Pirate City 2-18-11

Had a decent day at Pirate city. They were wearing some crazy yellow uniforms, pretty cool though and I wish I had brought the camera to snap a few shots.

I did fairly well inside, as within 15 minutes of my late arrival I had my 1978 Clint Hurdle Sports Illustrated signed as well as my McCutchen 8x10.

The SI is a little rough but hell it's 11 years older than me and it was a 99 cent ebay pickup. Clint sure doesn't look like he used to... As for McCutchen, in my opinion he is one of the best signers in baseball. I've never had a problem getting him to sign, and he knocked out 6 for the kid in front of me this day.

It got kind of stagnant for a while, I got a few guys as they took water breaks if I was the only one around. Then it was sort of a mad dash to the clubhouse after the position players were done practicing. (nearly 100% had reported, and apparently they had physicals) I did manage probably 5 or 6 guys in this scramble though. After that, since the pitchers had long since wrapped it up for the day, I was on my way to the parking lot.

Met a few nice people out there, and had some good success. Just about everyone stopped, Paul Maholm was the only person out of the three or so who didn't stop that any of us had even recognized. On to the scans...

Wrapped up my time at Pirate City by getting Jameson Taillon as he walked out of the parking lot, he is there with a group of about 10 minor league guys who were practicing on the field closest to the clubhouse.

I left Bradenton at 2:45 with aspirations of making it to Al Lang field by 3:30 for Ryan Wright on the Louisville squad, and then from there Dunedin Stadium for both of UConns potential top ten picks.