2012 IP Success

[J.P]

Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, and Yuniesky Betancourt.

[Mike D.]

At the Pawtucket Red Sox Winter Hot Stove Party last night:

MGR Arnie Beyeler (SCAN)

OF Alex Hassan (SCAN)

SP Brandon Duckworth (SCAN1) (SCAN2)

SP Alex Wilson (SCAN1) (SCAN2)

C Luis Exposito (SCAN1) (SCAN2)

[icee82]

Attended the Reds Caravan last night in Charleston, WV. It was a madhouse but had a lot of luck!

Brandon Phillips on an 8 X 10 canvas photo in blue paint pen as well as a 16 X 20 photograph in blue Sharpie. (was completely immersed with whatever was going on with his phone and not really making a lot of eye contact with people)
Tucker Barnhart on an 11 X 18 photograph in black Sharpie (was doing a radio interview and not paying attention so he did not see my wife with the blue Sharpie) and an OMLB on the sweet spot in blue ink.
Marty Brennaman on an 8 X 10 photograph in black Sharpie.
Chris Welsh on an OMLB on the sweet spot in blue ink.

[J.P]

At the annual Joe Di Maggio Children's Hospital Legends game, all on cards:

Alex Arias
Stan Bahnsen
Paul Blair
Wayne Granger
Ricky Bones
Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd
Tony Gonzalez
Bert Campaneris
Orlando Cepeda
Oscar Gamble
Tommy Davis
Eddie Kranepool
Rudy May
Rich Nye
Fritz Peterson
Warren Crommartie
Jackie Hernandez
Willie Horton
Ken Rudolph
Orestes Destrade
Rusty Meacham
Rico Carty
Jim McAndrew
Dennis Rasmussen
Darold Knowles
Jeff Torborg
John O'Donoghue
Chris Hammond
Ron Swoboda
Ron Blomberg
Art Shamsky
Tony Taylor
Steve Whitaker
John "Blue Moon" Odom
Phil Linz
Anthony Telford

[dmbfan]

Last night, I attended the 4th Annual UNC First Pitch Baseball Dinner, which is held as a celebration of the program and to kick off the season. This year's event was the largest yet and continues to grow each year. Here was my autograph haul from last night:

Dustin Ackley: 4 8x10 photos, 2 small posters that were provided by UNC (referred to as small posters from this point forward), 4 cards

Alex White: 4 8x10 photos, 2 small posters, 3 cards

Daniel Bard: 2 8x10 photos, 2 small posters, 3 cards

Tim Federowicz: 2 custom 4x6 photos, 2 small posters, 4 cards

Chris Iannetta: 2 8x10 photos, 2 small posters, 6 cards

Andrew Miller: 2 8x10 photos, 2 small posters, 6 cards

Andrew Carignan: 4 custom 4x6 photos, 2 small posters, 2 cards

Chase Jones: 2 4x6 photos & 1 8x10 photo. He was the team student manager for 4 years but has an incredible story of being diagnosed with a brain tumor his Freshman year and has helped raise thousands of dollars for the UNC Children's Cancer Center.

Mike Fox (UNC Head Coach): 2 8x10 photos

Matt Harvey: 5 8x10 photos

Colin Moran (UNC Starting 3B): 1 8x10

The following were all on 2 4x6 photos:

Scott Forbes (UNC Asst Coach)
Scott Jackson (UNC Asst Coach)
Colin Bates (Current Nationals' Minor Leaguer)
Mike Cavasinni (Former UNC Player)
Chad Flack (Former UNC Player)
Mark Fleury (Curent Reds' Minor Leaguer)
Garrett Gore (Former UNC Player)
Ryan Graepel (Former UNC Player)
Rob Wooten (Current Brewers' Minor Leaguer)

There were other former players there as well but I didn't have anything for them to sign. Everyone was great and very nice about signing and talking about baseball, UNC, and life in general.

[Mike D.]

Wow, quite a haul dmbfan! Sounds like a really fun event!

[hellborn]

WOW!!
That's incredible!

At the annual Joe Di Maggio Children's Hospital Legends game, all on cards:

Alex Arias
Stan Bahnsen
Paul Blair
Wayne Granger
Ricky Bones
Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd
Tony Gonzalez
Bert Campaneris
Orlando Cepeda
Oscar Gamble
Tommy Davis
Eddie Kranepool
Rudy May
Rich Nye
Fritz Peterson
Warren Crommartie
Jackie Hernandez
Willie Horton
Ken Rudolph
Orestes Destrade
Rusty Meacham
Rico Carty
Jim McAndrew
Dennis Rasmussen
Darold Knowles
Jeff Torborg
John O'Donoghue
Chris Hammond
Ron Swoboda
Ron Blomberg
Art Shamsky
Tony Taylor
Steve Whitaker
John "Blue Moon" Odom
Phil Linz
Anthony Telford

[J.P]

Brayan Peña, on his 04 Topps card.

[J.P]

WOW!!
That's incredible!

Thanks, it all happens so quickly, I was surprised myself when I did a total count.

[Allie Fox]

Yesterday I caught up with the Braves Caravan in Macon, Georgia. Randall Delgado, Eddie Perez and Craig Kimbrel. Don Sutton came to town but was a no show at the autograph signing.

Perez was about as personable as always. Delgado was quiet but I don't think he speaks much English (at least that was MY impression). Kimbrel was great. Yakkin' it up with fans young and old. He gave my son and me a "hard time" because of his Mantle shirt and my Yankee cap. When my boy turned around to show him it was Mantle Kimbrel said, "We' ll give you a pass for the Mick." He talked to my boy for a few minutes before moving on. It was great; especially for my seven year old. Kimbrel left quite an impression.

[Ken Gallinger]

Yesterday I caught up with the Braves Caravan in Macon, Georgia. Randall Delgado, Eddie Perez and Craig Kimbrel. Don Sutton came to town but was a no show at the autograph signing.

Perez was about as personable as always. Delgado was quiet but I don't think he speaks much English (at least that was MY impression). Kimbrel was great. Yakkin' it up with fans young and old. He gave my son and me a "hard time" because of his Mantle shirt and my Yankee cap. When my boy turned around to show him it was Mantle Kimbrel said, "We' ll give you a pass for the Mick." He talked to my boy for a few minutes before moving on. It was great; especially for my seven year old. Kimbrel left quite an impression.

Cool! Nothing's better than finding a pro who's a gentleman as well. As a youngster I remember talking to John Wetteland after an Expos-Astros Spring game in Kissimmee. He chatted with me for 5 minutes about how his stuff improved because the "game" mound was a bit higher than the bullpen mound. I'll never forget the time he took. Polar opposite of Delino DeShields who waved myself and a few other kids away as we approached him after the game had finished. I'll never forget him either. Refreshing to talk to the "good guys". Congrats on your successes. Here's to many more. Is it time for pitchers and catchers to report yet?

[Mike D.]

Sounds like a great time, Allie Fox!

I agree it's great when players take the time with the fans, especially the kids. I'm a grown up, but love watching the kids at signing events...they're so wide-eyed and excited, and when a player talks to them, they either smile huge or get all shy. Either way, you know it made an impression. I can't wait until my son is old enough for games and signing events (he's 6 weeks old today!)...he's already watching a lot of MLBNetwork with his dad, so I'm sure he'll be fan!

Even as an adult, it's nice when a player or former player is a "regular person". Ken Ryan (former Red Sox pitcher) spoke to my SABR group last November, and afterwards, I happend to be in the bathroom when he was there. Not wanting to be "the guy who talks to players at the urinal", I gave him a nod and went about my business. He actually struck up a conversation with ME at the sinks, though. My SABR group trends "old"...there are more guys over 70 than under 50, and I'm usually the only guy under 40 at the meetings...so I think he saw me as "a guy about my age in the sea of white heads". He grew up a town over from me a few years before me, so we actually knew some of the same players from the area.

It was cool to be like "Ok, this guy pitched for the Sox, but you could totally have a beer with him and it'd be no big deal".

[kearns643]

Following pages from IP NC Dinner and more.
scan0020.jpg

[kearns643]

more stuff....
scan0023.jpg
scan0024.jpg

[kearns643]

and more....
scan0030.jpg
scan0034.jpg

[kearns643]

more stuff....scan0042.jpgscan0041.jpgscan0040.jpgscan0039.jpgscan0045.jpg

[kearns643]

Finally......
scan0043.jpgscan0044.jpg

[J.P]

Francisley Bueno, on his 09 Gwinnett Braves card.

[Allie Fox]

Last night I attended the Mercer University First Pitch Classic with guest speaker Chipper Jones.

Last year John Smoltz was the speaker and he was pretty good, giving a typical motivational-type speech. Chipper was much different. He really didn't have much to say other than a few words about his personal life and his connection to Macon, Georgia (where he played Single A ball for a year). What was cool was that he opened the floor for questions and was pretty jovial.

I was able to ask about his mentors when he was a young player (he named Terry Pendleton as his biggest influence). I also told him that as a Mets fan, my best comlpliment to him was to say how much I hated to watch him play in NY. He laughed a good bit at that and repeatedly pointed me out as "the Mets Guy over here" whenever he referred to his great moments (many of which were at Shea Stadium.)

Anyway. He signed a ball for my six year old.

[tlondon]

Went to the Braves Caravan in Chattanooga tn today. waited in the cold for 4 hours but well worth it. Got Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Cory Gearrin, and new hitting coach Greg Walker. All of them were really cool and took the time to talk to the fans as they signed, made eye contact with everyone and really seemed to enjoy seeing us. Heyward and Freeman really enteracted with all of us, cutting up and laughing. My daughter really loved it and had a great time as she is a HUGE Heyward fan. Its been a great caravan for the braves fans this year.

[tlondon]

Last night I attended the Mercer University First Pitch Classic with guest speaker Chipper Jones.

Last year John Smoltz was the speaker and he was pretty good, giving a typical motivational-type speech. Chipper was much different. He really didn't have much to say other than a few words about his personal life and his connection to Macon, Georgia (where he played Single A ball for a year). What was cool was that he opened the floor for questions and was pretty jovial.

I was able to ask about his mentors when he was a young player (he named Terry Pendleton as his biggest influence). I also told him that as a Mets fan, my best comlpliment to him was to say how much I hated to watch him play in NY. He laughed a good bit at that and repeatedly pointed me out as "the Mets Guy over here" whenever he referred to his great moments (many of which were at Shea Stadium.)

Anyway. He signed a ball for my six year old.

Great story "mets Guy"

[J.P]

Alay Soler, on his 06 Fleer Tradition card

[Allie Fox]

Went to the Braves Caravan in Chattanooga tn today. waited in the cold for 4 hours but well worth it. Got Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Cory Gearrin, and new hitting coach Greg Walker. All of them were really cool and took the time to talk to the fans as they signed, made eye contact with everyone and really seemed to enjoy seeing us. Heyward and Freeman really enteracted with all of us, cutting up and laughing. My daughter really loved it and had a great time as she is a HUGE Heyward fan. Its been a great caravan for the braves fans this year.

That sounds pretty cool. Someone asked Chipper about the crowd at his Atlanta appearance. There were people lining up since the day before to see him, McCann, Fredi and others. They actually started early adn still had to turn some away.
He said it was great to be appreciated like that. He said he'd be afraid if they didn't want his autograph.

[J.P]

At a Cuban players game early afternoon this past Saturday (all on cards):

-Orlando "El Duke" Hernandez
-Alex Sanchez x 2
-Amauri Sanit
-Hansel Izquierdo
-Rolando Viera
-Jorge Diaz


Later on that afternoon at University of Miami Alumni game (also all on cards):

-Alex Fernandez
-Chris Perez
-Jon Jay
-Jemile Weeks
-Brian Barton
-Oscar Muñoz
-Gus Gandarillas
-Lou Palmisano
-Zeke Devoss
-Peter O'Brien

Chris Perez is by far the nicest and most down to earth player I've met, and a cool nugget: he signs with his left hand, I was surprised I was the only one that picked up on it, he told me he is a "lefty writer and a righty thrower"

[J.P]

Barbaro Cañizares, on his 09 Topps Update rookie card.