Sunday, May 12, 2013

Signed Ball of the Day - Player Appearance Recap : Steven " Paco " Rodriguez ( ROMLB Sweet Spot )

Yesterday relief pitcher Paco Rodriguez had his first public paid signing at Frank and Sons out in Walnut. I haven't been able to get him to sign for me at the stadium and since the cost was low I decided to drive down prior to the game and acquire his autograph.

I knew that other Dodgers were scheduled to appear and prior to Paco's schedule appearance at 11 they were to have A.J. Ellis and Brandon League to sign at 10:30. Man, with an eight game losing streak and not the most popular players doing a signing ( though AJ is popular he is not on par with Kershaw, Kemp, etc ) the hall was bare to the wall. There was no one in line for either player and they still had over a hour left for signing as I got there around 10:50. They were just sitting around signing for the promoter instead.





Paco arrived on time and promptly started signing. He happened to be the most popular of the 3 as I was number 3 in a line of 7. I have never been to a paid signing with the turnout being so low. Anyways, got up to Paco and he was nice and cordial. One problem though was that the prior person to me had a leaky pen and it got on Paco's finger which then got smudged a tad onto my ball. Ugh. Oh well, it comes with the hobby. I said thank you and started back towards L.A. to attend early batting practice where I had even better luck. See the next post. Thank you for making the appearance Paco.



9 comments:

  1. Sean?

    Steven haha.

    Sean is the former Angel/current Ray.

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  3. What's going on man. I was the 1st person in line for Paco. Paco must've had a leaky pen when he was signing stuff in the back for the promoter? I also have a smudge mark and noticed it as soon as he grabbed for my ball. Luckily it wasn't on the graph. This is 2nd time I've seen you at a signing. I'll introduce myself next time. I was the first person in line for the Puig signing also. See you at the next signing.

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  4. Ha Ha.
    So you are the one that messed up my ball??? Its not that bad. It wasn't one the autograph but more like a very faint thumb print next to "P". Sounds good. Always like to meet fellow collectors/graphers. I'll be at the LoDuca one in 3 weeks.

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  5. Lol..... ight koo unfortunately I'm going to skip the LoDuca signing next one I'll be attending is the Dwight Gooden one as I'm from Bakersfield so I'm still undecided on LoDuca but 20 bucks not a bad deal.

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  6. Ill be going to that one as well. Sunday signings are usually quick as not many people. I only current or past Dodgers unless I can get other team's players in person. Ill see you in Orange county on the 9th

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  7. Hi All,

    If you are still checking this blog I wanted to bring a different perspective about the smudging issue! I was working in the back room the day of the signing. Paco is a left hander and therefore when he signs, he signs into the signature instead of away from the signature as right handers do. So the smudging was a result of his hand coming across his signature :) The ink from the pens he was using continuously got onto his palm/fingers.

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  8. I know it happens it just sucks when it does. Ive had lefties sign before with no issues and have had issues with others but you have to accept that it can happen when you acquire a signature. No biggie

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