After canceled flight, Ben Zobrist drives over 350 miles to make autograph event in rural Illinois

[doniceage]

HOOPESTON, Ill. — While some athletes may cancel a scheduled appearance due to flight problems, Ben Zobrist hopped in his car to make it to a central Illinois sports shop.

Scheduled to fly in Friday for a Saturday appearance at Bricks and Ivy Sports in Hoopeston, bad weather throughout the Midwest caused Zobrists’ flight out of Nashville to be canceled
https://wgntv.com/2020/01/26/after-c...ural-illinois/

[pwaldo]

Awesome dedication! Hopefully he had a good time at the autograph event and had some great memories with the fans because of it.

[markw2856]

Class act move!

I grew up in central IL and live near the St Louis area now. I will say Hoopeston is definitely a rural area. He grew up in central IL about 2 hours west of Hoopeston. Am sure he had a lot of family and friends in attendance. Sure that played into it some but he could have easily backed out and rescheduled. There are still good guys in baseball even if it does have a black eye right now.

[doniceage]

Class act move!

I grew up in central IL and live near the St Louis area now. I will say Hoopeston is definitely a rural area. He grew up in central IL about 2 hours west of Hoopeston. Am sure he had a lot of family and friends in attendance. Sure that played into it some but he could have easily backed out and rescheduled. There are still good guys in baseball even if it does have a black eye right now.

Definitely, concur!
Don

[WizardofOz1982]

Zobrist is a class act through and through. This doesn't surprise me at all. Wish he didn't play for the Cubs but it is what it is.

[doniceage]

Zobrist is a class act through and through. This doesn't surprise me at all. Wish he didn't play for the Cubs but it is what it is.

Kudo’s to you for having the class to like s player for his off the field habits even if he plays on a team u do not like.

Don

[Devlin]

probably well paid

[markw2856]

It is a paying gig. That being said even the owner was shocked he didn't back out with inclimate weather. This shop is located in a town of like 5,000 people and over 800 people showed up for the signing. Hour away from Champaign, 2 hours from Chicago and Indianapolis. I am sure players get paid a guaranteed amount at worst for the signing. Most of it is factored on how many autographs are signed and on what items. Usually the shop owners guarantee so many autographs in the negotiations. If 10 people would have showed up the shop owner would have been on the hook for the rest of the autographs. Zobrist is a good guy and smart as well. He won the World Series MVP for the Cubs. He could cash in on that inscription alone for the rest of his life. I doubt one day of signing autographs raised his checkbook much. The only mistake he has made is being on the Cubs

Love,

A Cardinals fan


I have been at some good signings. Also have been at some where there were no shows, big name minor league guys get demoted and they substitute with duds, big league players back out and bring in duds. An emergency will happen from time to time. I have also had a few shop owners tell me later on that guys just backed out because they wanted too. They don't inform the public of that so they can lure more guys in the future.

[bakemeister52]

Ben is a good class act!

Bake