No donut holes here

Who says you have to go to the team hotel or ballpark to score an autograph? I don't.

Take a look at the poster and replica Devils Rays batting helmet that Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura signed for Colin during a fan session at a Dunkin' Donuts in Pasadena, Fla., on Saturday.

Not only did the fan-friendly Iwamura sign this poster, but he also signed this official MLB baseball. It's pretty neat when one of the team's star players makes a public appearance and signs hundreds of autographs for free. That, to me, is community outreach.

Distance doesn't matter, I guess

Here we are, exactly 1,398 miles away from Fenway Park, but that distance doesn't keep us from adding to our autographed baseball memorabilia.

Boston's David Ortiz signed this Dominican Republic replica jersey from last year's World Baseball Classic for Colin. That's Big Papi's signature on the number 4.

As an added bonus, Ortiz also signed a base similar to the McFarlane sculpture shown at left. That, too, belongs to Colin. I'll tell you what. Colin is pretty darn fortunate to have such friends in the right places.

Rumor has it, too, that there will soon be a gathering of members of the Red Sox's 1967 Impossible Dream team. I wonder what will come of that. Nothing, probably.

Hanging out, by the dugout

We may not have scored the most autographs we'll ever get in a day, but Saturday night's trip to Tropicana Field marked a first in our hounding adventures. Rather than stand along the edge of the field, in the hopes of calling over one of the Rays young stars, we hung out at the edge of the dugout.

First off, let's just say it's pretty cool being that close to the action. You can hear the players talk among themselves. You get a very different perspective, too, watching balls splay all over the field during batting practice. If you pay close attention, you'll even see the team owner soaking up the atmosphere.

It's like you're a small part of the game.

The best part, at least as far as hounding is concerned, is being, in essence, in the front row. You're more apt to score a few autographs there, rather than reaching from three rows deep. And, as we soon came to realize during the pregame festivities, it's a highly sought-after piece of real estate -- everybody wants to stand there.

As far as sheer production from our coveted perch, I'm certain we'll have better days. But what we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality when Tampa Bay's Delmon Young, part of the Rays core of young talent, obliged our request to add to Colin's team ball. For the record, it now has eight signatures.

We even helped one young fan get her baseball bat signed by Young, acting as the proverbial middlemen in the exchange of lumber and silver Sharpie. Unfortunately, her excitement at getting his autograph, matched only by her father's exuberance, kept her from thanking Young, or us, for our gestures.

As for hounding the Indians, another Sunday morning spent sleeping in and having some homemade sausage gravy and buttermilk biscuits proved too tempting of an offer to refuse.

Winding down

With just a week before Colin heads back to school, we're planning on ending his vacation this weekend hounding the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. Chances are we'll go to either Saturday or Sunday against the Indians, but pass on the Red Sox for now. They'll be back later, on a weekend.

We're going to work a Cleveland team ball, trying to snag a few at the hotel and the game. Besides Trot Nixon, we'll look for Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and, really, anyone else we might recognize. The same goes for the Red Sox. The team stayed at the Don Cesar on St. Pete Beach, rather than the customary Vinoy, during its last trip to play the Rays.

I'll be honest. I'm much more comfortable doing hockey than baseball. I don't mind doing the homework. And it has nothing to do with the player, either. It's just too blasted hot and humid to spend a couple hours in the heat and sun.

We do need to make a couple more trips out for the Rays. We came across a McFarlane of Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, so that's something that meeds to get signed before season's end. Colin still needs a few more players, notably Carl Crawford, Akinori Iwamura, James Shields, Delmon Young and Kazmir for a pretty solid team ball.

It'll still be warm in September, when the Lightning opens camp, but it won't be too awfully long before we're back in the 70s. Hounding in T-shirts and shorts. That's one of the reasons I moved here.

Old school

Rather than wake up early, wolf down some breakfast and stand out in the sweltering sun for a couple of hours, we took an old-fashioned approach to getting autographs this past weekend -- we stood near the dugouts.

With Colin and I working the Rays side, and Lisa using her Cal Ripken jersey to its full advantage along the Orioles side, not only did we add to the Rays team ball, but we also scored a pretty solid two-player ball.

Colin was able to get Rays pitchers Gary Glover and Jason Hammel to sign his baseball, raising the total to six. It was Lisa, though, who snagged Baltimore's Miguel Tejada, top, and Kevin Millar on the baseball shown above.

We learned, too, to stick around, right up until game time. By heading back to our seats early, we missed out on others from both teams.

With the Rays heading to Detroit after the game, we didn't bother working the team's parking lot. Cleveland and Boston are coming back in a couple weeks.

Some's better than none

Okay, so we didn't load up on baseball autographs over the weekend. That doesn't mean, though, that we got shut out.

With the Boston Red Sox in town, and staying at the Don Cesar on St. Pete Beach rather than the usual Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, opportunities were available. But given the weather (hot, muggy and thunderstorms) and the fact we slept in Sunday morning, our productivity wasn't as good as I had hoped.

That's why I jumped at the opportunity to snag Red Sox legend Rico Petrocelli, who was signing before Sunday's Red Sox-Devil Rays game, for the first signature on a Red Sox batting helmet. As expected, he was gracious and personable. The signature, too, was letter-perfect, well worth the $10 donation to the Jimmy Fund.

Following the game, in which the Rays won 5-2, we also scored a couple autographs from Tampa Bay players, most notably B.J. Upton, on a baseball. Unfortunately, Rays stars (yes, they do have a few) Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir and Delmon Young declined to sign for us.

The biggest reason for their denials, I suppose, was that we committed a cardinal sin of hounding -- we were wearing Red Sox jerseys. I try not to wear team-specific gear when hounding, but yesterday was a spur-of-the-moment session.

Again, I'll chalk it up to experience.

Looking ahead, the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles will be in town this week. Colin and I would head out for the Jays this afternoon, but I've got to work some overtime tonight. Maybe I'll head out some time this week for the Jays. As for the Orioles, Sunday morning, provided we don't sleep in again, looks pretty good right now.

P.S. I added a photo of the ball that San Diego's Trevor Hoffman signed to Colin.

P.S.S. Checking out the Rays Web site, I thought this was a pretty cool offer. It's too bad, though, that we already have something similar.

I didn't lie, really

I had every intention of getting up early Sunday morning and hounding the New York Yankees before their series-ending win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

But, between the best night of sleep in weeks and the smell of home fries and bacon, I called an audible and stayed in. C'mon, what would you do? Freshly made breakfast or trading hairy eyeballs with security?

I did stop by the team hotel late Saturday afternoon and even saw Johnny Damon. He had a St. Petersburg policeman and two security folks walking with him, discouraging me from even asking.

Besides, the Yankees come back in September. As a Red Sox fan, I kinda hope they're miserable.

As for the Angels, I doubt I'll get Vladimir Guerrero. From what I hear, he hasn't signed since his low-minor days. If I see him, I'll ask (unless, of course, he's surrounded by security). The worst he'll do is shoot me the bird. At the least, I can try to put together a team ball.

Touching base

Between getting my butt kicked by diabetes and Florida's twin 90s (90-plus degrees and 90 percent humidity), I've taken quite a bit of time off lately from hounding baseball teams.

Now that I'm feeling better, and the hapless Rays will kick off the second half of the season with a homestand with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels, perhaps I'll dust off some baseballs and cards and see who I can get.

I'm not putting much hope into getting any Yankees. Not only will they draw a crowd at the team hotel, but the locals tell me they're one of the toughest teams to hound. Either way, I'll try to stop by at least once. Maybe Colin will prove to be a good-luck charm.

As for the Angels, I can only hope to get Vladimir Guerrero, Gary Matthews, Orlando Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, John Lackey and Francisco Rodriguez on single-signature baseballs. I suppose that might be asking a bit too much, though.

Later in the month, though, I'm really looking forward to the Red Sox coming to town. Granted, they'll probably be just as tough as the Yankees, but they're certainly worth (to me, at least) the extra effort.

Practicing what I preach

After spending the past season being a human facebook for most every NHL team that traveled to Tampa, trying my hand at hounding baseball players this year has been a humbling experience.

Sure, I'll recognize the big-name or the veteran players. Beyond that, though, I'm as clueless as they come.

Rather than ask other collectors or dealers, I'm going to follow my own advice. I'll take the time to do my homework. I'll check out rosters and stats, just to make sure I'm up to speed. I'll also memorize faces so I can easily point out who's who. Simply, I'll just do what I've done for years as a hockey hound.

And, as I've said before, I plan some pretty hard-core cherry-picking when teams come to St. Petersburg. In fact, I'll practice these principles over the next week as the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Rays.

For the Dodgers, in town Friday through Sunday, I'm hoping my biggest score will be, believe it or not, announcer Vin Scully. And if Fernando Valenzuela makes the trip, I'll be certain to ask him, too. Among the players, I'll be looking for Nomar Garciaparra, Luis Gonzalez, Jeff Kent and Derek Lowe.

Consolation prize

As much as I really wanted to get San Diego's Greg Maddux on a baseball, I had to settle, if you will, for MLB's all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman. Catching Hoffman, a future Hall of Famer with 500-plus career saves, as he boarded the team bus before a matinee fly-away last week, he asked to personalize the ball. No problem. Colin's collection only improved.

If I'm lucky ...

... and I'm able to dodge the raindrops, withstand the humidity and get the timing down right, I just might get San Diego's Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman to sign baseballs for us this week.

In my opinion, both are future Hall of Famers and certainly worthy of adding to the collection.

In fact, we may even take a ride down to the team's hotel this evening and see who we can see.

Tough to take

As hard as I try to support my new hometown team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, last night's ninth-inning collapse, giving the Toronto Blue Jays a walk-off 12-11 victory, certainly has me rethinking this newfound allegiance.

Granted, I don't expect the Rays to win most games. As a fan, though, I would expect them to hold a five-run league for a rookie pitcher (Andy Sonnanstine) making his Major League Baseball debut.

It's truly a disappointing day to be a Rays fan.

Yeah, I'm a slacker

I know it's been two weeks, but I haven't made a trip out for autographs in that timeframe. It seems like every time I make plans, something comes up (and, at times, it's been the lack of gumption) and keeps me from heading out to the Vinoy.

How bad is it? I haven't even hounded the Rays yet.

In other instances, such as this weekend with Kansas City, it's the team that's in town. Other than manager Buddy Bell and color analyst Paul Splittorff, there's very little after that. Sadly, even those two failed to motivate me.

Now, when San Diego comes in later this month, I might find the energy to hound Padres pitchers Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman.

Going forward, I promise to make more of an effort.

Hard to resist

In what I believe to be one of the best deals in all of professional sports, we took advantage of another of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Family Fun Day yesterday at Tropicana Field.

For $15 a ticket, we got to witness a disappointing 3-2 loss to crosstate rivals, the Florida Marlins, as well as each get a hot dog, soft drink and a bag of Cracker Jacks.

For Colin, however, the day was even better. The promotional giveaway yesterday was a Nokona TN1050 baseball glove (shown above). Though he's happy with his T-ball glove for now, I know this will be put to good use. A little research shows a suggested retail price of $40. That's a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

Granted, the team is racing headfirst toward yet another 100-loss season. But, with the team offering ticket packages like that, as well as pretty cool giveaways, I'm sure we'll get used to the team's less-than-victorious ways.

As an added bonus, we bumped into some of our hockey friends, Kathy and Kris, at the game. We would see them often before and at Lightning games, but I never had a chance to thank them for their generosity toward Colin this past season.

As for hounding, we took a pass for the Marlins. Other than pitcher Dontrelle Willis and, perhaps, Miguel Cabrera, there's very few players -- past or present -- that I'd want on a baseball. And we didn't hound the Rays either.

Now that Colin's on summer vacation, though, we will likely start ramping up our baseball hounding efforts. In fact, we might take a trip to the visiting team hotel later today. Seattle, and Ichiro, are in town. The Tigers, the defending American League champions, come to town next Monday.

Road trip

A quick business trip will keep me from adding an installment tomorrow. Given that the Rays are on a road trip, there's very little to write about.

One bit of news, though: We'll be watching the Florida Marlins play the Rays next Sunday. Maybe we'll make our first trip for the Rays and get in a little postgame hounding. We may even go Saturday night, too, with a crew from the paper.

Minnesota Twins

If I thought that making the transition to baseball from hockey would be easy, I'd be lying to myself. Though the process of obtaining an autograph doesn't change, the two sports are worlds apart.

The biggest hurdle, I realized, was not following my own advice. If I'd had the time to do more homework, as in doing a better job of memorizing faces, I'd probably have had better luck. I failed to do that for my one trip for the Twins. It was a lesson learned.

Transportation choices are different, too. Very few hockey players take a hotel courtesy van or a cab to the rink. Some walk, depending upon the hotel's location, but most take a team bus. Any way, though, the access to hockey players is pretty easy.

All of the Twins, or at least the ones I saw, took the hotel van. I did get close enough to Torii Hunter to ask for an autograph, and he looked like he was willing to sign, but the "friendly" van driver closed the door. Requests to Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer went unacknowledged.

Timing is another issue. Where hockey teams need to arrive two hours before game time, baseball players apparently arrive four hours before the first pitch. Though my work schedule helped out with trying to hound the Twins' players, it kept me from getting Twins broadcasters Bert Blyleven and Jack Morris. Apparently, the media types follow the two-hour rule.

Bottom line, hounding the Twins was nothing but a learning experience. And, in all honestly, there's nothing wrong with that.

A good example

Though this image has been shown and the story was told at Hound Central 2.0, this successful hounding adventure, in which Colin got Cleveland's Trot Nixon, his favorite baseball player, to sign his Red Sox jersey, will serve as what visitors will come to expect when visiting Baseball Mondays.

For the most part, you can expect to read about the interaction with a player, funny anecdotes and a get pretty decent look at a top-shelf autograph.

Greetings

Just a quick hello to welcome you to my summer hobby. From early September to early April, my primary focus in hounding autographs is hockey. To date, the collection stands at 1,275 pucks. It'll grow, too, with each season.

In my downtime, roughly defined from whenever the Tampa Bay Lightning are bounced from the NHL playoffs through the opening week of training camp in September, I'll keep my hounding skills sharp by cherry-picking certain players -- current and retired -- as their teams visit St. Petersburg to play the Tampa Bay Devils Rays.

Going forward, you can expect postings detailing successes and failures, funny moments and the occasional musings about life and sports.

Unlike my primary hockey blog, Hound Central 2.0, Baseball Mondays won't have daily briefings. In fact, the hope is to limit publications to, yes, you guessed it, Mondays. I will say, though, that the first entry will likely focus on the Minnesota Twins. Besides players like Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer and Johan Santana, the team's announcers include former big leaguers Bert Blyleven, Dan Gladden and Jack Morris.

Check back next Monday. You'll see how I did.