Rambling into Reading with the Wrecking Crew

The graphing season started for me last week as Derreck,Kendall and I headed to Reading Pa for their opener,the Portland Sea Dogs and a Chase Utley bobblehead.
Add all three of those things up and you have the wrecking crew hitting the Reading metropolitan area and their stadium.

Reading is about two hours and change away from the booming Hagerstown colossus and its truly not a bad drive,albeit less than stunning as far scenery goes.
Actually with the exception of riding by Roadside America,which is an miniature village attraction that I first heard about on one of those Rick Sebak PBS specials ( I wouldn't mind seeing this sometime) and the massive Cabelas store that Kendall informs me was originally slated for Hagerstown until (hold your breath now) the city council/county commissioners dropped the ball,there really isn't much to see.

Reading did a recent renovation of their stadium (built in 1951) and the field/seating area makes you think of a 1970's stadium,but the best part to me is the concourse,which has a newer boardwalk type feel to it and the original part under the grandstand.
The original concourse seems almost untouched and has a very likable 50's baseball feel.
The food offered looked interesting,but being that my last name is not Rockefeller,way too stiff for me.
I did get two hot dogs at a reasonably affordable two per and "crabby fries" which basically was fries with Old Bay sprinkled on it.
Derreck reports that his fries (non-crabby) were terrible as did Kendall,but each of them bought the burger basket and reported disappointment with their dinner.

We got to the stadium a little early and managed to be in an area outside the stadium that could access Portland players inside.
I was able to get a few guys including Deven Marrero,who Derreck missed due to his battle with the restroom.
Being that I'm a good big brother,I tossed Derreck my Marrero Blue Wave refractor so he wouldn't feel too bad :)
We would be lucky to get Portland starter Henry Owens as he entered the stadium via a bus on which he was the only rider.
Owens was a great signer in Frederick last year and he continued that in Reading.
Owens would then throw six no hit innings in a rain shortened game and continued his rise up the prospect charts.
I finally landed second base prospect Mookie Betts after missing him last year and got Sean Coyle on four cards after missing him due to injury last season at Salem.
Blake Swihart signed the card that I had for him,but I get the feeling that he seems to be getting tired of the routine.
Red Sox and Yankee guys always have it tough and that might be the beginning for Blake.
Other nice additions were former Bosox catcher Rich Gedman and the always nice Derrik Gibson.
I wish I could report that I did better on Reading,but their clubhouse has begun to be guarded by a lumpy fellow named Jeff that kept hollering from the first Reading player to "let them get to the field" despite a short walk to the barricade.
I was able to get Tommy Joseph,a long time favorite,over Jeff's protests,but Jeff would win in the end as he then slapped himself in the middle of the walkway like a traffic cop and made players that would have signed unable to reach us.
I didn't think much of Jeff.
The only Reading players that I was able to get besides Joseph were Carlos Alonso and Brock Stassi.
Thanks again,Jeff.

Lots of graphers around that we knew as Harrisburg was on the road,one in particular that I could have done without was the return of "Picture Guy",who showed up last year for Augusta at the Muni and proceeded to ask everyone from the manager to the guy carrying the water bucket for a picture "with me and my son".
Said son looks about 30 by the way.
Derreck laughs at my memory of that night as those two made me as mad as I was during all last season.
All and all,I had a great time and got the season off to the right start.

Before the trip to Reading,I did the "Meet the Suns" at a local establishment that I'm not even going to bother mentioning their name because less than impressed would be too enthusiastic of a term for my opinion.
In any event,the main score was Lucas Giolito,who signed all five cards for me and gave me the lowdown on his mom,actress Lindsay Frost,who I want to get something signed.
Other nice additions were John Simms on a USA card,John Wooten and James Yezzo on their New York/Penn league top prospect cards and Drew Ward on his Bowman.
I like the fact that the Suns have a meet the team,but I wish that they would pick someplace else to hold it....

Thanks to Mike Oravec for another Crown Orioles addition in Sam Mele,a few 90 Scores for the set and former Seattle Pilot John Kennedy.

Thanks to Derreck Chupak for getting Twins prospect Alex Meyer to sign his top 100 card for me as well..

Thanks to Jason Christensen for getting Indians prospect Francisco Lindor on a card for me during Akron's opening visit to Binghamton.

That gets things started,I'll be back later in the week with the first trips to Hagerstown and Frederick for the season and depending on when I write-possibly my first trip to Harrisburg.