2013 All Star Fanfest Recap! Part 3!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, considering this is a continuation of the past few posts, I'm left without much else to say. Enjoy what's left of our adventure!

I left off yesterday after I was able to add George Foster to my signed baseball collection, and from that point forward I was relatively content. Just kidding, because if you could identify either or both of the men above you knew I was hungry for some more signed balls. I came across a Q&A session in the clubhouse with none other than Cardinals legends Ozzie Smith and Lou Brock! I listened to a very small amount of the conversation, as I was more focused on trying to prepare for their exit. I overheard the security guards say that they would go out the back entrance, and considering I thought I knew the place, I headed over to this "back entrance". Sure enough, they left out of another door, and I was left chasing down Ozzie Smith along with an enormous mob of people. Smith was in the midst of signing a few autographs when security told him to stop signing, and he seemed a little annoyed about that. 

He wound up joining Cal Ripken Jr. at the MLB TV station, where we had previously gotten Frank Thomas and Jack Morris. But, since Ripken had already been sitting there, we were camped out way in the back of the enormous crowd. I decided to leave because I figured it was all a lost cause, but Mike and Vinny decided to try a little longer. They were unsuccessful again, unfortunately.

By the time I came back to the station, Ripken and Smith had exited and Brock was being interviewed. But, the huge crowd was still there, so I again, decided to leave. Dad and I went for a little stroll around the building, and all of a sudden we caught a monster roaming around. Andre Dawson was walking around in the store with security guards, picking through some shirts. When he came out from the aisle, I politely asked him if he could sign for me, considering there weren't many people around. Before Dawson had the chance to open his mouth, the security guard said "No, he can't". Andre gave me a look as if to say "I would if I could, kid". It was really disappointing to see the security as difficult as it was at the show. I mean, had they been more open to allowing players to sign at FANfest, I may have been able to go home with signed balls of Ozzie Smith, Andre Dawson, Andrew McCutchen, and quite possibly Cal Ripken Jr. I understood that players have schedules and what not but I didn't think it could've killed Mr. Dawson to sign one ball in a relatively empty store. Whatever. 

Dad and I came back to the MLB station to find Vinny and Mike, and as we came across them we also came across a familiar face entering the building, at least for me. Mike, Vinny, and Dad had no idea who it was, but I knew the face when I saw him. Mr. Marlin himself, Jeff Conine! Conine was a solid player in his day, and I guess he decided to show up for some particular reason (we didn't follow him around). Before he entered the room, he signed for Dad and Vinny, because Mike and I didn't have anything to really add him on. Conine would be the last player to sign for my Dad, so he left with this beautiful custom made (by me) picture of Citi Field celebrating the All Star festivities!

The picture is signed by Frank Thomas, Gaylord Perry, Jack Morris, Jeff Conine, Jim Leyritz, George Foster, and Rollie Fingers! Leyritz' autograph came with the MLB authentication sticker, so it made the photo look pretty legitimate. I'm glad I decided to customize a picture, because it sure did come out nicely, even though nobody signed to like the right field bleachers. I'm planning on framing this and hanging it up, in commemoration of the event!

Following Conine's autograph, we decided to start wrapping things up. Since the building had been basically divided into two huge rooms, we finally got to check out some of the side we entered through. Most of this side was composed of memorabilia/card dealers and some exhibits/fun family activities. However, ESPN Radio was also staged over on that side, and it had previously had Gaylord Perry and Tim Teufel as free signers earlier on. My favorite author Mike Lupica was doing his radio show earlier as well, but at the time we got there his show was long over. Instead, Don La Greca and Yankees announcer Michael Kay were doing their show! I have grown up with Michael Kay as the Yankees announcer, and since he's about 100 times better than John Sterling, I've always respected him. He isn't Bob Uecker or Vin Scully, but he definitely holds his own and knows what he is talking about.

A fan standing to the side of the booth waved to Mr. Kay during his break as if to grab his attention for autographs, and Kay gave him the "one minute" signal. Mike, Vinny, and I joined in behind the fan in line, but we knew we had to hurry because he probably would have to go back on air shortly. However, we all got a chance to go up on stage, greet him and talk to him. Unfortunately this was where wearing a Pirates jersey did me wrong, but I explained to Michael that I wore it to get McCutchen's attention and that I'm a diehard Yankee fan, and that I really enjoy listening to him. He was really cool about it and appreciative, and he signed my ball on the sidepanel. It still looks pretty awesome to me, but say what you want!

Although I wasn't wearing the proper attire, I'm really glad we all got to meet him! It was so surreal hearing his voice as he talked to us, considering I've listened to him as long as I've been a baseball fan. We all agreed that he was a good way to complete the day, and that from that point on we could have a little fun before we made the trek over to our next stop (see next post)! As we talked about the rest of the plan, Dad came back over from the Topps booth with a handful of cards, topped by this one:

The special at the Topps booth was one All Star commemorative card per every 3 packs bought by customers. I planned to take part in this but I completely forgot about it, but I'm glad Dad wasn't shy! He bought 3 packs of 2013 Bowman, the first tastes I've gotten of the product. Well, it looks nice to me, and take a look at what I ended up getting!

I'm not really into cards as much as I used to be, but I will never really turn them down, unless they're commons from the junk wax era. I plan on using many of these for future through the mail requests, so again, this was definitely appreciated Dad!

From there, we basically just walked around, snapping pictures in every direction, and as we headed out, we posed for a photo with the Fanfest "World's Largest Baseball", which is below the header of the post. I want to thank Dad once again for everything he did for me at this show, along with my buddies for accompanying me, although they seemed to have had a great time as well. But this trip wasn't over yet...

See Ya!

2013 All Star Fanfest Recap! Part 2!

Hey guys, Drew back here! In case you haven't noticed, I decided to bring my blog back to the old design. I couldn't tolerate needing to update my Java every other day in order for the page to actually load correctly. Sorry if the site was inconvenient to any of you, but fortunately now we are right back on track. So when I left you all yesterday, I just finished showing off my "Big Hurt" and Jack Morris signed balls, after a very unlucky opportunity with my favorite player. Let's continue my coverage of 2013 Fanfest, shall we?

After we finished adding Morris and Thomas to our collections, we immediately bounced over the Sirius XM Radio station. Rumor had it that Curtis Granderson was there earlier and that they were planning on having Cal Ripken Jr. there along with Bud Selig later on! Sure enough, the "Ripken Baseball" interview was just getting underway at Sirius with Cal and host Adam Schein. Had we not had specific goals that day, we would've all stayed and listened to the legend talk, but instead, we rotated in and out of the station, making sure to keep our spot in case he signed autographs. While I was holding our spot, I recorded a little bit of what Cal had to say about the steroid era. Check it out:

Cal spent the better portion of two hours answering fan's questions, and it was really entertaining to hear his opinions on many of the games current issues. I wasn't too concerned about getting his autograph, since I already paid to do so earlier this year. However, I wouldn't have minded a second one, and I wanted to help my buddies add him to their collections. After the interview, he signed for many of the people there, but it was probably the biggest mob I've ever dealt with in a signing before. I ditched out because it wasn't worth all of the pushing and shoving for me, while my friends hung around. Unfortunately, they were pushed around so much that after about an additional hour of trying, they came up short as well.

While they desperately tried to get Cal to sign for them, I moved to the WFAN station where former Yankee Jim Leyritz was signing. I haven't heard much about Leyritz since his legal troubles a few years ago, and I didn't even know if he was in prison or not. However, you could have never guessed what happened to him if you met him that day. He was as nice of a guy as they came! I told him I'm a big Yankee fan despite the Pirates jersey, and he curiously asked me why I was wearing it, and I told him it was in order to try and get McCutchen's attention. I told him how all of that went down and he seemed pretty sympathetic. I asked him if he could inscribe 1996 World Series champions because that was the year I was born, and he was more than happy to oblige. Unfortunately, the security didn't allow a picture, but I snapped a few from the bottom of the stage as I walked away. I'm glad I got to meet Mr. Leyritz because it gave me an entirely new opinion on him as a person, so I can begin to watch his classic playoff home runs again without thinking of his darker times.

While we were in line to meet Leyritz, we overheard a few people talking about Rollie Fingers signing autographs. I didn't expect to see him there because he wasn't on the lineup, but I should've known better considering he had been there every other day of the show. Sure enough, we bounced over to the Fergie Jenkins Foundation area, which asked for $20-30 donations for any of the players signing. Bert Campaneris, Gaylord Perry, and Rollie Fingers all were sitting there with very short lines. I ended up getting Fingers while my Dad paid to get Gaylord Perry. We passed on Bert because he normally signs TTM for free and I didn't have much interest in adding a signed ball of his.

Rollie was as cool as always, and after he signed my baseball, I told him that his signature is beautiful, but not as beautiful as the moustache. I wonder how many times he's heard that one before. He was kind and friendly to us as he had been when Dad & I met him last summer, and I'm glad we took advantage of meeting him again.

Mike was currently holding down the fort for Cal at the time, but when I told him about Fingers signing he gave up and gave in for the handlebar man. I got him a picture with Mr. Fingers and told him "long time no see"! After Mike got his autograph, we left the station and started to roam around. We saw an older man wearing a blue Detroit cap, and neither of us knew who he was.. but we decided to get him anyway. There is no situation more awkward than when you're trying to get an autograph of an unrecognizable person, however we politely asked the man if he could sign for us and he was more than happy to. He asked us "Do you want my teams?" and we said sure, considering we'd use them later on to find out who he was. It turns out that it was Pedro Sierra, a former Negro League pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns and Detroit Stars.

Sierra was a nice surprise, and by the time we got him and made another loop around the building, we saw George Foster enter the building and go to the Fergie Jenkins foundation. For $20, I wasn't going to pass on one of the most underrated players on one of the best teams of all time. Foster was a quiet but relatively nice guy, and he was patient enough to wait for me to walk all the way around Fingers and Campaneris for a picture. While he was decked out in Mets stuff since he played most of his later years in New York, I'll always look at him as a member of the Big Red Machine, and I had him sign the ball recognizing just that.

So, I believe that Foster is a pretty solid place to stop for now, and I'll have the rest of FanFest for you guys tomorrow! Indeed, there is more! Keep on the lookout!

See Ya!

2013 All Star FanFest Recap! Part 1!

Hey guys, Drew back here! I have to tell you all, first and foremost, that Monday, July 15th was probably the longest day in my entire life. But even with that, it was definitely one of the best days I've had in a long time as well. Back in 2011, my good friend Mike happened to be on vacation in Arizona around the same time that the All Star festivities took place at Chase Field, the home of the Diamondbacks. We convinced him to go to some of the events for his own sake, and he came home with autographs from Josh Hamilton, Earl Weaver, and Miguel Cabrera from Fanfest, and witnessed New York's beloved second baseman Robinson Cano win the HR Derby in person. I was really happy to see him do well there, but from that point forward I was determined to do a similar trip when I got the chance. Sure enough, the All Star festivities took place at Citi Field in Queens, and FanFest was at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan! Once I heard of this news, I got tickets for some of the events, and I anticipated heavily for the day to arrive. Finally, July 15th came, and it started right at the crack of dawn. From 5:00 AM, we were ready and prepared to go to MLB FanFest. My Dad and I, along with my good friends Mike and Vinny were excited for a day we would hopefully never forget.

Transportation wasn't very difficult on the way to the Javits Center for us, and we successfully arrived as the doors were being opened. We got the commemorative patch as a giveaway for Military Appreciation Day, and we entered what was the largest baseball arena we've ever seen.

Immediately as we walked through the doors, we came across what Fanfest considers "the world's largest baseball", signed by many of the greatest players to ever live. While we promised ourselves that we'd go back to it later, we got a small glimpse of it as we walked past it. We had a goal in mind, and we wanted to be there before anyone else got there. 

At "The Diamond" field we went to, Andrew McCutchen was scheduled to run a Tee Ball clinic for the younger kids. We got there 15 minutes before it started and claimed a great spot along the side of the field. McCutchen, as many of you know, is one of my PC players and perhaps my current favorite player, so I was really excited at the chance of possibly adding a signed ball of his to my collection. Sure enough, Cutch arrived, and we watched the whole clinic, in which he joined the Kids team, taking on their parents. He was great with the kids, and I gained even more respect for him.

As the event was wrapping up, we got all of our stuff out and ready to go. McCutchen signed for the kids afterwards, and it was beginning to look unlikely that he would come over to us. A lady working for Fanfest actually took our balls and tried bringing them to him to have him sign them, but security refused to let her in and she brought them back. As he left, we followed the direction of the crowd and found our way to the front of the group. Security was wrapped around him like a blanket but at one point I managed to have an opening between him and I, and tried to take advantage. "Mr. McCutchen, you're my favorite player, I'm wearing your jersey!" He didn't even acknowledge me. I wasn't quiet, and I was certain he heard me. I was probably 2 feet away from him, side by side, and he didn't turn, wasn't appreciative or anything. At that point I didn't even want his autograph, I just wanted some sort of response, and I don't know how much security played into that but I feel like I lost some respect for him through the encounter.

Despite our early failures, we knew we had to bounce back because we still had a full day ahead of us. We roamed around the building for a while, but we stopped when we realized we were near the presence of a baseball player that probably could've played football. Through the crack in the MLB TV station, we saw "The Big Hurt", Frank Thomas!

Frank was in the midst of a lengthy conversation with a member of MLB TV, but when things simmered down, Vinny asked him if he could sign for us. He said he would in about an hour, as he was about to go on air. We started a line right by the station, and tuned in to the show that was about to begin! 

A minute or two into the show, we realized that Big Frank wasn't the only star on set, as former great Jack Morris joined him on set for the interview/Q&A session! We knew at that point that we needed to stay right there and wait for them to wrap the show up. Immediately following the show, MLB set up a quick table, and we were one of the first people in line! 

Yes indeed, all 4 of us added a Jack Morris and Frank Thomas autograph to our collections, and since Dad isn't a collector, I ended up with 2 of each! I told both of them as they signed for me that I can't wait for them to make it into the Hall of Fame, and they said they can't wait either. I told them I have my fingers crossed for them and that by signing they made me an even bigger fan. They were really awesome to us and they made up for the way McCutchen was. I still don't know how much security impacted all of that, but I still was a little disappointed my favorite player couldn't say hello to me at FANfest. Oh well.

 

Thanks so much to Jack Morris and Frank Thomas! Part 2 of the FanFest recap is coming up soon, so stay tuned!

See Ya!