Padres Fan Fest 2014 Summary and Autograph Recap

I made it down to San Diego for the Padres Fan Fest 2014 to enjoy my last big graph before the relative calm until the season starts. I won't be making it down to Spring Training so I wanted to knock off as many autographs as I could and have fewer things to work on during the year when I go down to San Diego. Anyways, last years fan fest was great and I was looking forward to this years.

The day started off really well with big help from Rob and Kyle who were able to hook me up with a Carlos Quentin autograph ticket. The ticket got me into the area, but Carlos was signing so slowly he actually got up from his session without finishing everyone who had an autograph ticket. I was about 10 people back in line and was able to catch him at the stairs to leave. He was apologizing to fans that he had to leave and signing a few as he was talking and without really looking took my sharpie and knocked out my photo. That's appropriate because it's the photo of him charging Zack Greinke and knocking him out of part of the season when he broke his collarbone. I'll cherish this photo because I know if I had caught him 1 on 1 sitting down I doubt Carlos Quentin would have autographed it.

At the end of the day I went on the stadium tour and saw this note posted on the PA box between the Padres dugout and clubhouse. And yes it is real. I wonder who it was posted for…

After getting Carlos Quentin I got Josh Johnson's autograph on this 8x10 photograph. It's a nice shot from his time with the Marlins and I asked him to inscribe All Star, he responded he was a two time All Star. I responded that I hoped he'd earn more. He responded by shrugging and inscribing "2x All Star" anyways. I guess Josh can do without more All Star nods. Take note voters.

With Johnson was with Tommy Medica so I got him to autograph this 8x10 photo of him up to bat. I think he was surprised to see me drop a photo on him and was pleased he didn't have to sign a blank autograph card.

When I finished getting those autographs I went to wait in the next line which was to complete my purchase from my stop at the Padres yard sale. I picked up a Yasmani Grandal MLB authenticated Game Used bat. After buying the bat I was really happy to have already picked up an autograph ticket for him so I was able to get Grandal's autograph on the bat.

It's cracked from the game but I'm happy the Padres hadn't taped it back together so it looks better in my opinion.

Yasmani Grandal also autographed this 8x10 photograph I had originally printed for him to sign, and he didn't mind signing it for me after he signed the bat.

With Grandal was Robbie Erlin and I didn't have anything for him so I got one of the provided Padres autograph cards.

My next session was one I really had been looking forward to before heading to San Diego. Last year I was able to get Casey Kelly's autograph but injury really has hindered his chances in the bigs so far. He's going bounce back and I really believe he'll make it with all his talent so I got this Casey Kelly autographed 8x10 photo done.

Current rising Padres star Jedd Gyorko was with Casey and this time I got Gyorko's autograph on this 8x10 photograph. I'm not really sure why but as he was signing I felt inspired and asked him to write "rookie year" on the photo. I don't think he quite heard what I said because he said no problem and inscribed "Rookie" above his name. I think it still looks cool and with PSA charging for Rookie Graph I think I'm more than happy with this photo and inscription.

After getting Casey and Jedd I moved on to snag a quick bite and then got into a overflow line for a session I hadn't gotten a ticket to. I made it in and first I got this Dale Thayer autographed 8x10.

With Thayer was former NL steals king Everth Cabrera and I got him to autograph this nice action shot of him diving in for a bag.

Kyle Blanks autographed one of the Padres autograph cards for me.

His signing partner was someone I always seem to have trouble with, Cameron Maybin. Last year I got Maybin's autograph and it was smudged on my card. This year I was toward the end of the line and he was trying to quickly get through as many people as he could, which I'm fine with. But he didn't take the silver paint pen I offered to him and grabbed a provided silver sharpie. You can see the sharpie almost immediately died on the photo. He took my paint pen and finished the signature then went back over the faded section, which was very nice of him. I just think it's funny a clean signature from him continues to elude me even though the photo is still nice to me.

All in all I had a very productive and fun experience at the Padres Fan Fest 2014 and am already looking forward to heading down there again. It's a nice day, very relaxed and I'm able to knock out a ton of autographs of guys I actually think are pretty decent baseball players. Getting the MLB authenticated bat was a nice pick up and having Grandal sign it the same day was a big score for me. Shout out to Al, Rob, Matt, Kyle, David, Alex, Scotty, Mark and everyone else I ran into down in San Diego and the week before at Dodgers Fan Fest. Great seeing everyone and looking forward to the next year to start.

RBI (145) Kendrys Morales Game Used Baseball Bat...

Recently I mentioned being able to pick up a Kendrys Morales Game Used Baseball bat through a sale the Angels Foundation had. I was pretty excited to make the purchase and pick up a bat from a player I liked who was a decent slugger. I was nervous though about being able to get it autographed as throughout the years I had never been able to get Kendrys to sign for me. He was a notoriously tough autograph to get and if he did by chance sign I was always somewhere else and missed the chance. The Mariners came into town for a quick series and I knew I had a limited window to get the bat signed since baseball bats are not allowed inside of the stadium, so I had to get it signed pre or post game.

After the first game of the series I was able to track down Kendrys and called out to him that I had his game used baseball bat. He got into his car without saying anything though, and I thought I missed my chance. I was extremely excited and surprised then when his driver started to pull away before stopping a few feet away from me. Kendrys lowered his window, pointed at me and waved for me to come over. I pretty nervously walked over to the car and handed him the bat and marker. He autographed the bat for me while I said thank you and he just nodded before handing the bat back to me.

Though I have my RBI Collecting custom bat, this is my first player used baseball bat and I was pretty hesitant about getting such a tough signer for my first bat, but I think Kendys is a good player so I took the chance. I'm extremely happy that I did and I'm really grateful that he took the time to stop and autograph the bat.

I've had a few people questioning me on the bat because the normal photos you'd see of him batting is with a different brand. So I went to Getty Images and started doing some research. During the 2012 season Kendrys switched to using Trinity baseball bats for a while more than likely because of the success Mark Trumbo was having using Trinity. I'm not 100% which bat it is that I picked up but he does use at least 4 different Trinity bats when I combed through the archives. The markings, scuffs, and position of the MLB dot test look to match one used batting when they played the A's.  It's just one more great example of the quality work done by the Trinity Bat Company, and I'm more than pleased to have this Kendrys Morales autographed baseball bat in my collection.