It was a really great weekend. Sure, the Padres didn’t do so great, but there was a lot of cool stuff that happened. Hang in there for this long entry, because there’s some pretty cool stuff ahead…

To start, I realized that I needed to make a poster for Trevor. When Jake Peavy won his CY Young award in 2007, I made this really cool poster commemorating that. I also made a poster when Chase Headley was finally called up to the majors last year. So, it made sense that I should make one for Trevor. I worked on this during the game on Saturday:

This is now hanging on my wall. Pretty cool, huh?

My brother’s second game of the season was Saturday afternoon. The boys played pretty well. They lost 5-4, but I thought they did a good job. I really should have brought my scorebook. I wanted to keep track of the game somehow, and the only logical thing to do was keep score of it. But all I had was a pencil and a little notepad. I had to invent my own way of keeping score of the game! It was really interesting because I’m so used to the convienence of a scorebook. Next time I’m definitely bringing my scorebook. That should help me keep better track of what’s going on. For example, I missed some of the scoring of the other team somehow, so at the end of the game I had that my brother’s team had won 4-3. But they had lost 5-4 instead. Hmm.. One of the highlights of the game was when a kid from the other team hit an inside-the-park home run. Even though it was the other team, it was pretty cool to see. The boys’ next game is Tuesday night. Hopefully it won’t get rained out!

Yesterday afternoon, my family went to a local park to practice baseball with my brothers. Unfortunately, there were adult softball games being played on both fields. We found a patch of grass and played some catch, but when we were done, my dad and I went to watch one of the games. It was really interesting. It was very casual, co-ed, just a bunch of people having fun playing softball. It was funny because a guy hit an inside-the-park home run! I mean, how many times do you see two inside-the-park home runs in the space of two days? But some of those players were really good. It looked like so much fun!

I’ve been thinking about the 2009 pocket schedules a little. I have a lot of them, like two from each of the last four years. So, I was wondering when I would find a display of them in a store or somewhere. Yesterday, my dad handed me one. I literally screamed! A guy from our church had found one somewhere and gave it to my dad to give to me. It’s a really cool schedule this year, with the 40th anniversary logo on the front.

And now, the best part of this entry! I think I mentioned that my friend and his family were going to the game in Peoria on Saturday. This family is one of my closest friends, so they definitely know all about my fandom and love of the Padres. They got to watch a terrible game, but they did have a lot of fun. They had some really great seats that were merely a few rows behind the Padres’ first base dugout. Once it was 10-5 Oakland, they left the game. I expected them to bring me something back, since I’m like a really big Padres fan and stuff, but I had no idea what they planned to bring me, and boy was it a shock. One of the things they brought back was this really cool Spring Training cap. I love it!

How cool is that?

My friend showed me a bunch of the pictures they had taken. They got a lot of really great pictures, and maybe I’ll post some once I get them. Anyway, he was telling me about the autographs they got while showing me the really up-close pictures of the players. I was really happy for them, and I remember thinking that I hoped they had brought the autographs so I could see them. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

Later in the day, my friend and his brother came up to me and my sister and presented us with these plastic Padres hats…autographed by seven players! I was so shocked. No way had I expected that they got the autographs for us! That helmet is probably worth a lot. It was signed by Brian Giles, Kevin Kouzmanoff (yay!), Cha Seung Baek, and David Eckstein. The other three…well, we have no idea who they are. I think they were minor league players. I might have been able to recognize them if I was there, but I don’t think my friend studied the rosters at all. I might be able to figure it out when I get the pictures, but for now we have three unknown autographers. If any of you can read Scribble, please let me know. 

I had a really hard time getting a good picture of the hat, because it reflects everything. The light, the flash, the surrounding area. So, these are the best I could do, but you’ll get the point. (A note: my friend was able to get the hats at a thrift store for a dollar. I’m telling you, there are some incredible deals at thrift stores!)

This one is really dark, but you can kind of see the autographs.

A sort of better picture 🙂

Brian Giles

Top to bottom: Cha Seung Baek (53) and David Eckstein

Two of the unknown autographs

KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZ!!!

So, that pretty much made my day. Sorry I wasn’t able to get that great pictures of it, but maybe I’ll try again later. Now we need to figure out how to display it…Thank you so much to my friends who gave this really cool stuff to me! 

What a weekend, huh? It was a really great one, full of fun and blessings. GO PADRES!!

(pictures: all mine)