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skipcareyisfat
02-04-2006, 08:03 PM
Today the Braves hosted thier on/off again "annual" winter fan fest at Turner Field. You never know what to expect with these things. They didn't have it last year. But, two years ago the team sold game issued jerseys for $60. That included everybody on the team. It was an amazing chance to grab some incredible jerseys at next to nothing. None of them showed use - and they were being sold as issued only - but from what I saw, all of them had the standard tagging and NOBs. In that respect, will all of them a wash or two away from becoming "used," it sucks to be a Braves collector right now.

This year, the only game used items were a home Eddie Perez jersey and Horatio Ramirez jersey that were up for silent auction. Neither had bids when we left at noon. Autographs were $20 and included everyone. The lines were so long though, it's hard to believe that anyone got more than one or two sigs today. Plus, everything was in the outdoor aisles and it was not a warm day. Aside from waiting in long lines to see the bullpen, catch a ball in the outfield, toss a sandbag onto a plank of wood, and throw two balls in front of a radar gun, there were no other activities. Most of the bathrooms were also locked, despite the fact there were thousands of people there.

Interesting thing about the Braves. They truly don't seem to put a lot of thought into these things each year. They have an indoor souvenior store near the front gates. Today would've been an easy way to make a ton of money selling shirts, hats, plastic balls, little bats and other junk, but that place was 3/4 empty. There was next to nothing there. Oh, they did have a wall full of g/u warmp jerseys, although I didn't even know who most of players were. Apparently somebody named KJAEUIPGDIUASDI once played for them. Bottom line, NEVER make a trip to Atlanta for the Braves fan fest. I drove 15 miles to get there and I felt duped. Anyone else make it there today?

Jason

Cole
02-08-2006, 03:31 PM
Braves fan fest is definitely not for the faint of heart. My brother and I had been to one a few years ago and knew what to expect. We got up at 3:30 and made it there around 8:30. We scored two Chippers, two Hudsons, three Smoltz, two Pendeltons, and an Andruw Jones. Not bad for $40. What made little sense to me is why you have Chipper, Andruw, Hudson, Pendelton and Franceour signing at the same time. Seem to make more sense to split those guys up somehow. Of course, the demand for Chipper and Franceour allowed us to score Andruw and Hudson.

Kudos to Tim Hudson. I bet he signed between 700 - 800 autographs. I had #500 (limit for most guys) and there were at least 200 more people behind me. He signed until the line was empty.

The other fan fest we attended did have tables set up with balls, bats, etc. They opened up the entire Lexus level with all of the restaurants and team stores. Would have been nice Saturday because it was definitely cold. Of course, they did not charge $20 for the right to get autographs.

suave1477
02-08-2006, 03:50 PM
HEY DONT COMAPLAIN, WE USED TO HAVE A YANKEES FAN FEST UP UNTIL 1996 AND THEY WONT DO THEM ANYMORE. When 1996 came and we won a world serie we had a fan fest and they actually expected for hardly anyone to show up BOY WERE THEY WRONG, so it was held in a small area in the jacob javits center which held 5000 people ONE PROBLEM THOUGH!!!! 10,000 SHOWED UP. As you can imagine it got a bit chaotic and ever since then they will not have another one.

Mind you if you wanted to Derek Jeter's Autograph it was free and easy, he had hardly anyone on line because he wasnt that big yet to where anyone would know he would have HOF potential / TRY GETTING HIS AUTOGRAPH NOW ON A BAT - CAN ANYONE SAY $500.00

Kid4hof03
02-08-2006, 07:22 PM
Sorry to hijack the thread, but it sure felt like a lot more than 10,000 people at the 96 (actually held in 1997, January or Feb. can't remember) Yankees fanfest. It was brutal. The years before there were nice deals to be had in the silent auction, not that year, but they were selling a lot of World Series stuff so it had to be expected.

Jason, you must have been very lucky in finding Jeter easy to get an autograph from. The doors opened at 12:00 that day, my wife and I got in line at 8:00, Jeter was "sold out" by the time we made it into the building. Rumor has it that that crowd was so tough and so much more than expected that it's the reason Jeter stopped doing public signings.

Abe

suave1477
02-08-2006, 09:26 PM
Abe I begged to differ on why Jeter doesnt do public signings anymore. I will tell you why he has some new friends and they are called SteinerSports. That is there number #1 seller and they plan to keep it that way. So they bought from Jeter the exclusive right to his autograph and they want to make sure it stays as valuble as possible. So they figure they keep Jeter doing private signings so there is no way possible you can get a free one and he is a really nice guy and would give out some free ones. You do the math they charge $500 on every bat imaing how much they would lose if he was doing a free autgrah here and there. Doesnt sound like much but add it up over a year and were talking $$$$$$$$ So they do it private so this way you have no choice but to go through them. Let me tell you something i was at there wearhouse and 1 word describes it "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW"

Kid4hof03
02-08-2006, 10:10 PM
Jason,
No offense, but Jeter stopped signing in public long before Steiner became so big. Steiner is huge now and I have no problem with them at all, more power to them, but it wasn't that long ago that you could still get all these guys to sign at shows for a fraction of today's cost. I still have about 15 autographed items that I got from Bernie in 1997 at a hotel show on Long Island, $25 for photos, $50 for bats and jerseys. I remember complaining about those prices! I know your selling some Steiner stuff and I hope you do very well with it, but Steiner has been the Yankees outlet for about a year, this stuff existed a long time before they got it into their hands. Truth is, the stuff will exist long after they are done.

Abe

suave1477
02-08-2006, 11:17 PM
Abe no offense taken even though i am selling Steiner items and thats why i am selling them for a fraction of the cost, bu what you do not realize is Jeter became exclusive to Steiner at somepoint in 97 / Steiner has gained full control in 2005 to the game used items but he has always had his hands involved, Bernie is not exclusive to him, Jeter and Posada are and a few others.

kylehess10
02-17-2006, 02:54 AM
I went to the Braves fanfest too. Your right, the lines were horrible. That's why I got there an hour and a half before the gates open. I was able to meet Chipper Jones,Terry Pendleton,Rod Gilbreath,Brian McCann,Skip Carey,Horacio Ramirez,Red Moore,and Edgar Renteria. I also saw those game worn BP jerseys. I think the player you mentioned named KJAEUIPGDIUASDI was probably Tim Spooneybarger,lol. The only decent jersey there was Otis Nixon. Did you get any autographs there?