The 62nd and final game of the season for me was Sept 30th at Citi Field.
As most of you know David Wright announced he would play his final game as a Met at the end of the season. I bought a tix to the final game thinking Wright would play in the game. But, shortly after I bought the ticket it was announced that Wright would play his last game on Sept 29th
I planned on graphing the last game not really expecting to get much more than the typical autographs.
Game time was 3:05pm, gates opened at 1:05pm and I arrived at the stadium around 8:45am. There was already about 20 people waiting. Which is much more than normal. Wright signed alot the day before. So, everyone came out to see if he would sign again.
The started out like most while graphing the parking lot. Mickey Callaway, Dave Eiland and Ricky Bones. I missed out on Bones because I was paying attention to Hodges Entrance to see if I could get Don Mattingly. I got Callaway and Dave Eiland on a 5x7 pic of the Home Run Apple.
Todd Frazier always signs. This is other 8x10 that was taken by me at a earlier game
As most of you know David Wright announced he would play his final game as a Met at the end of the season. I bought a tix to the final game thinking Wright would play in the game. But, shortly after I bought the ticket it was announced that Wright would play his last game on Sept 29th
I planned on graphing the last game not really expecting to get much more than the typical autographs.
Game time was 3:05pm, gates opened at 1:05pm and I arrived at the stadium around 8:45am. There was already about 20 people waiting. Which is much more than normal. Wright signed alot the day before. So, everyone came out to see if he would sign again.
The started out like most while graphing the parking lot. Mickey Callaway, Dave Eiland and Ricky Bones. I missed out on Bones because I was paying attention to Hodges Entrance to see if I could get Don Mattingly. I got Callaway and Dave Eiland on a 5x7 pic of the Home Run Apple.
Earlier in the season I got the chance to be on the field for the National Anthem and took this photo. So, I printed out 15 5x7's to get autographs on for players I had no cards or photos for.
Next up I got Austin Jackson on an 8x10. Its one of two photo to get signed that I had taken at a previous game.
Slowly the players started come in. deGrom, Syndergaard, Plawecki, Nido and Reyes refused to sign as usual.
Next up was David Wright, he pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car to hear cheers from the 50 some odd people who showed up hoping he would sign and he didn't disappoint. Wright signed for a good 20 minutes. I have Wright on a few balls already. So, I just got him on a card. Its a rushed autograph. But, its better than nothing.
As you see in the photo, I also got Anthony Swarzak and John Franco. Franco was to sign inside the stadium before the game. I got him as he entered the stadium.
The 2 big surprises to sign at the parking lot was Jay Bruce and Yoenis Cespedes.
First to stop was Bruce, I had heard he had stopped on occasion. But, I had never gotten. Bruce gave me a nice autograph on an 8x10. Just after I got Bruce I noticed another small crowd getting autographs and it was Cespedes signing. I was amazed he stopped. Typically he would just run into the stadium and not even acknowledge us.
The rest of the auto's I got were of typical players that usually sign.
Seth Lugo, personalizes balls and photos
Jerry Blevins
Paul Sewald
Jack Reinheimer
My total for the day was just 15 autographs. But, today was happy with just those. Getting Cespedes, Bruce and Wright made my day. It was probably the best day graphing a major league team since getting Mike Piazza at Shea Stadium
I had planned on staying after the game. But, the Ducks had taken the ATL Championship series to Game 5. So, I left the Mets game in the bottom of the 8th and got to Bethpage Ballpark during the 4th inning. Only to watch the Ducks lose.
I would say I finished the 2018 IP Season off on a strong note.
I will write a post shortly with a season overview
Thanks for Reading and Check Back Soon
Comments