Autographed baseball for season ticket holders

[BREWCREW5]

Wow, both of those sigs are crap. I didnt know Hart signed in Japanese, which is actually kind of neat.

[brwrsfan]

Apparently nobody on here has seen Rickie Weeks signature? It's a bunch of random squiggles, the only part that even remotely looks like anything in his name is the 23 on the end of it, lol. I'll try to take a picture of the ball I have when I get home. It is far and away the worst signature I have ever seen. Unless he's changed it in the last couple of years.

[hawing]

I attended the season ticket holder autograph session today and enjoyed it. The registration line was unevenly long (apparently a lot of season ticket holders have R,S and T surnames) but once I got my Corey Hart card and got to his line, it went pretty quickly. Corey seemed like a nice guy and said "thanks" when I asked him to stay healthy and have a good season. I believe I avoided looking like a dork.

 

Corey and Yovani signed in the Brewers' dugout. I assume Rickie was in the visitors' dugout, Carlos didn't sign because he pitched tonight, and Ryan Braun was signing bats (in "last minute" lieu of Prince) for full season customers by home plate.

 

To my surprise, the Brewers employees weren't really rushing people through the lines (when I was there, at least), so people who had just got their signed baseballs were milling around the warning track outside the dugout. I then noticed a lull in Corey's line, so I went back in and had someone take my picture with him, and got a handshake to boot.

 

I'm sure this is no big deal to those of you who are frequent autograph seekers, but I was pretty happy and geeked out over meeting a Brewer, and one of my faves to boot.

[brwrsfan]

I got Gallardo's ball today and he seemed less than thrilled to be there. I was one of the first in line and he didn't respond when I said hello, thank you or good luck the rest of the season. He said absolutely nothing and hardly looked at me other than to take the ball out of my hand.

 

My GF got Hart and she talked with him for a bit, which almost has to mean that he initiated the conversation (she was first in line) because she is incredibly shy.

[billyhallfan]

gallardo, was very nice to me, and he asked me how i was doing, and when i said thanks, he said no problem...

 

for the weeks thing, this is a card i got last season, and i see an r, i, w, and e, which is more than i see in the gorzelanny signature, but again, it is his signature, i think it is weird how players are criticized for their penmanship...

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e378/billyhallfan/Autographed%20Cards/scan0010.jpg

 

 

[brewcrewman17]

I also went this morning and had Rickie sign for me. Unlike a lot of you, I actually think Rickie's sig is really cool. I thought it was a really nice event, and getting to go on the field and through the dugout was a nice surprise; I figured they'd just be signing on the concourse. Rickie seemed like a really nice guy, despite the fact that he probably didn't want to be there, and honestly, do you blame the guy? - I'm sure he didn't get home until late the night before and then he has to get up early to sign his name on a bunch of baseballs? Sounds like something I wouldn't want to do if I were in his position. This is only my second autograph ever because I don't ever seek out autographs due to lack of energy, but I must admit, it is really neat to get that close to a player and that feeling makes me wish I had the energy to try more often. This Rickie Weeks ball can go right next to my Dave Krynzel autographed media guide... I thought he was going to be a solid major leaguer, but boy was I wrong.

[Leinie Lodge]

I was amazed at how uncrowded, and well-organized, the day was --- what a nice treat.

As other BFNet'ers have noted, we never felt rushed. Ryan was very personable & generous with his time.

Kudos to the Brewers staff for making this great event happen! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[mikevan1818]

If you look closely at Rickies signature it says "Rickie - you know -Weeks".

[rwa12]

We showed up right before noon, there was no line to get our "card", and we were among the last in line for Rickie. The whole line took maybe 15 minutes, and I will second the comment that this was the most organized event of this nature that I have attended. Rickie was very pleasant, and even personalized the ball to my son when I asked him to (the letter or someone said we wouldn't be able to, but I figured it didn't hurt to ask). When I thanked him and walked away, he called after a "thanks for coming out". He may have not wanted to be there, but he didn't act like it. Great experience, and about the complete opposite of when I met him at ST '04. The lines moved super fast, and I wished I could have visited the other players, as they all seemed to be done early.

[UtilityInfielder]

I was in Gallardo's line. I got there at 1120ish..and was 4th in line. He looked like he wasn't thrilled to be there, but I figured he was tired since he pitched the night before if you get me in to work early on a saturday I would be a little miffed too. I thought he was very nice, he said hi to me, thanked me when i told him he pitched a heck of a game the night before. I thought it was great, I had a good time waiting and talking with all the other fans in line with me.

[pretendastronaut]

Ya, I'm still disappointed that I drew Villy. I didn't go out. I'm really still pretty upset by that, I had been looking forward to this event for months. What a huge let down. I emailed my ticket rep about my disappointment, to which I got a reply that he understood, but there was no way they would know who would be pitching that day when they got the players months in advance.

 

Wow, gee, thanks for that!

 

I responded that I understood that, but they should have perhaps not scheduled two starting pitchers for this event because of that, and I never heard a response.

 

Very disappointed all around.

[hawing]

I'd surely have shared your disappointment, had I been in your shoes. Perhaps they should have scheduled this for an off-day; or maybe if they do this again, they'll be a bit more savvy and include some fine print hinting that player availability might be affected by the game schedule or something. That was a pretty big carrot to dangle last fall.

 

Frankly, I'd wondered in March what they would do if Carlos didn't make the 25 man roster, or had Yovani's recovery taken longer than it did.

[tristarscoop]

Jumping back before the comments on Saturday's event...

 

The most legible sig I've ever gotten is Manny Parra. Right after he was called up, they had him do a signing at a Pick N Save last season. It's the most pretty, precise sig I've ever seen. I even commented that I figure it will change once he's been up longer, as each one is so deliberate and takes a while. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow.

[logan82]

tristarscoop wrote:

I even commented that I figure it will change once he's been up longer, as each one is so deliberate and takes a while. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow.

Yeah, I think that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about signatures. I have a Ben Sheets from '01 and one from recently. He went to just making the first letter from his first and last name legible and a couple other letters from being able to make out almost every letter. If these guys are signing hundreds of signatures at a sitting they have to do something to speed things up. I think the best anybody can reasonably hope for is being able to make out the first letter of the athlete's first and last name. Basically the player's initials.

[hkdakd]

I didn't have to wait long at all and I got Corey's sig. He was very nice and actually asked how I was doing and such. I didn't expect to get to go in the dugout or on the field so I was in heaven that day. I took tons of pics as well. I took a couple of pics of Yo as well since he was right next to Corey.

 

I so wanted Ryan's sig and pic though. Too bad I don't live in or around Milwaukee to be a 81 game ticket holder... That was the only part that disappointed me.

 

Again, Corey was extremely nice and he even stopped signing and looked at my camera for a pic even though the letter said they won't 'pose' due to time constraints.

 

It was a great event and hopefully they do something like this again for next year!

[pitchleague]

my in-laws were to pick up my Carlos ball for me on Sunday. They couldn't make it on Saturday so our ticket rep said he'd make sure the ball was at Guest Relations on Sunday. It wasn't there. I guess I'll be contacting my rep to find out what to do next. Kind of disappointing but it's not the end of the world.

[RoseBowlMtg]

I took my 10 yr old son and Ryan couldn't have been nicer to him. Ryan's real bat 35" 31.5 oz with Ryan Braun on it has my son showing it to all of his friends. Ryan's sig is unrecognizable but haivng his name on the bat makes it cool. Ryan said my kid's name was the coolest one he signed all day which was fun to hear: Joltin' Joe is written on his bat. Great job by the Brewers and thanks so much for Ryan filling in for Prince after he opted out

[RightFieldCoder]

Ryan was real nice to the family standing in front of me. There were two kids getting bats, and Ryan initiated a conversation with them. He even agreed to sign the back of the Braun jersey one of them was wearing. I was by myself and a 28 yo guy, so he probably thought I was getting the bat to sell.

 

I was impressed with how well the Brewers staff ran the event. My only question was what Prince's "scheduling conflict" was. It's entirely plausable, but my intuition says something doesn't smell right.

[RoseBowlMtg]

My only question was what Prince's "scheduling conflict" was. It's entirely plausable, but my intuition says something doesn't smell right.

Let's see Prince was 0-3 Friday night then Saturday he hit the big HR and was 2-4 with 3 runs scored so his conflict was ????. As I figued out and mentioned before there are 9 more Saturday night games at 6:05 that they could have scheduled this since this is for season tix holders who are going to be here all year for the most part. There was never a set date so the letter I received dated April 11th saying there was a conflict for the April 26th date was just covering for Prince imo since 9 other dates would have been similar. It looked like some players didn't want to be there from reading this thread and I can only speak for Ryan being great but at least the other players were there or they don't think they're too big to opt out on the "season ticket holders". Could it have been possible Prince dissed the season tix holders and the Brewers PR knows how that would sound say they sent out a vague sorry. I wish someone would ask Prince what his sudden conflict was so we could know the answer or at least understand him more.

[billyhallfan]

i got prince on a ball on saturday outside when he was walking into the stadium, so who knows what the conflict was

[brwrsfan]

I was in Gallardo's line. I got there at 1120ish..and was 4th in line. He looked like he wasn't thrilled to be there, but I figured he was tired since he pitched the night before if you get me in to work early on a saturday I would be a little miffed too. I thought he was very nice, he said hi to me, thanked me when i told him he pitched a heck of a game the night before. I thought it was great, I had a good time waiting and talking with all the other fans in line with me.

I think I was sitting right next to you....were you wearing a hat? Talking to the teacher from MPS??

Maybe I just caught Gallardo at the wrong moment then, sounds like he was OK with everyone else. I will say that his signature did look pretty decent, at least readable. I'll join into the mix on this one and say that the Brewers (suprisingly after they way they handled season and opening day tickets) handled this incredibly well. The lines were fast, far apart from each other so there was no confusion of any kind. Very nice work by the Brewers.

[pretendastronaut]

my in-laws were to pick up my Carlos ball for me on Sunday. They couldn't make it on Saturday so our ticket rep said he'd make sure the ball was at Guest Relations on Sunday. It wasn't there. I guess I'll be contacting my rep to find out what to do next. Kind of disappointing but it's not the end of the world.

 

Ya, that sucks. My rep told me he wouldn't have the balls until today.

[pretendastronaut]

Also, I'm not trying to be a downer, I'm really glad to hear the great time everyone else had, I'm glad it was a good event. Just wish I could have been able to participate.

[UtilityInfielder]

BrwrsFan,

 

Yeah, that was me, I was the teacher from Green Bay.