Results tagged ‘ autographs ’
Autographs – Chad Billingsley
July 26 , 2008 Los Angeles, California
Chad Billingsley was scheduled to sign autographs at a AT&T location in Los Angeles at 12pm for 1 hour. I woke up late and not sure if I really wanted to go. I already got several items signed from him. But we went. We arrived around 11am and we saw this…
About 100 people in line. I walked towards the front and saw a couple of fans that I know. I was tempted to cut in but decided not to do it. There was a rope and since I came with my Wife, I didn’t want problems with the other fans. I walked back to the end of the line and waited patiently. Chad came on time and started signing right away. He signs quick. We were able to obtain his autograph around 12:30pm We gave him 2 photos to sign. Chad was in a great mood and smiling. Thanks Chad!
Autographs: Joe Beimel
July 11, 2008 Burbank, California
Today I met Joe Beimel at a Staples Location here in Southern California. He was scheduled to sign autographs at 12pm. I got there 1 hour before and I thought I was going to see a big crowd but only about 15 people were in front of me. That’s cool for me. Once it was my turn to meet him, I gave him a couple of pictures for him to sign. On the table, there was a Joe Beimel Bobblehead. I assume it’s the one that they will give away at Dodger Stadium on August 12 ! The Beimel bobblehead looks good. Sometimes these bobbleheads look bad and don’t even look like the players. But this is one does look like Beimel. While he signed my items, I told him they did a
good job with the bobblehead. He agreed. I grabbed the bobblehead from the table and asked him for a picture. He said sure and I noticed a employee looking funny at me. Probably thought I was taking the bobblehead home. Overall, cool experience. Not alot of people. Got 3 items signed and got out of there quickly. Thanks Joe & Staples I guess. 
P.S.
I was going to ask Joe if he was going to invite Troy from West Virginia a invite to L.A. for his Bobblehead night. lol But I totally forgot.
Peace!
Roberto
MLB Notes – July 7, 2008
Russell is a All-Star
Bad News: Russell Martin is not going to be a N.L Starter this year. Thanks to the greatest fans in baseball (Tommy Lasorda says it) Dodger fans didn’t vote for him. I’m a big Dodgers fan, but I always disagreed with Lasorda. I did vote for him but I guess not enough of people did. Martin was a starter last year and with good numbers this year, I thought he would be a easy choice for fans to select him. I was wrong.
Geovany Soto of the Chicago Cubs had a fast start and the Chicago fans went crazy in voting. They voted so much that Kosuke Fukudome was selected by fans to be a starting outfielder ! What a disgrace. More on that later. Let’s compare Martin vs Soto. Stats as of today.
Martin .305 9 HR 42 RBI’s
Soto .289 14 HR 52 RBI’s
Martin is batting 14 points higher than Soto and since Martin was the starter last year and is known more than Soto, I would think Martin had a great chance to be the starter. But Soto started the month of April by hitting .341 with 5 HR’s and 20 RBI’s. With that hot start, the nation noticed and he got the votes. Soto deserves it. He is having a great year but I’m disapointed in Dodger fans for not supporting Martin. The good news is that Martin was selected to be a N.L. reserve. Now, about Fukudome… Why is he a starter ? I know the fans of the Cubs went crazy, but why so much support for Fukudome ? Or was the whole country of Japan voting for him ? His stats as of today: .287 B.A. 7 HR’s 35 RBI’s Why is he a starter!! ? That’s funny. Well not as funny like reading the Cubs media guide. According the guide, it says the way to pronounce Fukudome is ”foo-koo-DOUGH-may” I thought it was Fuc*-a-dome” ?
Baseball loves Statues
The L.A. Times have 2 great articles about statues. The first article is about how certain Baseball teams have statues of great players.
-Tony Gwynn is one of a group of baseball greats to have his likeness etched in stone. Two sets of sculptors have taken chisels to the Hammer, with statues of Hank Aaron on display in both Atlanta and Milwaukee, while at Willie Mays Plaza in San Francisco you can say “hey” to a larger-than-life likeness of the Say Hey Kid. Babe Ruth lives on in Baltimore,
George Brett is still swinging in Kansas City and you could almost field full lineups with the number of player statues in Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. The second article is about how certain players don’t have statues. The Dodgers aren’t saying whether a statue — of Sandy Koufax or anyone else — will be included in their five-year, half-billion-dollar stadium expansion. But marketing vice president Charles Steinberg, who came to the Dodgers after stints with three teams whose ballparks feature prominent statues, is a fan of the idea.-
I think it’s a cool idea. Hopefully the Dodgers do it ! I think you can start with Jackie Robinson. It’s about time we do something like this. How cool would it be to go to Dodger Stadium and check out a Statue ? Even the New York Mets are honoring Jackie with a statue when they open their new stadium next year !
Reggie and his cage
Since I met Reggie Willits, I was looking for a article that I read last year about him having a Batting Cage at his home. I found it. It’s titled “Life in a Cage: Baby Sleeps, Mom Cooks, Dad Bats” It was published by the New York Times on July 1, 2007 When Amber Willits is cooking dinner — crack! — or putting the baby to bed — crack! — or trying to get a little sleep herself — crack! — she has to wonder why she ever agreed to live in a
batting cage. But Amber Willits, the wife of Angels outfielder Reggie Willits, has taken hardball devotion to a new level. For the past three years, she has made a home, raised a son and helped develop a .300 hitter — all in an indoor batting cage. “I could not have gotten here alone,” Reggie said. “I have an extremely supportive wife.” Cool story. Too bad he isn’t playing that much this year. Last year, he had a chance to play because of injuries to other Outfielders. But with proven outfielders like Torii Hunter, Gary Mathews Jr, Garrett Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero where is he going to play ?
Autograph Hunter
The N.Y. Times had a nice article about a old-time fan that got into autograph collecting back in the 1930′s.
Dodgers having great chemistry
According to Tony Jackson of the Daily News, the Dodgers are having fun. “We’re having fun,” Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said. “Everybody is pulling for each other. Even when we get (behind), our mood never drops. We know we can come back and win the game, hopefully. I think winning helps a team come together more. When you win, it just changes the personality of a team.” How nice, “we’re having fun” Now can you get on a winning streak and win this terrible division ?
Video Time!
A reporter tracked down James Loney when the Dodgers played in New York last month. I guess it was done at a hotel where Loney was staying. I don’t know who the reporter is. The light in the video is terrible but it’s worth watching it.
Autographs: Reggie Willits
Today I met Reggie Willits. He signed the same Angels Mini-Helmet that I have been getting autographed for current Angels Players. Signing was scheduled at 11:30 am Guess where ? Yeah at a AT&T Location! I guess those Angels players are going to all the AT&T locations. lol I got there around 10:15 am Not alot of people were there. Then around 11 am it started to get full. Willits didn’t talk much. Just signed the items and went to the next item. My Wife got him to sign 2 items. I only got him to sign 1 item. I guess I was scared since he refused to sign 2 items to another fan.
On to the next one! Peace
Autographs: 70′s Dodgers and Black Jack
June 29, 2008 Los Angeles and Rancho Cucamonga, California
I’m finally out on the road. The Summer should be a great time to obtain autographs. Today was a good day. I started off by going to Dodger Stadium. Before the game, the Dodgers were going to hold a 1970′s reunion autograph session. I got there early and noticed 4 guys were already there. The first group was Al Downing, Tom Paciorek, Ray Lamb, and Bill Grabarkewitz. The second group was Derrel Thomas, John Hale, Jerry Reuss, and Leron Lee. I know something about Downing, Paciorek, Thomas and Reuss. But the other fellows…well I had to google them to find out who they are! (Sorry I was born in ’79) I had just 1 item for them to autographed. I brought a mini-dodgers helmet and all 8 guys signed it. I got pictures with Downing, Paciorek, and Thomas. I already had a pix with Reuss before. All the Ex-Players were nice and everything went well. Some info on the players that are pictured. Top Left -Al Downing- He gave up Hank Aaron’s 715th Home Run. I think he is more famous of that incident than anything else. His first 9 years (1961-1969) in the Majors was with the New York Yankees. He was selected to the 1967 All-Star team. Then in 1970 he split time with the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers. After that, he went on to play 9 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His best season was 1971 when he posted 20 wins and finished 3rd in N.L. Cy Young. He finished with 123 Wins. Top Right -Tom Paciorek- Played 18 years and had 1162 Hits with stops with Dodgers, Braves, Mariners, White Sox, Mets and Rangers. He was a 1981 All-Star. Bottom Left -Derrel Thomas- The Los Angeles native was the 1st overall pick in the 1969 Amateur Draft for the Houston Astros. Then he had stops with the Padres and Giants before coming to to the Dodgers. He won a World Series ring with the 1981 team. Finished his career with 1163 Hits. Bottom right -Jack McDowell- After the Autograph Session with the Dodgers, I left. I didn’t stay for the game. I went to Epicenter, home of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Single-A team for the Angels) Nice stadium by the way. I went because Jack McDowell was going to be signing autographs. He pitched mostly for the Chicago White Sox. He was the 1993 Cy Young Winner. I gave him a ball to sign. He signed it on the sweet spot and I asked if he could write ’93 Cy Young. He was nice enough to do it. Since not alot of people were in line I asked Jack what was he up to lately ? He told me he lives in Southern California and he plays with a band called Stickfigure. Here are some pictures of the stuff I got signed.
The mini helmet that 8 players signed and the ball that Jack McDowell signed with the incription ’93 A.L. CY - Jerry Reuss gave me this postcard…
Peace!
Pedro Guerrero
This event occured on May 24, 2008 I was away for about a month from the Baseball world. It was nice getting back to the autograph scene. On this day, I got a autograph of Pedro Guerrero. I don’t remember seeing him before in any events. I did some research on him and found out he lives in Florida. So I decided to go and get his autograph since I don’t know if he would do any appearances in So-Cal. Some interesting and sad things about Guerrero is that according to his lawyer, his IQ is 70 Well he signed my ball and didn’t seem that dumb to me. Once, the Baseball writer Bill James called Guerrero “the best hitter God has made in a long time” He was the co-MVP in the 1981 World Series. Maybe if he didn’t have his personal problems, his career could of been better.
Gary Carter/Darrell Evans
This occured on April 19, 2008 (yeah a long time ago, I’m catching up)
Gary Carter and Darrell Evans were scheduled to sign autographs at Cal State Fullerton. Carter is the manager of the Independent Baseball team Orange County Flyers. Evans is the hitting coach. That day they had a try-out at Goodwin Field for players who want to try to make the team. After the try-out, Carter and Evans were going to sign autographs. When I got there, I didn’t see alot of people. In fact, if I can remember, it was less than a dozen people. That being said, I was able to get the autographs quickly and get out. I got both guys on separate balls (now that I remember, I owe a ball to someone…sorry Ray) It was cool in getting a Hall of Famer (Carter) and Evans (400 plus H.R.’s) Both guys were cool. Pictures below.
rbaly79
Recent Comments