My Expensive Hobby

By now, most people know I am a huge sports fan.  One of the things I love most is getting autographs of my favorite players, mainly Philadelphia Phillies players.  However, I don't discriminate.  If there's a baseball player doing a signing in the area, I do my best to buy a ticket and go.  The best ones though are the free ones.

Once at the signing, I usually have to wait a good while (a few hours or so since I get there early).  Most of the time though I strike up conversations with the people either in front of or behind me.  We talk Phillies, Eagles, upcoming signings, whatever.  The one thing that always creeps into conversations however is what you are going to say to the athlete and how we think the athlete will be.  Based on stories, we know certain athletes hate talking to the fans, while others are the complete opposite.  I've had my fair share of both.

Let's see...where do I start with whom I've met.  I guess I'll start with the first one. This one was special and what got me hooked.  I only regret is that I didn't have a camera that day.  I was at the mall with my mom (my mom is almost always with me on signings so she can get a picture for me...thanks Mom!) and I went into BC Collectibles (where I spend most of my money on these autographs).  I saw a sign that said Brooks Robinson was doing a signing that day.  Well, not know much about who Robinson was, just knowing he was a Hall of Famer, I convinced my mom to let me buy a baseball and wait in line.  After that, I was hooked.

Now the rest of the players I met I don't remember the order, just the stories and the memories.  I'll talk about Aaron Rowand next. He was grumpy the day of his signing but I can't fault the guy.  His signing took place two days after his famous face plant into the center field wall.  He did make small talk and seemed like given any other circumstance, he would have been a fun guy to talk to.  Maybe I can go to San Francisco and meet him now.

Ryan Howard was interesting because I was playing softball the day I met him. There I am standing in line, in a dirty uniform to meet one of my favorite players. He seemed like a pretty shy guy but was more than happy to sign and talk to the fans there to meet him.






                                                                            One of my favorites had to be meeting Chase Utley.  I went to the game earlier in the day and then made it back to Moorestown to meet him.  Even after playing 9 innings, Chase was happy to sign and take pictures.  The only thing I remember saying to him was that he looked graceful tripping over first base. His response was shhh...no one saw that and we both started laughing.

The worst athlete probably had to be Jayson Werth.  It's not surprising why he took the money and went to the Nationals.  This was probably the one I was most excited for up until that time.  I went with my mom and boyfriend to this one.  I was especially excited because it was my 22rd birthday.  I had the Phillies 2008 World Series logo ball and was ready to go.  Werth barely looked up while signing.  All he cared about was the money he was obviously getting paid.  So thanks for nothing Werth.  



One of the most unexpected meetings was with Greg Dobbs.  I was at the mall buying a baseball for the Shane Victorino signing my parents would be going to for me since I would be away at school.  I'm walking out of Modell's and I hear that Dobbs is signing in the center court.  Well of course I had to go.  My only problem...I didn't have a camera.  Luckily Target was next to the mall so I drove over there to buy a disposable one and made it back to the mall in time to meet Dobbs.  Even though he is a Marlin now, he is still one of my favorite players, and one of the nicest ones I've met.

Cole Hamels was another interesting one.  He showed up talking on his cell phone.  When I saw that I thought he's gonna be a complete jerk.  I was wrong.  He really didn't say much to me because he was still laughing at the girl in front of me.  It wasn't a bad laugh. It was one of those oh I feel bad for her.  She waited all that time to meet him and then froze when she met him. I felt bad for her.

For Christmas last year, I convinced my parents to buy me a ticket for the Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz signing.  Neither one really said much.  Since it was a morning signing and they had a game later that night I said good luck to each.  Hearing Chooch say thanks in English was probably the highlight of my year. 

I was also about to get a few autographs for free.  These were at store openings.  The first was Ryan Madson.  He was awesome.  The day before he was on Preston & Steve's radio show so I was talking to him about that.  He agrees with alot of us Philly people.  They're the best.  The second free autograph I got was Placido Polanco.  He was nice, but you could hardly hear anything because they had him under a tent right next to the speaker they had set up. 

I don't just go for Phillies autographs.  I have a few Eagles ones as well.  I was able to meet both A.J. Feely and Brent Celek.  Feely's was a lot better than Celek.  Celek's was a free one, and again, while he took the time to take a picture with everyone, I feel like he was just doing it for the money.  Feely on the other hand, was so nice.  He was one of my favorites. 

My favorite autograph signing however, wasn't even a Philadephia athlete. It was Cal Ripken Jr.  I begged my parents to buy me this ticket for my 23rd birthday.  As usual, they came through again for me.  I met fun people in line who I talked to while we waited.  Once the time came to meet Ripken Jr, he was awesome. That's the best way to describe it. He made jokes, happily signed, and made small talk.  And after each person in the small group received their autograph, he stood up and we went back through so we were able to get a picture with him.  He definitely made my 24rd birthday alot better than Werth made my 22nd. 

I also have autographs from Milt Thompson and Greg Luzinski (sp?).  While I would love to add the remaining three autographs to have a complete "Four Horsemen" set, I am happy with the autographs I do have and the memories I made while getting them.