Saturday, May 30, 2009: Florida Marlins Hotel
The Marlins are always one of my favorite teams to go for. I always seem to do well, and the have guys who are pretty much all cool (with the exception of Hanley) who sign. Today though, would not be one of those days. Total wise was good, quality could have been a lot better. Lets get right down to it, so buckle in (if you actually do, I'm concerned about where you are reading this), and lets get moving.
The morning was terrible. I'm not even going to go into this in detail. I got Freddi Gonzalez twice and Matt Lindstrom twice. That was it, that was my morning. Whoopie. And of course I DONT have this Matt Lindstrom card to make it just a little better:
Four autographs all morning. 4. Four, Quatro, Quatre. Post-game needed to be much better and luckily it was.
I hung out in Queens and we made our way back to the hotel when the game was over. The bus came and like always no one seemed interested in signing off of it.
But then players and coaches start coming out and the first guys out were Freddi Gonzalez and Andy Fox. Freddi had signed 2 cards for me this morning but there was a taxi waiting and he told me that he would get the rest later, which he did.
The next guy who we saw was John Baker. Security was horrible and being over the top about everything. The threatened to call the cops maybe 5 times or so but of course never did, because they know they have no case and the cops honestly, unless you go into the hotel, dont really care. Barack Obama was in town, they have much better things to worry about. Anyway, Baker was nice enough to roll down the window of the taxi he was in, and signed all 6 of my cards for me. Very nice guy, and his wife/girlfriend thought it was the coolest thing ever.
The next guys out were Burke Badenhop and Hayden Penn. Badenhop wouldnt sign at first, but when Penn started to, he joined in as well. Hayden Penn has a horrible signature. Literally "h-loop" but with that he signed 4 cards at least, while Burke who has a decent graph did both of the cards I had.
The next guy ot was Brian Sanches. Somehow I had 8 cards of him, which he was happy to sign all of them. I think he was rather excited someone knew who he was. It was weird though, because after each card he did this weird hesitation and looked like he was going to hand them back each time but never did.
Security had gone in at this point and we were lucky enough that Jeremy Hermida came out. Jeremy had been refusing the first trip and the previous day according to other collectors, but he got stuck on the taxi line, and had no problem signing. I got a 2007 Fleer Rookie Sensations card and a 2008 Allen and Ginter that a friend kindly gave to me since he had 2 and had already gotten him on other things. They look really nice and you can see them below.
That was it at the hotel. I was starving, so I headed down a few blocks to Duane Reade to get a snack when I noticed a fellow collector frantically trying to get my attention. He told me that Hanley was over at some restaurant and was signing, and that he was getting ready to go. I raced over quickly and got Hanley to sign a card for me. Unfortuately it didnt turn out so well, so I asked for another one.
"Hanley, any chance you could sign one more? The first one turned out like crap."
"Ohh, let me see." He said, in horrible broken English.
He looked at it made a fart sound, and signed another one, even making sure it turned out better.
Emilio Bonafacio was also there and I had him sign the one card I had of him, which I had aquirred in a trade with a fellow collector that morning.
That was it, then security freaked out on us when we tried to get Dan Uggla. I yelled at them. I'm not getting into specifics on this cause it makes me so **********, but, lets just say, one guard is in a lot of trouble, and they now know not to mess with me anymore.
I went home, and even though I only got 9 different players, Hanley was well worth it.
Here's the recap:
Florida Marlins:
Burke Badenhop: 2/2
Kiko Calero: Refused
Josh Johnson: Missed
Matt Lindstrom: 2/9
Cristhian Martinez: Missed
Dan Meyer: Missed
Andrew Miller: Refused
Leo Nunez: Missed
Hayden Penn: 4/9
Brian Sanches: 8/8
Chris Volstad: Missed
Sean West: Missed
John Baker: 6/6
Brett Hayes: Missed
Ronny Paulino: Missed
Emilio Bonafacio: 1/1
Jorge Cantu: Refused
Chris Coghlan: Missed
Ross Gload: Refused
Wes Helms: Refused
Hanley Ramirez: 2/9
Dan Uggla: Refused
Brett Carroll: Missed
Jeremy Hermida: 2/9
Cody Ross: Missed
Fredi Gonzalez: 8/8
Jim Presley: Missed
Andy Fox: 0/0
Carlos Tosca: Missed
Tommy Hutton: Missed
Jeff Conine: Missed
Andre Dawson: Missed
Jack McKeon: Missed
The morning was terrible. I'm not even going to go into this in detail. I got Freddi Gonzalez twice and Matt Lindstrom twice. That was it, that was my morning. Whoopie. And of course I DONT have this Matt Lindstrom card to make it just a little better:
Four autographs all morning. 4. Four, Quatro, Quatre. Post-game needed to be much better and luckily it was.
I hung out in Queens and we made our way back to the hotel when the game was over. The bus came and like always no one seemed interested in signing off of it.
But then players and coaches start coming out and the first guys out were Freddi Gonzalez and Andy Fox. Freddi had signed 2 cards for me this morning but there was a taxi waiting and he told me that he would get the rest later, which he did.
The next guy who we saw was John Baker. Security was horrible and being over the top about everything. The threatened to call the cops maybe 5 times or so but of course never did, because they know they have no case and the cops honestly, unless you go into the hotel, dont really care. Barack Obama was in town, they have much better things to worry about. Anyway, Baker was nice enough to roll down the window of the taxi he was in, and signed all 6 of my cards for me. Very nice guy, and his wife/girlfriend thought it was the coolest thing ever.
The next guys out were Burke Badenhop and Hayden Penn. Badenhop wouldnt sign at first, but when Penn started to, he joined in as well. Hayden Penn has a horrible signature. Literally "h-loop" but with that he signed 4 cards at least, while Burke who has a decent graph did both of the cards I had.
The next guy ot was Brian Sanches. Somehow I had 8 cards of him, which he was happy to sign all of them. I think he was rather excited someone knew who he was. It was weird though, because after each card he did this weird hesitation and looked like he was going to hand them back each time but never did.
Security had gone in at this point and we were lucky enough that Jeremy Hermida came out. Jeremy had been refusing the first trip and the previous day according to other collectors, but he got stuck on the taxi line, and had no problem signing. I got a 2007 Fleer Rookie Sensations card and a 2008 Allen and Ginter that a friend kindly gave to me since he had 2 and had already gotten him on other things. They look really nice and you can see them below.
That was it at the hotel. I was starving, so I headed down a few blocks to Duane Reade to get a snack when I noticed a fellow collector frantically trying to get my attention. He told me that Hanley was over at some restaurant and was signing, and that he was getting ready to go. I raced over quickly and got Hanley to sign a card for me. Unfortuately it didnt turn out so well, so I asked for another one.
"Hanley, any chance you could sign one more? The first one turned out like crap."
"Ohh, let me see." He said, in horrible broken English.
He looked at it made a fart sound, and signed another one, even making sure it turned out better.
Emilio Bonafacio was also there and I had him sign the one card I had of him, which I had aquirred in a trade with a fellow collector that morning.
That was it, then security freaked out on us when we tried to get Dan Uggla. I yelled at them. I'm not getting into specifics on this cause it makes me so **********, but, lets just say, one guard is in a lot of trouble, and they now know not to mess with me anymore.
I went home, and even though I only got 9 different players, Hanley was well worth it.
Here's the recap:
Florida Marlins:
Burke Badenhop: 2/2
Kiko Calero: Refused
Josh Johnson: Missed
Matt Lindstrom: 2/9
Cristhian Martinez: Missed
Dan Meyer: Missed
Andrew Miller: Refused
Leo Nunez: Missed
Hayden Penn: 4/9
Brian Sanches: 8/8
Chris Volstad: Missed
Sean West: Missed
John Baker: 6/6
Brett Hayes: Missed
Ronny Paulino: Missed
Emilio Bonafacio: 1/1
Jorge Cantu: Refused
Chris Coghlan: Missed
Ross Gload: Refused
Wes Helms: Refused
Hanley Ramirez: 2/9
Dan Uggla: Refused
Brett Carroll: Missed
Jeremy Hermida: 2/9
Cody Ross: Missed
Fredi Gonzalez: 8/8
Jim Presley: Missed
Andy Fox: 0/0
Carlos Tosca: Missed
Tommy Hutton: Missed
Jeff Conine: Missed
Andre Dawson: Missed
Jack McKeon: Missed
Jeffrey Loria: Missed
Here's a look at the highlights:
There should be an update tomorrow about the Rangers hotel from yesterday, June 2nd tomorrow. I will be going for Tampa on Friday, maybe Monday.
Season Stats:
Saturday's Total: 35 Autographs
Season Total: 443 Autographs
Season Average: 36.9 Autographs/Hotel
Here's a look at the highlights:
There should be an update tomorrow about the Rangers hotel from yesterday, June 2nd tomorrow. I will be going for Tampa on Friday, maybe Monday.
Season Stats:
Saturday's Total: 35 Autographs
Season Total: 443 Autographs
Season Average: 36.9 Autographs/Hotel
i've head you say that you rub down cards to get signed, like the 2009 upper deck. I have no idea how to, could you just tell me how to quickly?
HOWIE
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howie-
what you can do is take a pencil eraser and just simply go over the cards that need to be rubbed down. Or you can take your finger and rub the card as well. some people use baby powder, i dont, so i dont know the technique behind that, so im not going to say anything so i dont give you false info and screw something up for you.
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Also, i should have asked this in the first comment, how long does it take to get 1 card (2009 upper deck) rubbed enough for a good signature?
HOWIE
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Nice blog, I get to Cleveland once a year and got quite a bit in 08'. ( Like 14 total off the Indians) This year i went up to the Yankee series and got Greg Iquino, Mark Derosa, Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Carl Pavano, David Huff and Jamey Carroll, who signed for me last season and seems to be very good at signing. The Yankees weren't signing and in 08' I didn't have anything for the Tiger players to sign.
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Howie-
rub or erase the card for about 10 seconds. That should be good. Some other cards (like the Kris Benson Orioles card-see 6/2 update) could take much longer than that and sometimes still dont even look great once they are signed.
09indians-
thanks for stopping by. Thats cool that you do well even if you only go a few times a year. I did well with Cleveland in April. Check the April 17 and 18 updates to see how i did! But yeah, Jamey Carroll is very nice and fan friendly. More players should be like him
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