Friday, February 7, 2014

Fan Fest Memorabilia Room Pickups - Game Used Baseballs

After our autograph signing at 11:20AM, Scott, Chris and I worked our way around the Baltimore Convention Center to check out the sights and sounds of 2014 Orioles Fan Fest.  We finally made our way to the memorabilia room, my favorite destination at Fan Fest, and found some cool stuff.

On the Spring Training jersey (for $50), I could have picked up a Dontrelle Willis jersey.  I held off, figuring I could land a jersey later on as the prices dropped.

I went in there hoping I could score a lineup card, but I was too late.  They were already gone.  So, I checked out the game used baseballs, instead. This year was the first year I was at Fan Fest with my smart phone, so I was able to check the game information on the baseballs.  I was able to pick up baseballs of some of my favorite players, while other folks standing there looked at me like I was crazy.  One of the three baseballs I got was for Chris as well.

In the lot shown above from our first visit to the memorabilia room, I got two Nate McLouth game used balls and a Nolan Reimold ball.  I could have sworn I picked up a Brian ROberts ball as well, but maybe I sat that one down by mistake.  Oh well, what I got was still cool.  Here is a little bit of info, as told by MLB Authenticators:

Ball 1. Cle @ Bal, June 26, 2013.  Batter - Nate McLouth; Pitcher Scott Kazmir.  Bottom of the 5th, Pitch in the dirt.

Ball 2: Cle @ Bal, June 27, 2013.  Batter - Nate McLouth; Pitcher Corey Kluber.  Bottom of the 2nd, foul ball.

And the third ball, which was a bit of a surprise:

Ball 3: Bos @ Bal, September 27, 2011.  Batter - Nolan Reimold; Pitcher - Erik Bedard, Bottom of the 3rd, pitch in the dirt.  According to baseball-reference.com, Nolan would go on to strike out looking in this at bat.  The Orioles would lose the game 8-7 and would fall to 68-93 on the season.

Of course, we all know that the next day, history would be made.  The most epic final day of a regular season was upon us, and Nolan Reimold would have a key role in that game.  Yeah, this ball came from the day before, but how much do you want to bet that he was wearing the batting gloves he gave me during the above at bat?  Pretty good chances, right?

I didn't even think about the date when I verified this ball.  I just thought it was cool that it was a pitch to Nolan and it had come from a former Oriole.  Funny thing was, though, Chris had found this ball on the floor, just under the table.  Kind of like we were meant to have it.  Pretty awesome, I think.

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