Spring Training Snoozer at Scottsdale Stadium -- Hello HoHoKam!

It has been our tradition to go to Scottsdale Stadium on Presidents' Day to see the early workouts. With the holiday being celebrated so early this year, there was little to be seen on Monday--the players' parking lot was half full, the Dugout Store wasn't open, and they wouldn't let us fans into the stadium. I did catch a glimpse of Madison Bumgarner on the back field through the fence. He stopped his truck as he was leaving and gave a few autographs--but sadly, not to me.  I did get these photos.

We drove out to Mesa and bought a Spring Training shirt at the home of the A's. The store employees at their team store were incredibly helpful, including one lovely lady who found us exactly what we were looking for in the correct size, and suggested additional sale items. Someone better snap her up after spring training--she would be a great asset to any company!

We only have tickets to three Giants games this spring--vs the Reds and the Indians at Goodyear Ballpark, and vs the A's at Mesa. But I will be expanding my volunteer schedule as a ticket taker at Goodyear Ballpark to eight games, so I will see lots of spring baseball. Last year I saw some great pitching by Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto and an inside the park home run by Cleveland's Francisco Lindor! I also won the auction bidding for a beautiful black bat signed by Lindor during that game--sweet!

Presidents' Day workout - Tracy's photos

Tracy took some really great photos, so I wanted to post a few of his too!

San Francisco Giants Pitcher & Catchers on Presidents' Day

It's Presidents' Day and it is 85 degrees in sunny Scottsdale. The perfect day to sit in the sun and enjoy some pitchers and catchers exercising and doing some fielding drills.

The Dugout store and the stadium gates both opened at 10am. We outfitted ourselves with new official Giants spring training shirts and I got myself a blinking SF cap to wear on the real opening day night when the Giants visit the Dbacks at Chase Field in a few weeks time. It has a lot of  padding: I may resemble what the pitchers will look like in those new protective caps!

Tim Hudson was there, but didn't do any drills. We had a chance to look at Andrew Susac whom we had seen in Fall League games, Yusmeiro Petit who pitched an awesome game against the Dbacks  last year that we attended, and some new guy--David (not Aubrey) Huff.

After practice we waited near the parking lot for hours--until nearly 2pm and I am disturbed that the players are so stand-offish this year already! Most of them escaped by the far door into the parking lot, got in their cars and zoomed away. Exceptions were Sergio Romo, who smiled and waved, and Hunter Pence who spoke to some people, giving an excuse as to why he couldn't sign (some dread contagious ailment?). Angel Pagan was asked to come over, but he just waved as he blew past us--a big crowd of seven women, a young boy, a young man, and the man who made the request. Really?

Jake Dunning, Sandy Rosario and Shawon Dunston are the lone signatures on my team ball. Thank you for taking a few moments with us. I already miss Barry Zito who has given us autographs every year since 2000. He was the epitome of class.

Baseball Hall of Famers autographs!!

Today's road trip was to Phoenix Muni for the Athletics vs the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants! Tracy had an exam in his morning class, so we arrived at the park only a short while before the game began. I had resigned myself to the fact that autographs were not likely today.

To my surprise, the A's had a bunch of their former illustrious players signing autographs for charity. As I mentioned in the last post, I have only once paid for an autograph, but since there were Hall of Famers sitting right there--with no long lines to wait in--and it was for a good cause, how could I resist?

Gaylord Perry did even better than Yogi Berra at providing a friendly pose. And Rollie Fingers even checked the autograph on his SGA bobblehead to make sure that it looked good.

Once inside the park, we found that our seats were directly below where Brian Sabean was sitting. If the seats were good enough for him, they were good enough for us! He graciously gave an autograph on today's page of my scorebook. And of course right next door was the KNBR team of Dwayne Kuiper and Jon Miller. Wouldn't you know it, I had recently purchased a Cooperstown Hall of Fame minibat at the Brass Armadillo, and it was perfect for the 2010 Hall of Famer to sign. Sadly, I have no photos of either of these gentlemen (they were a little busy doing their jobs), but my memories of the day will last a long time.

World Series Champs working out

The past few days have been weather perfection, and the Giants were looking good today on their fourth day of full team workouts. The stadium has a few additions too--a large sign in front and the new 2012 logo on the tower in right field.

There were lots of press photographers. The one from the Giants asked if he could take pictures of me taking pictures of the players. Later when he went down on the field, I took a photo of him taking pictures of the players.

We arrived at Scottdale Stadium at 9:30am to shop for a new scorebook, the annual spring training shirts, and something World Series-ish toget autographed. The stadium gates opened at 10:00am and we enjoyed the workouts until 12:30 and then went to seek autographs until nearly 2:30. They have a new area chained off where kids only can enter. Most of the starting lineup position players either avoided the throng altogether or just gave autographs to the kids. Apparently according to Sergio Romo, the players hate being taken advantage of by autograph seekers who get multiple autographs to sell, and this is the reason most of them stay away. Sergio said that he actually looks at people's faces so that he can tell who is repeatedly asking for autographs. He told one man that he didn't want to see him again.

While I understand his feelings, many of us are long time season ticket holders or just baseball fans who appreciate what they have accomplished and just want a few seconds of their time. Most of the people around me were women young and old--one of whom brought her elderly mother-in-law, who didn't last very long in the hot sun. I have been seeking players' autographs since I was 10 years old--my first autograph was  Roberto Clemente--and have never sold a single one. (And the only one I ever paid for was Yogi Berra a few years ago in Cooperstown during Induction Weekend for Ryne Sandberg and that other guy).

The good news is that many of the pitchers, non-roster invitees and minor league hopefuls were very accommodating  making the turn past the kids' section to sign for adults. Special mention goes to Javy Lopez, Barry Zito, and Sergio Romo for spending a lot of time schmoozing with the fans!

Oh and rumor has it that Jeff Kent was on the premises as a special instructor. I took a photo from the parking garage before the game started and it looked like he was working with the infielders. I think he is just shy. Or maybe he was afraid that we would talk about his Survivor experience. I thought his remarks when he was voted off were the best ever spoken!!

Krukow-and all those other baseball players

We got into town very late last night--way later than expected (long story), and got a later start to the ballpark than we usually do. Today it was the Giants at the A's Phoenix Municipal Stadium. As we pulled into our space in their parking lot, following the directions of the parking lot attendants, I said to my husband, "There's Kruk!" parked right next to us. He of course responded with something along the lines of "Yeah, right..."

Krukow walked unmolested through the lot, across the pedestrian bridge and into the park. After we got settled in our seats, I approached him in the press box and he signed my Giants mini bat.

The visitors parking lot/bus arrival area was packing with autograph seekers hours befor game time. I decided to go the path of least resistance and hang out with the A's fans. Just some of the autographs: Ryan Sweeney, Landon Powell, Kurt Suzuki, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Max Stassi (a friend of Giants' Brandon Belt), Gio Gonzalez, and Daric Barton.

The Giants arrived around noon. It has been a long time since I saw that many people seeking autographs and taking photos at a spring training game. I didn't have a chance!! And then, some nice official looking photographer handed my mini bat down to Aaron Rowand. After that, I joined some youngsters who were next to the tunnel leading to the Giants locker room. My bat fit perfectly through the mesh. The only trick was getting them to stop and sign. Most of the guys in today's lineup did not stop to sign, or just signed a for a few and moved on quickly. But Emmanuel Burriss, Darren Ford, Thomas Neal and a few other minor league prospects came over. I desperately wanted Brandon Belt's autograph and he signed for nearly everyone else--he just wouldn't backtrack to where I was, even when a very cute little boy offered to get him to sign a second time by telling him that it was his birthday! The game was fun even though the Giants lost 6-0. It was 78 degrees and there was a sellout crowd of 8,330--the A's had even sold Standing Room tickets! Oh, and the National Anthemn was done by a guitarist a la Jimi Hendrix!

Not a Road Trip--but a Trip Down Memory Lane...

Our September road trip to Arizona was just the beginning of the Giants road to the World Series! Now that they are Champs (and there is no more baseball for another three months), we have had time to remember when...

July 2005 Brian Wilson was playing with the Norwich Navigators (Gators) at an away game in New Britain Connecticut against the Rock Cats.

Tim Lincecum played his first game for the San Jose Giants wearing number 49 in 2008.

And Buster Posey in a Fall League game at Surprise Stadium in October 2009.