Spring Training Experience

by spudsmckenzie17 on Feb 15, 2009 7:25 PM EST Comment 22 comments

I was looking for advice on when and where is the best time to meet player and possibly get a few autographs at spring training. I would just like to meet some of the Reds players and have a chance to talk to them. This will be my first one, and I've heard in the past former Reds come on board in the spring to serve as special instructors.

Any advice on where to meet players or the best place to snag a couple autographs?

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I don't have any advice..

but I did see this schedule in the Spring Training Notebook at Reds.com.

THE POWER OF TRADITION: Spring training guest instructors include Joe Morgan
(2/16-2/18), Johnny Bench (3/3-3/7), Lee May (3/1-3/7), Doug Flynn (3/4-3/10), Jack
Billingham (3/4-3/11), Greg Vaughn (3/17-3/24), Cesar Geronimo (3/18-3/25) and
Jim Maloney (3/18-3/25).

by Fat Vegas Alan on Feb 15, 2009 9:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Game Time-

sit first base side, front row, as far into left field as possible. The players will come in and out through that corridor throughout the game, and none of them make it through without signing a few autographs and shaking a few hands.

Best advice for talking to players is at batting practice anywhere near home. While guys are waiting for their at bats, some will get pretty chummy with the fans…..and even if none come over to talk it up with the fans you get to hear the player-player conversations, which again causes me to miss Dunn….possibly one of the funniest guys ever.

Soy el niño destructor. I eat kids for breakfast. Roar. - Juan Francisco 'spoken with an Italian accent'

by jacob brumfield on Feb 15, 2009 10:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

for your safety you should probably avoid Homer Bailey's truck

why does he have a shotgun in his truck?

"Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions!"- Dr. Stephen T. Colbert DFA.

by justin007000 on Feb 15, 2009 10:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

also in that article:

McCoy just made me throw up in my mouth:

if he has to eat five-way chili over New England clam chowder, so be it.

ummm, ew?

...because there's already someone posing as Jacob Brumfield

by Cy Schourek on Feb 15, 2009 10:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Before the game

is the best time to get autographs, IME.

If you get there really early, see if they’re taking BP on one of the practice fields.

The main field is also good. Many players sign autographs after working out, before the game starts. Stand near the fence and/or the dugout, and have a pen ready.

Fans also stake out the parking lot where the players park there cars. However, this is considered something of a nuisance, and players may get annoyed. Though Bubba didn’t seem to mind.

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Feb 15, 2009 10:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

i've heard it's better to go before the actual games start

last year i took loads of stuff to get autographed and hardly anyone signed. i got george foster, eric davis, and bill doran. as far as current reds, i only got keppinger. my sister got cueto, though. not fair.

i did get bobby abreu when the bankees came to sarasota. and some kid named austin jackson.

Blessed be baseball.

by Daedalus on Feb 15, 2009 10:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

eek

Austin Jackson is the Yankees’ Jay Bruce. Only he’s projected to play CF. Possibly as soon as this season.

Keep that autograph.

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Feb 15, 2009 10:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yay!

i thought he might be good – he has a “baseball name”. it’s very poetic.

Blessed be baseball.

by Daedalus on Feb 15, 2009 10:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That reminds me

If you’re interested in getting the prospects’ autographs, go to the minor league spring training games. They start in the second half of March. Admission is free, and you get a lot more access to the players than at a big league spring training game. It’s kinda like a little league game.

Maybe DougDirt or someone else who follows the Reds minor leaguers can dig up a minor league spring training schedule. The SWB Yankees have a beat reporter from the Scranton paper who posts the schedule on his blog, but I haven’t seen anything similar for the Reds.

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Feb 15, 2009 11:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is late,

but if Jackson gets to be the Yankees’ Jay Bruce then Edwin is our A-Rod. And the Carew Tower is our Empire State Building!

by Red Menace on Feb 17, 2009 10:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I can't believe I missed her comment

excellent response. Jackson is not close to Bruce’s class. He may be a good player, but he’s never done anything close to what Bruce has done.

We’’re in process of trying to a guy with a trade record of working with pitches

by Slyde on Feb 18, 2009 8:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If you're willing to go to Okinawa

and hike up your skirt, you might get enough hush money to pay for your trip.

by ken on Feb 15, 2009 11:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I had a lot of access in Plant City one year.

I went on a workout day in 1994 before the spring games started. I stood next to a practice field with only about 30 other folks, and talked to tons of players on their way on and off the field. Standing near the ropes to and from the field was the best bet. In one day I talked to or got autographs from a bunch of different folks:

Tony Perez
Jose Cardenal
Ed Napoleon
Marge Schott
Jim Bowden
Bill Garlow, photographer from the Dayton Daily News

plus players:
Jeff Reardon
Barry Larkin
Bip Roberts
Chris Sabo
Troy Afenir
Tracy Jones
Bill Landrum
Willie Greene
and a bunch more

and got up close to:
Jamie Quirk
Rob Dibble
Jeff Branson

I even got Tony Perez to laugh. He started playing catch with Jose Cardenal, and as a crowd formed, I teased him that he could relax, that he’d already made the team. He chuckled. 44 regular season games later, he was fired.

Leatherpants was in a cardigan. Marge signed a baseball card I had of Riverfront Stadium. She signed it “Marge Schott and 02” with a dog’s paw in front of the 02 for Schottzie 02. She was under suspension at the time. I joked with her that she must be tired of signing things, with all those big checks she has to sign for the players. A gravelly voice replied, “They don’t even let me do that anymore, sweetie.”

There are only two seasons - winter and Baseball. - Bill Veeck

by PeteyHendrix on Feb 16, 2009 12:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

If Tony Perez was there it was 1993

Davey Johnson ran the team all of 1994, they ended the season with a half game lead over the Astros.

There was something charming about Schott’s folksy racism.

"Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions!"- Dr. Stephen T. Colbert DFA.

by justin007000 on Feb 16, 2009 8:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If it's not charming on Madville, it's not charming on Marge

by Brendanukkah on Feb 16, 2009 9:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Stop it Brendan - You know I'm no racist

Although I am pretty charming.

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.
Quentin Crisp

by Madville on Feb 16, 2009 9:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ugh Tracy Jones

I went back to cinci recently… They gave that mope his own talk show? He just whined about his daddy and then talked down to this dumb guy who ran a daycare out of his refridgerator. What a see you next tuesday

No bees? Then who will sting me and walk on my sandwiches?

by The Crushinator on Feb 17, 2009 12:51 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He's on with Eddie Fingers from the old Dawn Patrol on WEBN

They took over for Burbank when he retired.

"I AM ARABIC FOR SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!" -- by sukr on Jan 12, 2009 4:55 PM EST

by jch24 on Feb 17, 2009 9:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Great. thats just what he needed

A much much bigger platform for his jabba the hutt ego to lay on. Bring out the Rancor!

No bees? Then who will sting me and walk on my sandwiches?

by The Crushinator on Feb 17, 2009 5:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow...

Gary Burbank retired over a year ago, and I had no idea. I guess I’ve been out of Ohio for a long time.

Somewhere there is video of me humping the cement pig in front of the Sharonville Burbank’s Real BBQ. As soon as I hit a decent rhythm, I gave a big thumbs up to Scooter behind the camera. Right then, an obese black lady walks out of the place and does a double take…my thumb is raised, her mouth is agape, and the pig is poked. A freeze frame for the ages.

I try not to break the rules but merely to test their elasticity. - Bill Veeck

by PeteyHendrix on Feb 18, 2009 1:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs