CyberErik's Success Thread- just starting out, feedback and help welcome!

[cyberer]

Yeah I am very lucky with my wife and graphing. She has been great over the years. She got Kershaw one time when we both saw him IP but he was doing only women and kids. She got McGwire one time while I was off getting Magic Johnson (both of these were 2013 at dodger camp- crazy few days there). She can handle herself with this stuff.

Today I went to Bill's Velazquez signing- $15 bucks for a free inscription and a photo op/graph for a young stud picture- can't beat it. Lucky for us the prices were set before the breakout.

Got there right as it started and was pretty far back in line. Good turnout.

I waited in line for about 45 minutes and got to the front. I told him the inscription I wanted but he kind of messed it up. He put the date instead of the CG SO that I wanted. Still awesome.



The pic also came out great- he was being very nice interacting with the fans.



Can't beat the price, and it was a good success that I can now cross off my "Get them at the phestival" list.

Sad to see April end, I've had some epic successes.

[walker066]

I saw the news with Wentz coming through the airport and was wondering if you were there. Nice get afterwards thought!

[cyberer]

In other news, I heard through the grapevine that I was the first/only philly grapher to get Wentz on his trip here. Woot!

[CYmarlins]

I saw the game Velasquez pitched yesterday. The guy is turning into a stud. I'll be seeing him pitch when the Phillies come to play the Marlins on Saturday.

[cyberer]

Been a few weeks since I've been out graphing but I have a few weekend escapades to update.

First and foremost, starting with the Velazquez signing I have been trying to knock guys off my phestival list on the cheap- and another Bill's signing that fit that bill (no pun intended) was the $15 Hellickson signing on Saturday.

So I went. Hellickson was really nice and I got through the line quickly. Got a free ROY inscription and a photo op.





So my Phestival list is now pretty small- I will mostly just be buying/selling/trading and trying to get a few ancillary pieces (goedell, eickoff and a few others)

But on to the "main event."

I graphed the marlins last night for the start of their road trip. About 12 graphers there. For once people actually signed on arrival- Mattingly did one and Jose Fernandez did 2, but I completely missed them. Bummer. We asked Bonds and he pointed and said "the real players are over there.. I'm a coach." Whatever that means.

Stanton went out a bit later and said no. Jose Fernandez went out and said no as well. The night wasn't shaping up so good.

But, the night would prove to go much better than just that. Barry Bonds went out a few minutes later and said no. When pressed he said maybe on the way back. And when pressed again he pointed to the door and said "don't go nowhere." Needless to say we all stayed there for 2 hours waiting. He walked to a nearby restaurant.

Needless to say, we waited as long as it took, which turned out to be about 2 hours. But we all almost had a collective heart attack because a black SUV pulled up to the restaurant and we figured that bonds would take that home and bypass us. Turns out, only stanton got in the car and left.

About 5 minutes later, Bonds and Fernandez emerge and start walking towards us with a security guard. We line up in an orderly fashion and bonds nods and the security guard made sure no one double dipped and he did the whole line- all 9 of us. I was surprised beyond surprised that he sweet spotted my ball.



But we weren't done. As he was signing Fernandez was just standing around watching and taking goofy videos on his phone (both guys were hammered).

So we asked fernandez to sign and he asked bonds if he should. Bonds said yes.

So Fernandez signed one per for pretty much everyone there as well. He ALSO sweet spotted my ball.




And after he was done signing he took a bunch of selfies with whoever wanted one, so I went for it.




The whole atmosphere was drunken and bawdy. Bonds was being really mouthy and Fernandez was too. We were talking about whether Fernandez would have beaten bonds in a matchup in Bonds's prime.

Fernandez the whole night was mostly a gentleman, even when he signed 2 on arrival he said hed do the rest tomorrow, and when he said no the 2nd time he was still polite about it and said maybe later but asked us not to follow him. Then, he finally did it and was nice as could be. He was a bit arrogant (understandable) but not a jerk.

The people he was with told us that Bonds apparently said at dinner that if we were still standing there he would make good on his word. And he did. So even though he was a bit sarcastic and mouthy, he was nice enough to us and I am going to let a lot of what I have heard about him slide. People change, hopefully for the better. And I got great graphs to show for it!

I didn't go back today, though I could have, because all I need on that team left is Ichiro, and I am becoming increasingly aware that he is a waste of time unless you are in the stadium. Fortunately, Stanton has been great to me over the years so I don't need him. So I took the rest of the series off.

[cyberer]

Funny, one of my best nights ever (bonds + jose) got total silence. Maybe people still disgusted by "harvey-gate."

Oh well, we will see how this new one goes (feel free to comment still if you want to haha).

I spent 2 days at lehigh Tues-Wed, though I only planned on one. I had a family thing going on in Lehigh on Tuesday so I decided to stop off to graph pregame for Nick Williams and JP Crawford.

I got into position by the Ironpigs dugout. I camped out in a spot I remembered Domonic Brown signed years ago. I (stupidly) ignored a lady who had season tix who said JP usually starts further down.

JP Crawford came out late to warm up (about 5 minutes before they kick the graphers out), so I knew it wouldn't be good. Suddenly, I saw over my back shoulder I saw Nick Williams signing at the dugout fence behind me. I ran over and got him. Shortly after, JP went right to the spot the lady told me to wait in, and signed about 5 graphs for a crowd of about 100. He shut it down right in front of me (I would have been next). It sucked that I was in the wrong spot, but if I had been down the line I would not have gotten Williams, so I guess it's just one of those things. Here is the Williams.



BUT I heard as I was leaving that the next day THE WHOLE TEAM was doing a signing like the Phillies Phestival. I wish I had known that before going, because I would have adjusted my family plans to that day and gotten the whole team.

So, it was my birthday, but I convinced my wife to take me to the Lehigh whole team event yesterday. I typically have good luck on my birthday, the Phestival last year and the Maclin/Demeco signing years ago, so I figured give it a go.

We got there around 4:30 (gates opened at 5:30) and were 3rd in line at one of the gates.

The gates opened at 5:30 and wife and I ran like hell to the JP Crawford line. About 20-30 people got in the gate before me at other gates, but the JP Crawford line was the farthest away. But... some graphers are, shall we say, out of shape? I got to the Crawford line at a dead sprint and was like #12 in line with the wifey. Immediately after the line became 100+ people long around the whole concourse. Wife and I both got him on 8x10s - came out pretty great.






Because everyone was tied up in the JP line, we got through the Williams and Thompson lines pretty quick before THOSE LINES got long as well, so I'd say we played it pretty perfectly.





We also got through a few veteran lines- Ruf and Venable, and got them on the team photos given out at the event





I hear JP is getting tougher by the day since Spring Training, so happy to add him before he hits the bigs!

[CYmarlins]

Very impressive. Congrats on that! Happy belated Birthday as well!

I thought I had responded to the Marlins graph. That is weird. I found it very impressive to get Jose Fernandez sweet spot, considering he doesn't do that. Rare stuff indeed.

[lambeauleap87]

Good stuff. Williams was great here in Columbus, and I wish we had gotten to see JP. Although I will say, if I ever find myself running at a full spring to get a signature from a Minor League Baseball player, that's the day I retire from 'graphing in order to preserve at least some level of self respect.

[cyberer]

Hey man, to each their own. God gave me legs so I use them for what I like, including graphing. I don't take issue with your comment though- I'm sure I did look ridiculous running, but oh well.

And CYMarlins, I figured you would respond to the marlins- they were awesome! I guess the trick is to get Jose Fernandez drunk? Those graphs are seriously among my all-time favorites though.

Got out and did the cubs this week for their trip here. Bryant is actually pretty good about it - he signed 2 different days last year (figures I picked the one day he didn't sign), so I was optimistic. The rest of the team is pretty terrible, though.

So night of arrival I got 0 graphs. Went back for the first day pregame and got Zobrist, but mostly everyone was shutting it down. Rizzo was pretty rude about it, Bryant and Arrietta didn't even look up from headphones.



I also happened to get Rick Sutcliffe with a cy young inscription (sort-of... he wrote "cy"). The only issue is, despite me scribbling away with my pen all afternoon, it still died and skipped at the beginning of the "R." Oh well.



So all in all a pretty big disappointment for the first 2 days given that I wanted Rizzo, Bryant and Arrietta.

Went back for day 2, more of the same- bad signing team, at first at least.

Pretty soon after, Rizzo walked out. He gave us the usual rude shpiel, but he ended up having to wait around outside a bit, so we talked to him and some guys kind of wore him down over a few minutes.

He was really funny and mouthy about it, but ultimately he did it. He did personalize my ball, but I'm keeping it so NBD for me. At least he spelled "Erik" right (most ppl do Eric).



Out of the 3, bryant, arrietta, rizzo- I expected to get Rizzo the LEAST- he's real tough. Maybe that makes what happened next a bit easier.

Bryant came out and signed. Maybe 15 people around. I was on the front of the fence with people crowding in behind me. He was signing to my left. He wasn't really moving down the line, but I held my spot instead of crashing into the crowd up where he was signing. I figured he had to walk past me to get to the bus, so he would just go down the line.

He got to the guy next to me, signed for him, then DOUBLED BACK THE WAY HE CAME and signed one up the line. Then he backed out completely, and walked past me to the bus. Didn't sign for anyone further down the line. I have no clue why. He signed about 8 total and I would have been next down the line.

It's like I'm not destined to get this guy.

Oh well- Like I said Rizzo was already better than I ever hoped to do for this tough team. Bryant signs enough that I should get him sometime in the future.

I have an Odubel Herrerra signing tonight, and the Phils Phestival tomorrow, so I should have some hometown items to show you guys soon!

[cyberer]

Tough break for the Phils with Velasquez having a serious injury. Also bad timing with the phestival tomorrow.

I went to the odubel herrera signing tonight at Chickie's and Petes. It was very well run- and thanks to philly grapher Ryan for the hookups with the photo.

Odubel was in a good mood, took his time with the item where I indicated for him to sign it, and added a free inscription "Final Out," because the photo is the final out of the hamels NO HITTER at wrigley last year. Great piece: