Dennis Eckersley Autograph - ESPN The Weekend 2010

Autograph: Dennis Eckersley

Date: 2/28/2010

Location: Hollywood Studios, Disney World, Orlando, FL

Event: ESPN The Weekend

Dennis Eckersley signed autographs after one of the Baseball Tonight talk shows at ESPN The Weekend. The crowd was relatively small and Dennis was flying through autographs so fast he did not even see who he was signing for. I was able to get my arm in there 3 times and get three things signed. It was pretty exciting. It was in an auditorium near the back of Hollywood Studios right after the show.

Jim Palmer Autograph - ESPN The Weekend 2010

Autograph: Jim Palmer

Date: 2/28/2010

Location: Hollywood Studios, Disney World, Orlando, FL

Event: ESPN The Weekend

I have gone to ESPN The Weekend for about 4 years now and I must say it has been a great success in getting autographs. It is important to note what players will be there on what days. ESPN will list all the athletes that are going to be there but they do not all go for all days. Some only go for a day or two. They do Baseball Tonight live talk shows for the fans. I got Palmer's autograph attending one of these talk shows. After the show several of the attendees will sign autographs for 15-30 minutes. Palmer is one of the very nice former athletes that will take a lot of time to sign. After the crowed disappeared he was even nice enough to take a picture with me. I got Palmer on a ball the year before as well. As you will see in this blog I have obtained a lot of autographs while attending ESPN The Weekend. If you have any questions about the ESPN The Weekend experience at Disney in Orlando please feel free to comment!

Bob Feller Autograph - Legends Night, Bright House Networks Field

Autograph: Bob Feller

Date: 3/14/2004

Location: Brighthouse Networks Field, Clearwater, FL

Event: Legends Game

I am not positive this was at the legends game, but I do know it was at BNF in Clearwater, FL. Feller had a booth set up in the concourse down the left field line. He signed the ball I had caught the day before at a Phillies spring training game. He signed it '"HOF '04" even though he was inducted long before 2004. I'm not sure why he went with the current year rather than the year he was inducted. Anyway, he was a nice old man and always generous to sign.

The charity Legends or Celebrity Softball games are gold mines for great autographs. Everyone is out there to have a good time and promoters know more people will buy tickets if there is more player involvement. 

 

Gavin Floyd Autograph - Tampa Bay Rays game 2010

Autograph: Gavin Floyd

Date: 5/30/2010

Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Event: Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago White Sox

This one isn't all that impressive. I was at a Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago White Sox game, Floyd was by the bullpen down the third base line. He had pitched 2 days before and was finishing up a bullpen session before the game. Once he was done with the bullpen session he came over and signed autographs for a while and I got my hand in there. Not sure why he didn't go for the sweet spot on the ball, I guess he doesn't feel worthy.

Evan Longoria Autograph - Rays fan fest 2010

Autograph: Evan Longoria

Date: 2/20/2010

Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Event: Rays Fan Fest

Rays fan fest is a great way to get autographs of your favorite players. However, it requires a lot of waiting in line. I waited in line about 3 hours for Longoria. This includes getting there an hour early then waiting 2 hours after the doors to the event opened for his signing time. I was about 20th in line of a line of easily over 300. Longoria was signing anything and had no problem signing in the sweet spot. Rays Fan Fest had lines for several other top players as well but by the time I got Longorias autograph I was very tired of waiting in line and didn't want to wait another 1.5 hours for another rays player. I later got an autograph that day from Hall of Famer Robin Roberts in a much shorter line. If your local team has a fan fest each year I strongly recommend going.

Jimmy Rollins Autograph - Phillies Spring Training 2004

Autograph: Jimmy Rollins

Date: 3/13/2004

Location: Brighthouse Networks Field, Clearwater, FL

Event: Spring Training - Phillies

Jimmy Rollins was signing autographs behind home plate just to the first base side of the net. He was signing for a while as I had enough time to get down there from the other side of the stadium. This one was particularly exciting to me as it was my first card autograph... unfortunately not on that exciting of a card.

Jason Giambi Autograph - Spring Training - Yankees vs Phillies 2003

Autograph: Jason Giambi

Date: 3/17/2003

Location: Legends Field, Tampa, FL (now Steinbrenner Field)

Event: Spring Training - Yankees vs Phillies

Jason Giambi was signing autographs before the game on the third base side by the net for about 30 minutes. I just got down there and reached my arm in there with this game used ball. This was one of my earlier autographs so I stupidly used a very cheap pen. 7 years later this autograph has faded out completely and is no longer visible. Lesson learned: use a good pen!