Friday, December 18, 2009

2010 Orioles FanFest!!!

Picture From Orioles.com website

OK, the FanFest announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon and was going to be the topic of yesterday's blog entry. But then the O's signed Mike "The Cobra" Gonzalez and Garrett (nickname pending) Atkins. I figured that those signings were bigger news, but in terms of my autograph collecting, FanFest is one of the best days of the year for it.

If you're not familiar with the setup, the highlight is that they have a bunch of current and former players sign autographs and take pictures with fans. There are also a bunch of stadium giveaways that are handed out, various O's memorabilia that isn't available anywhere else, ballpark food, and some vendor tables. There are also kids areas with various fun activities but I normally skip over all that.

The past few years FanFest was held at Camden Yards on the weekend before the season started, but since the O's open the season at Tampa Bay, they moved the event back to January. When I first went to FanFest as a kid, it was held at Camden Yards, then moved to the Convention Center, then back to the Yard, and now back to the convention center. Try to keep up with the bouncing FanFest!

It is the best event of the year to gain access to some of the players that don't sign much around the Yard. Nick Markakis comes to mind, but since he is one of the most popular players on the team, his line will be really long, and inevitably filled with some adolescent girls that want to meet the "hottest" Oriole. Meh, not really what I'm trying to do and since I do have his autograph, I will likely avoid his station.

My goal is to get Koji Uehara, Kevin Millwood, Garrett Atkins and Alfredo Simon to add to my collection. I don't know if they will all be in attendance but I will add whoever I can. I'm really excited about this and will have to work on getting my cards ready after Christmas. Winter graphing, I love it!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Has Juan Samuel signed in the past? I am hoping to get Milwood as well. How does it work. Do you just pick his line and wait or do you need a ticket? Thank you.