6/27 + 6/28 TinCaps at Loons (the ending makes the read worth it!)

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tigsfan

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6/27 Loons vs. TinCaps

Saturday was a full house with it being “fellowship night” at the ballpark (yes, it’s a religious thing). However the autograph crowds were their normal, microscopic size that I always remember them to be. The only downside is that the team sets are not going to be out for another week, so I wasn’t gunning for much. I'm not going to complain since my ticket and meal was free through a relative who's financial firm rented out some space for the game (he sings the national anthem on a fairly regular basis)

Alex Verdugo 4/4, 1/1 ROMLB (very nice person from my experience with him)
AlexVerdugo.jpg

Grant Holmes 0/6 – never left his seat in the dugout
Jay Gibbons 0/7, Luis Matos 0/2 – also never left the dugout
*I did fill in a couple of spots on team sets from the previous years that I will leave off*

Then in the fifth inning or so they announce that they are having a fan appreciation special that if you buy a lawn seat ($6.50) or box/regular seat ($9.50) for ANY remaining home game they will give you a $10 food voucher with it. That means if you bought 10 tickets, you would get $100 in food vouchers! I was already thinking about going to the game tomorrow to see Holmes pitch, and that sold me so I may a somewhat unexpected second stint to this series. The best part: they had tickets right behind home plate, row five! I had to jump at those when I heard they were there for the following day. Anyways, the next announcement will make more sense later…

6/28 Loons vs. TinCaps

Sunday was about half the size of the night before, but it was kids day so a lot of them were being autograph hopefuls… however it did not go well for them. I was being quite picky, with another Verdugo baseball not being a goal but more of a nice day saver if it came to that.

Grant Holmes (starter) 0/6 – said he would sign after the game, and you know the rest
Jay Gibbons 7/7 and only because my seats were by the dugout/his chit chat area
Luis Matos 0/2 – once again never left the dugout

So the night before they announced that Thomas Lasorda was in the house, up in the press box where you couldn’t get to him (yes, you know the guy). Well he had stuck around today, and came out maybe 15 minutes before game time to sit one section over from me (just outside the dugout). Here he is during the game from my seat.
Lasorda.jpg

My extra ROMLB became an advantage, and the other guy who spotted him the same time I did tried to get a bat signed before I asked. “I don’t sign bats” Lasorda says in his grumpy, old man voice. This means don’t anger him any more than he already is. I got him a little PO’ed at first, but I think by the end he was fine with me after I apologized for not using proper etiquette and graciously thanked him for signing. Plus, it looks like one of the best sigs he has given out based on the photos that are out there. Nobody else really noticed him before he left at the end of the sixth.

Tom Lasorda 1/1 ROMLB – didn’t even dare ask him to put HOF 97
TomLasorda.jpg


A few of the Gibbons are available, everything else is mine or already spoken for.
 
That's excellent!

One of our Stony Brook guys, James Campbell, is a Loon this year. Hoping he's in the team set this year!
 
One of our Stony Brook guys, James Campbell, is a Loon this year. Hoping he's in the team set this year!
Ironically he was in the team set from last year that I picked up and I think he was the only one I got signed. Not too many guys are holdovers from year-to-year... heck even the coaching staff keeps getting revamped!
 
Ironically he was in the team set from last year that I picked up and I think he was the only one I got signed. Not too many guys are holdovers from year-to-year... heck even the coaching staff keeps getting revamped!

Yes! I have that card, unsigned. Every year I write to the marketing departments of all the teams where our guys are and ask if they can send me a card. About half of them will do it, and the other half I wind up buying online.
 
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