r0yals2012 Adventures in IP Graphing

[r0yals2012]

Royals Fan Fest. Had a blast. Of course it was less crowded with no Moustakas, Hosmer, and Cain so that was nice. Still had Perez, Gordon, Duffy, and Merrifield attending as they were the biggest names. Did really well. Royals Fan Fest STH gets in 2 hours early, which I was able to take advantage of. I only skipped out on 2 lines for both days which happened to be broadcasters. You have no idea who you are getting until they show up. All autographs are free, you just have to pay admission to get in.

Day 1
Ned on my seat back

Added Paulo
Ian Kennedy 13x19 on my picture

Unknown gloves. Gonna have to match them. These are most tattered I could find and stinky which I love lol


Day 2

Jake Junis was very impressed with my photo I took

$10 for this stadium banner

[Calleyoop]

Looks like you got lots of multiples. Were they not enforcing the "one per", or were there so few people that you just kept getting back in line?

After a poor experience a few years ago with the autograph line-up, I haven't been back.

[r0yals2012]

Well I had some help and then I guess a lot of people got out of line so after I was done with my line I went to a line that was open. And I ended up in some people's lines more than once.

[r0yals2012]

I made my first trip to Spring Training. Needless to say I want to go again every year haha.

Day 1:
Well I had set my alarm to go off at 9:30 so I could get to the practice at 11:00. That didn't turn out as I slept an hour past and woke up at 10:30. We didn't get to bed until 2:00 am as we arrived late and had to drive 45 min to the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was called Grand Canyon University Hotel. I don't know if I would recommend it. It was in a sketch part of town but it had a gated entry with a security guard. They also had a restaurant which I didn't eat at. The restaurant is run by their culinary students. The hotel is run by the hotel management students.

So since I got a late start, I only got in 20 minutes of practice.
Got a Nick Pratto on my ROMLB. Very nice kid

Inside the stadium I got a few more
Photo cards are Jack Lopez, Erick Mejia, and Ned Yost. Almost got Whit but he stopped right when I was going to get it. Salvy also signed but stopped not too far from me because the game started. I overslept a whole hour so that stunk. Also almost got Duffy but I wasn’t fast enough. I also got a foul ball, which was hit by Dee Gordon off of Wily Peralta for the first pitch of the day. Fun day though



Day 2
I made sure I set 3 alarms to get up in time. Luckily I did. I got 2 autos during practice, as well as a ball. I did better today as far as autographs go. I got more inside before the game started and a few after the game ended. I tried to go to Rangers practice but they were gone by the time I got there.

Cam Gallagher on his debut ticket. Just missed Cody Asche and Jorge Soler. Kennedy on photo card. Had cards for him but couldn’t get them fast enough.


The 2 balls I got were a Phil Gosselin foul ball and a ball they toss around before the inning starts.

Day 3
Great day. Arrived at 9:15 at Padres camp and hung out there before going to the Royals vs Mariners game. I ended up with 28 today. Could have gotten more but I don’t know all the Padres names and Numbers until it is too late. Missed out on Jacob Nix, Luis Torrens, and Austin Hedges. I think I did very well. After that I went to autograph alley inside Peoria Stadium. Autograph Alley is pretty awesome. The players walked by a fence area and a lot of them signed. Had very good luck with the Mariners there. Of course I left my cards in the car and could have gotten a lot of cards done but since it is just a narrow holes I just went with photo cards and balls instead of my notebook. Missed Seager and Dee Gordon because the rude people were hogging all the space and couldn’t get there. Missed out on Mondesi for my WS ball because I spent too long looking for the ball.

Padres team card is Eric Lauer

Matt Hague, Casey Lawrence, Erick Mejia, Braden Bishop, Blake Hunt, Ryan O’Hearn
Mitch Maier and Jorge Soler. Soler Side paneled so I will make it into a team ball.
A Mariners coach, Matt Festa, James Paxton
John Andreoli
Andrew Moore

Added Rob Whalen

Jack Anderson
Seth Elledge
Wyatt Mills
?
And the 2 biggies
Big Mac


And my favorite player, Eric Hosmer!


Day 4 was a travel day. I tried to go to Tempe to try and get some more autographs but they were already done by the time I got there so I got a picture of the stadium and then went to downtown Phoenix to the food truck place that they have across the street from ASU campus. They had a few food trucks. I tried something called Fry Bread Cha Cha A La Mode which was the Fry Bread with chocolate drizzle and ice cream on top and powdered sugar. Tasted kind of like a donut but I liked this better. Then I tried a Mustache Pretzel. Apparently they are a top 50 food truck in the US. It was pretty tasty and not too expensive.

Fry bread with ice cream

Mustache Pretzel

[Atlantaman]

Awesome stuff! That Hosmer jersey is awesome! Got me excited for ST next week!

[Letch77]

I won a trip to Boston last summer to see the Royals play. I took along a few '15 WS balls and a '16 All-Star game ball that I'd just picked up.

Got to game 1 shortly after the gates opened and hung out behind the visitor's dugout (which is where our seats were, too!) Hosmer comes out and starts warming up on the field. After his stretching and some light catch, he comes back toward the dugout, where several people gathered trying to get his attention, but he just kept looking at the ground and steps as he headed back to the dugout. I shouted out to him, "Hey, Hoz...All-Star Hoz!" He stopped at the bottom of the dugout steps, looked around to see who said it, smiled when he saw I had an AS ball, and motioned for me to toss it to him. He signed it and tossed it back, then only signed for a couple other people before he disappeared back up the tunnel.

That was just one highlight of the trip- also got Cain on a WS ball, cool pic of Moose rounding 3rd after his HR, and the Royals took the series! It was awesome...more success stories to come.

[r0yals2012]

Yeah, Hoz is pretty awesome. Definitely a fan favorite.

Mailbox has been dry as the dust bowl so here are some IP successes
April 12-Angels at Royals. Shutout. :( Did get a ball though. The pregame warmup ball
April 26-White Sox at Royals. Got to sit in Diamond Club. One autograph, but one I have been chasing for 3 years on my 2014 WS ball. James Shields.

May 5-Tigers at Royals. Two autographs. Missed Nick Castellanos by 1 minute because I didn’t get there fast enough because I was in line to get my bobbleheads.
My 2 autographs were James McCann and Niko Goodrum


Also got a ball toss up from Jacoby Jones to end the 4th, a line out from Abraham Almonte

[r0yals2012]

Last graphing adventure for me today for this year. Cubs came to the K. It was around 100 degrees for most of the day. Went out with a bang. One of my best days probably. Last time to graph until Royals FanFest in January. I was going for one main guy, Ben Zobrist. I graphed arrival and inside. Here is my haul

Arrival
Yu Darvish 2/2 2012 Topps RC & 2018 Topps (FT)

Brandon Morrow 2/2 2010 Topps Update (FT) & 2012 Topps

Ben Zobrist 1/1 on my 2015 World Series ball. Ben is a super cool dude. He signed for everyone and I got my picture taken with him. He is my favorite non Royals player.
Kyle Schwarber 0/1 It was a madhouse trying to get him. I had a Vineline magazine and he was signing in random spots and couldn't get him
Steve Cishek 0/2 He was in a hurry and only signed a few
Inside
Adalberto Mondesi 1/1 on 2015 World Series Ball

Alcides Escobar 1/1 on 2015 World Series Ball

Ian Happ 0/2 He signed for one kid who was very annoying and screaming his name probably to make him shut up.
Albert Almora Jr 1/2 2014 Bowman Draft Asia Black border

Joe Maddon 1/2 2016 Topps Heritage High Number

David Bote 1/1 2011 Topps Cubs Team Card

Chili Davis 1/1 2018 Topps Cubs Team Card

All in All A Great Day to end my year in graphing.