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.