That’s right! This is not a misprint. John freakin Smoltz pitched at Smokies Park and I was there for it all!
John’s shoulder has been giving him trouble all year. He’s been on the DL for several weeks, but he’s been feeling better of late, so Atlanta sent him to make a rehab appearance at Smokies Park. All of the Braves other farm clubs were on the road, and with Mississippi being just 3 1/2 hours up the road in Kodak, John was sent to join them.
I have a million John Smoltz autographs courtesy of his annual food drive at Turner Field, but I couldn’t let a Hall of Famer play ball 20 minutes from my house and not try to get his autograph. We weren’t sure how the whole thing was going to shake out because we were expecting a zoo (and that’s what we got with 7200 fans in attendance, a record crowd). Nevertheless, me and Patrick got to the park at about 3:00 to try him catching him coming in. At about 3:45 a Lincoln Town Car pulled directly into the stadium with him in it and we were unable to access him. At that point I figured our chance to get him was over. Boy was I wrong.
When the stadium opened at 5:30 we went inside. The 3rd base side was pretty crowded with other fans wanting Smoltz’s autograph, so I actually headed over to the Smokies’ side to try and get a few autographs of their prospects. After all was done over there, I figured I would head over to the Braves side just in case John decided to sign (despite the crowd). Well, as soon as I got over there he peaked his head out of the dugout and began signing. I was able to stick my arm into all the madness and get a magazine signed. I wasn’t sure how long he would sign, but either way I was prepared.
Because of the way he slowly went down the line, I was able to get several autographs – 12 to be exact. That’s right, 12; I got 2 balls, 1 card, 2 hats, a magazine, 4 photos, a ticket stub, and a jersey number! Simply put, John was awesome. For him to sign all of those autographs for all of those fans was amazing. To top it all off, he pitched a scoreless 8th inning after an amazing entrance (“You’ve been ThunderStruck!”). This was a night I will never forget.
2 Comments
January 25, 2009 at 3:46 am
I was there that night (I work there(Batboy… the tall one)). I was in the dugout when he was pitching it was great. But yea next year I plan on either doing that again or helping the away clubhouse manager full time.
January 28, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Jacob. Yeah, it was a cool night. Thanks for checking out the blog and I hope to see you at the park this year. God Bless – Marshall