We drove up to Cincinnati to visit my step daughter as she had just joined Cincinnati Ballet. While there, my son and I had plans to see a Reds game on Friday September 22, 2023. My son and I have always been serious about collecting autographs. Since we had plenty of time, we decided to try to get some autographs early by hanging out by the players parking lot as they arrived at the ballpark. We arrived around noon and saw one fan was already there with the same idea. He didn't recognize us and asked where we were from. We told him we drove up for the weekend from Tampa. He then asked, "Are you going to the Q&A"? I answered no, as we only have tickets to the game itself. He then asked for my e-mail address and sent Braden and I two tickets! He said the Q&A starts at 2:30, which is about 3 hours before the gates open!
While inside, hours before the majority of the fans were allowed in, Braden and I had a unique opportunity to get some autographs. Joey Votto signed an 8x10 picture for each of us. Joey was one of the main guys we were trying to get. Big thanks to Tony for hooking us up with the Q&A tickets. Without those, this probably wouldn't have happened!!
