Spring is in the air

The Baseball America Prospect handbook has arrived, the 18-wheelers are heading south loaded with bats and balls and jerseys and bubble gum, and this month the baseball world will celebrate its new year with those  famous four words, "pitchers and catchers report."

The autograph itch has been ever present over the winter, and to relieve that itch I decided to do something I haven't done in years. I sent out my first 16 TTM requests in over two years. I chose to send custom index cards to the top 16 members of Baseball America's early preseason top 100 draft eligible college players. So far I have had moderate success over the first 3 weeks of waiting for returns, going 5/16. Hands down the best return has been from the potential #1 overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft, Stanford ace Mark Appel.

Looking forward to 2012, I have a few plans and priorities set out. First off, I plan on visiting at the very least every Florida State League Stadium at least once. On top of that goal, there are a few AA stadiums in Florida I hope to visit if I get the chance, especially the stadium of the new Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

As for autographing, I will probably shy away from 8x10 pictures in favor of 4x6 post card style shots, something similar to what you see at most fan fests. I have a few designs I have been playing with and I am very excited about. There are two big benefits from making this switch. The obvious benefit is cost, I will be able to make almost ten 4x6 photos for the price of one 8x10. At that ratio I will be able to make an item for every player on a minor league teams roster for the cost of 8x10's of that teams top 3 or 4 players. The other benefit is not having to have a huge high quality photo to still make a quality item to get signed. Before, I had a hard time making quality 8x10 shots from game action photos just because I was generally too far away. Now I will be able to use somewhat smaller pictures and still be able to produce a high quality finished product.

Also, I hope to update this site a little bit more. I may review stadiums, add some more of my photography, anything relevant to post about. I obviously fell off after about May last summer after a very productive spring. This year it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Happy baseball everyone!