Scott Van Slyke Autograph Signing at Food 4 Less (07/31/15)

I already have Scott Van Slyke's autograph from when I got my 8x10 signed by him at FanFest, but my new-found interest in getting the 2015 Topps Heritage set signed required me to get him once more. Well, a Food 4 Less store in Pasadena was scheduled to have Van Slyke sign autographs for one hour starting at 11.  Knowing that this could possibly be more of a turnaround than the Baez signing from earlier in the month, I arranged for my friend Jimmy to save a spot for me and my dad. When I arrived at the Food 4 Less with my father, there was still plenty of parking and about thirty people were in front of Jimmy.  Had I not been able to keep in contact to make a game plan with Jimmy, I would have waited an hour and a half in the sun in the second half of the line that was to the left of this one.

Scott arrived to the signing ten minutes prior to the start of his scheduled appearance and pretty much went straight to business with getting everyone's items signed in a timely manner.  The exact same Kellogg's crew was in charge of this event, so the same regulations that occurred at the Baez signing was applied to this one.

I handed my card to Scott so he could sign it and, while doing so, the same Kellogg employee from last time took a good picture of me posing next to him.  My dad also got Scott to sign an 8x10 that Kellogg's provided with authentication for Jimmy while he got a bat signed.

I'm glad that Kellogg's took on another signing event and handled it well so the fans who attended today could progress with such ease.  Huge thanks to Scott for signing, Jimmy for helping us out and a shout out to Jose from icollectdodgerautos, who happened to be waiting behind us when we arrived. Thank you everyone for reading and have a pleasant weekend.

Autograph Recap - Tim Leary (07/29/15)

Yesterday, Tim Leary was scheduled to sign autographs in the left field plaza.  Since it was also Yasiel Puig's bobblehead night, I made the diligent effort to get to the stadium with my father in a good paced manner.  After all, getting into the stadium during an important promotion is not as simple as it sounds considering when you have to get through the ill mannered five freeway and get parking.  Well, we were able to get through these obstacles with as much comfort and patience as we could possibly display in order to get to our destination safely.  Upon going through the stadium gates, we immediately received our bobbleheads and headed over straight to the table Tim happened to be at for his signing.

I gave Tim my baseball to sign on the sweet spot and also asked him to inscribe "1988 World Series Champion", which he happily did on the side panel below the sweet spot.   Tim was certainly a great person to meet as he took the time to sign autographs and take pictures, while also displaying the World Series ring that he won with the Dodgers.  As I do more of these in person signings, I will attempt to gradually grow my collection of autographed sweet spot baseballs.  Thank you for reading and have a pleasant day.

Pedro Baez Autograph Signing at Walmart (07/09/15)

The last free in person autograph signing I attended was the Nomar Garciaparra event that was held back in December of last year.  Since then, I have been focusing on paid autograph signings that I thought were necessary in terms of the need for such a specific player's signature. Upon hearing that my local Walmart in Baldwin Park was going to have a Dodger come over to sign for free, I was definitely excited for the opportunity because I have done little within the hobby for the past two months.  Initially, Yimi Garcia was scheduled to come to town to sign for an hour until noon. I was happy to hear that Yimi was coming because I needed him to sign a card for my 2015 Topps Heritage set.  However, the event was changed as Yimi was sent down to Triple A in order to make room for pitching depth coming up from the minors in the forms of Josh Ravin and Chin-hui Tsao.

I was a bit bummed out that Yimi was demoted because I really needed his autograph on that baseball card.  Even though people like to poke fun at his failures, I still recognize him as a needed bullpen arm for the postseason race due in part of his ability to strike out guys and limit walks.  As a result of the transaction, Pedro Baez was announced as the man to replace Garcia for this autograph signing.  I arrived around 9 in order to be on the safe side.  When I entered the Walmart and found the exact location of the signing event, I spotted only two men in line as the staff were organizing the final touches.  As an hour and a half went by, people started coming, though in decent numbers in a way that it didn't make look too crowded.  Pedro arrived early at around 10:35 and got down to signing in respectable fashion within a few minutes.

I gave Pedro my baseball to sign and he was happy to oblige to put his autograph on the sweet spot. This is the first signing in a long time in which I ask a player to sign his autograph on a baseball. What makes this autograph look just as cool is the fact that I decided to try out the uni-ball jetstream pen for the first time and let me say, it turned out great.

I decided that since the line wasn't too long, it was a good idea to head back in line in order to get Baez's autograph on an 8x10 photograph that the store provided.  It only took until 11:15 for me to be near the front of the line again.  Here is the photo that Pedro signed and notice the hologram authentication that was placed on the lower right.

By the way, a Walmart employee asked if I would like a photograph opportunity with Pedro the second time I came up to the front of the line.  I happily accepted the photograph opportunity that would cap off a great day at finally getting back into the groove of the autograph hobby.  The one thing that I really like about these type of organized signings is that I get to socialize with other graphers about a ton of things concerning baseball.  Thank you very much Pedro, the staff at Walmart, and everybody in attendance for making the signing a pleasant experience with no trouble being present.