Side By Side: Adam Wainwright

Bringing Side By Side back to keep things going until the season starts. Might as well start with Isaac’s favorite autograph from the 2011 Winter Warm Up. Here’s what we’ve got:
In person, on card:

2006 Topps Chrome Rookie Auto Sticker

2006 Topps Co-Signers Auto Sticker

2006 Upper Deck Special Something Or Other Auto Sticker

So what do you think? Wainwright definitely uses more room on the Relic card and the #50 inscription is nice too. The sticker autos, even though there is more room on them, seem rushed by comparison. They’re also eerily perfectly centered though!

Winter Warm Up 2011–Name Plates!

I bought these on the last day of Winter Warm Up. They are player name plates for lockers, batting helmet shelves, bat racks and other stuff. These were five for one dollar. I liked the Ankiel and got the others to make five.

Dad – The name plates are on my nook Color. Aside from the baseball card packs and Isaac’s Nintendo DSi, the nook color was a godsend as we waited through all of the lines.

Winter Warm Up 2011–Day 3

This is the first year we went to the Warm Up on Monday. It is only a half day but we still got some cool autographs. I’ve met Pat Perry before at the Cardinals baseball camp last summer. We paid for Allen Craig and the rest were freebies. The Shane Robinson matches last year’s card except this one is on a Target card. I also got my third Rookie of the Year. Eli Marrero was really nice and asked for a picture with me that might end up on the Cardinals website.





Dad – Eli was extremely nice, especially considering we were in the last group of the day and he had been signing for nearly two hours. Still, I’ll remember him most for helping to bring Wainwright to the Cardinals.

Winter Warm Up 2011–Day 2 (Afternoon)

We paid for the Adam Wainwright autograph and asked him to sign a jersey card we found over the Christmas break. It matches my Chris Carpenter jersey card autograph from last year’s warm up. I think it looks great! A guy in the Tom Henke line saw it and told me it was a nice card. I saw my friend in the Tom Henke line. His dad is a Blue Jays and Joe Carter fan. I was the last person in line for Hard Hittin’ Mark Whiten! The Matt Carpenter card is from a Springfield Cardinals team set my dad bought on Day 1. Too bad they didn’t’ have a team set for Memphis.

Winter Warm Up 2011– Day 2: Wally Moon

Forgot to include the Wally Moon auto’s in this morning’s post. He was at the Warm Up promoting his upcoming book. In addition to signing in the autograph room, he was also in the vendor room at his own booth signing cards depicting the book cover.

Winter Warm Up 2011–Day 2 (Morning)

The Shelby Miller line was really, really long. I got lucky and met someone who saved a spot for me at the front of the line. Bill Virdon and Wally Moon are my first Rookie of the Year autographs. I got three Adam Reifer autographs so I can give one to my friend who’s dad is going to Afghanistan next month. Hopefully Zack Cox ends up better than Brett Wallace – his line was long too.




Dad – I highly recommend that folks going to next year’s Winter Warm Up to book the package through the Hyatt and not through the Cardinals. Guests who book rooms and passes through the hotel have priority access each morning which means no waiting in the miles long line just to get into the Warm Up (or even inside the building). Guests have assigned line spots on the second floor and are allowed upstairs to the autograph areas before general admission. For us, that meant getting in and out of one autograph line and into a second before most fans ever make it into their first.

Winter Warm Up 2011–Day 1 (The Packs)

During our morning break we went to the vendor room and bought some cards for autographs and 8 packs to open while waiting in line. I got some Cardinals and lots of cool cards. Here are the cool cards.

Winter Warm Up 2011–Day 1 (Afternoon)

We had a break in the morning and bought 8 packs of cards. I got lots of good stuff! I think I passed my mom as the best pack opener in the family. More on the packs later. These were all free autographs. The Danny Cox cards are minis.



Dad – During the morning break, we headed to the vendors to pick up cards for Jason Simontacchi. Isaac picked a fancy X-fractor numbered to 150 and a Fleer throwback-like card. Simontacchi signed the X-fractor but would not sign the Fleer. He was very gracious and apologetic when explaining why. Here’s the story:
Simontacchi had a close friend and neighbor who takes care of his baseball card, memorabilia, and appearance arrangements. This friend stood by him even as his minor league career looked like it would not end with a stop in the majors. When he finally made it to the majors as a 28 year old rookie, he eventually autographed the Fleer Tradition card for his friend and, as a token of his friendship and loyalty, vowed never to sign that card for anyone else, regardless of circumstance. A promise he keeps to this day. Great story eh?