Philly INK

[kidcollector11]

Anyone get some good stuff from the Phestival?!

[Kingpaco015]

I got lucky and got the Rollins and hamels tickets so I got a ball and jersey signed. I got into the donation line for Burnett and got a Yankee logo baseball signed from him. I picked up a few of the grab bags: I got a utley/Rollins bobblehead, which they said was signed but it wasn't (oh well), and ended up getting two Sandburg signed balls with the hall of fame inscription. One of them is up for trade if someone wants to trade an utley, Howard or hamels ball. Private message me if you are interested in a trade.

[Eddie_2]

[Eddie_2]

Question - Does Cole Hamels always side panel? I asked for the SS, and he completely blew me off, took the ball under the table, and side paneled it. I asked a couple other people while I was waiting in line for other tables and they all told me he never signs the SS during the Phestival. Is that for real? If I would have known that I would have never traded for Hamels. Complete jerk move in my book. I have no problem getting a ball side paneled if it's a freebie or at the stadium, but when I'm paying for autographs. Really Cole?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

[cyberer]

Cole has an exclusive SS contract I think, and moreover is the biggest jerks in all of sports. Sorry that happened to you.

My phestival thread is here:

https://www.sportscardforum.com/threa...1#post13399838

[Eddie_2]

Cole has an exclusive SS contract I think, and moreover is the biggest jerks in all of sports. Sorry that happened to you.

My phestival thread is here:

https://www.sportscardforum.com/threa...1#post13399838

I read your post about the Phestival. And your Cliff Lee donation part brings A LOT of clarity to what happen to me. You really made me feel a lot better Erik! I'll run it by you. I got done with Hamels and then since Lee was in the area, I decided to also try him for a donation (going for an 8x10 - this was at 5:50). The line was moving quickly and I thought it was be a sure thing that I would get him. I gave the usher my $10 donation, when all of a sudden, a third usher came sprinting down the hallway, telling us to stop. I couldn't get through the darn door because the person in front of me decided to pay his donation in nine one dollar bills and four quarters, playing with his money, also add to the fact he was a very big built guy, he was blocking the door. Well the third usher comes up and told the usher I handed my money to, to give me my money back, and that the session was over. I was irate. I told the guy that I already paid and was going through the door, and he got smart with me and said everyone that entered do so with a ticket. I was then like "Well genius how do you explain the $400 cash that other usher is holding in his hand?". He didn't respond and told me to get lost. Then this mother who was behind me started to lose it, and was shouting that it was only 6:00, and that there was thirty minutes still to go. That third usher that stopped me, all told us to take a hike and "get over it".

Thankfully I already got Lee in 2012, and was just trying to get an 8x10. But wow, talk about horrible communication and refusing donation money. Yikes.

[cyberer]

Was the 3rd usher a female with shortish dark hair and looked a bit like a "softball player" or something?

The 2 ushers at the door were a 60something man named mike and a young girl maybe 21 with dark curly hair and a dark complexion. Those 2 were nice and the curly chick was the one who called her superiors and got the cash line going. Softball player was the one who previously told her no cash line, presumably because lee demanded it.

So it would not surprise me if she came back and shut it down. I saw her standing between the Hamels and the lee line right as I was leaving the lee line.

I would write rite the phillies a letter about your experience maybe they will respond with a ticket coupon or something. Never know, but that's really crappy. Not surprising given what I heard beforehand though about Lee and the situation.

[Triple Peanut]

110 dollars later, I did less than awesome. Ended up with tix for Howard, Kendrick, Burnett, Samuel/Nieves. Traded the Kendrick for Mayberry/Henderson only cause I have KK on a bunch of stuff.
Got Howard and Mayberry on my multi-signed phils plaque, up to 25 sigs on that. Burnett on a ROMLB. Samuel on a card. Nieves and Henderson on a CBP 8x10 that had a few other "scrub" sigs from past years. Paid cash for Franskie to finish a broadcasters photo I've had for a while and got Andersen on a card.
Bought 2 grab bags, got a B.a.stardo signed hat :P (I always pull hats with awful players). Also got the Utley/Rollins bobble which was awesome at first because I collect Rollins, however the players were put on the base backwards so each has the wrong name under them, ugh.

What was up with Pappelbon's no show? "Family emergency", suuuure

re. Hamels' sig, he always is SP. I have 2 team balls signed by him and I'd swear he pressed really lightly on purpose both times to leave a really weak signature. I always bring my own, new pens and warm them up, and his is the only light sig on either ball.

[cyberer]

The phillies sent out a survey about the Phestival. I filled it out with the following letter, and encourage you all to do the same:



I go to the event to support a charity for a disease that I would like to help fight. I support the charity monetarily through my contributions. I am a physician by profession and a researcher, so this is a near and dear cause for me.

As I see it, the whole purpose of the phestival is to barter goods and services (autographs and unique experiences) for money for the charity. Ok. Great idea.

However, it does not make sense to me why I would be limited in the amount of contributions that I can make, or that the ushers should so mistreat the fans.

For instance, in the past (and this year) certain lines have opened up at the end for $10 donations, as time allows. This is a great system. You sold tickets, the tickets all got used, but the players are still sitting there for the allotted hour and a half.

You have hundreds of fans dying to shell out hard earned dollars to the charity, the end goal of the whole event, for the autographs of the players sitting idle.

However, the ushers are downright rude about opening the lines to cash donations, and spread misinformation (i.e. the ushers told us no cash donations in a certain line and to go somewhere else, then opened that very line for cash donations 5 minutes later). The ushers also said they had no central instructions about whether they were allowed to open the lines for cash. They themselves complained about the lack of common sense in accepting donations for charity, as well as the disorganization of those running the event.

To me, it seems like a no brainer that if the players are contractually obligated or desire to go to this event, and are there for the event, then there should be cash donations accepted AFTER the tickets are exhausted. The only motivation for NOT doing that is selfishness, as it denies money to charity, possibly thousands of dollars in the form of hundreds of autographs across the whole team of players.

The fact that this is not a common practice, and moreover is DISCOURAGED by those running the event, is to me unacceptable and leaves a bad taste in my mouth for the whole event. As far as I and all of the fans with whom I spoke are concerned, if the line is finished, there should be cash donations allowed. Period.

We aren't scum bags, we aren't trying to "steal something" from the players. We are trying to donate money to charity and are being blocked. Please re-evaluate priorities of the event regarding player egos and treatment of fans when all we want to do is donate to a charity. I say ego because I heard from one of the ushers that it was the player himself who told them not to accept cash donations at the end, and they almost had to trick the player into doing it by not telling him. That behavior is unacceptable by any human being, and against the ideals of the Phillies organization and the ALS charity event.

One minor note I will add, I watched an usher turn away a woman who was in a wheelchair and obviously near-death with ALS from an autograph booth. As I said I am a physician by trade so I obviously felt deep empathy for this woman.

I was appalled that she was turned away from anything last night. She didn't have the ticket, but the whole purpose of the event is to help these people and maybe bring them some modicum of happiness. In such an event, it is EXTREMELY distasteful for an entire line of fans (about a hundred people) to watch a Phillies employee deny a severely ill woman a freaking autograph. Again, it is a matter of priorities.

All of these things collectively left a bad taste in my mouth from the day, and made me question further participation. I am not looking to get anything out of this except to make you aware of the honest concerns that myself and a large group of fans had yesterday.

Given that it took the tickets days and days to sell out this year versus several hours in the past might be a good indicator that fans are tiring of these skewed priorities and poor treatment.

I sincerely hope that this reaches someone meaningful, and that you take the time to read it.

Sincerely yours,
Erik

[wu216]

I havent been to one in several years and yesterday was an interseting experience to say the least. I did get a few cool sigs (Byrd on a ball; Brown/Kendrick on 11x14) but hearing others talk about their experience and witnessing first hand, I feel many of the players view this event as a burden. Its almost like having a day off at your job then your company forces you to come in for a fundraiser or charity event. Of course its for a good cause but at the end of the day you'd rather be doing something else. Also the players definitely treated the autograph portion as if it was a free signing versus a paid signing even though we as fans did shell out a lot of money. Because the money didnt go to the players pocket directly, the sigs werent that great. I kind of understand not being able to extend with the cash line because I had heard they had a flight to catch right after for the FL series. All in all I had a good time but definitely agree with the points everyone has raised expressing their disappointments. Hope they make some changes for next year.