I’ll admit it. I am a baseball junkie. I’m the worst kind of baseball junkie as I’m also an autograph junkie. Combine those two elements and all roads lead to Spring Training. The greatest six words combined in the English language for me are “Pitchers and catchers report to practice.”

I hadn’t been to Spring Training since before I got married and I had a lot of unsigned magazines and cards crying out to be signed. Luckily, I am blessed to have a very understanding wife who puts up with my autographing and baseball habits. So, when my wife and I decided that we would move from our home in Utah to the sunny climate of Florida to be closer to family, I think she knew that my natural instinct would lead me through a quick detour of Arizona for a few days of Spring Training.

Since I would be driving through Arizona during the last week of February, I wouldn’t get an opportunity to see any Spring Training games in the Cactus League. I’d have time when I arrive in Florida to catch a few games. Arizona was strictly an autographing venture. Hopefully with fewer crowds this would mean greater chances to get autographs from players that I really wanted for years, such as Edgar Martinez. I’ve been trying to get Edgar’s autograph for ten years and he was the one autograph I most desired to acquire.

So, what follows is my journal from my four-day weekend in Arizona.

February 23: I arrived into Phoenix about 6:15 am and met my best friend, Jeff, for breakfast. Jeff flew in from Los Angeles to meet me in Phoenix for this autographing venture. I was a bit tired when I pulled into the hotel parking lot with my moving truck and car carrier. The previous two days were extremely busy with me dropping my wife and son at the airport for their flight to Orlando, loading up the moving truck, having the truck break down on me in the middle of Utah, and then having to load all my belongings into a new moving truck. I had hoped that I would be in Phoenix to pick Jeff up at the airport the previous evening but that didn’t happen. I stopped off last night in Cameron, Arizona and I had to wake up at 2:45 to get on the road to meet Jeff in Phoenix. I told Jeff that I stayed in Cameron only out of homage to the Mariners’ centerfielder, Mike Cameron. There was a snowstorm just outside of Flagstaff and I started to worry that I might not make it to Phoenix in time. When I pulled into the Best Western, Jeff was outside preparing to go across the street for breakfast. Though I only spent $4 for breakfast at the Glendale Café, I still felt as though I was taken.

We arrived at the Mariners camp in Peoria about 7:30 pm. A few players had already arrived at the facility, even some two hours before practice. We did manage to get a few players to stop and sign on their way into the facility so it made arriving early worthwhile. John Olerud, Freddy Garcia, David Bell, Al Martin, Bret Boone and Brett Tomko all stopped to sign autographs. I also got Anthony Sanders to sign a card from the Victory Team USA set. Since I’m a big Olympics baseball fan, I decided to try and get everyone on the gold medal winning team to sign their respective cards and this was a good way to start out my trip. The Mariners facility isn’t very fan friendly. Many camps allow access to the players and coaches as they walk from practice field to practice field. The Mariners, unfortunately, have all the fields fenced off. We did manage to get Mike Cameron as he finished batting practice and Jeff was able to get Carlos Guillen to sign a few autographs as well. Knowing that the Mariners wouldn’t be easily accessible during practice, we decided to drive over to the other side of the Peoria complex and watch the Padres while they practiced.

We arrived on the Padres side just moments after they begin practicing. The great thing about the Padres camp is how open it is for the fans. The Padres go to different “stations” among the four main fields and batting cages and you can typically get a few players to stop and sign as they wander from station to station. Phil Nevin, Ben Davis, Mike Darr, Wascar Serrano, and Brian Tollberg all took time out of their practicing to sign a few autographs for us. By far, the best player to stop and sign was future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Tony was not overly friendly about signing but I’ve never really seen Tony completely personable. I had an old copy of Baseball Weekly that he signed for me.

After spending two hours with the Padres, we jetted back to the Mariners camp. As the Mariners left their practice fields, a few players decided to take the short way from the training field to the clubhouse by walking through the crowd. Stan Javier, Aaron Sele, Joel Pineiro, Mark McLemore, Chris Widger, and Ryan Franklin all stopped to sign a few autographs for us. It was especially great to get Franklin’s autograph and after congratulating him on his gold medal at the Olympics, he expressed how enjoyable that experience was.

The crowds dispersed and the only player left on the field was Jeff Nelson taking extra infield practice. Jeff graciously signed four cards for me (all Mariners cards, of course). You could tell he was glad to be back in a Mariners uniform as I had never seen him so personable in all the times I’ve asked for his signature.

We waited after practice near the player’s parking lot and a few players did stop to sign on their way out. Freddy Garcia, Jay Buhner, Norm Charlton, Chris Bosio, and Willie Bloomquist all stopped to sign for the small crowd. Brett Tomko stopped to sign again for us and even Lou Pinella stopped to sign for us.

Overall, it was a great day for autographs. I got 54 signatures in total and Jeff got 49 autographs.

Best signer of the day: Brett Tomko

Most “frame-worthy” autograph: the Tony Gwynn Baseball Weekly