy APS he gives out at Angel Stadium. He even signed under the MLB logo for some of the fans. What sucks is that the guys who threw the baseball out of turn to him ended up getting Albert's autograph and we didn't. It sucks being the polite grapher who follows the proper rules for graphing yet gets screwed over all the time. This reminded me of the day I missed out on Prince Fielder. I was a bit fumed after this happened but I was happy for my buddy Josh who finally got Albert's autograph. No more black cloud for you Josh.
I needed a moment to cool down a bit. I wanted to get Mike Trout's autograph to end my Trout drought of two years so I decided to wait until he was finished stretching after the national anthem.
Finally the drought was over. Mike signed a handful of autographs today I was lucky enough to get his autograph on my jersey. I finally got my jersey signed which completely made up for the miss on Pujols. This exemplifies the emotional highs and lows of this insane hobby we call graphing.
I took a photo of Trout running back to the dugout after signing my jersey for me.
Getting Mike Trout's autograph capped another memorable Memorial Day of graphing for me at the stadium.
Black cloud is gone. I cannot complain anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe Trout jersey looks so damn good. You gotta get that bad boy framed and hung on the wall.
I got one more Trout jersey to complete which is the All Star BP jersey. I'm stoked on how this one came out. The projects just never end.
DeleteMan you killed it yesterday Josh. Getting Hamilton and Albert on the same day is an HOF day. Keep up the good work. Yes the black cloud indeed has disappeared for you bro.
Great pick ups for the both of you. I had to the authenticated PSA route so far til I can get IP of both
ReplyDeleteThanks. As for Trout there is nothing wrong buying one that is already PSAed. He's one of the top players in the game.
DeleteGoing to OAK in Sept have seats right next to Angel dugout. I hope to pull off what you guys did. PSA are nice but never as good as IP
DeleteSame here...big Angels and Dodger fans but live on the East Coast
ReplyDelete