Tigers Hotel in Baltimore

[newboy119]

Hi guys,
I am planning a trip to Camden Yards for early August when the Tigers are in town. Do any of you know where the Tigers stay in Baltimore? Please either post here, or if you would rather keep it private, pm me.
Thanks!
-Mike

[JerseyInk]

I sent you a PM about it. Just got back from last night's game. I will upload the signatures and the fill you in on how to make the most of it. Contrary to those on the board, the Renaissance DOES NOT harass you for asking for autos. More to follow soon.

Bryan

[newboy119]

Thanks! Hope you made out well with the graphs.

[cyberer]

hotel dealers making stuff up to keep people away?

[JerseyInk]

I'm not gonna make claims but this is how my over nighter went at the Renaissance. As i'm checking in, i asked where is the polite location to acquire autos. The front desk ladies told me to get with the bellhops. But they did advise me not to approach inside the lobby. Yea, i know the basic laws of the land. I went outside and asked the guys where is a good place to hang out for the players. I told them, look we're (my buddy came up for the game too) not the heckling type, just looking for some autos on balls and bats. He said cool, and told us to stand next to the concrete pillars and potted bushes. Which is right where the players get in and out of the cabs. You can't get any better or closer than that.

Not knowing the timeframe on when the players come and go, we headed down to the park at lunch time. We met up with 2 graphers around 1230 across from where the O's park. They told us the O's start showing up anywhere from 1200 to 2. They walk down the stairs or come across where the security stand is and sign. The away teams have to walk right past you if 1.) they get there before 2pm or 2) they take a yellow cab. The Renaissance has their own cabs that shuttle the away players to the game who have access past the security guard. Yellow cabs do not.

The front door to Camden don't open up until 2 so the away team players are sitting ducks. Every single Mariner walked up to the doors early that took yellow cabs. King Felix and Ichiro probably took a hotel cab as we didn't see them. Didn't see Ichiro at all outside the park for that matter. Ninja skills.

It's good to root for losing teams when it comes to graphing. We got the following O's (on a base):
Jake Fox
Luke Scott
Derek Lee
J.J. Hardy
Jason Berken
Matt Wieters (sweet spot and posed for pics)

M's: (note: my M's suck at signing. They signed under each other instead of sweet spotting or finding a different spot on the ball. It's terrible looking.)

Doug Fister
Adam Kennedy
Justin Smoak
Brendan Ryan- he signed in the park and he asked if there was anybody else before walking off. Knuckles on that.
Luis Rodriguez
Jack Wilson
Jack Cust

I purchased someone's season tickets off Vividseats.com so we could get in at 5. I don't believe they allow in EARLY printed off tickets from stubhub.com regardless where the seats are. We didn't see or hear of any O's signing after batting which all the locals said was weird. They usually hang around. The M's signed along the wall in between warmups. Smoak signed for everybody along with Kennedy. Ichiro apparently signed on Tues. night for 15 minutes but none this night. Figures.

So we hung out behind homeplate. Griffey Jr was there as a consultant (i guess, not sure on that). He was getting some love from the fans but didn't acknowledge. After batting was over, he started walking to the dugout and decided to come our way. He made sure to announce in a jerk manner "I'm ONLY SIGNING TWO!" Well, i made sure that he was going to grab mine after the kid in front of me. He signed it perfect then walked away. STOKED isn't the word. Favorite player of all time. The crowd behind me had this disbelief look on their faces. That was it at the game. Nobody else signed.

We hauled it back to the hotel. The team bus showed up around 1015 ish. Smoak wasn't on it as i had my bat this time to get signed but no luck. Michael Pineda's ride stopped right in front of us so he had no choice but to hook us up. King Felix pulled in right behind him but he was in no mood after that lame performance so he just ignored us and strolled in. No big deal.

I didn't get Ichiro which was the only reason we came up but it was worth it. It's a very cool place to graph at. I can't think of any other place that makes it this easy. Granted, like i said before, it's good to graph losing teams. The crowd of graphers was a handful. Looking forward to planning my next trip to Camden.