Saturday Signings at the Cardinals Museum

I mentioned in Monday's post that my son and I went to St. Louis on Saturday.  We hit up a card show first, but that was not the primary reason for our trip.  It was the last Saturday home game for the Cardinals.  For the last couple of years, the Cardinals Museum hosts a former player to sign autographs when there is a Saturday home game.  I have only attended one of these signings before.   Being a museum member, I was guaranteed to get an autograph.

Steve Kline is not the greatest Cardinals reliever ever, but he had a run of good years in the mid 2000s and is also a great character.  I also have never gotten his auto.  He was very talkative and cracking jokes with everyone.

The bigger draw for me was it was Fan Appreciation Day.  Before the Kline signing, museum members were treated to a small presentation about how the Cardinals stay in touch with their alumni and some stories about their community involvement.  We were served light snacks of popcorn, pretzels, cracker jacks, and chex mix to go along with tea and lemonade.  Not over the top by any means, but a nice touch.  The presentation was held in the Redbird Club, an area of the Museum I had never been to before.  After it was over, we lined up for the signing.

My son and I both received a free 8x10 from the 2014 Hall of Fame ceremony.  Another perk of being museum members.  There was a line of about 75 people in front of us for the Kline signing.  As it was slowly moving along, the Museum staff hosted a trivia contest with some nice prizes.  The multiple choice questions were pretty easy in my opinion.  Each person could win 2 prizes.  It was nice to have my son with me that day.

When they started the trivia, I was tempted just to stay in line so we could leave early, but then they brought out the prizes.  These 22x26 autographed corrugated signs hang outside the Museum the day of the signing.  Of course the Lankford one caught my eye.  I answered the first question correct and snagged this bad boy.  Not sure where it will hang, but I will find a good spot in my man  cave.

There were also 11x16 posters that were autographed.  This one will be a little easier to display.  I reached my 2 prize limit pretty quick, but my son still had 2 to go.  I helped him answer one and he picked out this poster:

I will never complain about getting a Hall of Fame autograph for free.  My son answered his second question on his own.  At that time, there were only 2 other prizes to choose from.  He did not pick the autographed copy of Rick Ankiel's book.  Instead he chose another poster:

Izzy was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame this year.  Another guy I did not have an autograph from.  After we finished trivia and got through the autograph line, we were able to choose another poster on our way out.  It was a blind draw.

McClellan is not a huge name and he does sign a lot in the St. Louis area, but once again I will not turn down a free autograph.  So we ended our day with 7 autographs in about 2 hours time.  We had a great time and I hope I can remember to hit this day up again next year.