This year featured 12 up and coming rookies in the Sox farm system. Clay Buchholz was once again a headliner, however he was joined by Jusin Masterson, Jed Lowrie, and Devern Hansack. The donation went up this year to $20.00, but it was more efficiently planned so that was a plus.
The biggest downfall to this event was all the restrictions. Most were due to autograph hunters who turn around and sell the autographs (which makes sense). But the rule that got me was this one:
Do you see anything wrong with this picture? To the untrained eye you might say, "What's wrong with it? It's a baseball right?" But even the most amateur autographs knows that if you get 12 rookie autographs and you don't get an a signature on the sweet spot, something is wrong there.
When i approached the first rookie signer, infield sensation Jed Lowrie, i asked him to sign the sweet spot. He responded with a "No can do, sorry." At first i thought he was joking and i laughed. Upon receiving the ball back i quickly realized he was serious. For whatever reason, the people at the Red Sox Foundation, who do wonderful things for charities in the area, instructed the players not to sign on the sweet spot. Now i understand it if they are trying to curb autograph selling for profit, but as an avid collector i was slightly peeved by this. I still have the ball from last year's program, and yes that means i have Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz on the same ball. However i have no intentions of selling that ball unless an absurd amount of money is presented to me. What happens when a little kid comes up and asks for an autograph? what then? They say sorry kid, your gonna sell it? Give me a break.
Well now that i am done with my rant, i will say it was a great experience. As i was saying, Lowrie signed the ball on the MLB Logo panel along with fellow infielders Chris Carter, Aaron Bates, and outfielder Bubba Bell.
The next signatures were from Dusty Brown, Justin Masterson, and Dustin Richardson. These three rookies signed on the the left blank panel.
The coolest autograph in my opinion was Justin Masterson who not only has a sweet sig, but was also just really cool. As the line became backed up, I found myself waiting in front of Masterson. I was taking pictures with my phone when this dialogue began:
Justin Masterson: "I have that same phone."
Me: "Oh really, you like it?"
JM: "Yea, it is a pretty cool phone. But the real question is do YOU like it?"
Me: "Well i do have the same phone as Justin Masterson, so that works for me."
JM: "Haha true."
Me: "By the way, don't worry about Johan [Santana], we don't need him." (for those of you Sox fans living under a rock, Masterson and Lowrie have been rumored to be heading to the Twins for prized lefty Johan Santana.)
JM: "Well here is what i need you to do. Write a letter to Theo, and tell him that...what is your name?"
Me: Greg
JM: "Tell him that Greg doesn't think we need Johan and we will be all set."
Me: (Laughing) "Totally, I will do that tonight."
JM: "Thanks, i really appreciate it."
So after that exchange i moved on to the next signer, Clay Buchholz. Looking as "pimped out" as usual, the 9-1-07 No No pitcher was all smiles through the entire event. Thinking that it might have just been Lowrie's preference to not sign the Sweet Spot, i asked him to plant is signature there and he declined as well. After i asked him why, he responded extremely candidly "Dude, I know man. I don't know why either." So hey, if Buchholz has no problem with it, who's to say that the Red Sox Foundation should prohibit the players from signing on the sweet spot.
Regardless, i had Buchholz sign on a seperate ball expecting to get a really cool signature that wasn't cramped like his last one, and i was happy with the results:
Up next for signatures was Devern Hansack (whose signature was made fun of by Bubba Bell) and Michael Bowden who signed on the right blank panel.
Rounding out this autograph session was Jonathan Van Every, and Hunter Jones on the Rawlings top panel:
