So this is a ticket stub from last night's game that I got signed by Columbus Clippers shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor, was the 8th selection in the 2011 draft, and won't turn 21 until November 24th.
Why I wanted to post this... Two things...
Unprepared for this
Lindor was the only one signing and he was working his way to the dugout of about 10 fans after warming up minutes before first pitch. He got to me, maybe the 4th person and I had an index card. He looked at me and said "I can't sign that, I can't sign on white." I've heard of some agents advising their clients/athletes not to sign index cards because of the risk of fraud (I previously wrote about that
here).
While I know it's not his fault, he's been advised by his agent so he's listening to what he's told, I was caught off guard and a little unprepared as I had nothing else for him to sign at the moment. Luckily our seats were in the second row so I didn't have far to run, but I had to think quick what else I had.
Making it right
I picked up my sons hat off his head. Nope navy blue, even under the bill was navy blue, that won't work. Light bulb goes off. Ticket Stub! "You have our ticket stubs?" I asked my wife and mom. My mom hands me a ticket. Lindor was somewhat paying attention to me and with him finishing up the 10th person, he came back to me and signed my ticket stub for me (above).
So while I was a little bit flustered he wouldn't sign my index card for me, I wanted to give him props for coming back and making sure he signed an item that I found that he could sign (per his agent).
Glad to add his signature because I think he's the Indians shortstop next opening day and I expect him to get called up on September 1st.
Later in the game with the Mud Hens threatening, Lindor made a hell of a play in the field to end the inning and my son got thrown the ball so that was pretty cool as well.
Here's a recent article on Francisco Lindor from MLB.com:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/cle/...&vkey=news_cle