Friday, September 28, 2012

#11 Lloyd Turner

One of our favorite all time Barnstormers is Lloyd Turner.  Lloyd played in Lancaster from 2008-2010 and could play anywhere on the field.  He went on to play with the Camden Riversharks for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.  Lloyd was always great to talk to and has signed many autographs for us through the years.  When we got the Riversharks team set for this year, Lloyd was not in it.  That was disappointing, so our friend Jeff made us one from a picture he took.  At the end of the season Lloyd did have a card made and gave Gavin and I one.  Before heading home for the offseason, Lloyd and his wife came to the Barnstormers playoff game 1 and we got to see him.  Thanks Lloyd and see you next season!

Lloyd Turner



Today's Autographs: 3
2012 Autographs: 820
2012 My donation: $41.37

Monday, September 24, 2012

Game 34: Happy Birthday Isaac!

Friday night I was invited to go to the Phillies game with my friend Isaac for his birthday.  Dad got me out of school early and we headed down to Philly.  We got there early enough to watch the end of Braves batting practice and I was trying to get a ball for Isaac.  That didn't go so well...

Isaac and Blake

After batting practice we went to Bull's BBQ to get something to eat.  Greg Luzinski is always there signing autographs, so I knew to take a few cards.  I got 2 signed (1 for Gavin) and also had an extra card for Isaac to get signed.

Greg "The Bull" Luzinski

Greg "The Bull" Luzinski
 
This would be the Braves last visit to Philly this year, so I was excited to see Chipper Jones play one more time.  Before the game, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley came out and presented Chipper with a painting of him playing at Citizens Bank Park

Jimmy Rollins, Chipper Jones, and Chase Utley

We had great seats for the game and had a great view of all of the Phillies home runs.  The coolest part was when Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz went back to back!  Kyle Kendrick pitched a great game and the Phillies won 6-2!  At that point they still had a shot at the post season but went on to lose Saturday and Sunday...blowing their chances.

Howard and Ruiz hit back to back home runs!

All in all it was a great night with Isaac, Pastor Eric, and my dad watching Phillies baseball!  Thanks for letting me share in your special day Isaac!

Happy Birthday Isaac on the big screen!

Dad, Blake, Isaac, and Pastor Eric

Today's Autographs: 2
2012 Autographs: 817
2012 My donation: $41.22

Friday, September 21, 2012

Thanks Kyle!

I've mentioned a few times about our friend Kyle from Long Island.  He just sent me some more Long Island Duck schedules autographed by their SS Dan Lyons.  I like how the Ducks have 4 different schedules they have through the year and not just one.  Thanks again Kyle.  I hope it is the Ducks and Barnstormers in the Atlantic League Championship this year...should be a fun series.




Today's Autographs: 2
2012 Autographs: 815
2012 My donation: $41.12

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Games 32 & 33: Barnstormers over Blue Crabs

This past weekend the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were in for a 4 game series against the Barnstormers.  We made it to 2 of the games on Friday and Sunday.  Friday night we worked on getting a special team set that our friend Jeff made for us.  He is a really good photographer and made some of his pictures into card sizes for us.  That was really nice...especially since my book of un-autographed Atlantic League cards was stolen out of our car.  We lost a lot of cards, but at least they were not the autographed ones and it was the end of the season.  Since we didn't have any Blue Crabs cards to get signed, we just focused on our new card set of the Barnstormers.

Sunday was fan appreciation day and the final home game of the regular season.  It's hard to believe baseball is winding down.  We took our friends Isaac and Abe again and had lots of fun with them. They gave away team posters and the players were all out signing them and talking to the fans. The Barnstormers will finish the regular season on the road and then come home to start the Atlantic League playoffs against the York Revolution.  The Blue Crabs lead the other division so we could end up seeing them 1 more time too. The team has come up with a slogan of Get Your Mind Right so we made a sign to help them.  I love playoff baseball!

Get Your Mind Right




Today's Autographs: 48
2012 Autographs: 813
2012 My donation: $41.02


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Senator Bob Casey

I recently got a package in the mail going back to our days in Washington DC at the NAAF conference.  While there we had the opportunity to meet with our state representatives and share about alopecia areata.  One office that we visited was Senator Bob Casey.  The room we met in had some pretty cool Pennsylvania sports memorabilia from the Phillies, Pirates, Steelers, and Eagles.  Sara Mabry works for his office and told me she would get me a signed photo.  Thanks Mr. Casey and Sara! 


Senator Bob Casey


Today's Autographs: 1
2012 Autographs: 765
2012 My donation: $38.62

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Nashville's Next Star

We started school last Tuesday and are getting back in the swing of things.  It is time to catch up on some posts.  One of the cool parts about the NAAF conference in July is getting to meet new people.  They have different speakers and workshops for the adults while we are in the tween camp. One I wish I could have heard was Becky Hibbs.  My dad said her speech was awesome and the kids should have been in there for it.  Becky has had alopecia areata since she was 2.  She has attended the conference for many years in the camp and this year she got to speak and sing.

Becky lives in Nashville and is a great singer.  She has sang the National Anthem at the Houston Astros as well as the Nashville Sounds.  She was just featured last week in the "Artists to Watch: Country Night"  One of the songs she sang at the conference was "Bare" which talks about a battle with alopecia areata.   

After talking to her at the conferenc and telling her what we are doing, she sent a signed cd for us.  It is really awesome having people in the public eye raising awareness for alopecia areata.  I really hope she hits it big because she is a great singer...but a better person!  Thanks Becky!

Show your support for a beautiful singer raising awareness by hitting "like" on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/becky.hibbs.1#!/BeckyHibbsMusic 

If you click on the soundcloud link below you can listen to a couple of her original songs, including "Bare"

http://soundcloud.com/user8840640




Today's Autographs: 1
2012 Autographs: 764
2012 My donation: $38.57

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Game 31: Dad and Kyle

We started school the Tuesday after Labor Day, so Monday was spent getting ready.  Dad took Kyle out for a little while and they actually went to the Barnstormers game.  We really wanted to go but Kyle doesn't get to go much and we had a lot to do to get ready for school.  They didn't get there early and they didn't stay for the whole game, but Kyle did have fun.  He got to see our friend Luis Lopez and see the guys in the Barnstormers bullpen.  He also got to see Cylo and play catch with him.  No autographs, but a fun night out for Kyle and dad.

Kyle and Cylo

Kyle and Luis Lopez


Friday, September 7, 2012

Game 30: NAAF day at the Washington Nationals

September is alopecia awareness month and the National Alopecia Areata Foundation was once again teaming up with MLB.  Sunday was the first event and it was at the Washington Nationals.  The Nats would be donating money to NAAF for our tickets sold as well as letting us have a kiosk with promotional materials. 

We got to the ballpark at 10:30 to get all set up.  It was our first time there and the ballpark was great. We would be giving out the baseball bands as well as brochures about alopecia areata.  Since the gates were not open just yet, there were lots of ballpark workers stopping by and getting information.  Around noon, we were joined by Heidi and her son Shawn, who also has alopecia areata.  We continued to pass out brochures and bands until the game started. 

They did have a couple of Nats signing autographs on top of the dugout so Gavin was able to get a card signed from Sandy Leon.  As we were preparing to close up, a lady from Blue Smoke BBQ came back and gave us BBQ sandwiches.  She was one of the workers we had been talking to before the gates opened.  They were really awesome! 

We were in section 241 with Hedi's group and another group headed up by Kayla.  Kayla is a beautiful bald 20 year old with alopecia as well.  A slight rain fell during the game for a while but it did not dampen the spirits.  We had a great time meeting new people and raising awareness for alopecia areata.  It was neat to see how many people would say they knew someone that had it.  We were able to hand out over 600 of the baseball bands!

We got to see Steven Strasburg pitch, Bryce Harper throw a runner out at the plate, President races, and a Nats win. All in all it was a long day, but a great day and I'm thankful that we were able to be a part of it. 

Blake and Gavin at the NAAF kiosk

Blake sharing about alopecia areata with a school principal

Blake and Gavin with Abe Lincoln

Blake, Gavin, and Shawn

Blue Smoke BBQ

NAAF group in section 241

Today's Autographs: 1
2012 Autographs: 763
2012 My donation: $38.52

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Game 29: Crab Feast

Saturday night we went to the Barnstormers game with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.  It was a great night and the Barnstormers were wearing throwback jerseys that the players designed to look like the old Blue Jays.  We focused mostly on getting some Barnstormer cards signed that we still had left but we did get a few Blue Crabs as well.  My grandparents came to the game tonight and got to enjoy another Barnstormer win.  This has been an AWESOME season for the team and when the season is over I will definitely do some high lights. 


Gavin with Francisco Hernandez

Gavin, Blake, and Kody Kirkland



Today's Autographs: 29
2012 Autographs: 7762
2012 My donation: $38.47

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Game 28: More Duck Hunting!

Sunday was a busy day for us.  We had our end of summer Splash Day for our church which was a blast.  After a busy day of water slides, we headed back to the ball park.  Today they were giving away another card strip of 2012 Barnstormers.  We got there later than normal, but still got there early enough to get a few of the cards signed.  It ended with free hot dogs and cotton candy from I.M. Fun...the best in game host in baseball.  We'll have more on him later :)  The top two hitters for the Barnstormers, Adam Godwin and Blake Gailen were 9-10! The Barnstormers went on to crush the Ducks again 13-3. 

Blake, Gavin, and Kyle


Today's Autographs: 8
2012 Autographs: 733
2012 My donation: $37.02