RPS (4) 2012 Angel Stadium Opening Weekend

The 2012 baseball season has officially begun at Angel Stadium and the autograph hunting is in full swing. Since it was Opening Day I decided to spend the whole day at the stadium 'graphing. Zack Hample may have his streak of 793 (as of 4/8/12) consecutive games with getting at least 1 ball, but I've got a decent streak of my own going.  If you read my 2011 summary post then you know I went to 74 games last year and got at least one autograph each game of a former or current player, I felt the pressure to continue the streak as Opening Day began.

The closer I got to the stadium, the more pressure I felt until I got out of my car and saw some familiar faces. Needless to say the streak lives on and I had a pretty good weekend. However I'm not sure how long the streak will survive due to what I call the "Pujols Effect" which essentially means an obscene amount of people trying to get autographs every day. It's definitely going to take some serious effort to make sure I keep it alive.

Anyways, on to the summary. Unfortunately I wasn't able to photos of the graphing before and after the game, because I don't keep my Canon Rebel T3 on me while collecting since I don't want it damaged.

Going back to the "Pujols Effect" one of the biggest impacts Albert brings to the Big A, is the big ESPN deciding to cover more games than in years before. On hand to cover Opening Day, was Hall of Famer Barry Larkin who was very nice to the fans and signed during breaks from the broadcast. I was able to get him on this Rawlings Gold Glove Baseball, but he signed it with a black pen from the ESPN table.

On his way into the stadium, I asked if he wouldn't mind helping me work on the 1987 Topps set, and he signed one of those while he was walking. It was pretty cool getting to walk alongside Mr. Larkin with security escorting "us" and the rest of the ESPN crew toward the gate. I felt pretty important. You can see the "B" and "L" are consistent with the ball he signed sitting down, but as a Hall of Famer I wouldn't have minded him just scribbling an "x" let alone a decently consistent signature.

I present to you, your 2012 Kansas City Royals Opening Day roster down the first base line.

I couldn't get as nice a shot, but here is your 2012 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Opening Day roster down the third base line.

It's official, Erick Aybar now has the coolest friend in Anaheim. Oh and his friend Albert Pujols is now officially an Angel who has played in a MLB game.

First up some shots from Opening Day, Alex Gordon led off the night against Jered Weaver.

Howie Kendrick was up second for the Angels and is definitely going to have a big year seeing fastballs batting in front of Pujols.

Between all 3 games, I was able to get a pretty nice collection for my first weekend back into the season.  On Opening Day besides Barry Larkin, I got Rich Thompson to sign this 2011 Topps.

Mark Trumbo autographed this 8x10 of him against the Dodgers.

Angels owner Arte Moreno signed this 8x10 of him speaking at the Pujols press conference.

After the game I was able to get local product Royals 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas to sign his 2011 Topps Rookie Card. I told him how I had gotten a really nice shot of him fielding during the game and he said he'd sign it for me if I brought it.

On Saturday I didn't spend the whole day at the stadium, but I was able to get my first ball of the season from batting practice. Moustakas was nice enough to autograph this 8x10 I took of him on Opening Day.

I forgot to ask him to sign this 8x10 I printed out of the entire Royals team. But I was able to get center fielder Lorenzo Cain, All-Star reliever Aaron Crow, and Opening Day starter Bruce Chen to sign it.

On Sunday I was forgetful and left the team photo at home, but luckily remembered my cards. I had Gold Glover Jeff Francoeur sign my first ball from the day before on the sweet spot and my 2011 Topps.

The last autograph I was able to get for the series was future superstar Eric Hosmer on his 2011 Topps rookie card.

To summarize...awesome. It's nice to be back and have the streak extended.

RBI (70) A controversial 365 TTM from Spring Training...

Well I'm not sure how much actual controversy there is about this, but I did find it interesting to get a pretty awesome reply from Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mat Latos.

Latos was taken in the 11th round of the 2006 draft by the Padres after falling significantly due to maturity concerns. He attended college for a year before signing with the Padres days before he would have re-entered the 2007 having been deemed matured. The time paid off as Latos breezed through the minors reaching the MLB in 2009 for the Padres.

His call up resulted in making the rotation in 2010 for a breakout year where he solidified himself as a front of the rotation pitcher with ace potential. 2011 was a slight regression year for him, but there was still excellent top of the league stuff. So much so that the Reds paid a minor fortune for him in Edison Volquez, and top prospect Yonder Alonso among others.

In 3 seasons in the MLB Latos has supplied himself a 27-29 record, 3.37 ERA, and 413 Strikeouts. In both full seasons he appeared in he made a strong 31 starts, marking himself as a reliable workhorse in the rotation.

As many of you know there was a recent blog post on Reds' pitcher Mat Latos' wife's blog regarding the autograph collecting hobby. It's been discussed at length by the autograph community so I won't really get into that. Interestingly enough don't you know I had actually mailed Mat a TTM request just prior to the now infamous post.

It was a success. Not only was it a success, it was a really cool success. Not only did Mat send his autograph, but also took the time to answer the letter I mailed him. Why's this awesome? Because it's the first time a current player responded to my letter, let alone while at Spring Training:

During your 15 game streak of 5 innings and 2 or less runs did you feel added pressure or feel comfortable?
Showing the ice cold blood in his veins that made the Reds pay a king's ransom for the ace he responded, "Comfortable!"

What was it like to get your first Win?
Even though he debuted the week before, the Virginia native was able to top the local Washington Nationals in 2009 for his first win, "Felt good. Was in my hometown."

What did you see to the key to your 1 hitter of the Giants?
Even though he was only in his first full season in the Majors, he was able to display his stuff against the eventual World Series winners with a 1 hitter supported by him "Hitting my spots."

What was it like to play in the 2009 All Star Futures Game?
I'm a big fan of the game as it highlights the prospects coming up and recognizes their hard work pushing themselves through the minors to get to the show. I'm sure many of the guys who make it agree with his sentiment that "It was Great."

I had sent the 2011 Gypsy Queen as the card I'd like signed and included the 2012 Topps mini with a sticky note that said he could keep it. The Gypsy Queen smeared, but Latos didn't keep the 2012 mini and instead autographed it clean and sent it back to me after only 29 days c/o the Reds at Spring Training.

RBI (66) Completing a 365 TTM pair...

Well I suppose they don't mean to be a pair, but since one of their biggest claims to fame involves one another they're stuck as one as far as I'm concerned. Catcher turned science project/first baseman Scott Hatteberg responded to my TTM request and is a nice addition I've slotted next to my Billy Beane card.

Hatte was a 1st round sandwich pick for the Red Sox going 43rd overall in the 1991 amateur draft. Hatte would get a minor taste of the bigs in 1995 and 1996, but became the primary catcher for the Sox in 1997. After '97 though he began to split time before eventually being relegated to backup status due to the arrival of catching sensation and future franchise hall of famer Jason Varitek. An injury in his elbow during his final season with the Sox was expected to end his career as he could no longer throw a baseball.

One thing Hatteberg continued to do despite the catching job going to Varitek was find a way on base when he was given at-bats. This skill was the key to his career surviving as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane was looking for just that ability to rebuild his team in 2002. Hatteberg became a leading symbol of Beane's "moneyball" era and use of statistical analyses to find diamonds in the rough. Hatte became a first baseman for the A's and is most remembered for his walk off home run in the 11th inning against the Kansas City Royals to give the A's their American League record 20 game winning streak.

When he finally retired after a stint with the Cincinnati Reds Hatteberg had managed to extend his once presumed dead career from 7 seasons to 14. He was a .273 hitter with an impressive .361 OPB despite his limited slugging abilities. His line stood at 1153 hits, 106 of which were Home Runs. While most catchers are assumed to be players who are slow and knock guys in, his 527 RBI are actually fewer than his 538 Runs Scored.

Scott Hatteberg was nice enough to sign and return this 2008 Topps card for me after only 41 days from his home address.