I thought if I scramble I'd have this in by midnight since my computer clock said 11:45.


And then I forgot I'm in Eastern now. Eh, screw it. I have a lot of thoughts tonight.


About a year ago, I wrote a piece on hobby etiquette. Tonight proved a part of that essay.


"You were new once too. Help others out as long as it doesn't hurt yourself or others to do so. Got an extra pen? Let someone use it. Know who a player is that someone needs? Point him out. See someone using a Sharpie on an official ball? Let them know why they shouldn't. Obviously you don't want to be a know-it-all prick because frankly, we're all still learning. But help educate others. The hobby will be a better place for it."

The same should go for someone graphing your city from elsewhere. Help them out. In Frisco, we try to help 'graphers who come in from other cities whenever possible. They don't come often, but when they do we'll assist where we can.

Tonight, the graphers in Columbus were among the least helpful I've ever encountered and easily the worst on this trip. A very cliquey group. In Birmingham, Lexington, and West Virginia, everyone else was willing to help us if and when we needed it. Tonight we got almost no assistance-- every man for himself was the name of the game outside, and almost no one was doing it inside.

START TIME: 9 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Perry, OH, Columbus, OH, and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 358
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,595

We made a quick drive up to see my dad this morning, having breakfast and picking up some stuff I had stored there. Included among it was a pennant signed by a bunch of former MISL players, which can be seen on the Pacific Soccer Project blog.

After a quick break at the hotel, we hit the road down to Columbus.

Inside the ballpark was easy: we got in at 5:30 as Indianapolis was finishing batting practice. At their dugout, Ryan Lavarnaway signed the lone card I had of him, along with Brian Esposito signing 3/3 and Ryan Long 2/2.

We ventured over to Columbus' side and Eric Haase signed 4/7 (one going to Adam Rosenstein who sent me a few items and helped me out with a lot of scouting and recon on AAA teams), followed by the night's starting pitcher Mitch Talbot, who signed 4/4. Pitching coach Steve Karsay signed 3/8. As Talbot warmed up, we got a few position players to sign: Eric Stamets on 3/3, Adam Rosales on 2/2, Brandon Barnes on 5/5, and Yandy Diaz on 3/3. We also got lucky on Yu Chang, who signed one-per right after the anthem.

Postgame was tough as I stated above, but we got a few: Drew Maggi signed the lone card I had of him, Mitch Keller did 1/3, Chris Bostick 2/2, and Kevin Newman 1/4.

Overall not bad; but I would have done better with some assistance from the locals.

Day total: 36 autographs
Running total: 137 autographs

Tomorrow: doing it double time as we hit Great Lakes at Lake County in the morning, Louisville at Toledo in the evening.


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