Took the family to Memphis this past weekend to watch 2 Redbirds games on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The Redbirds did not put up much of a fight, losing Saturday night 5-2 and getting shut out on Sunday 7-0 with only 2 hits. I was hoping for a little better performance being the Redbirds had Marco Gonazles pitching on Saturday and Jaime Garcia on Sunday. Both were coming back from injuries, but as can be expected they lacked control. Neither got out of the 3rd inning. On the bright side, we did well on the autograph front. Saturday night was Signature Saturday where there is usually 2 players signing at the gates. Kurt Heyer was the only one signing. And that was the lone sig I got. My son did get a few autos on a PCL ball: Heyer, Boone Whiting, Matt Williams, Marcus Hatley, Scott Moore, Dean Anna, Sam Tuivailala. We had front row seats on top of the Redbirds dugout for both games, but Saturday night there must have been 5 little league teams there. A lot of them crowded to our section even though they did not have seats there. We just sat back and let them be rude to each other, trying to get a ball in between innings or yell at the players.
Sunday was a much better day. I am not sure if the crowd was smaller due to the hotter temperature or it being Mother's Day, but I would guess only about 1500 people showed up. We got there as the gates opened and saw a lot of the pitchers playing long toss. Many stopped and signed on their way back to the dugout. My son also had luck getting his baseball signed after the game. His autos on the ball Sunday included Keith Butler, Tim Cooney, Cody Stanley, Greg Garcia, and Stephen Piscotty. Here are the cards I got done over the course of the two day, all on Sunday except Heyer.
This is my favorite, have never gotten a dual card signed by both players before.
I got most of the autos signed by the dugout except for Marco Gonzales, Zach Petrick, and John Gast. They were charting pitches on Sunday. My daughter and I got up after the 3rd inning to get out of the sun. We were watching the game behind home plate when we spotted them. Over the course of 3 innings we were the only ones to recognize them. All of them were very nice. Gonzales even thanked us for coming to the game. He talked to us for a few minutes in between innings. I mentioned that we came for Mother's Day and it was also my wife's 40 birthday. He ended up signing this for her:
Bad pick, but the ball reads: To Jennifer: Happy Birthday and Mother's Day. The other auto on there is Xavier Scruggs. My son grabbed this ball by mistake after the game instead of his.
Great weekend other than the outcome of the games. I will have to say I am very fortunate to have a wife who not only loves baseball, but that would spend Mother's Day and her birthday at a ballpark 5 hours from home.
Sunday was a much better day. I am not sure if the crowd was smaller due to the hotter temperature or it being Mother's Day, but I would guess only about 1500 people showed up. We got there as the gates opened and saw a lot of the pitchers playing long toss. Many stopped and signed on their way back to the dugout. My son also had luck getting his baseball signed after the game. His autos on the ball Sunday included Keith Butler, Tim Cooney, Cody Stanley, Greg Garcia, and Stephen Piscotty. Here are the cards I got done over the course of the two day, all on Sunday except Heyer.
This is my favorite, have never gotten a dual card signed by both players before.
I got most of the autos signed by the dugout except for Marco Gonzales, Zach Petrick, and John Gast. They were charting pitches on Sunday. My daughter and I got up after the 3rd inning to get out of the sun. We were watching the game behind home plate when we spotted them. Over the course of 3 innings we were the only ones to recognize them. All of them were very nice. Gonzales even thanked us for coming to the game. He talked to us for a few minutes in between innings. I mentioned that we came for Mother's Day and it was also my wife's 40 birthday. He ended up signing this for her:
Bad pick, but the ball reads: To Jennifer: Happy Birthday and Mother's Day. The other auto on there is Xavier Scruggs. My son grabbed this ball by mistake after the game instead of his.
Great weekend other than the outcome of the games. I will have to say I am very fortunate to have a wife who not only loves baseball, but that would spend Mother's Day and her birthday at a ballpark 5 hours from home.
