By Josh:
I’m a baseball junkie. I know it, my wife knows it, my daughter will learn it soon enough and I’m pretty sure those of you that read this blog have figured it out as well. I love going to games, collecting baseball cards, getting autographs and even just sitting down to talk baseball. Baseball is the reason I love the summer and can’t stand the winter. January is always the hardest month of the year for me because baseball is so close and yet still so far away. It is cold outside and the once 98 degree baseball hot stove has cooled off to a chilly 32 degrees like the ice outside.
The one saving grace for me in the month of January is the Seattle Mariners FanFest event.
Thank You
Before I talk about the event I want make sure I say thank you to the Mariners and the players who came. The players don’t have to come. It is voluntary, which makes their appearance at FanFest that much more amazing. Many had their wives and/or their parents with them. It was an amazing event in large part because the players took the time to care about the fans.
The FanFest Event
At this year’s FanFest I got to experience a few things I have not had the opportunity to do the past 3 years of going. The first thing was having a child of my own with me. My daughter Raelynn experienced her first FanFest event of her life. She got to ‘meet’ players, ‘get’ autographs and get a photo with Kyle Seager.
Getting a photo with a player at FanFest was actually something new this year and was really interesting. They would have you go through the line but would not tell you who was in the photo area at the time. Then right before you go in they would tell you. I got my photo with Jesus Montero and Kyle Seager which was pretty cool for me.
I also got to experience the thrill of having Norm the Gnome go with me to FanFest. Normally people would look at you as if you were crazy if you carried a garden gnome with you and took photos of it, but not at FanFest. I was excited to get both Nick Franklin and Mike Zunino to sign ‘Norm’ at FanFest.
I know I had talked about considering the zip line but I was not able to do it. The line was an hour and a half long and since my wife wanted to do the zip line far more than I did, I took over baby duty and let her enjoy the ride.
Overall Experience
Although FanFest can take a lot of energy it is always a fun event for me. Having my daughter and wife come along made it just that much more enjoyable. Each of the players that came were great with interacting with the fans as much as they could.
When I attended my first FanFest in 2010 it was fun but there weren’t very many players and the atmosphere wasn’t very exciting or fun. That has been completely changed these past few years. A lot more players are coming to the event and the Mariners have done an amazing job of adding in new things every year to keep the fans excited.
Just this year alone a fan who didn’t want an autograph could of played catch in the outfield, walked around the bases, toured the Mariners clubhouse, taste tested new food for this year, caught pop flies, taken photos with players, listened to player interviews, been ‘filmed’ doing a pregame chat, throw in the bullpen, taken a photo ‘Felixing’ and done the zip line.
I love this event and it means I’m one step closer to watching opening day of baseball.
Autograph Breakdown for FanFest and Caravan event this weekend
35 total autographs
3 8×10’s photos
2 on Norm the Gnome
1 on a baseball (won this on twitter from the Mariners)
1 printing plate
28 cards