Day Nine is in the Books
Metro Atlanta was once again the setting for Braves Country Caravan.
Our first stop was at Wildfire restaurant for a luncheon and Q&A with some of our season ticket holders and was emceed by Braves broadcaster Don Sutton. The panel included John Schuerholz, Bobby Cox, Brian McCann, Brian Jordan, Jordan Schafer, Jo Jo Reyes and Mike Dunn. The food was delicious, the questions were plentiful and everyone had a good time.
From the restaurant just outside of the Perimeter Mall, the bus headed towards Decatur for our next stop at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Hospital. The group split in two and visited several floors of rooms to say hi and thank the veterans for their service.
Many in the Braves group were moved by the stories that were told and many of the veterans were glad to listen to some of the stories told by the Braves.
The final destination was Publix in Suwanee. A huge crowd came out to see their favorite Braves as they signed for a little over two hours. Thank you Braves fans for standing on line on this cold Monday!
Tomorrow the Braves Country Caravan is headed to Knoxville and Chattanooga, so check out braves.com/caravan to see where you can see them.
Braves Caravan 
I was very disappointed in the Gwinnett County event on 2/8/10. First, it was not advertised that there would be 350 cards given out to “guarantee” a chance to get an autograph. Had it been, I probably wouldn’t have gone out there since I knew I wouldn’t get there in time to get one. Second, it was apparent that some people were getting a lot of items signed – come on – when they are doing that, you know they are doing it so they can sell them or put them on Ebay to sell. Not fair to the real fans who really wanted to meet their favorite players, especially the little kids. Where I was standing just before the “workers” told us that we weren’t going to get in, we watched a guy come out with a box of stuff and proceed to sell some of it to another guy. Not fair at all to those of us who were there for the team, not to make a profit. I just got a ticket package for a Christmas gift, and was totally psyched about it. This experience has taken the shine off that anticipation. I just wanted to let you know this so maybe you can change your practices and avoid disappointing and ticking off a lot more fans.
There is a lot of speculation as to why the seats aren’t filled at Turner Field, and why when they are filled, it’s by Mets and Cubs fans. This situation is one of the reasons for that. Atlanta fans are not made to feel that they are important to the Atlanta Braves (not necessarily referring to players here). I understand that time is important for players and staff, but that rings true for fans as well. A little more respect for the fans and their time and efforts would go a long way toward putting butts in the TF seats. There is a reason that the Mets, Yanks, Cubs and other teams have loyal fans. Apparently, Atlanta hasn’t figured out that reason yet.
Atlanta does has its loyal fans, they are the ones that showed up at noon to stand in line in these free events. If you want an autograph or to meet a player get there early.
Check MLB.com and look at the Mets,Yanks, Cubs, etc fanfest events and you will see they are charging for autographs (donated to charity) and will usually get double the turnout. Not many winers there…..Funny how many “real fans”(they claim) get turned off because they didn’t get an autograph or picture of their favorite player. Problem seems to be pretty clear to me, its the “real fans” not the team or players. Life is tough….
Another example that the Braves can not make everyone happy. The braves started doing to ticket process after the Marietta siging because a lot of people complained about waiting for so long and not getting an autograph. Atleast this way, you know that your going to get one or not get one so you can leave. Don’t be upset because people attempt to sell the items, they purchased and spent their free time to get signed. I don’t sell items, but I am not mad that people do. If it was an issue the MLB players would not sign. And no one on here can blog about “REAL FANS”. I am sure everyone that visits the braves site and goes to game and signings probably feels they are real fans. I will tell you this, if you would have gone to the stockbridge signing, you could have gone through the line twice, if not three times. You just have to pick your signings and maybe you will get lucky. If you are going to let autograph signings get in the way you look at the Braves this year, well you need to grow up and stop being a baby. IT IS AN AUTOGRAPH. Oh yeah, since you don’t like the braves right now….I will buy your ticket package.
….with Yunel and Hansen there plan on at least getting in line by 11:30am, that should get you near the front….
Does anyone have any idea how early you need to get there to be sure of getting an autograph? I am planning to drive 1 1/2 hours to Spartanburg on Thursday but I don’t want to drive all of that way only to be turned away. I went to the event in Charlotte but the guys were 45 minutes late getting there and I had to leave to return to work before they even started signing autographs.
I agree with the first lady that posted about multiple autographs. Personally, I think each person should be limited to one autograph per player especially when there are long lines of people waiting. That seems more fair to everyone behind them in line.
I went to the autograph event yesterday and arrived around 3 PM after driving for about an hour to get there. I got ticket number 167 out of 350. I didn’t get to the front of the line until 6 PM so I am assuming the players didn’t sign past the 350 tickets that were given out. I think all of the tickets were gone by 4 PM.
In my opinion this event was much more organized than the 2/1/10 event in Marietta. I waited for 3 hours for nothing on that day and only made it to about 50 people in front of me before they stopped because they were so many people cutting in line with their friends. This time they went by your actual number so if you cut in line you still had to wait until your number came up. I do agree, however, that the players should at least be split into two groups so that twice as many fans can get autographs.
I would agree compared to the previous weeks signing at Marietta on 2/1/2010 the one yesterday in Duluth was much better organized. Ticket numbers were given out ahead of time and it was much fairer system than the Chipper and group signing. It looks like the Braves organization improved the caravan experience for fans this time around.
With that being said though anytime a young person is hyped up to see a Braves player and doesn’t get to see them it is dissapointing whether there are numbers given out or not. To say “life is tough” and “it is only an autograph” is fine if you are an adult but if you are a kid who idolizes Brian McCann saying that isn’t really fair and actually quite heartless if that kid isn’t able to see his hero.
I would suggest as previous posts did to have several lines. It seemed like the line moved so slow because you had to get through seven different Braves players, which caused a bottleneck. While I was in line I saw Bobby Cox sitting there for over a minute without signing anything because the person in the line was tied up talking to one of the other players. If one person signed slow or was involved in a conversation with a fan it slowed down the entire line.
But thank you for the Braves players for taking time to meet fans. My family looks forward to Saturday and running the bases.
@sepulthrax – I was numer 148 (but the woman RIGHT behind was was 155) in line. You and I were almost line buddies and didn’t even know it. I’m glad you took my advice and got there earlier. 😉
I don’t agree with splitting the players up though. Although I would have been the only one waiting in Jordan Schafers line probably and I’m ok with that.
I can get to Spartanburg by 1:00 or so…that should be plenty enough time for a 4:00 signing….right?? Do they give the numbers out early so you can leave and come back or do you stay in line the entire time you are there?
@billydya, not being heartless dude just raising my kids to have fun and if you get lucky enough to get an autograph cool beans, if not we will try again some other time. Seems too many of you are so star struck by the baseball players and teaching your kids to idolize famous people that you get your feelings hurt if you don’t get what you want or feel is owed to you.
The players could sign for 5 hours, give away jerseys, bats and balls and people would still complain that they weren’t fair……..LIFE IS TOUGH BRO!
@bravehomer – 3 hours should be plenty of time but I’m not familiar with Spartanburg so it’s your call. The back of the tickets said that only short bathroom breaks are permitted but I saw several people leave for 30 mins or so and come back. They go by ticket number so as long as you get a ticket you’re ok.
@sooz – I’m still waiting for the Braves to email me about that Brooks Conrad autograph. I’m actually so thrilled that I got B-Mac and Bobby Cox’s autographs, not to mention Sutton, Schafer and the others, that I really don’t care if they email me or not. Maybe you can wear a shirt that says ‘Sooz’ on it to the Fanfest on Saturday so I will know that it’s you. I’ll be wearing my Rocker jersey!
Thanks sepulthrax!! I might try to get there a little earlier…..the line in Charlotte was nonexistent but I expect it to be a lot worse in Spartanburg.
@ sepulthrax – I’m sure you’ll be the only one there with a Rocker jersey so if I see you, I’ll say hi.
@ bravehomer – 1pm should be plenty of time for the Spartanburg signing.
I’m just saying that if the process changed after the Marietta event, it should have been noted on the website. I work about 12 miles from where the Duluth stop was at, but traffic makes it such that it takes about an hour to drive that little bit. Some people do have to work until 5 p.m., you know. If I had known that only about 350 people were going to get in, I wouldn’t have spent my time and gone out of my way. Not because I wouldn’t have wanted to, but why would I if I knew I would have less than a 1% chance?
I love the Braves – have ever since the early 80s. It’s one part of why I love living in the Atlanta area. I will still put my butt in the seats as many times a year as possible, and will wear with pride my #16 jersey.
As for people selling things, well, I still think it’s wrong, whether they purchaed or not. And I still think that if you ar making a profit off of something like that, then you are NOT a real fan. Especially not when they take it out to the parking lot of the event and do it.
Hi Anne,
Save your gas money and go to my eBay store and buy all the autographs you want.