IP-Chicago and burbs:arfmax:2022

[arfmax]

Sunday, I went to the Beloit Sky Carp game (Miami Marlins Single A, formerly the Beloit Snappers). Prior to the game, I was able to get one card signed by shortstop prospect Nasim Nunez, and one card signed by Marlins pitching prospect Evan Fitterer.

Photo of the autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 159

-arfmax

[arfmax]

Friday evening, I went to the American Association game between the Cleburne Railroaders and the Chicago Dogs in Rosemont, IL. Prior to the game, I was able to get 1 autograph on a card from former KC Royals pitcher Kevin McCarthy, 1 auto on a card from former Blue Jays prospect Kacy Clemens, 1 autograph on a card from former Rangers pitcher Nick Gardewine, 1autograph on a card from former Braves prospect Hunter Cervenka, 2 autographs on cards from former SF Giants catcher Hector Sanchez, 3 autographs on cards from former Chicago Cubs player and current Railroaders manager Logan Watkins, and 4 autographs on cards from longtime MLB relief pitcher and current pitching coach for Cleburne, Arthur Rhodes.

Photo of the Railroaders autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 172

-arfmax

[arfmax]

Sunday, went to the Joliet Slammers Frontier League game against the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, hoping to get autographs from two newer Slammers players. Unfortunately, one of them was not there, as he has COVID. However, I was able to get 5 cards signed by former Minnesota Twins 1st round pick, pitcher Tyler Jay.

Photo of the Tyler Jay autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 177

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[arfmax]

Tonight is the Field of Dreams game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds in Dyersville, Iowa, next to the Field of Dreams movie site. There was a three day fan fest in Dyersville with free autograph guests, so I drove the 3 hours to Dyersville on Tuesday 09-Apr-2022 for the first event. I was able to get 1 autograph of Field of Dreams actor Dwier Brown on an Allen & Ginter card, 9 cards signed from former Reds pitcher Drew Storen, 6 cards signed from former Cubs and Rays pitcher Kyle Farnsworth, and 4 cards signed from former Cubs/Brewers/Mets/Royals pitcher Glendon Rusch. It was an easy day, with very few people there, and the players were excellent. One of Storen's Allen & Ginter cards has him holding a bat, and he said that is his favorite card. He said when they come to take photos, the photographers don't really know everyone, and they just say pitchers to one side, hitters to the other side. He said every year, he went with the hitters to try to mess with them, and one time, the photo with a bat made it onto a card, every other time, they caught it. He is also running a distillery, and they put corn from the Field of Dreams site into the bourbon batches, and they will be available soon in stores with baseball themed names. Interesting guy. Farnsworth is now a body builder, and he is huge. Finally, after that, I was able to go to the 1st ever minor league game at the Field of Dreams site (high A Cedar Rapids Kernals and Quad City River Bandits), and walked through the corn and watched the game, a very cool experience.

Photo of the Day 1 autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 197

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[ethunder]

Very nice! Love the story and thanks for sharing!

[arfmax]

Day 2 of the Fan Fest. Wednesday, they had a number of recent former Cubs players. The day started out with Frank Thomas, who has a stake in the Field of Dreams site. Originally advertised as photos only, they changed it a couple days before to an autographed rookie card for the first 100 people in line. He came in, and signed 100 1990 Score rookie cards in less than 7 minutes. He then stood up, and handed them out to the 100 of us who had gotten free tickets earlier. Can't beat that. Then, I was able to get 4 cards signed by former Cubs catcher Geovany Soto, 2 cards signed by former Cubs infielder Darwin Barney, 6 cards signed by former Chicago Cubs outfielder Matt Szczur, 3 cards signed by World Series champion Cubs pitcher Travis Wood, and 5 cards signed by former Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Besides the 100 for Frank Thomas, they were giving out 150 tickets for each payer at designated times throughout the day, and none of the players made it to 150, until Zambrano. He got to 150, but they had extra tickets for him, plus then they just let people in to get him without tickets, as he was still in the 90 minutes allotted. He was very friendly, happy to take pictures, sign multiple things, no problem. Everyone today was very friendly, it was a long day of line standing outside in the broiling sun, but each guy was very fan-friendly. Will post Day 3 stuff tomorrow, have to catalog it, Day 3 was more older former players.

Photo of Day 2 of Fan Fest autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 218

-arfmax

[Atlantaman]

Awesome stuff! Watched the game last night and looked so cool. Of course as a Cubs fan I might be biased lol

[arfmax]

Awesome stuff! Watched the game last night and looked so cool. Of course as a Cubs fan I might be biased lol

It is a cool experience. Not sure what happens next, there is no game next year, as they are doing construction on some additional fields. The whole field was temporary, only built for these two games. They are looking to build a permanent structure, but from the proposal I saw, it will really be bigger and more seats and will lose a lot of the cache value of this game in front of 8,000 fans in total. Who knows?

[arfmax]

Day 3 of the Fan Fest, Thursday, with the actual game in the evening. The morning started out with getting three autographs on cards from former Cub and Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. He was not very friendly, I have met him before, and he has always been friendly, so I don't know if it was the early start time, or he wasn't feeling well. My first card, he signed without putting HOF, but I went through a second time, and he put HOF. And someone else in line was only getting a photo, so I asked him to get a third card signed, and he put HOF on it. After that, I was able to get three cards signed by former Reds/Braves/Mariners/Yankees star Ken Griffey Sr. He was friendly, and mentioned that he was going to play catch with his son later that day, but unfortunately, Jr. wasn't present at the Fan Fest and downtown area. I was thrilled to get him on a missing 1987 Topps card. Then, they had two former Reds at the same time, and I was able to get one card signed by Dave Concepcion, and one card signed by George Foster. Concepcion wasn't feeling well, and didn't even look up, but again, I was thrilled to get him on a missing 1987 Topps card! Foster was chatty, making jokes, and having fun meeting everyone. After that, the big draw of the day was former Chicago Cubs World Series Champion, and World Series MVP, Ben Zobrist. I was able to get a World Series ball signed by Zobrist, but he was only signing name only. He was friendly, taking photos, chatting with all, etc. They went past the 150 tickets for him, and gave out another 50, and I believe everyone that was there that wanted to get an autograph from Zobrist was able to, so that was good. After that, I was able to get 3 cards signed by World Series Champion Travis Wood, who was there both days. Finally, the last signer of the day was former Expos/White Sox star Tim Raines. Mr. Raines would only sign an 8x10 photo purchased at the event, which and they then put an event sticker on the photo, or he would sign a Field of Dreams ball, which unfortunately is a cheap China ball. Both were $10, so I went with the ball. It came out nice, but I am hoping the China ball holds up. I then left to drive back home, and listened to a few innings in the car before I got home. All of the former players that you saw at the actual game, such as Johnny Bench, Ryne Sandberg, Barry Larkin, Andre Dawson, none of those guys were in town that I or anyone else saw, which is a shame. There was a golf outing on Wednesday, and apparently, a lot of those guys were at that event, and also Scott Erye, Dan Hampton, DL Hughley, and others. Overall, it was fun, got a ton of autos (54!), met some nice people, caught the first ever minor league game at Field of Dreams, and got a lot of sunburn.

Photo of the Day 3 Fanfest autos:



Total IP autos in 2022: 231

-arfmax

[automaster]

Sounds like a very successful event