All-Star Fan Fest

[Danny899]

I have tickets for the Fan Fest here in Phoenix next Friday and Saturday, and I'm curious about what I'm likely to see and experience there. I've heard that it is MLB putting it on, so presumably it will be similar to the ones that have come before. I'm epecially interested in how they normally have the autograph situation set up.

Its gonna be a great experience for you while there. Be sure to bring yor swimming trunks!

[godwulf]

Uh...no pool at the Fan Fest. If you're talking about being in Phoenix, actually, I live here, so yeah - swimming aplenty, I'm aware.

[OaklandAsFan]

What was your overall thoughts on the Fanfest Godwulf??

For me I really only stood in line for Earl Weaver and it was for about an hour and fifteen minutes (with a 9,7, and 5 year old so that was no fun) That worked out good for me though because I ended up getting 5 Weaver graphs and he put HOF on the ball he signed for my 5 year old. I bought an Orioles helmet and got that signed by him and then ran into Cal Ripken Jr after his XM show and got him to sign the helmet as well. He took and and put it on for about a minute and walked around with it before signing it.

I was first in line for the AAGPBL ladies so no wait there and they were so awesome to speak with about their experiences. I really wanted that bat they have from a reunion from 2005 that was signed by about 90 of them along with Lori Petty and Penny Marshall but $2k was out of what I was willing to spend for it and they didn't seem interested in bargaining.

For the kids it was awesome because we have a Priority Club membership so we got to skip to the front of the line for every interactive event. We just camped in the far corner of the fanfest for about an hour while they ran around catching grounders and fly balls. They had an absolute blast and were very disappointed to hear that it was gone after the game was finished. and the Taco Bell "Steal a Taco" area was great cause after every time they went and did a slide they got either a free taco on the spot or a coupon for one later when there were no tacos to be given out so we have dozens of those coupons plus a couple of those Taco foam hats.

Overall I thought it was a great time!! For me the HR Derby was the most exciting of the 3 days, the ASG itself is almost anti-climactic IMO.

[godwulf]

What was your overall thoughts on the Fanfest Godwulf??

Well, of course I had no kids with me there, so I got to ignore all the "interactive" stuff. Which left the players signing autos, the hourly commemorative pin line, the dealers (literally everything from 25-cent baseball cards to framed lithos that I'm sure were priced in the mid-five figures), the folks who were there just being interviewed, the HOF Museum display and the Hunt silent auction items (the latter being probably the more overall interesting of the two), and the Negro Leagues display.

(And, of course, the B of A hucksters everywhere, some more aggressive than others. I've learned to wear my radio headset constantly in those situations, even when it's turned off - people trying to get your attention to sell you something usually don't even try to get your attention.)

As an adult, on his own there and not likely to be stealing any bases for a free taco - I can only imagine what kind of bill from the Emergency Room that little "free" taco activity would have generated - if I'd actually stuck to my "no lines" resolution that second day, I honestly don't know whether there would have been all that much for me to do. Maybe an hour total studying all the historical displays and the auction stuff, and more time spent pawing through the dealers' offerings. Standing around listening to various media people and the occasional retired player being interviewed about one team or division or another. No, the vast majority of what was happening was definitely geared toward the kids...about which I'm not complaining in any way - just an observation.

Speaking of observations, I was in line for something at one point, and there were four guys in a little cluster in front of me, ranging in age from probably late 20s to late 50s. They were talking really loudly, flipping through cards depicting all the MLB team mascots and rendering their personal judgments on each one - that sort of thing. When Peter Gammons showed up nearby, getting ready to be interviewed, they all went, "Ooh, ooh...Peter Gammons! Peter Gammons!", and a couple of them ran over to get him to sign a ball. (Peter Gammons? A ball? Really?) Then, while we were still all standing there, a t.v. close by showed Jeter, live, getting hit #3000, and I swear I think a couple of these guys...well, let's just say they were very excited and leave it at that. And I remember thinking, "Jeez, there sure are a lot of really nerdy Baseball fans!"

I was first in line for the AAGPBL ladies so no wait there and they were so awesome to speak with about their experiences. I really wanted that bat they have from a reunion from 2005 that was signed by about 90 of them along with Lori Petty and Penny Marshall but $2k was out of what I was willing to spend for it and they didn't seem interested in bargaining.

My sister made me a gift, some years ago, of an old brown Winner bat with over 40 AAGPBL signatures on it. She paid $560 at auction for it, so of course that is one of my treasures. I mentioned it to one of the ladies working the souvenir booth, and she said, "A lot of those women are probably gone now". One of the players, during a Q&A they did at one point, mentioned that of the 6000 women who played in the league, from '43 to '54, fewer than a third are still living.

[godwulf]

Come to think of it, 6,000 sounds like too many players. I suspect that she said, "600".

[OaklandAsFan]

I sat in on the Hunt auction for a few minutes. I had my eye on the Billy Martin Jersey A's jersey and the Dick Green A's jersey's and was considering signing up to bid but while I was in there Curt Schillings 2007 worlds series autographed gamer went up and the STARTING bid was 13k and it went up from there I realized I was out of my league and left.

[godwulf]

Some of the smaller items actually caught my eye - a couple of medals, on a shelf there on the left just as you walked in. One was a WS press "pin" in the form of a medal and suspension ribbon, and the other was a very elaborate little piece with engraving too small for me to read. Hardly anything had explanatory labels or tags, and I didn't feel like pawing through the catalog trying to figure out exactly what I was looking at; they'd have probably been out of my price range, anyway.