Paul77

I concur. It makes you want to go give Yount and Molitor a big hug, doesn't it?I feel bad for kids who grew up looking at Sosa & Big Mac the way we did Molly and Yount. Of course Molitor had some serious demons to deal with in the 80's, so maybe I'm just a hypocrite.

Did I hear correctly that this kid has dropped out of High school, is in the process of getting his GED and enrolling in community college with a eye on being draft eligible next season?

Pretty sure it was Adult Swim who brought Family Guy back from the dead(coupled with the HUGE ratings they got, along with the DVD sets), not CC. I believe the reference is to neither Comedy Central nor Adult Swim but to the studio - 20th Television - the studio behind the shows. I could be wrong though.

I noticed that Chris Andersen of the Denver Nuggets was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and he was wearing one of Brauns tshirts. http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/4461571b9b10570ce81099331ebc53c5f4e8e63.jpg

Two weeks is the minimum. The rest is up to you. I quit my last job and gave about 5 weeks notice only because A) I was fairly certain they were not in a position to let me go earlier than that (even though that was the norm for someone in my position) and B) I knew they would want time to find a replacement. Also, I asked if they wanted me to return for a few days after I returned from a vacation to help wrap up some things and they did so I felt like I was leaving on good terms.

Very nice. Great job!

Sorry if this was mentioned elsewhere, but MLB.com's App for the iphone/ touch has added a cool new feature. Condensed games are now available to watch. Entire broadcasts, trimmed down to bite size 10 - 15 minutes videos. Pretty awesome.

Anyone want to guess the attendance tonight? I say 43,971.

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/816358ea123995fa1c8d51be02cafd83e1c061b.jpg

At those prices, I'm in for sure.

Yeah, no kidding. I found the link if anyone is interested. I was reading a little more about the situation. The card, with 4 signatures (two on each side of the card) was estimated to sell for "over $20,000" and this guy wound up winning it (on ebay of all places) for $85,000. Then, a few weeks later, he's watching an HBO special about fake autos and they show the card he just purchased. As much as I hate that he could spend that much on a card, I feel bad for him too. Anyhow the link is below... Card owner now doubts Ruth, Johnson autographs http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/044153169f11580946f3b17fb2317f7d577591a.jpghttp://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/49e158139518540ca8720e1768771153be84aae.jpg

What are the chances that a 19 year old guy that used to sit in the handicap row to better increase his chances of catching a home run ball at County stadium would grow up to have a daughter that needed to sit in the handicap section (in prime home run territory) at Miller Park? I wonder if he see's the irony, or if it's just a happy coincidence in his eyes.

There's an old ESPN story somewhere on the internet about a Milwaukee man that bought a autographed Upper Deck card for $85,000 only to find out later that 3 different authentication companies doubted it's authenticity. Can you imagine spending that much money on a card? Then having three companies tell you it "might" be real?

>>Do you honestly believe that a guy who is sworn to uphold the law is going to go around knocking down children intentionally? I don't think anyone said intentionally. But people - adults - who are larger than the kids around them should be more careful. >>The guy is obviously rather well known and would be booed mercilessly or confronted by security if he were tackling children. Show me proof he is a monster like that. He's been ejected from the stadium in the past for his actions when it comes to "ball hawking". But to be fair, you're right, it wasn't for "tackling childeren". >>Tell me the last time you hit the gates early and intentionally hunted down a BP ball. The only ones basically going into BP on a regular basis are all guys like HY. They dig it. I take my kids when ever possible. I stay out of the mix, but let the kids try. My oldest (11) has a few dozen balls. I also told him (back in 2007) that if he ever "pulls a HY", I'll stop taking him to the games. Seriously. And to take this a step further, I posted something in this very site a couple of years ago stating as much (that I want my kids to be respectful of others - unlike HY) and HY sends me a PM trying to start something. Is that the proof your looking for? I'm sure the message is still in my box as I never deleted it. >>Mostly, they get it signed and then sell it on ebay or in a shop. HY keeps his and shares with friends Mostly? I think you are making a rather large assumption. There's not a real high demand on the secondary market for batting practice balls. Most people keep them or give them to kids/family. Batting practice balls (from Miller Park) regularly have a black stripe from a sharpie marker through the sweet spot. Again, not a lot of resale value for a signed BP ball with a random black stripe on it.

What's really sad about that is he did the same thing to me. One day I get a PM out of the blue about a post I made 18 months earlier. I remember thinking, "this guy has nothing better to do than search the forums for his name and then trying to call people out. A year and a half after the fact. Really?"

From the Miller Park Policy Guidelines: "For your safety, please beware of bats and balls that may enter the seating areas. Guests are allowed to keep any baseball that enters the seating area as a souvenir; however, guests are not allowed to enter the playing area to retrieve balls or otherwise interfere with baseballs in play. Violators of this policy are subject to ejection from Miller Park."

They make an announcement about this before every game. "In order to ensure all of our guests receive the full value of their ticket investment, only those persons with a ticket for a particular seat will be able to occupy that seat. Our staff checks tickets to safeguard each customer's investment in a ticketed seat. Individuals in an incorrect seat will be required to return to their ticketed seat location."

I've only had two interactions with HY. One was fine (bought something from him on ebay - for the record he was a great seller!) , the other left me shaking my head (not really worth mentioning here because it's unrelated). But I think that when you spend a decade earning a certain reputation (and maybe not the reputation he thinks he was earning), people will jump all over you when they get the chance. For anyone who remembers back in the day when HY was shagging balls at County Stadium he, to put it diplomatically, would "upset" some people - not with what he was doing, but with how he was doing it and even more than that his attitude while he was doing it.

>>Having heard the Jenkins story before, I cringed when I saw this guy's name mentioned in the "Fan Hall of Fame" thread a few weeks ago. Un-freaking-believable.<< Yeah, I raised an eyebrow when I saw that too.

I might have one of those. I'll PM you if I can find it.

>>Also, they need to do something about people at TGIF's getting in early.<< They get in early, but they still have to wait in a (slightly closer) line. That line is a giant mess, but if it makes you feel any better - I've been in that line a few times only to see people from other entrances racing to the autograph sections before the Fridays usher got the "ok" to let people in. It cuts both ways.

I'm 100% against making it "kid only". I understand the sentiment, but there are plenty of adult fans who want an autograph too. I'm not talking about the hard core collectors either, I'm talking about the regular guy (or girl) who thinks, "a JJ Hardy signed ball would be really cool". Nothing wrong with that. As for my thoughts on the randomness thing. It's certainly not perfect, but I think it's better than the chaos that they have now. No assigned players, just 10 lines (or whatever number) and you get in line not knowing who is coming. Yes, it would suck for people like you and I who want certain items signed by certain players. However, for the people who, as Turbo points out, just want an autograph for their kids it's fine. No stampedes, just lines (and a surprise autograph). Granted, this is not a particularly well thought idea. It's just the first thing I thought of. I guess my thought is, it's free, so I can't complain (much). But who knows. Maybe I'll sit and think about it and decide I hate the idea too.

I have not gone to an autograph session in years, mostly because it wasn't worth the trouble of dealing with the "trouble makers". Also, I don't like lines so it's just not worth it. I'm sure I'll still take the kids from time to time, but whatever. Anyhow, any chance we can keep this thread on topic? Brian's trying to gather advice and I can just see this falling into an ugly debate about getting auto's in the first place. The first thing that popped into my mind was making the player line ups random. I agree with this 100%. When I did go to the AutoFriday's, I rarely "tried" to get a certain player. When I did it rarely worked out. My thinking has evolved into - I'll be happy with anyone for free, but I'm resigned to the fact that if I really want a particular piece signed, I'll need to pay for it. Yes, it kind of sucks, but it is what it is.

I also picked up a couple of bobbles from bdeuce. No problems, great deal! Everything went perfect! Thanks again.

Thanks guys. It's something I put together myself. I don't have a ton of space in that room and this takes up a good amount of real estate, but I love it. I even took the time to pull out real box scores to come up with the authentic post game recap screen shot seen above.