Toronto: The Visit

If you're a regular reader of my blog, or have ever looked at my photo albums, you know that I'm an autograph hound. I think it's fun and I love building on what I think is an already decent collection. My plan for the trip to Toronto was to get there really early and see if I could pick up anything before the gates opened. It's a pretty tough task seeing that the player parking lot and visiting team drop-off point is underground. You really have to hope that a player would stop and sign something before he went underground. I had heard previously that occasionally the visiting players who take cabs to the stadium will enter through one of the gates. It was my plan to be there in case that happened.
Most players get to the ballpark about 7 hours before gametime. My plan was to be in position by Noon. It was a short hour and 45 minute drive from Buffalo so getting there by Noon was no problem. I left my pad at 10am and was there in plenty of time. I parked the car, wandered to the stadium, and sat myself on a bench outside the gate. I threw on my XM and listened to the baseball channel and waited, and then waited some more. I had noticed 2 people waiting across the street at a parking lot and I wandered over and asked if that was where the Jays came in. It was. I asked who was inside already and pretty much most of the better talent was. I wandered back to my bench and waited again. Since I was the only hound there I knew my efforts were going to be for nothing. They were. Lucky for me, I know a guy who works for the Jays, so I met up with him at 2:30 and he let me come inside and hang out while he set up the scoreboard and stuff. I hung out for about 3 hours and it was pretty interesting. He let me into the actual park about a minute before the gates open, so I was in the perfect spot to get an autograph for BP. The gates open and the throngs of people poured in. Unfortunately for we Yankee fans, the only Yankee to sign was Johnny Damon. He signed one for the guy next to me and then took a spot in front of the dugout and people would toss him something to sign and he'd toss it back. I didn't try to get it because I already have one. Johnny actually signed in front of the dugout on 3 of the 4 days. On the final day, Johnny pointed to a guy and 2 other balls came flying at him. He threw all 3 back along with the pen, threw his hands up, and walked into the clubhouse. I got a kick out of that. Good for Johnny. I'd have done the same thing. Day 1 = 0 autographs. I got home around 2am.
Day 2 started out the same way. I made the drive from Buffalo and got there at Noon. My plan today was to spend some time at the Jays ramp trying to get a few guys, specifically Roy Halladay. I'd find out 2 hours later Roy was already inside when I got there. No one really pulled up I was excited about so I left without any autos. I then went over to the gate, put on my XM and waited just shy of 3 hours for the gates to open. Again, Johnny was the only one that signed. Day 2 = 0 autographs. I got home around 2:30am.
The 3rd game of the series was a 4pm start. My friend Dan and I got there at 11:30 and waited in line for the gates to open at 2pm. We got in and this time no one signed. After the game, we decided to try our luck at the player hotel. We busted our humps and walked the 1.8 miles from the Rogers Centre to the hotel and just missed the return of the team bus. There were already a handful of fans waiting. A-Rod and Mariano, along with their wives and a security dude left the hotel on foot and went to a Thai restaurant about 3 minutes away. Most people are from the school of though that if A-Rod is going to sign he'd do it away from the hotel. So we, along with some others, followed him to the restaurant, giving them their space the whole way. We were hoping that the group would dwindle in size, which it did, albeit temporarily. There were 7 of us waiting and we were discussing how we could entice Alex to sign. We figured a straight line with the first asking if he'd spare the time was our best bet. As we waited, the line eventually grew to 14. 2 hours passed and they finally left the restaurant. We were in our line, the first person asked, and we were politely turned down. We walked back to the hotel. The last time i was at their hotel I got Mattingly and Giambi to sign, but we were actually up the street about a block from the hotel, and it was just the 2 of us. I had noticed that a lot of the players had come back from that direction so we decided to walk up the street a ways to see what was there. We walked up for 5-10 minutes and then turned around. As we were walking back a valet at a restaurant asked us if we were Yankee fans (the shirts gave us away). We said yes, and he asked if we were from NY, and we again said yes. He then said there was a player in the restaurant who was just finishing up dinner. It was Johnny Damon. We decided we'd wait. About 10-15 minutes later, Damon exited the restaurant with his wife, Kyle Farnsworth and his wife/girlfriend, and 2 other guys. My friend had Farnsworth sign a ball (I already have one) and then we both had Johnny sign a ball. I had him sign an official World Baseball Classic ball. I'm eventually going to try and get some other WBCers to sign the ball as well. They seemed happy to sign and we were more than grateful. Right place at the right time I guess. We went back to the hotel and waited until about 1:15 before we left. We could have gotten some other signatures but they were second-tier Yankees so why waste a ball. Day 3 = 1 autograph. I got home around 3:30am..
I didn't really think they were going to have BP on Sunday as they normally don't so I didn't leave too early. The wife and I went and we ended up getting to the Rogers Centre about 10 minutes before they opened. There were some decent sized lines so I wandered to another gate, which is a gate but it doesn't look like one, and was about 6th in line. They opened up, we went in, and I noticed that the cage was set up and some Yankee coaches were on the field. I ran quickly down to the dugout and took a spot in the corner where I normally do. The wife was right there with me. The Yanks came out for BP and again Damon signed. If you ever want a Johnny Damon autograph, go behind the dugout. He signed there for me when we saw him in Tampa last year. Anyway, one by one players are leaving the field, much like they did the previous 3 days. Bye Derek. Bye Bernie. Bye Johnny. Bye Jason. Bye Alex. What? What's this? Someone decides to come back out of the dugout and they head to our corner. I thought he was going to give a kid his batting gloves but he took his ball and started signing. Immediately I feel the crowd swell and my leg is getting pinned under a seat someone steps on. Ouch. But in the end, I got the signature on the sweet spot and my wife got one on the side panel (she was shaking and was scared to ask). Who was the player you ask? Here's a hint: I told my friend who we got and he was like "why would you want his, he (expletive deleted) su**s!). If you can't figure it out from that, it was A-Rod! That made the whole trip worth it!! Thanks Alex. Even though you're slumping, you're still the man. Day 4 = 2 A-Rod autos!! Weekly total = 3 autos.
Not a bad weekend if I say so myself. I'll post the pictures in the coming days along with the ones I got at Fanfest. I'm heading to Cooperstown for the weekend this Thursday so I'm hoping to add quite a bit to the collection over the next 2 weeks. I'm also going to games in Boston, KC, and St. Louis in the same week. I have my targets. Check back if you care to see/hear how it went.
I'm thinking of writing a book about getting autos. Kind of like Zack's book on snagging foul balls. So Zack, if you read this, I might have some questions for you on how you got started. If i do in fact make the attempt at the book, I'm going to try and get some player perspective on the subject. We'll see. It might be fun.
Peace, love, and pinstripes.
J-Boogie