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  1. #1
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    Arizona Fall League

    Playoffs? What playoffs? It's Arizona Fall League time!

    Finishing up the second week of play, and my Scorpions are at the top of their division with a 6-2 record, after beating the Solar Sox last night in a light drizzle - thanks, in part, to a seventh-inning, 2 rbi ground rule double off the bat of Nats phenom Bryce Harper, who just turned 18 last Saturday and was playing in what I'm guessing was his first professional game. I wouldn't mind having been the one who went out and picked up that ball, but I wasn't.

    Since joining the team on Monday, Bryce seems to have resigned himself to signing a whole ton of autographs. Both last night, and the night before, he was out after the game surrounded by a large crowd - well, large by Fall League standards, maybe fifty or sixty people - signing, signing, signing. Seems pretty serious, but a nice kid.

    Speaking of signing, Tuesday night, the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon was signing before the game, and somebody came up with a well-worn Tulsa batting helmet of his. (He found a small crack, and said, "Yeah, it's mine. I threw it around a bit.") He must have spent two minutes admiring it, and - this is what impressed me - asking the owner exactly where he wanted it signed; he even asked the guy how he was going to display the helmet, in order to get a better idea.

    Aside from getting a couple of balls single-signed by DBacks Konrad Schmidt and Daniel Stange (both of whom spent time with the big club this past season), and getting Marc Krauss to sign one of his bats from Visalia, all of my autographing efforts so far have been directed toward batting coach and former Diamondback Alan Zinter. Two of his DBacks bats and a batting helmet from '04, so far, and as the season progresses, I've got one of his Houston bats, two large locker tags, one of his coach's jerseys from Visalia, and a stack of cards to bring out.

    I'm taking two weeks off from work starting this Monday, and plan to get out to 12-15 games in that time. Who's got time for Baseball on t.v.?

  2. #2
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    Since he joined the Scorpions a week and a half ago, 18-year-old #1 draft pick phenom Bryce Harper has signed autographs down at the end of the dugout, without fail, after every home game. As I mentioned before, he's very serious -but I guess in his position, with the pressures to perform and succeed that he's facing, we'd all be that way.

    Last night, after a long game, it was going on ten o'clock, and it was cold, but Bryce was down there signing, as always, so I decided to see if I could squeeze my way into the crowd and toss him a ball. After several minutes, I managed to secure a recently vacated spot, right in the area that he seemed to be concentrating his attention on, and stood there, having to resist the physically aggressive (East Coast types, I'm assuming ) trying to squeeze me out. Bryce looked at me and reached out his hand, and I tossed him a new Arizona Fall League ball and a pen, and got a beautifully signed ball back.

    On the other hand, I'm told that Desert Dogs manager Don Mattingly isn't signing much of anything. At the end of the season, I may have a couple of nice (unsigned) Mattingly Yankees photos to give away.

  3. #3
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    How has Ted Simmons been with signing? I could not make it this year and wanted to get him and Mattingly, and of course Harper along with a few other prospects.

    Chris

  4. #4
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris78 View Post
    How has Ted Simmons been with signing? I could not make it this year and wanted to get him and Mattingly, and of course Harper along with a few other prospects.
    From what I've seen, the Managers (not just Mattingly) generally don't really come out of the dugouts that much, except if they see someone they know. I can't really say about Simmons, as I'm always hanging around the Scottsale dugout and don't pay too much attention to what's going on on the other side of the field.

  5. #5
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    sounds like a good time godwulf. Has bryce done pretty good so far?
    Baseball do what it do
    -Ron Washington

  6. #6
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    As a late roster addition, he's only allowed to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so he hasn't played much, yet...maybe three games, assuming he played today (which game I coudn't make it to). If I recall correctly, he hit an rbi double his first game, and went two for four in his second.

  7. #7
    Senior Member ironmanfan's Avatar
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    Quote Originally Posted by godwulf View Post

    On the other hand, I'm told that Desert Dogs manager Don Mattingly isn't signing much of anything. At the end of the season, I may have a couple of nice (unsigned) Mattingly Yankees photos to give away.
    Found this video of Donnie Baseball signing the other day during the AFL season

    http://www.hotvideotube.net/video/10...-League-2.html

  8. #8
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    Re: Arizona Fall League

    Since I made that comment, a couple of people have told me that they've seen Mattingly sign for 15 to 20 people at a game. Other times, he's invisible, as he was at Phoenix Muni today.

    I got my Koby Clemens ball, by the way - mostly 'cause I couldn't find Matt Lawson after the game, to get him to sign the foul ball he'd hit in the 7th, and I hadn't been able to draw out Dismuke, the batting coach, to get a couple of cards signed, and I was just sort of wandering around the parking lot, on the verge of being mildly disgrunted, and ran into Clemens. I had a Fall League ball that I'd found on Monday, on the edge of the field, sitting entirely too close to the wall not to be stolen, and I had him sign that.

    And the Seeds of Greatness Collection is launched.

 

 

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