Missing the Warm Up

Well Covid managed to cancel another baseball activity for me.  I am not talking about me being in quarantine until Monday.  I am feeling fine by the way, no ill effects so far.  I am referring to the cancellation of the Cardinals Winter Warm Up (WWU).  Like most other teams, the Cardinals cancelled their team fan fest a few months ago.  I do not blame them at all, as it would not be wise to pack thousands of people into a hotel right now.  

I guess it is not entirely cancelled, as their is a virtual event going on this weekend that I chose not to participate in.  The Cardinals have various online auctions to bid on autographed merchandise, but for me the thrill is meeting the player in person.  They also have hosted several zoom meeting with players that fans could buy for a donation, but the players have zero interaction with the fans so I skipped that part also.  The only thing I did was watch a few videos of talks by team personnel about the minor leagues and last year's draft.  

I have been to the previous 10 WWUs.  I have spent some of my quarantine time looking through the last 5 years of them thanks to my blog archive.  There have been a ton of great autographs, bobbleheads, and some baseball cards throughout the years.  Here are some of my favorites.

Yadier Molina signed this 2006 World Series commemorative ball in 2016.  At $125, it is the most I have ever spent on an autograph.  

Adam Wainwright signed this baseball in 2017.  It did not have a ticket for him that year, but Matt Carpenter's flight was cancelled due to weather, so I exchanged his ticket for a Waino.  The inscription is 06,11 World Champs.  I believe this auto was $75.

Jack Flaherty signed this Futures Game ball in 2018.  At $10 each, I bought 4 of his autographs that year.  I am pretty sure I cannot get 1 for that price now.

This 2011 World Series ball was signed by Cardinals owner Bill Dewitt and team president Bill Dewitt the third in 2018.  Former GM and now team president John Mozeliak signed it in 2019.  All of these autos were free.  

Paul DeJong signed this All Star baseball last year.  I paid $45 for this auto.  You may wonder if the players sign anything else other than baseballs.  The answer is yes.  They will sign almost anything including cards, photos, bats, and even body parts.  A few years ago I watched a lady pay $150 for Molina to sign her foot.  I chose to show baseballs because I spent time this week taking pictures of all my autographed baseballs for insurance purposes.

I will leave you with a picture from my first WWU in 2010.  This was the first time I had ever met Ray Lanford.

  Excuse the really bad selfie.  34 year old me was a little excited to finally meet my favorite player.