Phillies Phestival Success Thread

[cyberer]

I'll get things started! This is copied from my success thread.

Tonight was a great but CRAZY night at the Phils Phestival. Druce on these forums was AWESOME enough to give me a FREE admission ticket to get into the phestival- this thread is made possible all because of him.

However, admission tickets don't come with autograph tickets, so I knew I would have to get down there and wheel and deal. I decided to bring 30 or 40 autographs from my collection, hoping to trade an autograph for a ticket or something similar.

I got there and got in line with a buddy. However I soon left our spot in line and started walking around the massive crowd trying to buy and trade.

Very soon after I got there I bought a Joe Blanton ticket for 5 dollars, because I needed him for my Sports Illustrated cover.

Very shortly after that, MY BEST LUCK OF THE NIGHT HAPPENED. I told people that I needed Hamels, and a lady asked me what I had to trade for it. I handed her my list of autographs from home.

She and her kids really love Carlos Ruiz, and he wasn't signing at the Phestival today- he was in the photo booth. So she saw a certified Ruiz auto on my list, AND TRADED ME A HAMELS TICKET FOR IT STRAIGHT UP!!!

So now I'm packing Hamels and Blanton. I was pretty content because I needed both for my SI cover and I didn't have any extras to trade. I thought that this would be it.

However soon a guy came up to me and asked me about Wilson Valdez- he had a ticket for him and attended the game where he was the winning pitcher. Well I just so happened to have an 8x10 of Valdez standing on the mound and he really wanted it. He traded me tickets for Gload and JC Romero for the 8x10. AMAZING!

I then made an epic series of trades:

-Romero for Contreras
-Contreras for Madson
-Madson Sold Madson for 15 bucks cash (-5 dollars earlier that I used to buy Blanton put me ahead 10 bucks net)

-Gload for Blanton
-Blanton for Polanco
-Polanco for Hamels
-Hamels for Rollins

I then sold the Rollins for 50 and used the profit from the Madson transaction (10 net dollars) to buy an Utley for 60.

Enough wheeling and dealing for you? I was like a man possessed!

So then I got in the lines when the gates opened. I did the Hamels line first because I figured (correctly) that I could get in and out in 10 minutes. I got him to sign the Sports Illustrated cover and got a handshake.



Next, I got in the Utley line. It was the longest line in the place I think. I waited over 50 minutes in a 2 hour event for it. But it was worth it. While in line, I saw him sidepaneling all the balls. "Oh great," I thought to myself why even bother.

However when I got up there, I asked him to sweetspot and he was very nice about it and did it without batting an eye. THE SIG LOOKS AMAZING!







I then got in the Blanton line to sign my sports illustrated. It moved fast and he was really nice about it. He got me on my SI cover, and then he hit duplicates for me. Rich Dubee was also in his booth, and he signed for me as well:







I was now fresh out of tickets, and it was now 7:20. The event was over at 7:45. I heard at the end of the night that they open certain lines up for a 10 dollar donation. I went to the Cliff Lee line and the guy running it said that they were taking donations but there was no guarantee you'll get an auto b/c it was 7:25 when I got there and they said he was out of there at 7:45. I waited in a really long line, I didn't think I was going to get him.

I was lucky, though, as right after I got in line about 50 more people showed up with the same idea. I wound up getting to the front of the line at 7:47, so he stayed a bit over his scheduled time, and signed my SI cover!

Here is a pic of him signing, AND a pic of the SI itself (which I had been conveniently holding back for suspense ).





I got Oswalt in May, and I got Hamels, Lee and Blanton tonight.

But my night wasn't over- I decided to go for the complete package. I heard last year that a few lucky people got Roy Halladay to sign as he was coming out of the photo booth. So at about 7:55 I waited by the photo booth for him. Also around me was a guy with a big Halladay poster and a little girl holding a baseball.

I think to myself "This is great! He will sign for this little girl and we'll all get him!"

So he comes out surrounded by security, and they literally push the little girl out of the way and say he's not signing today. The security guard steps out of the way and lets Halladay get on the little golf cart thing. This created a small gap for me to step in. I stepped into this gap and stood right in front of the cart inches from Halladay. I said:

"Mr. Halladay, please? You are the last one I need on this!"

He said "Sorry not today!" and the golf cart pulled away. UGH! Still, I got close as close can be, and I'm sure I'll get him eventually. They probably won't put him on the photo booth 3 years in a row (he was on it this year and last year).

So yeah, I cleaned up today, and the only thing I paid net was 10 dollars and a Carlos Ruiz certified autograph and I got Lee, Hamels, Blanton and Utley. UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't know if I can expect to get that lucky with trades every year, but I'll definitely be going back every year I can from now on. It was awesome!

[JVazz29]

Awesome stuff man, congrats! Nice job wheelin' and dealin' like a GM on draft day!

[Jaded]

nice job racking

[Eddie_2]

I did well, but it was a frustrating night and one of my least favorite Phestivals that I’ve been too. I’ll go into detail….

I got seven total graphs on three admission tickets ($75). I was very happy to get Lee and Howard since a lot of people were trying hard to get them and people were buying those tixs for $70-$100. One scumbag dealer sold a Lee ticket to this guy in a suit for $100 bucks. Like every year, I bought some grab bags but there wasn’t too much good stuff inside them. I got a Contreras signed baseball (certified) in one, and the other one had a KK signed Phillie hat (also certified). I sent $40 total bucks on grab bags and got those two graphs with them. Extremely disappointing, considering in years past that players from the 1980s, 83, 93, and big name current player are usually in those grab bags.

There were way too many dealers at the event this year. Usually there are a fare number of dealers but this year was just overwhelming. Some dealer was bragging behind me in line how he bought 12 admission tickets and how he was going to get the entire team and sell them to his “clients”. Another scumbag was getting Lidge to sign that infamous photo of him severing up the home run ball to Pujols back in 2006. It just made me feel out of place, since I’m a longtime fan of the team and it isn’t fans that are getting graphs.

Before I continue here’s who I got…

- Howard
- Lee
- Polanco
- Valdez/Dane S
- Raul
- Dom Brown

I already have 2 Polly autographs…so I was trying hard to trade Polly. I could not find one person to trade Polly with. I really wanted Oswalt, but nobody with Oswalt would break. Then I tried talking with some dealers to trade Polly for Vic, but it was shot down. I then tried Polly for Stutes/Herndon…and this dealer had the nerve to say that it was an unfair trade. Really dude? A 2xAll Star, who let me add that is going to be starting in this year’s All Star Game and was also the MVP of the 2006 ALCS? Sounds unfair for 2 unproven prospects that just got called up this season.


From reading this, I’m sure you can feel my frustration.

Either way, like my brother pointed out I still got...Lee on ROMLB, Howard on ROMLB, Contreras on ROMLB, KK on a Phillies hat, Brown on 2011 Topps, Raul on 2011 Topps, Valdez on 2011 Topps, Polly on 2011 Topps, Dane S on the program book.


I also tried what people said on here, offering to pay to get graphs at the end of the night, but almost every booth I went to the person running the booth said, no.

[TTMcardMaster]

Eddie_2---you need to learn to trade like cyberer! Blanton for Polanco was key for him! Haha, but seriously, getting Lee and Howard in addition to others was great! But it sucks about the dealers, especially the $100 Lee ticket when you could have waited and got him for a $10 donation!

[cyberer]

Eddie, next year talk to as many booth guys as you can at the beginning of the night. I heard in advance from the Lee guy that they were going to do it at the end of the night. It's totally dependent on who's running it.

Sorry you were frustrated. I can vouch for the fact that there were many dealers. I saw literally every familiar face- dozens of people I see at hotels, radio shows, etc.

I view some of these people as acquaintances or fringe friends b/c we talk the hobby so much, so I don't want to throw them under the bus, but this was not an event for fans, at least not in the sense that everyone was on an equal playing field.

For what it's worth this was my first one but I will be going every year from now on because I love the thrill of wheeling and dealing and I loved getting these hard to get players.

The people that I got my epic trades done like the ruiz for hamels, and polanco for hamels and stuff were fans not dealers. I don't think they really knew what was up and what they had in their hands. If I was a dealer I might have felt bad about trading with them, but I am a fan just like them and if they want Ruiz or Polanco, then that's their business.

Based on what I saw this year, next year I am going to buy 1 admissions package and spend the whole night trading. If you can even buy a bad ticket for 5 bucks like I did with Blanton, between that and the 2 tickets that come with your package, with enough work and a little luck you could have epic successes at a low cost.

I don't think I'll ever get as lucky as I did this year effectively getting every graph I needed for free, but I will say that I do have a knack for the wheeling and dealing.

Thanks for the comments guys!

[druce26]

I did a little wheeling and dealing. but nothing like that. I wound up getting Lee and Blanton on my SI, and got Blanton on another item as well. I also got Lidge, Romero twice, Schneider, Gross, Samuel, Dubee, Stutes, Herndon, Polanco(he included a 2006 ALCS MVP inscr), and Bottalico twice. My nephew got Ibanez, Lee, Martinez and Kendrick. I had some good karma with my Nephew and Lee. I took him down there, but his mother was going to meet us and take him around. I had seven total tickets, but Lee, Ibanez and Lidge were the only three worth anything. Anyway, I let him make the first pick of who he wants after we see what we have, and he of course, wants Lee. We were standing in the Lee line when his Mom showed up, and I slipped her the SI, just encase she got lucky. She walks up to me 5 mintues later with the SI signed, and my nephew got his Lee auto as well. Bring a little kid and being nice to him helps out in the long run!

[cyberer]

Great stuff- got pics? I can't thank you enough for the opportunity to go btw.

That Lee story is awesome, I heard he hit a few multiples throughout the night, but I wasn't about to push it for a 10 dollar donation. Lee's line-handlers were very laid back...

[Eddie_2]

Eddie_2---you need to learn to trade like cyberer! Blanton for Polanco was key for him! Haha, but seriously, getting Lee and Howard in addition to others was great! But it sucks about the dealers, especially the $100 Lee ticket when you could have waited and got him for a $10 donation!

To be frank, I think Erik had some dumb luck with his trades. But sometimes you need this in order to get what you want. I wasn't really asking for much when I was trying to trade Polly for Stutes/Herndon...that trade really favors the person getting Polly. My problem was everyone I talked to was a dealer and they only wanted the big name players like Lee, Chase, Howard, Hamels - or money to buy the big name tixs. In cyberer's case though he was trading with fans. The problem was I couldn't find the fans because there were so few, sadly.

Its nice to see that Erik did well though because he's seems like a real fan of the team. But, as a fan of the Phillies voicing his opinion, it just gave me a bad impression yesterday that many people were using this event as a stepping stone for profit margins when I can find hundreds of people who would love to get autographs to cherish them in their collections.
I guess this is the reality of collecting autographs though in a nutshell.

[cyberer]

I understand your frustrations 100%, and I said in my posts that I was ridiculously lucky, so don't worry- I know you didn't intend to offend me and I took no offense at all in your saying I had "dumb luck." I did have dumb luck!

However, I told my girlfriend, to a large extent I made my own dumb luck. I got there 3 hours early, the line was literally 3 city blocks long (it went the whole length of the stadium and more), and I walked up and down the line continuously saying what I had and what I was trying to deal. This is where you would have seen that there WERE a lot of fans floating around. They weren't being vocal, they were quietly waiting in line, but if you called out a number or name they needed, they would speak up and you could deal.

Once you got inside it was impossible to trade with anyone but dealers, so this is probably where you ran into problems. The other thing I did which really worked was to get the cell numbers of everyone that I approached on Craigslist to buy and sell tickets from. So I had a network of about a dozen people that I was continuously texting saying what I had and what I needed (that's how I brokered the Rollins for Utley deal).

I also came prepared- I brought 30 or more autographs from my collection- some certified and some not- and a printed list of everything I had that I would hand to people and ask to trade for tickets. This worked really well in getting me hamels and I will do this again next year.

The fact that you couldn't trade Polanco for Stutes is OUTRAGEOUS regardless of whether it was a dealer or a fan or even if it was Michael Stutes's mother- ANYONE SHOULD DO THAT TRADE. I think you got pidgeonholed with who you could deal with, and by getting there early and being loud and approaching hundreds of people in line I got what I needed. Dumb luck certainly played a factor, but you have to put yourself in position to benefit from a little luck. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

The way the Phillies design this program is it favors those who spent the 300+ dollars to buy like 15 admission packages because they know they can sell the tickets and/or the autos for WAY more than that. If they just let everyone in and get in a line, it would certainly be more hectic, but it would level the playing field between fan and dealer- a ticket is a ticket is a ticket. This favors people that bought every number (and several people I talked to had every number).

Thank you for recognizing that I am a fan and that my success was a good-faith effort for my collection of a team that I love. I can assure everyone that profiteering was everywhere and I think you got the short end of that.

I am thinking about writing the Phillies a registered letter voicing my concerns above- about how this favors the dealers who buy all the tickets and are just making a quick buck. They wouldn't change anything I'm sure, but a registered letter is a major pain in the butt to a big business, because they are pretty much obligated to respond.

I would include in this letter what you said about your experience, as well as anyone else that had a bad time.

Eddie, I think you did really well and should be happy. However I can see why you are so angry. I hope that you don't think I'm rubbing anything in your face or saying "look what I got!" I hate the reality of this hobby as much as the rest of you all.

I am anxious to hear from Philliesman and a few others who went to this thing to see how they made out and if they have the same vibe.