‘On The Road With psugator02′ – Spring Training Road Trip – Day 5
all over the Phoenix area
Wednesday, March 16
6 a.m.-10 p.m.
Giants practice from 6 a.m.-noon:
Jeremy Affeldt: didn’t need him. “Thanks, bro,” he said when I told him he might be one the top 5 best signers in all of MLB. I”ve never seen him not sign
Travis Ishikawa: 2/2 (cards) in blue Sharpie
Steve Decker: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie. I had a bunch more but the only one I cared about was the one of him in the Marlins’ uni
Shawon Dunston: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie
Barry Zito: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie
Tim Flannery: 1/1 (surfboard card) in blue Sharpie
Jonathan Sanchez: 1/1 (ticket) in black Staedtler. Gave the full inscription
Miguel Tejada: 1/1 (2006 Orioles team photo with Mitre the only player left) in blue Sharpie, 1/1 (Orioles’ tri-player photo that is now finished)…Couldn’t have been cooler…Told him I was from Fort Lauderdale and he said, “Hey, I’m from Fort Lauderdale, too.”
Pablo Sandoval: signed but I didn’t need him
Andres Torres: signed but I didn’t need him
Bruce Bochy: signed but I didn’t need him
Brandon Belt: 2/2 (11x14s) in blue Sharpie. As of two weeks ago, he no longer sweet-spots ROMLBs
Orlando Cepeda: 0/1, 0/1 even though there were only seven graphers left. Weird dude
Giants after the game at Camelback:
Mark DeRosa: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie…Beautiful graph
Tim Lincecum: 0/1..The crowd rushed him and I couldn’t get him despite walking with him for about 50 feet from the clubhouse to his car
Mariners’ backfields prior to game vs. Milwaukee:
Ken Griffey Jr.: 0/1 …..almost glad because all I had with me was a ROMLB and I didn’t want it paneled
Ichiro Suzuki: 0/1
Jay Buhner: 1/1 (SI) in blue Sharpie….Much cooler than last year
Carl Willis: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie…Wouldn’t stop telling me the story behind the ’86 Topps card I had him sign
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1/1 (’09 Ginter) in blue Sharpie. Signed the card while I held it, which is lame. Doesn’t take much time with his graph
Dustin Ackley: 2/2 (8x10s), 1/1 (SP, ROMLB)…A bit of a dick. He did the two photos without a problem. I asked for the ball and he must have gotten pissed that I wanted a third graph so he hit the panel
While standing near the RF side of the Marlners’ dugout before the game:
Adam Kennedy: 1/1 (’08 Ginter) in blue Sharpie
Justin Smoak: 2/2 (8x10s) in blue Sharpie
Felix Hernandez: 1/1 (SS, ROMLB) in blue ink while he was talking to the woman next to me. Signed maybe three total
In “Autograph Alley” after game:
Rickie Weeks: 1/1 (’08 Ginter) in blue Sharpie. Real cool dude. Said he still lives in Florida. “Where in Florida?” I asked. “Florida,” Weeks replied.
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1/1 (’09 Ginter) in blue Sharpie
Casey McGehee: 1/1 (SS, ROMLB) in blue ink. This dude HATES the Cubs. “Wish these things (Cubs’ photos) would stop popping up,” he said.
Franklin Gutierrez: 1/1 (card) in blue Sharpie
Robin Yount: 0/1 before the game he said he would sign after the game. But once the game ended he just kept walking past the graphers who were shouting his name
Justin Smoak: 1/1 (SS, ROMLB) in blue ink
Brendan Ryan: signed for everyone, then asked, “Everybody good?” before walking away. Real cool dude. Said that if he had two deals on the table and one was with a team that trained in Arizona he’d take it in a heartbeat over the one with the team that trained in Florida. Said he wasn’t happy with the way the Cardinals handled his situation.
While waiting in RF after game:
Chris Chambliss: 1/1 (ticket) in black Staedtler.
