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.