on March 23rd, 2010 by rosschrisman2003
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on March 23rd, 2010 by Tuff Stuff
Fresh off a week-long vacation in Arizona to see some sites and check
out my first Spring Training action.
I came back with a new-found insight on the autograph collecting business and zero
signed baseballs.
I left for the trip hoping to get signatures from Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Trevor
Hoffman, three of my favorite players from my favorite team. Because this was my first
Spring Training experience, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and quickly found out
that getting signatures is about as predictable as an episode of “Lost.”
I quickly learned that I basically had two choices: I could stay in my sweet seats
behind home plate and hope to meet up with Mr. Braun and Mr. Fielder another day or
I could join the masses hanging out around the player’s entrance to the field and
catch the highlights of the game on SportsCenter. But there was definitely no way
I could do both.
At Maryvale Park, the best place to get up close and ask for autograph requests is
down the left field line near the tunnel where the players enter the field after exiting
the locker room. Me and my ever-helpful fiance arrived at the park more than an hour
before the start of the game but soon found out we already missed out on our best
chance at success.
I’m guessing that if we would have arrived about a half-hour earlier when the players
were finishing up BP we could’ve had a better shot by trying to catch them as they
went back into the locker room but you live, you learn.
We had fifth-row seats that were sweeter than the homemade carmel corn they were selling
in the stands so getting up to roam the park was about as likely as seeing a no-hitter.
And if you knew the pitching matchup that day you’d probably toss in odds on seeing
a triple play as well.
Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan got the start on this day and a typical outing from the
most overpaid pitcher in the league made our decision to wander the park much easier.
If there is one player who has ever transformed one impressive postseason performance
into more in the history of the game I’ve yet to be made aware of him. This guy and
his $12.5 million-a-year contract have held the Brewers hostage for more than three
years now and his batting practice-level of pitches seems to have somehow gotten worse
this Spring.
In typical Suppan fashion, his outing lasted as long as it took my to get a beer,
with the visiting Angels batting around and taking a 5-0 lead in the top of the first.
We rode out the next few innings and an 8-2 deficit before embarking on our autograph
adventures. I mean how long does the opposition need to redirect his pitches over
the fence before Brewers’ management bites the bullet, admits they made a $42 mistake
and send him packing? I realize that money makes you do some crazy things (just ask
Tiger) but this guy brings nothing to the mix and we all know it. But I digress.
We headed down to the left-field area and waited along the fence in hopes of some
straggling players coming out or maybe we’d catch some others heading in for an early
shower. The area was already four deep and probably 16-20 people wide so there was
little hope of waiting it out there. We then went to the bullpen area and actually
saw Yovanni Gallardo signing for a few but unless you were 10 years old or younger
you received very little of his attention.
The next hope was to catch Hoffman before he warmed up but it seemed as though Suppan’s
brief outing caused him to start loosening up ahead of schedule.
At the end of the fifth inning we noticed that a couple of Angel players were done
for the day and were signing along the outfield wall before exiting the field. I figured
some of the Brewers star players would likely be calling it a day soon as well so
we headed to the fence and joined the masses.
Braun and Fielder eventually came by the area and denied the numerous requests from
fans as they pulled the ole “keep your head down and just pretend we don’t see them
trick” and walked away without laying down one lash of the Sharpie.
After missing almost three innings of action, we headed out beyond the fence in right
field and copped a sweet spot on the grassy hill. With a full beverage the sun feeling
better than any autograph conquest I could imagine, we gave up on our mission and
got back to our jobs as fans. The Brewers made a late rally but came up short, but
it didn’t matter. We came away with zero signed baseballs, but it didn’t matter. The
day was a success because of the experience, the company and the fun we had.
On my next trip to Spring Training, I’ll either plan to only go to get autographs
or to only enjoy the action of the game. Because the one thing I found out on this
first trip is that to have the best chance at success for either, you definitely can’t
try and do both.
Continue reading about Autograph hunting without a gameplan »
Posted in 7th Inning Stretch
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