A Few More Spring Training Autograph Tips

After posting my top 10 tips for spring Training, I thought of a few more things that might be helpful to know.

1. This is really supposed to be a big secret, but I’m telling you anyways: Go see the Yankees BEFORE position players report. Guys like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez usually report a little bit early and take batting practice on side fields during pitchers and catchers camp. The crowds are very small and the players are much more relaxed and willing to sign autographs.

2. The Tampa Bay Rays should be on your list of teams to go see and get autographs from. They have some of the premier young talent in baseball right now and in 3 to 5 years you’ll kick yourself if you don’t take the time to go see them before they all turn into superstars. Get a seat out in the right field grass and get autographs from pitchers in the bull pen (Scott Kazmir, David Price, Jason Shields, Matt Garza, Wade Davis, Jacob McGee just to name a few) and then after the 1st or 2nd inning go wait outside the stadium as starting position players start to trickle out. You might be one of 10 to 15 fans waiting for autographs and you can easily pick up an auto from Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, or anybody else that plays for the Rays.

3. If you have a girlfriend, wife, or young child with you, bribe them into getting autographs for you. My wife got probably twice as many autographs and pictures with players as I did simply because she’s a young, attractive woman. Ball players don’t care about grown men, but they’re very willing to sign for a cute kid or a nice looking female. I told my wife that for every 10 solid autographs she got I’d buy her something at the mall, and of course she had all the motivation she needed and even did some homework on which players had the most sought after autographs.

4 . Buy your baseballs before you go down to Florida. Once fans start showing up by the thousands it’s very difficult to find mass quantities of baseballs to take to games and practices. Also, if you’re not too shy to ask 9 or 10 times a day, you can get a nice stash of practice balls from players and coaches, and of course those are much cooler for autographs than balls you might buy from Wal-Mart. All you have to do is hang out along a fence during a bullpen session or while guys are throwing in the outfield and as they go to sit down just ask politely for a ball. I traded one bullpen coach a pudding snack for a ball and he seemed to think it was a great trade!

5. If you don’t plan on going down to Spring Training, you can still send in cards to each teams stadium and get autographs through the mail. It’s pretty easy to write a short note asking a player to kindly sign a card for you and then you just put a stamp on it and drop it in the mail. Here’s a list of addresses in case you need them:

Atlanta Braves
Cracker Jack Stadium (formerly Disney’s Wide World of Sports)
700 South Victory Way
Kissimmee, FL, 34747

Baltimore Orioles
Ft. Lauderdale Stadium
1301 NW 55th Street
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309

Boston Red Sox
City of Palms Park
2201 Edison Ave
Ft. Meyers, FL, 33901

Cincinnati Reds
Ed Smith Stadium
2700 12th Street
Sarasota, FL, 34237-3000

Cleveland Indians
Chain of Lakes Park
500 Cletus Allen Drive
Winterhaven, FL, 33880

Detroit Tigers
Joker Merchant Stadium
c/o Tiger Town
2301 Lakeland Hills Blvd
Lakeland, FL, 33804

Florida Marlins
Roger Dean Stadium
4751 Main Street
Jupiter, FL, 33458

Houston Astros
Osceola County Stadium
631 Heritage Park Way
Kissimmee, FL, 34744

Practices are held at
1000 Bill Beck Boulevard
Kissimmee, FL, 34744

Los Angeles Dodgers
Holman Stadium
P.O. Box 2887
or 4001 26th Street
Vero Beach, FL, 32961-2887

Minnesota Twins
Hammond Stadium
14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway
Ft. Meyers, FL. 33912

New York Mets
Traditions Field
St. Lucie County Sports Complex
525 N.W. Peacock Boulevard
Port St. Lucie, FL, 34986

New York Yankees
Legends Field
1 Steinbrenner Drive
Tampa, FL, 33614

Philadelphia Phillies
Bright House Networks Field
601 Old Coachman Rd,
Clearwater, FL, 33765

Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
McKechnie Field
17th Avenue West and Ninth Street West
Bradenton, FL, 34205

St. Louis Cardinals
Rodger Dean Stadium
4751 Main Street
Jupiter, FL, 33458

Tampa Bay Rays
Progress Energy Park
180 2nd Avenue SE
St. Petersburg, FL, 33701

Toronto Blue Jays
Practices at the Bobby Mattick Training Center
1700 Solon Ave
Dunedin, FL, 34698-4124

In March at Dunedin Stadium at Grant Field
311 Douglas Ave
Dunedin, FL, 34697

Washington Nationals
Space Coast Stadium
5800 Stadium Parkway
Melbourne, FL, 32940

CACTUS LEAGUE

Arizona Diamondbacks
Tucson Electric Park
2500 E. Ajo Way
Tucson, AZ, 85713

Chicago Cubs
HoHoKam Park
1235 North Center Street
Mesa, AZ, 85201

Chicago White Sox
Tucson Electric Park
2500 E. Ajo Way
Tucson, AZ, 85713

Colorado Rockies
Hi Corbett Field
3400 E. Camino Campestre
Tucson, AZ, 85716

Kansas City Royals
Surprise Stadium
15960 N. Bullard Ave
Surprise, AZ, 85374-8842

Los Angeles Angels
Temple Diablo Stadium
2200 West Alameda Drive
Tempe, AZ, 85282

Milwaukee Brewers
Maryvale Baseball Park
3600 N. 51st Ave.
Phoenix, AZ, 85031

Oakland Athletics
Phoenix Municipal Stadium
5999 East Van Buren Street
Phoenix, AZ, 85008

San Diego Padres
Peoria Stadium
16101 North 83rd Avenue
Peoria, AZ, 85382

Peoria Sports Complex (training)
1601 West Paradise Lane
Peoria, AZ, 85382

San Francisco Giants
Scottsdale Stadium
7408 E. Osborn Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ, 85251

Seattle Mariners
Peoria Stadium
16101 N. 83rd Ave
Peoria, AZ, 85382

Texas Rangers
Surprise Stadium
15850 North Bullard Ave
Surprise, AZ, 85374-8842