Autographs

I know it's been a long time coming, but I just hadn't gotten around to listing them all, because there was a LOT of autographs collected. Below is a listing of all the autographs I collected during my time in Phoenix, AZ for spring training this year!

Rangers Autographs:
Elvis Andrus (1 picture)
Julio Borbon (2 pictures)
Endy Chavez (2 cards)
Nelson Cruz (3 cards)
Chris Davis (3 cards, 2 pictures)
Scott Feldman (1 picture)
Neftali Feliz (3 cards, 1 picture)
Craig Gentry (1 signature on group page)
Toby Hall (1 card)
Josh Hamilton (5 cards, 1 jersey, 1 magazine)
Matt Harrison (3 cards)
Derek Holland (3 cards)
Hernan Iribarren (1 card)
Marcus Lemon (1 signature on group page)
Brandon McCarthy (1 card)
Luis Mendoza (1 card)
David Murphy (2 cards)
Max Ramirez (1 card)
Kevin Richardson (1 card)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (1 picture)
Tanner Scheppers (1 signature on group page)
Justin Smoak (1 card)
Taylor Teagarden (3 cards)
Ron Washington (1 picture)
C.J. Wilson (1 picture)
Michael Young (1 card, 1 picture)

Non-Rangers Autographs:
Chone Figgins (1 card)
Tommy Lasorda (1 baseball)

So Phoenix Road Trip 2010 was another big success! 53 Autographs were collected in Phoenix and now I'm ready for more autographs to come during the season! Opening Day is tomorrow and I'll be there most likely collecting even more autographs! Best wishes to the Rangers (and St. Louis Cardinals) this season...would love to see the two of you in a World Series this year!

Dust Storms & Tumbleweeds DO exist!

Today we've begun our trek back home. It's a bittersweet feeling. I'll miss the interactions with the MLB players at BP and watching them joke around with one another. For the second year standing, it's been brought to my attention that Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus are the club clowns! Those two are BIG jokesters and are always laughing and having a great time. It's fun to watch those two with Michael Young, because Young would chime right in...I've really begun to change my opinion on Young and realize he isn't the big cocky veteran that I originally thought he was. He's a very friendly fella and good with the fans too.

It was fun to watch Young WRESTLE Andrus...literally, rolling in the grass...HA! It was humorous to see Davis and Andrus and Young go after one another day after day with the rosin bag. When the three of them were at the batting cages, they were literally hesitant to step out of the cage because they KNEW they were about to get beamed...and they would get beamed (sometimes even BEFORE they would get out of the cage). Then it moved to chunking one another's bats FAR away. Davis grabbed Elvis' bat one day after he nailed him with the rosin bag and chunked the bat probably like 100 yards into the workout field next to the cages. Elvis obviously remembering that the next day, took Davis' bat and chunked it over the FENCE to outside the practice fields complex....HA! Davis obviously not willing to climb the 10 foot fence let the kids fight for it...and two kids took off running around the outside of the complex, as well as jumping the fence to get Davis' bat...HA! Sometimes the entertainment at BP has nothing to do with practicing for the game!

So Spring Training 2010 is a thing of the past. A great time and many wonderful autographs. I plan to post another post later on on this site sharing all the different autographs I got.

Today was the first "half" of our trip back to Dallas. We left Phoenix around 10 AM and my friend drove us on the first part to Benson, Arizona, where we picked up some lunch. I drove from there to El Paso...and let me tell you, I've never seen the desert like that...HA! All the signs along the route constantly warning about possible dust storms in the past were very humorous to me, as it had ALWAYS been bright, sunny, and clear as can be the last three times I've been along this route, but today was a different story!

The dust storms were NUTS! The wings were CRAZY! And dodging the constant tumbleweeds blowing across the interstate (yes, people, those aren't just in Western movies) was like playing a video game! When we arrived in El Paso there was a HUGE rainbow (which we had to find through the dust storms) and when we got out of our car at the hotel we literally almost blew across the parking lot...I'm not kidding! Once we got settled into the room I looked up the weather and it said that the winds were 27 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph in El Paso...SERIOUSLY!! It was NUTS! You can still hear the winds whistling LOUDLY out our hotel window.

So tomorrow we'll make the last part of our journey back to Dallas. We're looking forward to catching up with an old friend (or two) while passing through Abilene. We want to see our friends baby!

Goodnight from El Paso!

Looks Can Be Deceiving & Vlad vs. Hamilton

So Thursday started off with us returning the Mariners' spring training home -- though this time, not for a game versus the Mariners, but whether to catch some Mariners' BP. The Mariners/Padres had a pretty practice field campus too (not quite as nice as the Dodgers/White Sox), but it was pretty nice. Once again though, it was setup in a manner in which to allow the players to navigate the fields easily without being bombarded by fans for autographs. Because of this we had limited opportunities for autographs, and actually spent most the time actually watching the BP (which isn't a bad thing...HA!)

As you'll see below, the center field wall of the main practice field has a HUGE picture on it...Ken Griffey Jr. hamming it up for the camera,-- and he didn't shy away from providing some entertainment during the BP as well!

The picture above I like because, one it shows how HUGE that picture on the outfield wall is, and two because it's a good picture of Ichiro about to LAUNCH the ball across the field. Can I just say that that man has an AMAZING arm! He was launching the ball from near the right field wall to a teammate standing on the thirdbase line. And the crazy part is he didn't even have to take steps or hops in that direction to get the ball that far...and yes, it went the whole way without bouncing and the teammate wouldn't have to move either.

And yes, that is Ichiro below. The 36 year old who stands just 5'11" and 170 lbs. Honestly, I can't say when I look at just about any Japanese guy I find myself thinking -- "gosh, he looks big and stong"...because they normally do not (unless we're talking sumo wrestlers I guess), but Ichiro honestly has canons for arms...he is AMAZING! Looks CAN be deceiving...

It turns out that Ichiro and the other mega star on the Mariners team, Ken Griffey, Jr. happen to be friends. When we went to the Rangers vs. Mariner's game the night before, we received a program upon entering the stadium which has an article in it about how Ichiro had "a dream come true" when the Mariners' resigned Griffey in the beginning of the 2009 season. He said he always admired Griffey and hoped to get to play with him, and that dream had come true. It turns out that Ichiro was reportedly pranked frequently by Griffey during the 2009 season! HA! And as you'll see below, they enjoy one another's company during BP too. Matter of fact, they apparently setup bets with each other on who can hit more homeruns during the BP, and they razz one another about it as they switch off hitting balls deep to the outfield. It was quite a sight to see...

Below is just a good shot of Griffey with his BIG picture behind him...

I loved these big baseballs they had around the complex with the Mariners' and Padre's emblems on them. I love the Mariners, so I got my picture with their ball.

Mariner's BP was fun for watching Ichiro and Griffey, but autographs were sparce. I did end up landing a Chone Figgins, which I was excited about, as I like him, but let me tell you, it looks like one big scribbled circle...HA! Was REAL close to getting a Jose Lopez, but oh well...

On the way to the Ranger's BP we stopped and took pictures with one of the giant cactuses, as I had wanted to do that ever since our last trip to Phoenix...just hadn't found a good place and time to get one last year, so this year was not going to slip by again without my cactus pictures...HA!

OUCH....they are very sharp! HA!

I think you can figure out why I took the above picture. I mean REALLY!!?!? Poor guy...

Rangers BP was good. The Big Leaguers shared one of their big fields with their "B squad" for a "B" game versus the Brewers "B" team (as the Brewers were over to play the big leaguers that evening). I watched a little of that and saw Tanner Scheppers pitch. He did well...he is one of the young prospects we are real excited about for the Rangers.

In BP Thursday I got Chris Davis, Hernan Iribarren, David Murphy, Tanner Scheppers, and Luis Mendoza.

That evening the Rangers did take on the Brewers at home. I was a little disappointed that the Brewers didn't play Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun, but I suppose that was to our advantage. The Rangers won by a score of 6-4. Before the game I got the skipper Ron Washington's autograph (I kind of wondered if he was signing in efforts to help his image after the recent breaking news of his coke use last season, but whatever), and then after the game I got Derek Holland.

Overall, I can't help but bring the attention of how amazing Josh Hamilton had played this week when we were in town. Over the last couple seasons all Rangers fans (and their opponents for that matter) have known that Josh Hamilton is our power hitter. He is a force to be reckoned with when he's healthy (and I MUST add, he is the NICEST guy...he really is). So with the signing of Vladimir Guerrero this year, some have wondered if Vlad would take that "spot." Would Vlad be the "power" of the Rangers. The biggest homerun threat. It isn't that we don't have several guys who are homerun threats, but you know, there is always that "big star" who is just thought of as "a homerun hitter." Well, all I can say about this past week as we've witnessed both Josh and Vlad play, Josh has won that title. Considering the 4 games we saw while in Phoenix (I am not including the Tuesday Cubs game since it ended up sold out so we didn't get to watch it except for a few innings through the outfield fence), Josh played in three of the games we saw, and was actually taken out in one of those three games after his second at-bat because he was hit by the pitch on his hand. Here are the stats of the two power hitters in the games we saw -- I will let you draw your own conclusions... Josh went (0-1 left the game after being hit by a pitch in the hand in his second at bat; 2-3 w/ double and HR; 1-3 w/ HR; 1-3 w/HR) and Vlad went ( 1-3 w/ double; 0-3; 1-3; 0-3).

So you know, though I didn't get Vlad's autograph while I was in Phoenix, I DID get the autograph of our "power hitter" Josh multiple times! =)

It's All In the Hat

Today was a long, busy, day...but it was a good one! It's late, so I'm just going to touch on the highlights so I can get to bed...

• The Dodgers & White Sox share a BEAUTIFUL spring training practice field campus! Very nicely landscaped! However, unlike the Rangers, they have it setup so the players have pathways that are roped off for them to walk down, which keeps the fans from walking with them, so they can easily get out of autographs if they want. I bet part of it is because L.A. fans probably aren't the nicest...HA!
• I got Tommy Lasorda's autograph today...that's cool!
• The owner of the Dodgers seems like a fairly nice fella. I bet he is mega-crazy rich!!
• It was a good day for autographs at the Rangers BP: Neftali Feliz, Taylor Teagarden, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Toby Hall, and Julio Borbon (MY FAVORITE!!!)
• I even got a picture with Julio!! When I was getting his autograph I wished him the best for this season telling him I was super stoked for this year for him. I asked how many stolen bases he thought he'd get, and he didn't give a number, so I said, "30" and he said, "at least"....SWEET! I believe it too!
• The Rangers took on the Mariners in an evening game tonight. We WON (finally) 8-1! Josh Hamilton had one homerun and Nelson Cruz had two homeruns!
• I'm pretty sure we won because I wore my hat! Yes, I wore some of my hats the other days this week, but not "my hat"...the one I love the most and wear 99.9% of the time. You'll see it below.

Julio Borbon and me!!



Here are the L.A. Dodgers...

I love Don Mattingly!

I love Andre Ethier.

I love Manny Ramirez.

See, even Don Mattingly is telling Manny how much he loves him!

This is the owner of the Dodgers most likely telling Tommy Lasorda how much he loves Manny.

Attendance Records & Elder Abuse?

I have a male coworker who he and I kind of have a small competitive nature during baseball season. He is originally from Nebraska (which doesn't have a MLB team) in the state -- so he chose the Chicago Cubs as his team growing up. Well once he found out I was from St. Louis, we obviously became baseball competitors. One of the first days that we realized we rooted for the the "rival" squad we had started discussing how fans of the two teams have always been such loyal and spirited fans. They love their teams even after they move away. Somehow we started debating which team has the higher attendance of their fans at home games during the season. I honestly had never done any research on Cubs games attendance, but I figured, how the heck could a team who has barely ever even made it to the playoffs in it's history even come close to the attendance of a team who has the second most World Series titles of any franchise in MLB history.

Well, when I walked into work the next morning I found about 5 pages stapled together on my desk showing the attendance records for all the major league teams over the past 5 years. And as I flipped through each page the Cubs and the Cardinals attendances were highlighted. Well, it turns out that he was comparing them on percentage of attendance in their home stadiums -- which I guess is the appropriate way to do it since the Cubs stadium holds a lot less people than the Cardinals old and new stadiums.

Yeah, let me say I totally didn't believe my coworker when he'd been saying the day before that the Cubs sell out the majority of their home games each year, and yes, that's even including how a good majority of their games are daytime games during the week. For anyone who is not versed in Cubs history or a Chicago native, you have to admit that would be very hard to believe. Yeah, so when he showed me the attendance records I was shocked to see that the Cubs beat the Cardinals in percentage every year that he printed...as the Cubs averaged high 80s to 90s percentage of stadium capacity each year. The Cubs were typically the MLB team in the top 3 teams for highest percentage of attendance each year. But you don't have to take my word for it...you can go check it out here for yourself: http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

So I share all that with you today as an introduction to the Rangers vs. Cubs spring training game today. Now, it's not that my friend and I are by any means pros on this whole spring training stuff, but I can say we've never seen packed stadiums for any weekday DAY game. The only sold out game we ever went too (and it turned out that just as we got up to the ticket window two seats were released and we were able to snag them) was the VERY first spring training game we went to last year, which was a Sunday afternoon game for the HOME TEAM Arizona diamondbacks...that makes sense because the Diamondbacks do spring training in Tuscan rather than Phoenix to draw more fans since Phoenix gets them during the regular season. So besides that game, we've really never had much motivation to purchase our tickets for the spring training games in advance, because there usually is no problem buying them at the window at game time.

Well, today we got off the highway to attend the Rangers vs. Cubs game AT the Cubs stadium at about 12:40 PM...game time 1 PM. We were about 1.5 miles from the stadium and we were completely stopped in a line to get to the stadium. Now I must say I started getting rather discouraged as I noticed more and more people wondering up and down the sidewalk flashing signs saying "I Need Tickets". Umm...me too? Yikes. Still being hopeful since there were the same deal going on as we pulled up to the Diamondbacks game in Tuscan the year before, I couldn't help but have flashbacks of the attendance conversations I'd had with my coworker. Yikes...Cubbie fans come all the way to Phoenix too!?!?!?!

Yeah, after SLOWLY moving along in the line for 50 minutes we got up by the stadium and parked in a cheap $3 parking lot. We had asked the lady who was collecting money for the lot if the game was sold out and she said, that's what people are telling her as they come back to their cars. I asked if they normally sell out and she said, "No, the stadium holds some 13,000 fans, and they usually just average about 11,000" Well, we had waited this long in the line and in the car, might as well get out and go see the stadium and stretch out leg some, so we began the trek up to the stadium past all the scalpers.

Yep, it had been sold out, but I figured why not walk around the stadium and listen in some and see if maybe we could view in from a gate or something. Well we got around to the outfield fence and were able to do just that. We actually watched from the top of the 3rd inning through the middle of the 7th inning by standing at the barred fence in center field peering over the fans sitting and standing in the lawn seats. Wow, it was certainly a packed house, and yep, the Cub fans were getting a good game alright. We got there in time to see the Cubs score 3 runs in the 3rd inning and it remained 3-0 the whole time we stayed watching. Nothing for Rangers fans to get excited about.

Turns out that the Rangers lost 4-1...yep, another loss, but at least we only paid $3 (parking) to see it...HA!

About the most excitement we got for the day today was on our trek back to our car when a gentleman walked up to this elderly old white gentleman who was sitting in a lawn chair just right off the sidewalk. The elderly gentleman had a cooler next to him and he was selling bottled waters for fans to purchase to take into the stadium. Well turns out that the gentleman who approached him was the home owner of the house behind that man, as well as the two next to it. Well this gentleman was apparently NOT going to have someone running a "business" out of the small little corner of his lot (right next to an electric pole, which the man even spouted off about how even if he was sitting up against the electric pole, that still wasn't city property, but rather HIS property). I mean it was CRAZY. This middle aged white man just started yelling at the top of his lungs at this older man, telling him to get off his property and that he's told him before and he better get out right now. I mean just going OFF! It literally started about 4 feet in front of us...and we just were like...uh, let's keep going. Well, obviously with the commotion everyone nearby started looking -- including two large black gentleman who were all smiles after just selling off their last scalped tickets (well at least that's what they just told us, not real sure who would buy tickets for $70 to get into the game in the 7th inning...but whatever). Well I kinda thought these two gentleman might come to the older man's aid, but uh, they just kinda said something and then were like us -- didn't want to get in the middle of that...HA! I mean I guess if that's that dude's property he has every right to boot someone off it, especially if he's said something to him before as he claimed, but at the same time I was thinking, um, couldn't it have been handled differently? Maybe Adult Protective Services should have been called for verbal abuse of the elderly?! HA! Yeah, not sure why the elderly gentleman decided to setup there, seeings how he could have done it on the other side of the street with everyone else who was selling water to fans on that side, as they weren't getting yelled at, but maybe that was his point...water sales were too saturated on that side. All in all it was nuts to overhear...

So tomorrow maybe we'll get to sit and watch a game...HA! It IS another "away" game as the Rangers are playing the Mariners at the Mariners' stadium, AND it's an evening game, so people will be off work and more able to come, but it's just the Mariners, right!?! HA! Maybe we'll try to swing by the stadium before game time JUST in case...HA!

NOTE: Yeah, so the crowd at the Cubs vs. Rangers game today was 13,157, the fourth-largest crowd in HoHoKam Park's (the Cubs home Spring Training park) history. NUTS!

Busy Monday -- Rangers Still Winless Since We've Been Here

So yesterday was a long day, starting a little earlier than needed, as previously mentioned, since we got out to the fields for BP at 10 AM and learned they don't practice that early on days that they have evening games (which just so happens to be 3 of the 5 Rangers games we will catch while out here). So around 2 PM we made our way back out to the fields again. Below is a picture of one of the streets we take to get out to the fields...




Each time we drive down this road I feel like I should see the big letters H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D on the mountian ahead. Especially since we also see a lot of big palm trees all around...





Whelp, it turned out that 2 PM was exactly the time we needed to get there because as we got over to the big leaguers fields the players were just trotting over to the large workout open field for stretching and warm-ups. We were able to get a few autographs of the "big" names as they headed over to the field to begin workout: Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus, & Jarrod Saltalamachia.








BP was good...it was in the mid-afternoon hours, so it was real sunny and I got a little sun on the lowerhalf of my face (thanks hat and sunglasses...HA!), but it was fun! Other autographs I got while at BP included David Murphy, Derek Holland, Chris Davis, Kevin Richardson, & Brandon McCarthy.



Gametime was at 6 PM versus the Giants. I was excited that I was going to get to see Julio Borbon play for the first time since being out in Phoenix (as he was in the split squad game we weren't at on Sunday afternoon). Julio Borbon is one of my favorites, and I just know that barring injury, he will have a 30 stolen base season! Can't wait to see how many double steals him and Elvis will put up during the season with Borbon batting 1st and Elvis 9th...they will wreak havoc!



Here is Julio warming up before the game...

[That's Julio with another of my favorites...Brandon Boggs!!]

Overall the game wasn't a great one. Rangers lost again...8-5. Josh Hamilton got hit by a pitch on his hand, so he left the game early. About the only highlight for the Rangers from the game was Nelson Cruz' homerun. Below are a few pictures of him playing toss between innings.

During the game my friend got a couple text messages and calls from people who were apparently watching the game on the cable channel it was being broadcast on back in Dallas. They must have done a camera shot of Rich Harden leaving the game and signing a few autographs because my friend was in that shot. Overall, with the loss, most the guys obviously weren't to interested in signing autographs, but still some of the great young minor leaguers who finished the game signed some autographs on the way out, so we picked up a Craig Gentry, Marcus Lemon, and Mitch Moreland autograph.

As for today it is an easy, low-key type of day. After the long day yesterday, the easier day is welcomed today -- hey, it's vacation, we are supposed to take it easy some...HA! Today the Rangers are playing the Chicago Cubs and since they Rangers stadium is on the far west side of Phoenix and the Cubs is on the far east side of Phoenix, we figured it wouldn't be worth going to BP this morning because they only let the public in at 10 AM and we figured the players wouldn't be around much later then then because they'd have to get going across town for the 1 PM start. So today we're just catching the 1 PM game at the Cubs stadium. The Cubs stadium was the one we went to last year and spent about an hour driving around trying to find it and then ended up getting pulled over for making a right turn at an intersection that was a no-right-on-red intersection...opps! Well the cop was nice and only gave us a warning. Here's to hoping we don't get pulled over today...HA!

Hopefully today we'll get our first Rangers win since being out here. And for anyone still counting...still no Vlad autograph, but we still have a few days left!

Lesson Learned

Well you have to learn the spring training schedule somehow, and what better way to learn it than a leisurely stroll beside the empty practice fields on a pretty Phoenix morning.

So yesterday my friend and I were wondering just how long the major leaguers would be practicing for out at the fields since they didn't have a 1 PM game, but rather an evening game. We got excited at the thought that instead of the public getting in at 10 AM and the players leaving by 11:30 to prepare for the game, that they might stick around at the fields till like noon or 1 PM. Well we couldn't have been more wrong...

So we arrived out at the fields with all the other people ready to head over to the Rangers big leaguers field at 10 AM...and when they let us all in we get over to their fields to learn that they don't practice at all in the mornings when they have an evening game. GREAT! So, having the pleasure of the Rangers sharing their stadium with another MLB teams -- the Royals -- we figured since we were already out here, might as well head on over to the Royals practice fields and maybe I could get a Ankiel, or Greinke, or Kendall autograph. So we get over to their fields only to learn that they too have an evening game today, so their players weren't out on the fields yet either. NICE! Well, at least it was pretty outside...

So we got back to the hotel and actually hit the sports cards shop across the street from our hotel. Learned that the sports card shop we frequent in Arlington back at home is actually VERY nice and has a lot more stuff, as this one here was pretty pathetic. Oh well.

Now we need to plan the rest of the week, as we have two more "evening game" nights this week, meaning we won't have Rangers BP to go to at 10 AM...I'm thinking we might try to go catch some other MLB squads BP then. We'll see.

Whelp...it's 1:15 PM here now, so we're gonna start getting ready to head back to the Rangers practice fields hoping they start at 2 PM (not 3 PM).

Note: Don't expect an update on here for todays BP autographs and tonight's game tonight because we won't get out of the game here tonight till about 10 PM...which will make it midnight central time. Then we've still gotta get home, so yeah, y'all will pretty much all be knocked out hard asleep by time I'm getting back to the hotel. HA!