Went to the Brewers On Deck fanfest yesterday with my wife. Though some people thought it was worse than prior years, I actually thought it was better. Every single player/coach I came in contact with was more than friendly, even at the end of the day.
Headed to the Brewers Community Foundation rummage sale first and picked up a Craig Counsell signed ball for $25 and a Chris Dickerson spring training nameplate from 2011 (to go with my signed ball from him) for $15. Someone lucked out with a Takashi Saito autographed ball.
Next we headed for the Kids Clinic to see if the prospects were signing since those were free. Someone said they weren't supposed to start until 11:30, so we went back and waited in line for our $15 grab bags. Won't disagree that the hourlong wait was a pain, and didn't have much use for the Kids Club stuff, but I did manage to get a rare Axford retro uniform bobblehead, so it was actually worth it for us. And we timed it perfectly as it was about 11:25 when we were done (also managed to get my first Italian Sausage of the year...).
Headed back to the Clinic and got Yadiel Rivera and Michael Reed on a ball. Since it was an organized line at 1 per, decided to do a team ball and send out my cards TTM later on this year. The next two weren't supposed to start until 12, so we went and got a few pictures taken with players and also a group shot with the entire coaching staff. Also managed to get Scooter Gennett to sign my blue refractor after the photo, so that was my card highlight for the day.
I got back in line at the Field Clinic around noon, and my wife went to get in the George Kottaras line ($10) as I wanted to get his game-used bat that I just picked up at the last card show signed. Well, I must have been given bad info because by the time I got up there, Thornburg and Walker were done signing. But I ended up adding Jungmann and Hunter Morris to my ball, so that was just as good.
I went back and got in the Kottaras line then, and my wife ran over to the Rickie Weeks line as he was signing after George. She got a good spot there, and that line filled up fast! I got my Kottaras bat signed in silver sharpie and it looks great. Then after another hour and a half wait, I got a mini helmet signed by Rickie (for $25) in silver sharpie that also turned out even better than I thought it would. While waiting for Rickie, my wife got the last 2 prospects - Jed Bradley and Kentrail Davis - to sign my ball. However, she missed John Axford filiming Tim Dillard walking around doing his Haray Caray impression. They were hilarious. Turns out that she literally bumped into Dillard on her way to the Field Clinic, so she got a photocard from him for her trouble.
Took a few more pictures with the players (Dillard, Kintzler, and Narveson) and called it a day. I got the autos I came for (thanks to help from my wife), I got lucky with the grab bag, and we finally got a chance to get to the rummage table which we always missed in the past. Well worth the $15 price for admission!
Headed to the Brewers Community Foundation rummage sale first and picked up a Craig Counsell signed ball for $25 and a Chris Dickerson spring training nameplate from 2011 (to go with my signed ball from him) for $15. Someone lucked out with a Takashi Saito autographed ball.
Next we headed for the Kids Clinic to see if the prospects were signing since those were free. Someone said they weren't supposed to start until 11:30, so we went back and waited in line for our $15 grab bags. Won't disagree that the hourlong wait was a pain, and didn't have much use for the Kids Club stuff, but I did manage to get a rare Axford retro uniform bobblehead, so it was actually worth it for us. And we timed it perfectly as it was about 11:25 when we were done (also managed to get my first Italian Sausage of the year...).
Headed back to the Clinic and got Yadiel Rivera and Michael Reed on a ball. Since it was an organized line at 1 per, decided to do a team ball and send out my cards TTM later on this year. The next two weren't supposed to start until 12, so we went and got a few pictures taken with players and also a group shot with the entire coaching staff. Also managed to get Scooter Gennett to sign my blue refractor after the photo, so that was my card highlight for the day.
I got back in line at the Field Clinic around noon, and my wife went to get in the George Kottaras line ($10) as I wanted to get his game-used bat that I just picked up at the last card show signed. Well, I must have been given bad info because by the time I got up there, Thornburg and Walker were done signing. But I ended up adding Jungmann and Hunter Morris to my ball, so that was just as good.
I went back and got in the Kottaras line then, and my wife ran over to the Rickie Weeks line as he was signing after George. She got a good spot there, and that line filled up fast! I got my Kottaras bat signed in silver sharpie and it looks great. Then after another hour and a half wait, I got a mini helmet signed by Rickie (for $25) in silver sharpie that also turned out even better than I thought it would. While waiting for Rickie, my wife got the last 2 prospects - Jed Bradley and Kentrail Davis - to sign my ball. However, she missed John Axford filiming Tim Dillard walking around doing his Haray Caray impression. They were hilarious. Turns out that she literally bumped into Dillard on her way to the Field Clinic, so she got a photocard from him for her trouble.
Took a few more pictures with the players (Dillard, Kintzler, and Narveson) and called it a day. I got the autos I came for (thanks to help from my wife), I got lucky with the grab bag, and we finally got a chance to get to the rummage table which we always missed in the past. Well worth the $15 price for admission!
