Since only one of these guys has any affiliation with the Orioles organization, I will not write too much about any of them but just want to show the autographs I was able to get.
The Naturals stadium (Arvest Ballpark) has an excellent set-up for getting both the home and visiting teams' autographs. Everyone has pre- & post-game access to a side of the player tunnel that connects the dugout to the clubhouse. So you can pretty much walk halfway up the player tunnel (25-30 ft) to try to get autographs and everyone has to walk by you. I wish that I had taken a picture so that it would be easier to visualize, but it was very cool and the Nats all signed for a bunch of fans. You can tell by this map of the ballpark that you can stand between sections 107 & 108 for the Naturals and sections 114 & 115 for the visiting teams.
Terry Bradshaw (you have to Google search "Terry Bradshaw, baseball" to find him online) is the hitting coach for the Naturals and played 34 games for the St. Louis Cardinals over the course of the 1995-96 seasons. He was a really nice guy and asked my permission to use my sharpie to sign another fan's picture. 
Larry Carter is the pitching coach for the Naturals. He went 1-5 for the SF Giants in 1992. 
Brian Poldberg is the manager of the Nats and has spent the past 20 years as a coach in the Royals organization.
Vance Wilson was a backup catcher for the Mets & Tigers from 1999-2006. He was known for his ability to throw out opposing basestealers and backed up Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez over his years in the Bigs.He currently resides in Springdale, AR, where the Naturals play, and actually lives across the street from my aunt. Vance is in the twilight of his career, but the game I went to was his bobblehead night, so that was probably a highlight for him.
Dan Cortes is listed by Baseball America as the Royals #2 prospect but isn't having a great year for the Naturals. He pitched the game I was at and didn't look like much to write home about. But he does share his name with the former host of "MTV Sports".
Jose Duarte (dwar-tay)Hip, hip, Duarte!
Cody Clark
Corey Smith was absolutely raking when I saw him play. I think that he had hit 13-15 HRs on the season as of a few weeks ago. He also had put on some weight since this picture was taken.
Cody StraitKalina and my dad were able to get an autograph from the only former Oriole on the Travelers, Val Majewski!
Val played a few games for the O's in 2004 and was released by the Birds during spring training 2008. I'm told that he was very nice and willingly signed anything that the fans had for him. I recall getting his autograph at an Orioles-Cardinals spring training game in 2006.
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1 comment:
Looks like you did pretty good with the Nats.
As for Val, he seems to be making the rounds since being let go by the birds. I saw him play twice last year. The first time was with the Astros AA team and the second was a month and a half later with their AAA team.
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