January has shown itself to be a good month for autographs in Ohio. There was Columbus Blue Jacket preseason practices at the Ice Haus. There was Tribefest in Cleveland. There was Post-Game Team Autograph night at the CBJ v. Blackhawks game last Saturday. And finally, there was the Reds Winter Caravan.
The Ice Haus practices by the CBJ are always a good place for autographs. The hallway where the players exit the ice and walk to the locker room means if you are in a good spot at the front of the railing, ask nice, and are prepared, it is likely you will be able to receive quite a few autographs. Although there were quite a few people there (see picture above), we only missed Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky. Everyone else signed for us. We had the '11-'12 poster (my son and I are holding them in the picture) signed -- by the end of the day, everyone still with the team had signed it!
I understand this was the first fan fest for the Indians (ever? in some time?). We had fun. We were able to get into the KeyBank VIP area (by showing our Keybank debit card) and had fun getting autographs from and photos with Terry Francona, Carlos Santana, and others. Tribe "alumni" Tito Francona and Jim "Mudcat" Grant were also signing autographs at Tribefest. We left with 11 autographs on baseballs. Tribefest was a bargain at $10 a person! We will go next year if they have it again! Below is a picture of Jim "Mudcat" Grant.
This year's Columbus Blue Jacket Post-game Autograph session was another terrific event. After the lockout, this game featured give-aways to all the fans of a hat and a 2013 schedule poster. Both were good for autographs. Each player had a silver Sharpie, a black Sharpie, and a pen. I brought a oil-based white paint pen. My sons and their friend had the players sign with the Sharpie pens. This looked pretty good. I think the white medium-sized paint pen looked really terrific on the posters -- I am finding that shiny paper products (many posters, cheer cards, etc.) seem to let paint pens look their best. The "paint" really stands out. We have received between 12 and 16 autographs on these nights -- we got 12 this time. A nice time was had by all. The three 13 year old boys I was with were all very happy.
I went to the Thursday (Ashland, KY), Friday (Bloomington, IN), Saturday (Columbus, Ohio -- Nationwide Arena), and Sunday (Hamilton, Ohio) Reds Winter Caravan visits in January. Each day, I got there 1.5-2 hours early. I received autographs from all the participants: Todd Frazier on a game-used bat, Jay Bruce on a Reds' jersey, Homer Bailey on a Redsfest 2012 poster, Corky Miller on a baseball, and many more. The key to Redsfest now is to get there early!
Good luck and happy autograph hunting!
