Orioles Fanfest 2015

[Oriolesfan29]

The bobblehead was a Steve Pearce one. The lines were indeed crazy. My wife waited for 45 minutes to get through

[thomaslynch]

Wish I had seen the Chris Davis bat and the game used Miller jersey. Nice pick ups!!!

Seemed like some better items this year versus last couple. Only limited quantities of the good stuff with the bulk of the jerseys being mediocre at best. They still had a lot left at the end. Did manage to get an Alexi Casilla game used authenticated jersey with Post season patch from ALDS game 1 for $40 at closing. Not a great name, but a cool jersey for the price.

[mr.miracle]

Went to Fan Fest this year with only one goal to get a couple of Brady Anderson game bats signed. Brady did not sign last year so I was able to take advantage of him signing this year. He inspected the bats and asked where I got them. I told them from a buddy who worked for the team while he was playing. He signed both handed one to Nolan Reimold sitting next to him and explained to Nolan how he used to use tape rings on the handles of some of his bats and was showing him the rings on the handle. Reimold actually was getting ready to sign the bat when Brady said no don't sign that it's my bat as I was actually about to jump in to stop him as well. He said jokingly how these folks have all my bats to both Reimold and Dylan Bundy.

The crowd this year was literally half that of recent years probably a combination of moving it back into December this year from late January/early February and I heard a bunch of negative comments about Manny not being there this year as well as the obvious loss of Davis at least to this point. Although that being said, it was very nice to be able to move through the Convention Center and tour the Clubhouses without fighting massive lines at every turn. Last 2 years you could barely breathe in there.

[Chris78]

I was going to ask about attendance. I am not surprised that it was down as both the Nationals and Pirates had their fanfests on Saturday as well. I was someone not at the Orioles one as a result that was there the last two years, and heard a few people in Pittsburgh say about the fanfest conflict.

Based on what you guys are saying, I would have liked to be at two places at once (Orioles/Pirates). For $40, I would have bought the Casilla jersey.....

[mr.miracle]

Attendance was announced at 11,500 roughly. I believe in the two previous years it cleared 20,000 possibly as high as 23,000 last year.

[Thinking]

For you guys that got the name items (like the Davis bat for $150 -- wow, great pick up), did you get there really early? (Meaning first 250 or so in the door)?

Just curious as I didn't even bother going to authentics area since I have my 10 year old with me and didn't think she would be able to handle the mob in that area.

On the question of the free promo items, that was pretty disappointing. We tried the line 3 times between 9:45am and 1pm and during that entire time they gave away the Pearce bobblehead (also gave you Gonzo tee shirt, some magazines, a yearbook and a rally towel (kids got the Tillman growth chart instead of a bobblehead). They did much better two years ago when I last went --- there they seemed to mix up the items every hour or so, which made it worth getting back in the line again. Was really hoping they would have been giving away some buck nomes and the oriole bird bobble. Maybe they did later but for most of it all they had was the Pearce bobblehead.

Did have an auto pass for Buck which was good -- got some nice photos of him and my daughter talking.

[ironmanfan]

I wasn't one of the first 250 or so in the front door; I probably walked in around 10:30 or so.....This year was nicer, since the Authentics area was on the first floor as opposed to one of the enclosed rooms upstairs (which would get real crowded..). They had two boxes of bats (one $100 box and one $150)...I looked through the bats, pulled out the Davis, saw it was hologrammed, so I ran the # and was happy to see that it was used in a game...I had my 13 year old daughter with me and I actually had her help me by holding items for me close by while I went through the other items (i.e. lineup cards, jerseys, etc.).