I attended the DHL All-Star Fan-Fest 2008 on Monday!

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I can not say how, but I got VIP passes to the DHL All-Star Fan-Fest at the Javitz Center in NYC! It was part of the celebration of the All-Star game that took place at Yankee Stadium yesterday.

I had a chance to walk around the city a bit before the event, and came across this lovely lady here. Apparently, there was a Liberty statue painted in the colors of every major league team and spread out all over the city. This one was in front of Madison Square Garden. The Cincinnatti Reds one was in front of a Models store in 80s. I would have liked to see that one live and in person.

MLB is actioning them all off. So, if you have a few thousand dollars lying around (opening bid for each is $5,000), you can click here for details. Proceeds of the auction go to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of America.

As for the Fan-Fest itself, it was great. Being a VIP meant that we got special access to a private area in the middle of the exhibition space and also admission to the event itself.

The VIP passes were a great perk. It gave you access to free food, a simulcast of the Home Run Derby, and a chance for a one-on-one autograph session with former MLB greats.

Who? Well, Darryl Strawberry:

 

 

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Who was really nice. Also, Yankee Legend Bucky Dent:

 

 

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And Dave Winfield also came out at the same time. By the time I got through the lines for Bucky Dent and Darryl Strawberry, Dave Winfield's was closed. My one gripe about the whole thing that I wish they staggered the players more. Anyway, here is Dave signing away.

 

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They had about an hour before the next group of players came out, so my wife and I walked around for a bit.

The Fan-Fest is very family friendly. There are fun activities for kids and adults, You could have your image placed on a replica baseball card or the cover of the New York Post. You could go to a batting cage, have your pitches clocked for speed, or see how fast you could run the base paths.

There was also an auction house there auctioning off memorabilia. They had old baseball cards, jerseys, and pictures. A lot of stuff from Whitey Ford and Thurman Munson. Munson is one of my wife's favorite players, so we had to get a picture of Munson's MasterCharge card.

 

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It might be blurry, but I assure you it's his!

They also had a replica of the clubhouse from the All-Star Game, which, having seen the clubhouses on the actual pre-game, looks nothing like them.

 

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Here I am with former Red Josh Hamiltion's locker, at the moment he was at bat at the Home Run Derby.

 

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We then headed back to the VIP area, which was in the shape of the a baseball diamond. We got back there just in time to see Dave Winfield being interviewed by FOX's Chris Myers. Unfortunately, he had to compete with Josh Hamiltion's awesome performace on the screen behind him.

 

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Which was really unfair because Dave Winfield is a great speaker and was telling some great stories. But he didn't have it as bad as Wade Boggs, because he was being interviewed while the next autograph session began.

 

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I'm pretty sure he was waving at me, not the woman in front of me. Yeah, I'm almost positive.

This time around, we didn't learned from our earlier mistake and made sure we got all the stars. And I'm glad we did because there was Graig Nettles:

 

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Who had the best picture to have signed. And we got Mickey Rivers:

 

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He was a really nice guy. As a matter of fact, they all were. And, last but not least, there was Steve Sax:

 

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It was a blast to see all the player I grew up watching and be able to shake their hand. They said that Yogi Berra was signing somewhere in the building, but we didn't get to his autograph, which would have been nice.

We also got a chance to meet amd talk with Chris Myers, who was very personable and completely nice.

 

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We also visited the Fan-Fest store. We spent more money than we should have considering we are about to go on a two-week vacation, but it was cool stuff. Like T-shirts and hats to remember the day. They even had the All-Star Game program. That was cool.

The Baseball Hall of Fame also brought some of their exhibits there. I got to see Tom Seaver's Reds jersey next to Mike Schmidt's:

 

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As a Reds fan and a Schmitty fan, that was totally awesome. Here are some other pictures of jerseys throughout Baseball history:

 

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There was also a store dedicated to Minor League baseball, where you could buy hats from almost all of the Minor League Baseball teams. I picked up a Sarasota Reds hat.

I heartily recommend the Fan-Fest if it ever comes to your town. I think tickets were only $30 a piece, and you got a lot for your money. Especially if you are a baseball fan and want to pass the love on to your kids.

Baltimore, Day 2

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So, Jen and I went to Pittsburgh, and it rained. Our second day here in Baltimore. It rained. I think I should hire myself out. Having a drought? Invite Bill to your town! The rain will be coming a day after I get there.

Today was the day that we went to go Geppi's Museum. On the way out of our hotel, we encountered some viral marketing for a certain summer blockbuster...

 

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See! For all you people who thought Gotham City was supposed to be New York, you were wrong! Here, in the sign for our very hotel, a sticker proves that Gotham is actually Baltimore!

What can I say about the Geppi Museum? It was awesome. I be writing an article about it for Broken Frontier, so I'll be brief here.

First off, from a historical perspective, it was amazing, If something was played with from the 19th century to today, it is represented here. The room devoted to comics was huge!

 

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They had a representatitve of pretty much the entire history of comics, including pulps and little big books.

But it didn't stop there. They also had toys from the past century and a half, comic strips, movie posters and such. The hallway between exhibits had their walls filled with old posters and artwork.

 

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Seriously, you will want to take some of the exhibits home with you. And if you don't say "I had that when I was a kid" at least five times while walking through the museum, then you really had a crappy childhood.

 

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 The only problem is that there was this one guy there who was giving me the stink eye. We almost came to blows.

 

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You're lucky that my chick was there! And, by the way, nice tights!

The only other problem I might have had was that the gift shop was a little light on comics. It had a lot of toys and other doodads, but they had little or no floppies, and a selection of trades that you would find in a smaller bookstore. They did, for some reason, have a bunch of EC Archives, Disney comics and Overstreet Price Guides.

Whil we were in the museum, it had started to rain. We made the wet trek past Camden Yards (The Museum is right on the same block as the stadium) and went to Pickles Pub for some lunch. From there, we went to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.

 

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Since I am a generaql overall baseball fan, and more than just a little fond of The Babe, and my wife is a Yankee fan, we decided to give this museum a shot.

It was okay. It's a small museum, but it makes good use of its space. They pack a lot of information in there. Pretty much everything you ever wanted or need to know about Babe Ruth.

 

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 Jen and I had intended to visit the Edgar Allan Poe museum and gravesite, but by the time we got out of the Babe Ruth museum, it was pouring rain. We decided to go back to the hotel and got drenched. Maybe tomorrow.

Sad News: Phil Rizzuto R.I.P.

Yankees Legend Phil Rizzuto passed away today at age 89. You can read what the AP has to say about it here.

His baseball career ended long before I was born. But I knew him from his time as a commentator. Not that I was a rampant Yankee fan, but every so often, I stopped at WPIX to watch a game. What I remember was that Phil Rizzuto made the any game, even a blow out, interesting. His ability to talk about anything in the booth, including what he had for dinner the night before, was lovingly parodied by Billy Crystal, but that was what made hime unique.

Bill's Sports Round-Up

I like sports, but I don't often talk about it. But some news items caught my attention and I thought I'd share.

1. A-Rod's agent says he could get over $30 million a year, Yanks willing to negotiate during the season.: I'm a Reds fan, but the wife is a Yankee fan. So, I feel entitled to have an opinion on this. My advice to the Yanks? Let A-Rod go! Okay, he's having a good year this year, and the Yanks are way behind the Red Sox. Last year? When the Yanks were way ahead or way behind, bombs away. When the game was on the line? Choke city. Have the Yankees been to the World Series since he's been there? No. Has he ever brought a team to the Fall Classic? No. So, I say let him go. For that kind of money, you can get three or four more consistent players. Let some other team go into hock for his services.
2. David Beckham impending arrival in LA causes a buzz: "Finally, somebody who can bring professional soccer to the forefront of America!" Uh, no. He's being paid a gazillion dollars to come over and play for the LA team and people still won't watch soccer. I don't know why, but they just won't. They probably wouldn't even if the promised ample female nudity and free beer. Beckham just isn't going to change anything.
3. Bonds nears 756: This should be a historic event. I should reall be excited. But I'm not. Did he do steroids? He says he didn't. But early career Bonds=stickman, later career Bonds=Incredible Hulk. I find it hard to believe that came naturally. But if he did take performance enhancing drugs, he probably did it at a time when they were legal. But it's still, in my eyes, cheating.