Jack McKeon and Multiple Jets: What a Weekend

Some weekends are more fun than others, and this weekend was one of them. Three straight days of graphing opportunities arose, and I took full advantage of all of them, and covered a wide variety of different sports while doing so.

Friday 1/30
Last season, the St. John's IceCaps knocked out the Albany Devils in the first round of the AHL playoffs. I met some of the IceCaps, the Winnipeg Jets AHL Affiliate, after game one last season. They were nice. This year, they were coming back to Albany, and I figured I'd try and get some more autographs.

Since I had some extra time on Friday, I went down towards the Times Union Center before the game, something I rarely do. I didn't have too much stuff, so I printed out a couple 4x6 photos to get a bunch of people on.

I didn't have much individual stuff, but one person I did have stuff for was Carl Klingberg. He came walking out and signed a 4x6 photo I had printed out of him. He is one of the Jets top prospects and he should be in the NHL again real soon. He also said that his hometown is Sweden is closer to St. Johns than we thought it was.


Many other players were walking toward me, and I got most of them to sign one of two other photos I had printed. One was a basic Winnipeg Jets 4x6 logo paper, and the other was a photo I took before game one of last year's playoffs. Here are both photos and everyone that signed them.

34-JC Lipon 16-John Albert 25-Blair Riley

8-Brenden Kichton 48-Carl Klingberg 7-Kris Fredheim

19-Kyle MacKinnon 26-Nicolas Blanchard 50-Austen Brassard

7-Keaton Ellerby 49-Julien Brouillette 9-Ryan Olsen 

That was all I got from the IceCaps on Saturday. The IceCaps then beat the Devils on Friday, and lost to them on Saturday. 

Saturday 1/31

A friend of mine works for the Amsterdam Mohawks, a collegiate summer-league team. Every year, the Mohawks have a winter hot-stove dinner with a guest speaker. Doc Gooden was one of the speakers a few years ago. My friend invited me to join him for the dinner, and I was happy to accept the invitation. This year, former Marlins manger and World Series Champion manager Jack McKeon was scheduled to be the guest speaker, as he played in the Amsterdam area in the 1950s. 

After getting a little lost on the way there, my friend and I made it to the event during the cocktail hour. An autograph signing with McKeon was scheduled for the cocktail hour, but my friend and I missed that portion of it. Eventually, we sat down for the dinner. A few people gave speeches, and food was served. I was able to grab photo that he already signed at the signing during the dinner. So, at least I wouldn't go home empty handed. 

Eventually, I noticed McKeon go into a room where a silent auction was being held. He was taking pictures with a couple people who were honored at the event. After the photos were over, I walked up to McKeon while he was standing by himself and asked him if he could sign a couple cards for me. He said he would and I handed him a sharpie. I put the cards on a nearby table and McKeon leaned over and signed them all beautifully. I then thanked him, shook his hand, and told him I was looking forward to his speech. Here are the cards he signed for me.

His speech was pretty funny. My favorite moment is when he recalled his playing days and said, "I hit three ways, right, left, and seldom." That drew a large applause from the crowd. He talked about his managerial days, his time in the Amsterdam area, and many other topics. He was pretty funny and one of his main messages was to follow your dream. He said his dream wasn't accomplished until he was 72 and managed the Marlins to a World Series title. He is the oldest manager in MLB history to win the World Series. On our way out of the dinner, my friend and I stopped McKeon and asked if we could get pictures. He happily obliged, and we left the dinner in a good mood. 

Sunday 2/1 

Super Bowl Sunday, always a fun day. Long story short, a few of the football coaches at my college played in the NFL, and I heard they were doing an autograph signing during a basketball game. I had found a card of longtime New York Jets center Jim Sweeney at home a few weeks ago. I was happy to get that card signed and a friend gave me a card of Nate Byham, a new assistant coach, which he signed. 

That is it for this entry. It was a fun weekend and I should have some more stories up soon. Good luck graphing and thanks for reading! 

Autograph Adventures: Brooklyn Cyclones 8/28/14

I probably mentioned this already, but I'm back in Albany. During my first week of class, I fit in time to catch the Tri-City ValleyCats game against the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets affiliate). I hadn't been to a ValleyCats game in about a year, and it was good to be back.

Due to my class schedule, I didn't arrive until the 2nd inning. I got the cheapest ticket possible ($6) and saw some of my friends at the game. The game itself was a tight one, but the ValleyCats ended up winning the game in walk off fashion to win their division. In the game, the Cyclones committed SIX errors, including two in the 9th inning, to pretty much choke the game away to their counterparts. 

After the sixth Brooklyn error ended the game, I went outside to where their bus was waiting for them. I had printed out a team sheet for all of them to sign, and most of them did. 

I can't tell you who came out in what order, but I'll share a few details that I can remember. 

One of the few players who I recognized by signature was Michael Conforto, the Mets most recent first round draft pick. After he signed my team sheet with his number, I asked if I could take a photo with him. Usually, I'm pretty good at photos with players, but this time I just failed. I'm not even going to post it because it was so bad. My eyes are completely shut and it just isn't worth posting, sorry. I will post a picture I took of him at bat during the game. 

I was given a Joe Tuschak signed card by one of the other graphers there who had a binder full of cards. He also signed my team sheet. I stopped getting new cards a few years ago, and there are still thousands in my house that I go through every once in a while to try and get signed, so getting one from Tuschak is a good one for my collection. I'm pretty sure that's him in the blue hoodie, but I may be wrong. 

After getting autographs from pretty much all of the team, the coaches started to walk out. One of the coaches is former MLB All Star pitcher Dave LaRoche, father of Andy and Adam LaRoche. Dave signed the team photo sheet for me. I probably have cards of him at home, but those are many miles away. So within a couple weeks, I had gotten in person autographs of both father and son Adam. Dave is on the left signing a ball for someone else. 

While LaRoche was signing, one of the main reasons why I was there also arrived. I had gotten a tip from one of my friends that former Mets great Edgardo Alfonzo was with the Cyclones for the trip. Right before I left, I printed out two 4x6 photos of Alfonzo in hopes of getting them signed. I succeeded. He signed both photos and the team photo. Alfonzo was one of the last ones coming out of the building. I took a brief video of him signing a few cards for someone else. 

Below are the two photos Alfonzo signed for me. He has a great signature.

And lastly, here is the team signed sheet. Below it is a list of everyone who signed it with the number they signed with. The list is in no particular order.

2-Adrian Abreau 1-Amed Rosario 38-Luis Arrizurieta 3-Anthony Chavez 9-Joe Tuschak

10-Cory Oswalt 40-Mike Hepple 24-?????? 29-Marcos Molina 34-Edioglis Villasmil 

32-Martires Arias 21-Brandon Welch 44-Cameron Griffin 23-Will Fulmer 

28-Alberto Baldonado 22-Dimas Ponce 19-Kelly Secrest 26-John Mora 

7-Tomas Nido 8-Alfredo Reyes 31-Brad Wieck 11-Juan Urbina 39-Michael Conforto

12-Casey Meisner 36-Gaither Bumgardner 17-Scarlyn Reyes 25-Shane Bay 

I might have gotten a couple of the names wrong. Let me know if you think I did. Edgardo Alfonzo signed with the number 13. Manager Tom Gamboa signed without a number near the M in Mets. LaRoche signed on the bottom near Meisner's signature. 

That's all for this entry. Comment if you think I messed something up or if you just want to chat. Thanks and have a great day! 

Cubs @ Mets 8/18/14 at Citi Field

After a pretty successful series last week at Citi Field, I was back one more time before I go back to college. The day before the game, I got great tickets on StubHub. I went to the game with my mom, who had never been to a Mets game with me before.

The game was a bright and early one, with a 12:10 p.m. first pitch on a Monday afternoon. I arrived at about 10:30, 20 minutes after the gates had opened. That wasn't early enough for me, but it was almost too early for my mom. Upon arriving at the gate, I noticed something I'd never seen before: no line. Usually when entering Citi Field, there is a line dozens, if not hundreds of people deep waiting to get in. But this time, I just showed up and walked through the gate no problem.

Being that it was also a Military Monday at Citi Field, I figured I'd get in on the act. I dug up my camouflage Mets hat that was a giveaway at a game at Shea Stadium in 2008 and wore it for the first time in recent memory. Once I got inside, I squeezed myself into a corner spot in the front row right next to the Mets dugout. Within a few minutes of getting to my spot, reliever Josh Edgin signed a baseball for me. I don't have a picture of him signing, but take my word, he signed for everybody that wanted one. You can see the signed ball at the bottom of this entry.

Since there was no batting practice, there wasn't much action happening before the game. The only other person to come over in the long lull before the National Anthem was Mets manager Terry Collins. He came and chatted with someone he knew in the crowd behind the dugout for a few minutes before walking over toward the crowd of people I was in. When he was near me, I took a selfie with him when he wasn't looking up. Unfortunately, I had already put the baseball Edgin signed away by the time Collins came over. I also had a signed baseball from him that I got last season. Instead of getting another one signed, Collins signed a blank autograph card for me. Here is a brief video I took of him signing for some of the people.

After Collins, there was no action until the National Anthem. I sat down with my mom in a spot where I figured we had the best chance to meet Curtis Granderson. I had met him on Thursday, and wanted to try again. Granderson signed three cards for me on Thursday, and I brought three more in hopes of getting them signed. True to his form, Granderson came over after the national anthem and started signing. I gave my mother the baseball in hopes of getting that signed as well. Here's a video I took as I got closer to Granderson, with a shoutout to my Aunt Jill (huge Yankees fan) at the end.


In the still frame of the above video before clicking play, Granderson is holding a card and blue sharpie. That was my card. He signed one card and then handed the card and sharpie back to me. After, I gave my camera to a nearby security guard to try and take a picture with Granderson. My mom was a couple people behind me in the line of people, but she managed to sneak her way forward when she saw a picture being taken. It came out great, as you can see on the left.

After the picture, my mom handed Granderson the ball Edgin already signed and a pen. Granderson quickly signed the ball and handed it back to my mom. For someone who hasn't gotten an autograph before, she did a great job. Also, if I didn't compliment my mom, what kind of son would I be? (Don't answer that.) Here's the card Granderson signed, and the ball that he and Edgin both signed. Edgin's signature is on the top.

After meeting Granderson, we went back to watch the game from our seats. If I haven't mentioned this already, the Mets stink. That's all for this entry. I probably won't be at another Mets game this season. If that's the case, than I think I went out on a high note. I will have another entry up soon once I'm back in school. Have any questions or want any tips? Have you met Curtis Granderson? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Nassau County Health and Fitness Expo 8/9/14

This past Saturday, August 9, was the annual Nassau County Health, Fitness, and Sports Expo at Mitchel Field on Long Island. I didn't find out about it until the night before, and once I heard Dwight Gooden was going to be there, going to the expo was an easy decision.

While I recently met Darryl Strawberry and Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden was supposed to be one of the scheduled signers. However, he cancelled the day of the first signing with Strawberry. Once I saw on his twitter where he was going, I figured out that it would be easy to go. 

Gooden was scheduled to be at the expo to talk about his drug and alcohol addictions problems, which caused him to miss the parade after the Mets won the 1986 World Series. I knew he would be doing a signing also, but I didn't know what time. 

The expo was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., so I arrived right after the doors opened. After walking in circles around the expo looking for where Gooden was going to be, I found the tent where he would be. The tent was pink for the company he was working with. Once I found it, I was within the first ten in line.

Eventually, Gooden showed up with his son. They sat at the table for a few minutes while security guards and other people arrived. The organizer then went and made an announcement on the main stage that Gooden was signing autographs at the tent. Within ten feet of the tent, there were a few security guards, organizers, among other people. After about five minutes of just sitting at the table fiddling with a pen and his phone, Gooden began signing.

A few minutes after the signing began, I approached Gooden. I shook his hand and introduced myself. Before he could sign my cards, a woman that was working at the expo handed him a sheet of paper and asked him to sign it.
No, she wasn't an autograph seeker. Gooden's son wanted to walk around the expo and play in the various sports clinics that were going on. But to do so, a parent needed to fill out a waiver. Gooden filled out the waiver for his son, signing and spelling out his name along with the date on the waiver. I wonder whatever happened to that waiver.

After signing the waiver, Gooden looked up at me and took the blue sharpie I held in his direction. I placed all the cards I had on the table, including a card of him and Wade Boggs that Boggs had signed in the mail years ago. He signed all three cards that I had, then I took a photo with him, thanked him, and walked off. Gooden had no problem signing multiple items for people as there was no handler sitting next to him. But when the line got longer and he was rushed, he signed one item per person. I was lucky to get the three cards signed that you can see below.

After that, the line for Gooden got longer and I walked around the expo for a while. Eventually, I noticed there were a few members of the New York Cosmos at a table signing. I had been to the Cosmos game against the New York Red Bulls a few weeks earlier, and was familiar with some of the players. However, I had no clue who was signing at this table. Only after getting signed giveaway photos from both Jimmy Mulligan (white shirt) and Jimmy Nealis (blue shirt) did I figure out exactly who they were. The Cosmos were also doing a raffle for tickets to a game and promoting their fall schedule. At the game I went to, they crushed the New York Red Bulls, who are in the MLS, while the Cosmos are in the lower league NASL. Hopefully they continue to bring the fun soccer to Long Island.

 After meeting the Cosmos, it was time for Gooden to give his speech. Here is a short segment of it that I recorded. That's all I have for this entry. Good luck graphing!

Strawberries and a Darling

The past few weeks haven't been too busy for me in terms of getting autographs, but I've done a few things. Here's a quick summary of a few signing that I've been up to recently.

I met Jadeveon Clowney a few weeks ago, but he wasn't the only athlete I met that day. The Meet Mr. Met Tour was near me at a Citibank that day, and I decided that I was going to go. Originally, the signing was scheduled to be with former Met and SNY analyst Ron Darling. However, the day before the signing, it was changed to Dwight "Doc" Gooden. I arrived about 20 minutes before the signing was going to begin. While I was standing on line, one of the Citibank representatives said that Gooden couldn't make it and Darryl Strawberry would be "pinch hitting" for him. During that time, I had a picture taken with Mr. Met. 

For me, that news was sad because I had cards of Gooden that I was hoping to get signed. I wasn't the only one, as people were holding photos of Gooden and other items for him. During the wait for Strawberry, the Citibank representatives were very friendly, handing out water and cookies for people to enjoy. Also, they were giving out forms for people to sign. The forms were for Ron Darling signed baseballs. The Citibank people said Ron Darling felt bad that he couldn't make it and he wanted to make it up for everyone. I filled out a form with my name, email address, mailing address, and whether or not I would like a personalized ball. (I'll take a personalized one, thank you.) The baseball hasn't came yet, but I'll be on the lookout for it.

Eventually, Darryl Strawberry showed up, parking his car in the middle of the street for a Citibank person to move it. I took the photos below of him coming in. I shook his hand as he walked past me into the building.

The line through the Citibank moved quickly. However, few people had stuff for him to sign. People mostly gave him baseballs or generic items to sign. Eventually, as I was getting to the front of the line, a Citibank representative went to the table with bags full of Modells products. During the signing, one of the people had went to the store and bought buckets of baseballs for Strawberry to sign. There was actually a group of people that didn't have items to get signed that were waiting for the baseballs to arrive. Here's a quick video I took of him signing. 

I soon made my way to the front of the line. I thanked Strawberry for coming on short notice, asked if I could get one of the baseballs signed, and thanked him. He then reached into the bucket, grabbed a Rawlings Official League baseball, not an official Major League ball, signed it, and handed it to me. Then I took a photo with him, thanked him again, and soon left the Citibank. The ball is a cheap ball, and the autograph should fade very soon. I knew that when I got it, but I had nothing else to get signed. I wonder how long it will take to fade.

Fast forward a week, and the Meet Mr. Met Tour was going to be back in town. Like the previous week, Ron Darling was supposed to be the scheduled guest. Also like the previous week, the website changed from Darling to Darryl Strawberry. Expecting to just see Darryl Strawberry, I brought a card and a large 5x7 card from the early 1980s that I found in my dad's old collection. Since I assumed it would be just Strawberry, I didn't bring anything for Ron Darling or anybody else.

I arrived about 45 minutes before the signing was going to begin, and the line was much longer than it was for the one the previous week. I got a good spot in line, just outside the front door of the Citibank branch. The line eventually went out the door, and around the corner of the block.

While talking to the people near me on line, one of the Citibank reps told us that Ron Darling would indeed be at the signing with Darryl Strawberry. As I was getting angry at myself for not bringing any Ron Darling items, the Citibank people said there would be photos of Darling and Strawberry available for signing. The rep also told us that no posed photos with Darling and Strawberry would be allowed because of the size of the line.

Once inside the store, everyone had the opportunity to take a photo in front of a green screen with Mr. Met. Since I took one the previous week, I figured I didn't need another. As I was moving my way through the line, a couple Citibank reps and a Nassau County police officer were trying to figure out a way to manage the line more efficiently. People were still entering the bank for banking purposes, and they had to deal with hundreds of baseball fans. 










Eventually, I made it to the front of the line about a half hour after the signing began. The person in line before me handed Strawberry a photo similar to THIS one, and Strawberry chuckled as he signed it. When it was my turn, I handed him the normal size card and larger 5x7 card. He signed both without saying much, then handed them to me and said, "Here you go." I thanked him, shook his hand, and proceeded to move on to Darling. With Darling, I asked for one of the giveaway photos. He grabbed one off the pile, signed it beautifully in blue sharpie, writing every single letter of his name on it. I thanked him, shook his hand, and got off the line.

Here are the autographs I got at the second signing. The Ron Darling photo is an 8x10. The Darryl Strawberry big card is the one with the white border, and it is 5x7 in size. It is made out of the same material as a baseball card, and even has stats on the back. It is a 5x7 card. I don't have much info on how these came to be on how many there are, I just found one in my basement. I wish the Darling photo was one of him playing, but it is a pretty good picture nevertheless.

That's all I have for this entry. It should be a fun month of August ahead. Thanks for reading and good luck graphing! 

UPDATE 8/28/14: Click HERE to see if I got those Ron Darling signed baseballs. 

Dodgers @ Mets 5/20/14 at Citi Field

It's good to be home. It was time for my first game of the year. I went to Citi Field on Tuesday night for the Mets game against the Dodgers. After purchasing a ticket on StubHub the day of the game, I was off to Flushing.

I arrived right on time for the gates to open, and saw Zack Hample waiting patiently for the gates to open as well. He was about 15 people ahead of me in line, and when the stadium opened, he went to left field as I went to my usual spot down the third base line. 

Within 10 minutes of going to my spot, a few balls got hit toward one of the Mets coaches that was hitting fungos back to the bucket. He tossed one to a gloveless fan near me. So, when the next ball was hit over to him, I asked if he could toss it up. He looked at me, and threw a perfect strike right to my glove. I thanked him, and he went back to fielding the balls and I went to a different spot down the line. I later found out that it was Tom Goodwin, the Mets first base coach. I took the photo of him on the right after he threw me the ball. 

One of the highlights of batting practice was watching Yasiel Puig hit. He was hitting bombs into the second deck in left field seemingly on every other pitch. He easily hit at least five up there, and the two or three people up there got many chances to catch some home runs. I moved down toward the dugout near the tarp to try and get some autographs. 

Many people signed, but I was in an unlucky spot. Puig, Clayton Kershaw, Scott Van Slyke, and Don Mattingly all signed for people at the dugout, which I wan't able to get to. Carl Crawford and Dee Gordon signed for people about 10 feet to my left. When getting autographs, 10 feet might as well be 10 miles because I was stuck in a mob of people and I couldn't move an inch. 

Both Crawford and Gordon were signing in the five minutes right before the national anthem. At about 7:05, after the anthem was played, Matt Kemp finished warming up in left field and walked over to the mob of people wanting his autograph. He signed for about three minutes, signing for as many people as he could. I walked over to where he was, and got my hand in with the mob of people within arm's reach of Kemp. He took my baseball and signed it on the sweet spot quickly before handing it back to me. I took two photos of him signing, then he ran back as the Mets took the field to start the game. You can see the ball he signed at the bottom of this entry. I am happy to say I emerged from the mob with all of my limbs intact.

That was all for before the game. The game itself was an interesting one. The nine inning game took over four hours. It was one of the longest, if not the longest nine inning game in Mets history. The Mets lost 9-4, and there were a lot of runs, pitching changes, and runners left on base to go around. Here are some pictures I took of Yasiel Puig and Brian Wilson. I think they are pretty good pictures.

For the whole game, I was about five rows behind the ball boy on the third base side. I didn't end up getting a ball from him, but I saw him give balls to a bunch of different people, mostly kids. As the four hour marathon game was winding to a close, I went toward the dugout where the umpires walk down the tunnel. I had gotten a few balls there like THIS game last year. At about 11:20 p.m. the game ended and home plate Larry Vanover walked toward the tunnel with the rest of his crew. See what happened next below.

Yeah, he gave me a ball. Good thing I was on the left side of the tunnel farther way from the dugout. That ball justified me staying for the entire game. I had considered leaving, but figured I would stick it out and see if I could get a ball after. After I got the ball, I ran as fast as I could to catch the LIRR back to Long Island, and made it home shortly after midnight.

Here are the two baseballs I got at the game. The Larry Vanover ball is the one on the right, and it is rubbed up with mud, ready for game use. If the last pitch of the game was a foul ball, he probably would have given the ball I got to the pitcher.

Here is the Matt Kemp signed ball. Not the greatest signature ever, but better than others that I have gotten throughout they years. This is all I have for now. I may be back at Citi Field again soon. Good luck graphing!