the Autograph Corner
JANUARY BRINGS CARAVANS AND
FANFESTS
About the time one really gets
anxious for baseball season to hurry on, January rolls
around and whets our appetite with team caravans coming
through the area and fanfests. This January was no
exception.
The first caravan announced was
the Cub Caravan. The Cub's have cut back on their caravans
the past couple years, no doubt figuring "why give the
product away when we can get big bucks out of the fans by
having one big fan fest in Chicago." As usual the Windy
City dumps on us downstaters. The closest Cub Caravan to me
was scheduled for Bloomington, IL, 2 hours away. It had a
good lineup though, with Mark Prior, Dusty Baker and Carlos
Zambrano headlining it. Tickets would be available at the
door or beforehand at several businesses in Bloomington, so
I took the afternoon off and drove down there. I figured
that I better get there by 4 p.m. because I figured there
would be quite a line by the time the doors opened at 6. I
got there, and for the first time in its history, the Cub
Caravan had sold out in Central Illinois. Not much I could
do but turn around and head home. I talked to friends later
who had gotten tickets, and they said the place was a mess.
They only allotted 20 minutes for autographs, there was no
order, and the Prior line quickly degenerated into a mob. I
didn't miss much.
The Cardinals did better by us.
The following Monday they had their Caravan visit Peoria.
Local guys were featured, with Jason Isringhausen from
Brighton, IL, Kerry Robinson, a former Peoria Chief, and Jim
Journell from the University of Illinois among the featured
guests. They always allow an hour for autographs and once
all the kids are through will allow us adult autographers to
go through the line as well. It is always a well organized
affair. The Cubs could take a lesson from it. The Cub
bashing is always fun to listen to as well.
January 30th I took Friday off
from work to travel with 3 friends to attend the 2-day Iowa
Cub Fan Fest. This is always a well run event. Friday the
autograph guests that you had to buy tickets for were Robin
Yount $25 and Rick Sutcliffe $10. I got Robin Yount's Hall
of Fame Plaque Postcard signed and 3 Cardinal cards signed
by Rick Sutcliffe. One of the features of the Iowa Cub Fest
is that they bring in major and minor leaguers from the Des
Moines area to sign for free as well. I loaded up on
autographs from Wes Obermueller, Todd Sears, Nate Teut, and
Nate Frese, Negro LeaguersArt Pennington, Lefty Bell and
Schoolboy Johnson, Iowa Cubs Manager Mike Quade, Hitting
Coach Pat Listach and Pitching Coach Rick Kravitz. Not a
bad haul at all. Joel Hanrahan was scheduled to be there,
but at the last minute he was invited to a Dodger's Mini
Camp.
There weren't as many dealers
there as last year, but the Bob Feller Museum (Van Meter,
Iowa) had a table there. Bob had signed 4 different
postcards as a fundraiser for $5 each, and I picked up 3 of
them. He was also selling autographed Hall of Fame Plaque
Postcards for $5 each of Rollie Fingers, Jim Bunning, and
Bill Mazeroski for $5 each. I needed Mazeroski's, so I
scarfed one of them up too. I also spent more money than I
should have on minor league cardsets at Tom Cornelius'
table.
About 7 p.m. my buddies and I
got into a car and drove to Johnston, Iowa. The Kansas City
Caravan was appearing at Stoney Brook Lodge. I thought this
was a bit of a forlorn hope, figuring that they'd be gone by
the time we got there, but when we tramped in they said that
that's the most signing they'd done all night. Dennis
Leonard was there to represent the former Royals, and
current Royals Ken Harvey and Brian Anderson were there. I
was thrilled to get a few Anderson items signed as I had
never had luck with him by mail. Royal's broadcaaster Ryan
Lefevbre was there as was their mascot Slugger there as
well. All of them had nice color signed postcards to
distribute as well.
The next day the headliners at
the Iowa Cub Fest were Steve Carlton $20 and Dennis
Eckersley $20. I didn't purchase any Eckersley since I have
3 cards of his signed already, and will wait til his hall of
fame plaque comes out for me to get signed. I did get my 70
Topps of Steve Carlton signed as well as a 8x10 picture out
of a recent issue of the Cardinals Magazine. I had caught
Steve Carlton once before at a River Boat appearance and had
gotten his hall of fame postcard signed.
The Royal's Caravan showed up at
Fan Fest on Saturday, and I went through and got more cards
signed. I also was able to trade one of the duplicate
bobble heads that I had brought with me to someone at the
Minnesota Twins table who collects, getting a Kirby Puckett
Hall of Fame bobblehead in return for the Shoeless Joe that
I traded him. I also bid on a couple items on the Silent
Auction and won an Altoona Curve package that included the
2003 card set, a Jerome Bettis (in an Altoona Curve uniform)
bobblehead and a program.
The Iowa Cub Fan Fest is always
a high point of the winter. Its well organized, and its
great to meet and attend with friends that I normally just
see during baseball season. I attended with Mike and Dale,
2 of my buddies from Peoria, and Bruce, who is a chaplain in
Jacksonville, IL.
NICE RESPONSES FROM TEAM USA.
I have been writing to some of
the players featured in Upper Deck's Team USA set in care of
the colleges that they are playing baseball for now that the
college baseball season has started. So far I've gotten
back Michael Griffin, Dustin Pedroia, Philip Humber, Justin
Verlander, Jared Weaver and Iowa's Jeff Clement, who has
established himself as sort of a local legend, hailing from
Marshalltown where he set the minor league record for home
runs.. The best response I've received is from Georgia
Tech's Micah Owings, who excels as both a pitcher and as an
excellent hitter, and who will no doubt go in the first
round this year. He was drafted in the second round by
Colorado last year and opted to finish school instead. Here
is what he wrote ...
"I appreciate the kind words and
encouragement. I consider it an honor to sign the cards for
you, and count my blessings daily for all that I've been
given! I do take pride in whatever I do and will always
give God the glory! Thanks again and God Bless!"
I can't help but contrast this
guy's attitude and humility to the current negotiations
going on with A-Rod and the Yankees. I don't think that Mr.
Owings will ever let fame go to his head as Alex has. His
salary demands are obscene, and to ask for your own hotel
suite for away games is ridiculous. You wonder why
attendance is falling in major league ballparks? It's
salary demands like this that price the game out of the
reach of us without Skybox pocketbooks. Teams like the kids
playing for Team USA and kids working their way up the
minors are much more fun to watch. It's baseball
uncorrupted.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
My wife is a little disgusted
with me. This week I bid on and won an O.J. Simpson
autographed phone card insert on e-bay. Her question is why
would I want his autograph? No doubt some people would take
offense that I would pay money to add his signature to my
scrapbook, but I'm a history buff as well as a sportsfan.
A hundred years from now O.J. Simpson's trial will be looked
at much as we look at Lizzie Borden's trial from our present
perspective. Obviously she was guilty. How was a jury
of her peers moved to acquit her? I believe that it's
reasonable to assume that most of us believe in O.J.'s guilt
as well. The obvious question is how was the jury moved to
acquit him. Discussions of the case will move far beyond
the trial itself and into a critique of our times and racial
attitudes. So much for an uncorrupted scrapbook! (Nancy
added the last comment. I'll let it stand)
STU GOT A NICE NOTE
Sometimes it's nice to read of
people who enjoy the web site and to get feedback from the
readers. Stu recently got a nice note from Pat Neshek, who
pitched for the Quad City River Bandits until the All Star
break last season when he got promoted to High A ball. He's
a card and autograph collector as well and wrote to Stu to
tell him how much he enjoyed the web site. He was also kind
enough to send Stu several autographed cards of his,
including a few Midwest League All Star cards. I did not
get mine signed before he moved up, so Stu was kind enough
to send one to me. Thank you Pat from both Stu and me.
I'm hoping that my Bees get
Chris Lubanski, Mithc Maier and Shane Costa, although It
looks like they all did well enough in short-season ball to
bypass us. I DO think that I'll see Matt Moses, Scott Baker
and Denard Span in Davenport, and we should see Daric Barton
playing for the Chiefs. I'm already getting psyched for the
season as you can tell, and can't wait for Spring Training
to start. SOMEDAY, maybe when Dylan gets done with
college, (he'll have his Masters at IOWA in July) I'll maybe
be able to make a pilgrimage down there. Meanwhile, I do
what I can.
I'm getting ready for spring
training now, with close to 200 autograph requests to send
out. It's a fun hobby. At least I have fun with it and
hope that you do too. Until the next time I feel like
rambling on some more, thanks for reading.
~Rich Hanson
