Rays: Day 2 California

Ill update this later, but I was excited to post day 2 asap.
The added signatures are Luke Scott, Ben Zobrist, and Jeremy Hellickson. I was really bummed that price never signed because he walked right by me. Hellickson was awesome and easily my favorite auto I got. I was saving my extra ball for David Price so I had him sign the team ball. Looking back, I'm really bummed I did that. Oh well! Rays also won 3 to 0. I love the look of Anaheim Stadium but the customer service is a joke. While I was waiting for Pena to sign I got kicked out from by the dugout. It was 45 minutes before the game and I was not blocking anything. This man came up to me and said "where are your seats?" I just replied "over there" and then he said " well then you need to be in them over them" I told him I was just waiting for this player and asked if I could stand there for 5 minutes and he said "sir, I asked you to go back to your seat, now you need to go". That was after another usher refused to let me go down to a section that was 3 sections down from mine.
Terrible. Good times though.

Anaheim Trip

My girlfriend and I drove out to California to catch two of the Rays vs. Angels games this weekend. Our birthdays are in July & August so we pooled together and made a 4 day trip with baseball and Disneyland. I had a few goals when the season started that I wanted to accomplish on this date that I mentioned when I first started this blog. I wanted to get the David Price Sports Illustrated cover signed, and also the game 162 Longoria homerun 8x10 signed. With Longo hurt, and David Price being dominant it seems like both are impossible. I will give an update but here's what has gone on so far.

Game one:

The Rays lost, and it was 1,000 times worse in the opposing teams stadium. No cool in-game stuff to go over except that Angel stadium has a terrible seat  arrangement more than likely from being so old. I was in the second row and just a few sections short of the foul pole. In Chase Field these are premiere seats, but in Angels Stadium they are not very good, but still have a high price tag.  I was constantly blocked by people having their heads in the way or doing the wave. Oh, and not one but two Angels fans that got their whole families ejected when they interfered with the ball. 

High points*

We did get there very early, and sat around waiting for players to come out. I did not know this but even during BP the ushers will not allow you to stand by the dugout for auto opportunities unless you have those tickets. This guy stopped me and explained that but then told me just to sneak down there. While I was standing by the dugout I managed to get Sam Fuld, Desmond Jennings, and Ryan Roberts all to sign a ball. I could have had a few more but I was being stubborn and not moving because David Price was my main goal. He even messaged me on Twitter to tell me that the bubble that had blew on the cover of SI was indeed a real bubble. Many Rays signed but just for a second and maybe for 1-2 fans. Joyce and Matt More both told me they would sign when they returned but when they did return they both signed for other people. Tomorrow I will shift my focus to Price, and then just whoever I can get to sign a card. My girlfriend's first favorite player for the D-Backs was Ryan Roberts so of course she made sure that I got him to sign the ball before Kyle Farnsworth. He was nice as usual, and he smiled and gave a thumbs up when he saw our D-Backs backpack also.

Price! I am getting that 8x10 auto'd and that is final.

Mail from the White House?

Regardless of what you think about our current President, he still is a very historic one and also a leader of our great country. My girlfriend Erika has both her aunt and uncle that work directly with the President in Washington D.C. so we always get little nicknacks from the White House. This past Tuesday was her birthday and today she received an 8x10 signed by the President. I don't think he actually did the personalization of it because that penmanship is amazing, but the name is 100% real even a nice little smudge in it. I don't really get into politics much, but this kind of stuff is pretty cool!

New Cards!

 Dan from it's like having my own card shop was going through his cards and found some Rays cards and was nice enough to give them a new home. Thanks a ton Dan! I went ahead and posted a few that were my favorite, but seeing some of the names in the box he gave me made me laugh. I used to think players like Rolando Arrojo and Joe Kennedy were going to be unstoppable, and I was quick to learn that they were terrible players. I was excited to see a Tony Saunders card not because he was a good player (He did actually win a World Series with the Marlins), but because he was just a fun player to watch.  He broke his arm while throwing a pitch, and then in his rehab assignment he broke the same arm. After only 3 seasons he went ahead and retired.

Thanks again Dan!!!

 

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2012 Allen & Ginter

Ever since Dan @ It's like having my own Card Shop! got me back into cards, I have loved the look of both Gypsy Queen and A&G. With the official launch today, I was very excited to get a few packs. I went to Wal-Mart, but it seemed that the retail blaster boxes, and the rack packs did not have odds for anything other than short prints. They also had packs for $4.25 for 6 cards so I quickly called the LCS and they were larger packs for $5. I decided to go over there to pick up a couple packs and I was pretty disappointed.

See that abomination to the far left? I wanted to make sure I spread that out far enough for everyone to see. That junk was a pack that had 2 current player cards which were both a CC Sabathia insert and mini. I was pretty bummed to say the least. The next pack had both the Hudson and Andrus Relic card in it. I felt so disappointed with the 1st pack that the relic was not even a pleaser.

Brad Zeigler was also at the Card Shop, which is weird because I was just talking to Dan about him. I guess he is friends with the owner who ships all of Zeigler's stuff. He only buy's high end stuff, and apparently just bought 2 bat knob cards. I did not talk to him or anything, but it was cool hearing him talk out loud about his new cards, and his passion.

2012 All-Star Game

David Price and Fernando Rodney are the only Rays selections, but both people are awesome. Price has been my favorite pitcher since he was drafted, and Rodney was a wildcard going into this year but he has really turned into a favorite for me with his great play & wild antics. How can't you love Rodney? He shoots an invisible bow and arrow! My Anaheim trip is right around the corner, and since Longo seems to be out I really hope to meet one of these guys.