I got to the parking lot at 7am, and a lot of players were already inside.  Most of the players that arrived after I did said they would sign after practice.  The bus that would be taking the travelling players to Orlando arrived at around 8:15.  Livan Hernandez and Drew Storen were the only players to sign in the morning.

At about 9am, my buddy Gil and I head over to the door that the players usually emerge from on their way to the practice fields.  But nobody ever came out.  We met up with one other grapher, and headed towards the main stadium entrance.  The door was open, so we head inside.

The team was stretching on the field.  We headed down to the first base side autograph pit, and waiting for an opportunity to call over the guys we were most interested in:  Willie Harris and Devon White for myself, Adam Dunn for Gil, and Stephen Strasburg for both of us. 

After about an hour and fifteen minutes, Willie Harris headed towards the dugout.  I asked if he would mind signing, and he came over to us.  I started my usual spiel about how I'm a huge White Sox fan, and he was the whole reason I was there.  Willie surprised me with his response.  He told me he is also a huge White Sox fan, and that he loves the South Side.  He also said he thinks he may be heading back to the Sox at some point.  Willie is a great guy, and happily signed my cards and baseball, though he did ask if I planned on selling the baseball.  Gil spoke on my behalf, telling what a crazy Sox fan I am.  All in all, getting Willie has probably been my favorite experience of the spring.

Shortly after getting Harris, several Nationals employees converged on the three of us, and basically kicked us out of the stadium.  We were told that the stadium was closed, and that we should never have been there in the first place.  It seems quite ridiculous to me that THREE fans can't watch the team practice.  They should be happy that any fans wanted to be there in the first place.

We headed back to the parking lot, where several players signed that I had either already gotten (Hernandez, Storen) or that I had nothing for (Balester, Guzman, a few others).  Finally, Stephen Strasburg emerged.  At this point there were 5 of us waiting near the parking lot, including one older gentleman.  We asked Strasburg to sign, and he responded "Not today".  The older guy said "Please, this is the only day I'll be here", to which Stephen coldly replied "I've heard that before". 

I am now officially rooting for Strasburg to be a monumental failure, a la Brien Taylor.  What goes around, comes around.

My collection now includes baseballs with this same inscription from Garr, Chet Lemon, Jorge Orta, and Oscar Gamble.  My goal is to get all of the main offensive players from the 1977 White Sox.  Jim Spencer will most likely be impossible, as I doubt there are many baseballs floating around out there with this exact inscription.  Richie Zisk may prove tough as well, as he has apparently stopped signing autographs.

Speaking of the show in Rosemont, I got some great autographs there.  The show itself was pretty weak, but the autograph lineup was quite nice.  I got the following from the show's autograph guests (all were free except for Aparicio and Fisk):

Luis Aparicio - 16x20 x3, baseball, Gold Glove baseball, mini helmet, jersey, bat, card
Dick Butkus - 8x10
Bob Feller - 8x10 x2, baseball
Carlton Fisk - 16x20, mini helmet, 12x18, card
Jim Morrissey - 8 cards
Billy Pierce - 8x10, 16x20 x2, card x2, mini helmet
Mel Renfro - 8x10, card
Pete Rose - 8x10
Mike Squires - 8x10 x2, Gold Glove baseball, 6 cards
Ken Stabler - 8x10

Carlton Fisk was very interested in the photo showing him and Tom Seaver posing on the dugout steps.  I got his mailing information, and promised to send him a copy.

I also promised to send Billy Pierce a copy of the 1959 reunion photo, as he said he only has a very small one.  Billy was a class act as always.  When I told him that I would send him that photo, I said "It's the least I can do after all of the things you have signed for me through the mail."  He replied "I sure do sign a lot of it!"

Luis Aparicio obviously did not want to be there.  He tried refusing to put inscriptions that people had paid for (just HOF and ROY and whatnot, nothing strange), and from what I hear he just got up and left with people still in his line. 

Mike Squires was extremely friendly.  The photo that the official merchandise booth was selling showed Mike with an obvious black eye.  He said that photo was taken after he was hit in the face by a groundball, and that it was the only time that had ever happened.  While he was signing mine, I asked him to inscribe it "1983 White Sox, Winning Ugly".  I said to him that it would be a fitting inscription, with the black eye and all.  He and his "handler" both starting cracking up. 

Some highlights: