Buy my tickets - San Franciso Giants and Oakland A's spring training opener in Mesa on Tuesday!

Wouldn't you know it that we got sweet directly behind home plate seats in Field Box 100 row 10 for Tuesday's first game in the A's new park Hohokam Stadium--and we can't go!! Auugh!!!  I listed the tickets on StubHub for $45 each. Surely there must be some fan of either team that would like to sit in the premier seats among the scouts, players' wives, etc. I sat next to Mark Ellis' wife one year, and one year next to Kurtwood Smith from That 70's Show (oh, wait that was at a Giants-Dodgers game at Camelback).

Friday is my first day as a volunteer at Goodyear Ballpark--Kansas City playing the Cleveland Indians--can't wait!

Authentic Opening Day for the San Francisco Giants!

While many of you are waiting for the home opener, here in Arizona, we experienced "Authentic Opening Day" at Chase Field! As Dbacks season ticket holders (hey, it's the way to get the best seats in the section behind the dugout!) we were allowed into the park early and got an autograph from Matt Cain before batting practice began. Some players made the Opening Day roster for the first time--yay! Shawn Estes and Rich Aurelia were looking good in their interviews. We caught a glimpse of Dave Fleming (and Jon Miller) in the broadcast booth.

The Giants looked a little ragged at times, but the late comeback for the win was fabulous! And Sergio did his job!

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.

San Francisco Giants Angel Pagan rehab in Scottsdale

We zoomed on over to Scottsdale Stadium this evening after work. I had seen that Angel Pagan was supposed to be playing three innings with the Arizona League (Rookie League) team starting today. Due to heavy traffic on I-10, we missed his first at bat. He walked in the second inning and that was it. He played the outfield just fine, catching both balls hit his way

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We left the game early--atypical for us--and we hung out at the usual door to see if Angel would be amenable to giving out a few autographs. There were fewer than a dozen people, and he came right over and signed a couple for everyone.

So while it is sad that he was not playing with the big club (who meanwhile were winning 14-10 over the Marlins) tonight, it looks like he will be there soon. It was nice to have him in the neighborhood again!

 

 

 

 

 

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!!