Pujols appreciation thread

[epatmythes]

Originally Posted by 5pujols5

I was at the 2009 All Star Game in STL. Before the game started while everyone was stretching, Pujols saw a group of soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood standing at the outfield fence. They were going to hold the flag during the anthem. He went over to them and signed baseballs, jerseys, or whatever they had at the time. He signed for all of them. I realize he was the face of that all star game being in STL and all, but was still a classy thing to do. As you can obviously tell from my user name...he's my favorite player of all time.

I lived in the STL metro during his entire tenure there. By his third year in the league (2003)... it was totally a forget about getting his autograph situation. He didn't engage with fans, he didn't sign, period. You basically had 2 opportunities a year to get his autograph in person... pay a boat load to play in his charity golf tournament, or be lucky enough to buy a very limited (usually 150-200) autograph ticket for him at the Cardinals Winter Warmup. I was fortunate enough to get 4 pieces signed by him over the years via the Winter Warmup route. St. Louis Sports Collectors Inc., from 2004-2011, did a couple "private" signings with him, but that was maybe 2, 3 tops that I can recall. For his prices though, it was always something I wanted in person... never went the private signing route. A few years back, he did sign at one of the big Chicago shows... to date, it's the only public appearance I can recall outside of Cali.