Mine and Maven's 2012 Texas Rangers team autograph projects, FINALLY got Nelson Cruz today :)

thenavarro

Although the Rangers were beaten by two touchdowns tonight, Maven and I had our usual good time at the game. She wanted to go early and get autographs and eat at the Cuervo Club (a restaurant in the stadium) so we were there when the gates opened at 4:30. Maven's project is a hat that was previously signed by Nellie Cruz for her, and mine is a very large, leather baseball glove. We both want to get our stuff signed by the whole team this year. Maven got seven autographs tonight for her hat, and I was able to add 5 autographs tonight to my large glove. We both were able to get Darvish tonight. The hitters weren't out for batting practice as they decided to take the day off, or we would have really gotten a bunch. Ichiro signed today too, but he's on the wrong team so we didn't bother with him


Here's Maven with her hat and my glove:



Here's her graphs:



Here's my graphs:

Gary Pettis (coach)



David Murphy, Colby Lewis, Brandon Snyder, Ron Washington (Manager)



Koji Uehara, Mark Lowe



Yu Darvish



Joe Nathan, Alberto Gonzalez, Mike Adams



Yoshi Tateyama, Scott Coolbaugh (coach)

matthewbschultz83

Good job getting Yu. I have yet to get him yet. Need Josh, AB, and Nellie to finish a piece. Crossing my fingers I can nab them at the Season Ticket Picnic. How late did you guys stay? The girlfriend and I actually stuck it out for all 9.

thenavarro

Matt

Josh has signed twice at the tunnel in the last few games and Beltre signed at the tunnel a game last home stand, but it's just too hot right now to subject my daughter to 4 hours of tunnel waiting. We left pretty early tonight when it was 16 to 0 as I don't mind seeing them get beat, but I despise when multi millionaires play so incompetently like they were doing. Yeah, the picnic should help a great deal on knocking off a lot of the tough ones

Mike

miconelegacy

Congrats Mike, nice to see Darvish signing.

Cool pieces you both have there, that glove is huge!

thenavarro

Thanks Mike,

Yeah, the glove is big. When I take it up there, I always take it back out to my car before the game starts so I don't have to lug it around all night and spill nacho cheese on it!

Mike

Ironmanfan

<< <i>Thanks Mike,

Yeah, the glove is big. When I take it up there, I always take it back out to my car before the game starts so I don't have to lug it around all night and spill nacho cheese on it!

Mike >>



You're fortunate in that you can do that in Arlington. Some stadiums (Camden Yards included) will not let you leave once you've entered (unless you have another ticket to get you back in).

IMF

Dboneesq

<< <i>I always take it back out to my car before the game starts.
Some stadiums (Camden Yards included) will not let you leave once you've entered (unless you have another ticket to get you back in). IMF >>



Welcome to NEW YORK. I think EVERY stadium around here will not let you back in unless you have another ticket.

PS. Mike ... when I saw the score of last night's game at the end of 3 innings, I was going to start a thread saying I hope Mike and Maven were NOT at the game ... oh well .. at least you got to see a lot of scoring! Glad the two of you were able to add to your hat and glove.

PPS. I'd ask DPECK if that glove would have fit Andre the Giant ... man, that guy had HUGE mitts!

matthewbschultz83

<< <i>Matt

Josh has signed twice at the tunnel in the last few games and Beltre signed at the tunnel a game last home stand, but it's just too hot right now to subject my daughter to 4 hours of tunnel waiting. We left pretty early tonight when it was 16 to 0 as I don't mind seeing them get beat, but I despise when multi millionaires play so incompetently like they were doing. Yeah, the picnic should help a great deal on knocking off a lot of the tough ones

Mike >>



When you say signed at the tunnel, I assume you are referring to before the game right? I have yet to catch anyone after a game. It's really hard for me to get out there except Saturday and Sunday.

thenavarro

<< <i>
When you say signed at the tunnel, I assume you are referring to before the game right? I have yet to catch anyone after a game. It's really hard for me to get out there except Saturday and Sunday. >>



Yes sir, before the game. If I go, I get there about noon and they filter through up till about 4:15 or so for the games that start at 7:05. After the game, I've only known Robbie Ross to stop and sign periodically. However, even before games, they are not as good as they used to be about stopping to sign. From what I understand from talking with some of my friends that graph the tunnel, some days are a shutout now, or 1 to 2. It's not like the mid 90's when I'd go and be the only one out there and would have 10-15 stop every day. There are too many graphers now that show up so if they happen to stop to sign, you get a line of 20-30 or more at their car. If I was them, I wouldn't stop either. Many times in the 90's I'd be the only one there and it would be quite easy to get them.

Mike

matthewbschultz83

It is and was much easier for me to wait after games. 2008 and 2009 were gold mines. 3-4 players on average it seemed when I stopped. And certain guys had certain habits... Hamilton would stop without fail after Sunday afternoon games. Padilla was good as well. If you waited them out Guardado would stop. Cruz was good for once or twice a month. Murphy as well. And then it seemed CJ would stop every night. After the all star game in 2010 I've gotten less than 5 waiting after games. And like you say I don't blame them. The combination of too many people, the team being really good, and I'm sure they just want to go home after the game has led to nearly a 0% after the game.

vladguerrero

The real question here is how did Yu smell?

JustinsShoebox

Mike, Yu got some great pieces there!



Justin

thenavarro

Maven and I had a fun night at the Ballpark tonight. On the autograph side, on her hat she got Ron Washington, Mike Adams, Robbie Ross, and Scott Feldman. On my glove, I got Robbie Ross and Scott Feldman. For the 2nd straight time that she and I got there early for batting practice, the batters didn't hit. Tonights bp was pitchers only. One of these days we'll pick the right day when the position players are taking BP and then we should do really good at adding some good graphs.

Here's a couple of pics from tonight.

Maven and Wash developing the game plan (It worked, Darvish pitched 8 strong innings and struckout 11 in the victory)



With Darvish's 8th victory, he must be getting the big head by now

thenavarro

Went to the tunnel for a couple of hours today and also to Rangers BP. Was going to stick around and watch Oswalt's debut, but Maven couldn't make it tonight and the rest of my family is out of town as well, and it's not a whole lotta fun without them so I decided to come on home early. Am glad I went for a little while though, cause I was able to add a very tough graph to my glove. I passed up the chance to get Ogando, Gentry, and Grimm, as I wanted to wait in one specific place to have a shot at Beltre, and it paid off. I was also able to add Leonys Martin to my glove. I took Maven's hat for her, and was able to get Snyder, Murphy, and Martin for her as well. Thought I was going to get Josh as well tonight but he signed for the little kid beside me only. If Maven had been there, she would have gotten him on her hat. Some days he has a kids only rule which while annoying if you've been waiting out in the heat all day, is understandable, and I'd rather he sign for just kids then no one at all. Get's frustrating though when you know some of the kids are just "runners" for adults who are giving them $10 each to get graphs for them. Elvis Andrus came up close and commented on my glove, but he didn't sign it and instead gave me two like new OMLB's. I gave one to a lady beside me for her son, and I kept one to give to Maven tomorrow when she comes home.

Here's my graphs.

Adrian Beltre



Leonys Martin



and here's Maven's hat as it now stands:



Here's the graphs I got last week:

Robbie Ross



Scott Feldman

miconelegacy

That glove is looking Awesome! Gonna have to find a neat display case for it.

Hamilton!!!!! Staying tuned in....

thenavarro

Here is Saturday's addition.

Tanner Scheppers



and Tanner Scheppers on Maven's hat




Mike Napoli is signing tonight, but it's a paid signing and I'm not too gung ho on paying for these guys when I can catch them at the park hopefully. About the only extra benefit of a paid signing is that more than likely we'd be able to take a photo with him. I've got about 30 minutes to decide whether or not to start getting ready to go as it's about an hours drive away.

thenavarro

When I got home from graphing today, my beautiful wife (not to be confused with my ugly wife) gave me this huge donut (shown next to a standard sized bottled water for size comparison purposes) Gotta love Texas, LOL!



Mike

Dboneesq

Mike ... and be honest ... how long did it take for you to finish that donut? LOL

thenavarro

<< <i>Mike ... and be honest ... how long did it take for you to finish that donut? LOL >>



Doug,

So far I haven't succumbed to the temptation. Maven won't be home until tomorrow from visiting my niece this weekend, and I want to share it with her. She'll love that!

Mike

otwcards

<< <i>When I got home from graphing today, my beautiful wife (not to be confused with my ugly wife) gave me this huge donut (shown next to a standard sized bottled water for size comparison purposes) Gotta love Texas, LOL!



Mike >>



I'm still perplexed about this two wives thing. Which of the two likes the beads? And have you been able to keep one from finding out about the other? I didn't realize that you had moved to Utah...

cpamike

Mike, now I'm hungry for one too. I'll have to get three donuts to equal that baby.

Congrats on adding to the autograph project!!!

thenavarro

Maven and I went to a signing at a local Whataburger today to get Craig Gentry. For those of you North of Texas, Whataburger makes the best fast food burger in the South. Gentry has been a good sparkplug player for the Rangers this year. Timely bat and great speed. We are going tomorrow to batting practice and the game, so hopefully we'll have some more to add shortly. Maven and I will be taking a couple of extra baseballs with us to the games from now on, and will try to get as many Yu Darvish's as we can while we wait on new additions to our glove and hat, as there seems to be a pretty good market for him right now. I told her she could keep the money from Darvish sales if we are able to get extra signed baseballs, as she wants to go to a dinner with Nolan Ryan later in the season and it's $500 a couple. She knows that 5 Darvish balls will get her to the dinner so she want's to work on that while she is working on her hat. If anyone wants a Darvish ball, we will be selling them for $100 each plus shipping when we get them, just PM to reserve if you want one if we get them. Who knows, we might not get any more, and we might get them all in a month, it's hit and miss. I don't know what her fascination is with Nolan, as she wasn't even alive when he played, but for some reason she's taken an interest in him and wants to meet him. I think she enjoyed watching the video board of him whipping Ventura that played all the time last year. She was so excited the other day when we were getting graphs and he popped out of the dugout right in front of her. He didn't acknowledge the crowd though so she wasn't able to get him.

thenavarro

Uh oh, just checked the Rangers website and all the tickets to the Ryan dinner have been SOLD. Oh well, it was a good thought. I'll ask her later if she still wants to sell Yu's or not, but she hasn't told me anything else she has her eye on so we might abort the Darvish sales before we even start them.

Mike

thenavarro

Had a great night at the Ballpark tonight. Maven and I went early to batting practice, but once again, the batters didn't practice! However, about two minutes after entering, we spied Beltre and Maven was able to get him on her hat, I already had him so didn't get another. The pitchers were playing catch and Maven was able to get on her hat in addition to Beltre, Martin Perez (only been up a couple days), Justin Grimm, Matt Harrison, Jackie Moore (coach), and she accidently got Scheppers again (I had gotten her Scheppers the other day but she knew she hadn't met him so she went ahead and got him thinking she needed him). Pictures not shown below yet, as she is sleeping with her hat tonight so I can't take pics yet, LOL. On my glove, I was able to snag Martin Perez, Justin Grimm, Matt Harrison, and Neftali Feliz (Maven got Neftali for me ) I also got Joe Nathan again, as I wanted him to sign it in black and I'm going to remove the silver sig of him from my glove as it doesn't match.

Martin Perez



Matt Harrison



Neftali Feliz



Justin Grimm



2nd Joe Nathan



During the game, my boyhood idol, former Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg was visiting a couple that sits a couple rows behind us, and we waited for him to finish his visit and as he was leaving, asked to get a photo with him, and he signed my old school Rangers hat as well. We chatted a minute and he was a neat guy.



And unless you are local you probably won't know who these two girls are, but we spied them while we were getting an ice cream and Maven wanted a pic with them. The Fox Sports Southwest girls, Kaime and Liddy



And a Rangers win to top it off!

cpamike

Mike, couldn't Maven operate the camera for that last shot?

Congrats on meeting Sundberg!!! He was a great defensive catcher in his day and definitely underappreciated.

mccardguy1

Mike, I wish I had had these types of memories with my kids that you are having with Maven. My kids never cared about sports or my collection so dragging them to sports events was pointless. My son, who is now 25 loves sports and I will be dragging him to a game next month but he still doesnt care about baseball or collecting like I do.

I love reading your posts and seeing what you and Maven get each time you two go out. Keep up the great work and keep making even greater memories.

Ironmanfan

seeing Jim Sundberg age, makes me feel awfully old as well

IMF

thenavarro

Although the Rangers are in Seattle, and I'm in Texas, it's been a good night as far as my glove is concerned. I shipped it up to a friend on another board that worked the Rangers hotel today and he got me Josh Hamilton, Roy Oswalt, and Michael Kirkman. No pictures yet, I'll add them when I get it back before the next homestand.

Some of the guys are usually much easier to get on the road, so I sent it up to try. The main one I hope to get in Seattle is Michael Young, as he is dang near impossible down here, however it was not to be on day 1. However, still a couple more tries left.

Stoked to get Josh out of the way though and the game looks good so far, 3 to 0 Texas in the 7th.

Mike

thenavarro

WOOHOO!! The Halos already lost today AND my friend hit the Rangers hotel again in Seattle and SCORE! MICHAEL YOUNG, Mitch Moreland, and coach Jackie Moore. He can't go tomorrow so glove will be back on it's way to Texas this upcoming week. Young was the one guy that I thought I might not be able to get this year. Now, I should have no problem getting the rest of the team.

33 Rangers have made an appearance in a game this year, and I've now gotten 26 of them on my glove.

Still missing:

Elvis Andrus, Shortstop
Nelson Cruz, Right Field
Derek Holland, pitcher
Ian Kinsler, 2nd base
Mike Napoli, jack of all trades, catcher, 1st base, DH
Alexi Ogando, pitcher
Yorvit Torrealba, catcher

I now have 4 of the 7 coaches on the glove and am still missing:

Mike Maddux - pitching coach (pretty tough to get, he signed on the last homestand but I had already shipped my glove to Seattle, aarrgghhh)
Dave Anderson - third base coach
Andy Hawkins - Bullpen coach

I might end up adding GM John Daniels and CEO & President Nolan Ryan, but I haven't decided yet. Both of those guys have had an instrumental part in building this team and it's success, so I'll probably add them.

The season ticket holders picnic in a couple weeks should be instrumental in helping me complete the glove. We'll see.

Mike

thenavarro

Had a fun day at the ballpark yesterday. Maven was unable to go with me as she is in a local theatrical production, but I scored a good one for her hat, Josh Hamilton (he was cool this time, even let me record a video of him with the hat, calling her by name and saying hello to her, BUT, my dumbxxx was trying to upload it from my cellphone and accidently deleted it, I tried to use recovery software to no avail) Maven would have been so excited to see it, and it definitely put a damper on my day, but no reason to cry over spilled milk anymore, LOL. She was beaming though when I gave her the hat and showed her Josh signed it for her.

On my big glove, I was able to add Mike Maddux, who is a very tough coach autograph. Got denied by GM Jon Daniels who was too busy texting to bother with graphs, and got denied by Nolan, but that's ok, I'll get him eventually.

I also started another project since I'm out there so much and got Yu Darvish, Mike Adams, and Martin Perez to sign an official major league ball that has already been autographed by Ron Washington, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, Mike Napoli, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando. I figured I might as well get another team item while I'm at it.

Here's some pics from the day, as well as of the sigs I've added since my last picture update:

Me posing in the Rangers dugout using my big glove to cover my big gut,



Me and Yu, he's the guy to the right warming up



The glove and Maven's hat hanging out by the game towels



A random shot from inside the park



Maven's hat as it now stands, it's running out of room to sign and Josh signed it inside of Yu's big curve in his first name (at least he didn't write over Yu)



Josh Hamilton



Coach Jackie Moore



The elusive Michael Young



Michael Kirkman



Coach Mike Maddux



Mitch Moreland



Roy Oswalt

cubfan89

Wow, how did you get in the dugout?
I'm pulling for the Rangers this year & hope they win it all for ya!

matthewbschultz83

<< <i>Wow, how did you get in the dugout?
I'm pulling for the Rangers this year & hope they win it all for ya! >>



It was season ticket holder picnic day yesterday.

thenavarro

<< <i>Wow, how did you get in the dugout?
I'm pulling for the Rangers this year & hope they win it all for ya! >>



The Rangers roll out the red carpet for the season ticket holder picnic. They open up the facilities. Free autographs. Chalk talks with the GM Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan. All you can eat potato salad, barbecue beans, barbecue beef, and chicken, with all the fixins, sodas and water. They also had a lot of alumni autographs but I didn't bother with those. That's one of the big things I love about the Rangers, is that this ownership group seems to want the fans to have a good experience.

I went with my son tonight for the first time this year to the game. He doesn't like baseball, but he loves to eat, LOL, so I traded a couple of my usual seats and got him a set of all you can eat seats. We got there when the gates opened as usual, and he got a free giveaway Elvis Andrus jersey for his sister (he's a good kid and he knew he wouldn't wear one, so he got one in her size for her). We went down to get graphs, and his eyes were opened when Josh barked at us a couple times and told us all to "ssssshhhhhhh" as he held his finger up to his mouth when we were calling his name. I think my son was offended that someone we were paying to watch would do that. Anyways, we managed to get Yorvit Torrealba on my glove, and he got Maven's hat signed for her as well.

Before leaving for the game, I erased the Joe Nathan signature that was on my glove in silver (I got him to sign in black sharpie as well), and Yorvit signed in that spot where the silver Nathan was. Looks really good, and much better then the silver Nathan. Now the signatures on the glove all match.

Great game, good food, a night of laughing and joking with my son, a stellar outing by Scott Feldman, and a Rangers win. All in all, a great time.

Yorvit Torrealba

cubfan89

Sounds like an awesome time!
I think I would have felt the same way your son did. Why would he act like that, shhhhhhhing the loyal fans?
After all he went through you'd think he'd be a little less egomaniac & more down to earth, especially around kids.
He does live like a King after all.

Dboneesq

Mike ... glad to see you had a fun day with your son at the ballpark. I remember a few years ago you mentioned that he was not into sports, so thia had to be a special day for you. I know you will remember this day for a long time.

thenavarro

What a game last night. Rangers came back from a 6 run deficit and then again from a 3 run deficit in extra innings, to defeat LAA. Was also a good day on the autograph front. I think I have 34 sigs on the glove now, all from this years team and coaches. However, the Rangers added 3 new players in the last couple of days, so still need them as well as a few others. All 3 have signed already, but I've been in other places (getting Holland, Ogando) and couldn't catch them all I'll get them though

34 down and 8 players and 1 coach to go, I still need:

Elvis Andrus (real friendly, willl throw you baseballs, jokes, etc, doesn't sign too much)
Ian Kinsler (relatively tough to get)
Nelson Cruz (signs a lot, just haven't been in the right place at the right time yet)
Mike Napoli (signs a lot, just haven't been in the right place at the right time yet)
Geovanny Soto (early indications are that he signs easily)
Ryan Dempster (early indications are that he signs easily)
Mike Olt (signs a lot)
Louis Martinez (in minors now, might have to make a 2 and a half hour drive to get him, but that's ok cause I think he plays in Round Rock, which is where they have those big donuts)
3rd base coach, Dave Anderson (I need to famillarize myself with what he looks like, haven't tried to get him yet)

Maven getting ready to graph:



Derek Holland signing:



Alexi Ogando signing:



Holland sig:



Ogando sig:



Andy Hawkins (bullpen coach)

cubfan89

Andy Hawkins? The same guy who pitched the craziest no-hitter in history Andy Hawkins?

thenavarro

<< <i>Andy Hawkins? The same guy who pitched the craziest no-hitter in history Andy Hawkins? >>



Yep, that's him. Seems to be a nice guy. He also has a World Series victory on his resume, and according to Wiki, he gave up 18 earned runs in one inning combined in 3 total starts in Fenway Park !

cubfan89

So that explains why the Red Sox never picked him up.
Always wondered about that! Lol

thenavarro

Had a good time today and tonight at the game. It was the celebration to honor some of the better Rangers over the last 40 years and it was well done. Maven was auditioning for Wizard of Oz, so it was just me going today Only one autograph, but it was a good one. NOLAN RYAN I got to see some of my old favorites such as Charlie Hough, Rafael Palmeiro, Ruben Sierra, Pudge Rodriguez, Buddy Bell, Jim Sundberg, etc, etc, etc.

As usual, the Rangers administration is very fan friendly, and they had free signings with the alumni before the game. I decided to pass on the others and made sure I was in Nolan's line in time. Afterall, it won't be a complete team glove, without the team President (helps that he is a HOF'er as well)

Here's a video of Nolan signing my glove and his classic Texas drawl. After he signs it and hands it back, you can hear him say something along the lines of you gotta be mighty strong to use a glove that big or something like that. I'm the voice you hear say "knuckleball glove" and indicating that we were about to meet the great Nolan Ryan, LOL.

I'm not smart enough to figure out how to link the video but maybe this works


Here's the sig, it's a little shaky, but it's Nolan:



Of course, I had to celebrate with a great dinner, that's fries smothered with chili, barbecue briscuit, grilled onions, cheese, and jalapeno's, and a hot dog for an appetizer:



The Rangers played the game in their old school 1976 Powder Blue throwback jerseys (which I loved and bought one for myself, and a tshirt for Maven), and pulled out the win in the ninth with a walk off single from the newest Ranger Mike Olt. Great night.

cubfan89

Must have been awesome meeting the Ryan Express.
I think you have a true 1/1 with that autographed glove there!
Save some of that food for me.

yankeesman

Wow! That may be the greatest gastronomical concoction ever created by the mind of man. Good luck with it today though! Great job on the glove and that's cool to be able to get Nolan to sign it in person. Very cool.

BPorter26

Mike.... It's very cool how you and your daughter are working on this glove together. What is your autograph total on the glove to date? BTW do you have to buy a ticket to the game for the glove?

Dboneesq

Nice addition Mike. Hope you slept in a different bed than your wife last night (after eating that food).

thenavarro

LOL,thanks guys, it was a lot of fun. BPorter, I have 35 sigs so far (I think), everytime I get close to being done, then someone gets hurt and someone else comes up, or trades, or that kind of stuff. I'll get 'em though. I might have a hard time with Jon Daniels (GM). I've personally not seen him sign, and he always acts "busy" (which he probably really is). Here's some pics from last night before my cell phone ran out of charge! I really gotta get a real digital camera and not a crappy cell phone camera. My phone does a pretty good job on video, but sucks on still photos (very well could be operator error though from having old shaky hands, LOL).

Here's the All Time Rangers (most of them seem to have aged pretty well)



Here's Holland (who pitched an outstanding game with the exception of a leadoff homer) getting Prince Fielder to hit a weak ground ball out:



Here's Hamilton batting against Verlander:



And here's Maven's favorite player donning the powder blue, "Nellie" Nelson Cruz:

matthewbschultz83

Mike are those your normal seats? We were there last night too and it looks like you are maybe one section over and about 15 rows in front of where our seats are. I'm in 127. We should meet up sometime. Not to highjack your thread, but I also (the girlfriend actually) got in the Nolan line as well. I got Pudge and was also able to add Buddy Bell yesterday as well. The hard one is going to be Juan Gonzalez and probably Josh if I don't get him this year....

thenavarro

Matt

My normal seats are about 2 sections over and another 15 rows up as well. Maven and I sit in Section 123 Row 35 Seats 1 and 2. Sounds like we have the same view just opposite side of the Cuervo club as you do. Feel free to come say hello and we can share a boomstick meal or something one game. We usually make it out to 1 out of every 4 or so. Not going today as I traded today's seats for all you can eat seats last home stand. I'll pm you the dates I think we will be there later tonite or in a couple days. We've only got a 1/2 season and share them with a friend and his son

Your program looks great! I intended to take my Ryan/Ventura fight photo that was already signed by them both in order to get Pudge yesterday on it as well as I've never seen all 3 on it, but I realized on the drive up that I forgot it and I wasn't turning around to go get it as I live in Waxahachie

Mike

cubfan89

Is that Fergie Jenkins in that picture?

thenavarro

<< <i>Is that Fergie Jenkins in that picture? >>



Which picture? He wasn't there Saturday if that's the pics you are referring to, but he is pictured on that program that Matt posted.

cubfan89

Ya, I think I see Fergie on the program but he's a member of the Cub family.

thenavarro

Had an awesome time last night at the game with Maven. The Rangers won, and got to a season high 22 games over .500 record, but that doesn't really matter as to how our night goes, but it doesn't hurt

Maven starts school again next week, so this was probably our last opportunity to go really early together to get autographs, so of course we got there early. I was able to nab Olt and Dempster on my big glove to get ever closer to completion and Maven was able to add several as well. We also decided to get her photo with some of the easier to get guys for her to have.

Here she is with Mike Adams:



Here she is with Tanner Scheppers:



Here she is after talking with Joe Nathan and getting him to sign one of our team balls and harassing him a little bit about "just one more", you can kind of see him smiling and Maven grinning very proud of herself for getting him again



Here's Michael Kirkman signing her hat before we got the bright idea of asking them to take pictures with her:



Next up, Maven has been wanting us to try (and me too admittedly) the BOOMSTICK, the new culinary delight at the ballpark that is named after Nelson Cruz's bat, LOL. So her and I ordered this monstrosity:



After what seemed like an eternity, we finished it and here she is proudly shoveling in the last bite:



After the big dog, we toyed with the idea of leaving, as neither one of us really felt real well, but we did stay to watch the victory. We had an ex NY Yankee sitting by Maven during the game, (supposedly, I didn't recognize him and didn't want to ask who he was, but heard him talking to the kids in front of us about it, claimed he was an ex backup catcher) we did ask to see one of his World Series rings, and that was pretty neat. Ring was HUGE and full of bling. During the game, a guy named Jim Knox (who does the Rangers post game show) came to our section and Maven asked him how to be "Whataburger Fan of the Game" which is a bit that he does, and he said they already had one, but that if she wanted to be on TV, to come to the post game show in centerfield and that he would put us on. Her and I took my big glove and her hat to the post game show and true to his word, he did a short segment and we were both on TV and he really loved the glove, as when we came on camera, he got it from me and carried it around the whole bit and then brought it back and we were on camera again cheering and hollering for the Rangers. Got the whole bit on DVR at the house, as since I knew we were going to be on, I called my wife and had her tape it. Great night and on the way home, Maven said it was the "best time at the best game yet". I loved to hear that as she's a great kid and we have a blast together.