My Only Signed Ball: Steve Sax

As a Dodger fan, living in Fresno is tough. We are San Francisco Giants territory, and just about everyone in this town likes the Giants. Or they just jumped on the bandwagon in 2010. I like that better.

Fresno is home to the Giants AAA affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies. If that doesn't make it worse, I don't know what could. I don't get to drive down to LA for Dodger games that often, but I do get to make numerous trips a year to the downtown stadium of the Grizzlies. The stadium is pretty new, built in 2002, and seats 12,500. It is the only minor league park I've ever been to, and from photos looks to be one of the nicest ones around. It does have a pool in the outfield though, yuckkk! 

What is nice though, is that they do not read what they put up on their scoreboard. Last season my mom won a prize pack for a game at the stadium. Included were 4 game tickets, free food, a coupon book for the  store, and a free message on the scoreboard. They put up these messages during the 7th inning stretch, and most times the PA guy reads them out loud. I convinced my mom to let me pick out the scoreboard message. When the 7th inning came around, 99% of the stadium was booing when "Let's Go Dodgers! Giants Suck!" appeared on the scoreboard. The PA announcer caught what it said before he read it, but the message popping up on the scoreboard was good enough for me. I wish I took a picture. 

Not shown: The stupid pool

A few years back I went to a game with my Dad. We don't typically pay attention to the promotions they run because they usually hand out cheesy Giants gear. When we showed up to the game however, we were in for a treat. Steve Sax was in the concourse signing autographs. 

My dad went to the team store and came out with a Grizzlies baseball, which unfortunately was all they had. I walked up to Mr. Sax and had him sign the ball. The pictures were on my old computer before it crashed last year, so I don't have the picture we took together, but I do have the ball.

The Grizzlies logo takes away from the auto, but I was still happy to get the ball signed. If I would have known better then, I would have had him inscribe something. Next time I guess. The signature is a little faded, but it is the only autographed ball in my collection. When the budget increases in the future, and I have some more room to store my stuff, I'll be adding signed baseballs as often as possible.