Ryeinc's Pensacola Blue Wahoos In-Person 'Graphing Thread

[ryeinc]

Hey guys,

I know I've mentioned this about a million times on here before but this year my city received the new AA team for the Cincinnati Reds, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Their first game was Thursday and their current record is 1-1. Without a doubt I am going to go to a ton of games (First one for me will be Sunday) and will hopefully get some 'graphs!

Now on Wednesday they had a "soft opening" for the ball park where the opened up the concessions, and stores and what not to see if everything would run smoothly, the team was also practicing.


Now I had my "in-person autograph kit" ready with me in hopes of getting some 'graphs but didn't have any luck until the practice ended. I was out by the dugout watching the local news interview a player (Who I later found out was catcher Mark Fleury)...


...When all of a sudden our manager (and former Cubs manager) Jim Riggleman popped out of the dugout. Now being a Cubs fan it was my goal to meet and get Mr. Riggleman's signature sometime during the season. I knew this was my chance so I popped up and headed his way. Mr. Fleury ended his interview at about the same time and also made his way to Mr. Riggleman. I stopped at that point because they both started talking and I waited until they stopped and then I shouted "Excuse me, Mr. Riggleman!". At the point he turned towards me and the P.A. announcer came on and said that the soft opening was over but as a treat to the crowd Wahoos' manager Jim Riggleman and catcher Mark Fleury will be signing autographs by the home dugout and with that, both of them started heading my way. I looked back and sure enough I was first in line. The first thing both Jim and Mark said was they liked my shirt (I was wearing a Dayton Dragons shirt and hat, they're the Reds A team). I thanked them and immediately stuck my hand out and shook Mr. Riggleman's hand saying how my family are lifelong Cubs fans and ever since I heard he was going to be the manager I wanted to meet him and I wished him luck for the upcoming season. He thanked me and went on to sign the two photos of him I had and I thanked him. I then went over to Mr. Fleury and had him sign a photo and a Dayton Dragons pocket schedule, thanked him, and went on my way. Really cool experience as both of them were very polite! I can't wait for more opportunities like that in the future. Stay tuned guys!

4/4/12 "Soft Opening"-

Wahoos-

Jim Riggleman - 2/2


Mark Fleury - 2/2


Total - 4

[ryeinc]

Hey guys! Went to the game vs. the Montgomery Biscuits today and got some 'graphs! Wahoos won 7-5.

Pre-Game:

Biscuits-

Billy Gardner Jr., Manager - 1/1 - Went over to the Biscuits dugout and saw him by himself so I called his named asked if he would sign and he did. I shook his hand and welcomed him to Pensacola. Would love to get this photo signed by Riggleman as well!


Wahoos-

J.C. Sulbaran - Pitcher - 1/1
Chris Manno - Pitcher- 1/1
Mike Serrano - Pitcher - 1/1
Donnie Joseph - Pitcher - 1/1
Clayton Tanner - Pitcher - 1/1
Justin Freeman - Pitcher - 1/1


Brian Peacock - Catcher - 1/1 - Last night's hero. Won the game on a walk-off bunt single. Got him outside the dugout after he did an interview with Wahoos' Insider....


Got him to sign this morning's sports page-


Ryan LaMarre - Outfielder - 2/2 - I've talked to him on Twitter for the past few days, told him how I wanted to meet him and what not. Nice guy!


Post Game:

Wahoos-

Donnie Joseph - Pitcher - 1/1 - Closed the game for us tonight. Got him as he was going back to the dugout.



Total - 11

Not bad for my first Wahoos game! Stay tuned!

[FloridaGators15]

Wahooos have a sick LOGO man i might need to get myself a snapback of them

[ryeinc]

Wahooos have a sick LOGO man i might need to get myself a snapback of them

They sure do! I have one and I love it!

[FloridaGators15]

can i see a photo of the hat

[ryeinc]

can i see a photo of the hat

Now they have all sorts of different hats but mine looks like this.....



I really like it!

[ryeinc]

Went to the Jackson Generals/Wahoos game tonight and had a blast! Wahoos won 5-4 on a walkoff single! Here's what I got tonight.......

Pre-Game

Generals-

Joseph Dunigan - Outfielder- 1/1


Nick Franklin - Shortstop - 1/1 - Top prospect in baseball (#62 on the top 100 list). Didn't seem too happy about coming over and signing but I'm glad he did anyway!


Andrew Carraway - Pitcher - 1/1 - Surprised he signed as he was tonight's starting pitcher! Nice guy, stayed and talked to the few IPers that were there.


Cory Snyder - Hitting Coach - 2/2 - Glad to meet Cory! Didn't say a word to any of us, but I'm glad he signed!


Ralph Henriquez - Catcher - 1/1 - He hung out in the dugout for a while talking on his phone.


Jim Pankovits - Manager - 2/2 - Nice man! He liked my photos, on the first one he said he still hasn't shown his players his mustache from back then. And then he was surprised to see the bottom one, he said he'd never seen it before, and asked me where I got it. It's a cool photo when he was the manager of the Tri-City Valley Cats when they won the 2010 New York - Penn League.



Wahoos-

Eric Davis - Cincinnati Reds Legend - 1/1 - This man caught me by surprise as I did not expect to see him! I saw a man in a #44 Davis jersey in the Wahoos' dugout from a far and thought it was just a guy that worked for the team and was a Reds fan but lo and behold, I went over there and it was the real Eric Davis! Very nice man, funny too! He told me he works for the Reds and goes around visiting the "babies". Players were loving him and talked to him all night. Very glad to meet him, a class act!




Post-Game-

Wahoos-

Didi Gregorius - Shortstop - 1/1 - Been wanting Didi since day one! He's our shortstop from the Netherlands. Nice guy, he liked my photo (It's a custom). He did indeed get the first hit in Wahoos' history.


Donnie Joseph - Pitcher - 1/1 - Nice guy, closed the game out for us tonight. Talked to him for a brief second about hecklers that kept calling his name the whole game (I sat right near them).


Total - 11

[thj0011]

Really like the Jim Pankovits card. I am going to send to him TTM for my Astros PC.

[ryeinc]

Really like the Jim Pankovits card. I am going to send to him TTM for my Astros PC.

Thanks! It's actually a photo of an old card.

Trivia question - What's wrong with the card? (Look closely).

[thj0011]

Thanks! It's actually a photo of an old card.

Trivia question - What's wrong with the card? (Look closely).

Is it the Z at the end of his name? Ha.