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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Spot The Sig! - Solved - Jeff Francouer

I have to confess, this weeks STS was a bit loaded. I put it up and pretty much expected Dayf to get it. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I wanted to send out a Thanks to Dayf who back in July added Phungo to his blog roll and for the first time I was getting outside readers. It may only be a couple readers a day, but it is always appreciated. So Dayf, thank you, and congratulations, and for correctly guessing the sig the Cardboard Junkie team hits a laser down the right field line good for a triple.

Now on to the autograph.

In September of 2005 Jeff Francoeur was a highly touted prospect in his rookie year for the Atlanta Braves. I was shocked when Francouer came over to sign for a small group of autograph seekers prior to the game. As I remember he was pretty affable and made small talk with fans while signing programs, cards, and balls for maybe two dozen people.

2008 Topps #381 Jeff Francoeur

Francouer’s Spot The Sig! auto is somewhat similar to his facsimile signature, at least the first name is. After what I think is the end of the Fs in JEFF he sort of scribbled through his last name. On his card you can see he basically prints the F in his last name – there is definitely no sign of that on the ticket he signed for me.

Oh and speaking of the ticket, which now is unblemished, you can clearly see

Section 111, Row 19, Seat 10

The closest guesses for section and seat number were both by Dayf with 113 and 8 respectively. Night Owl came up with 14 for the closest row number. Each team will be awarded stolen bases and walks accordingly.

2004 Bowman #221 Anthony Lerew

The odd thing is the real reason I was near the Braves dugout that day was to get an autograph from much lesser Braves Prospect, Anthony Lerew. Lerew had recently made his major league debut. This made him the first person from the small Central PA high school I attended to make it into the Majors or play any professional sport.

Anthony Lerew’s career is yet to take off. He was a top 10 prospect for Atlanta back 04 or 05 but has not had any real success at the Major league level. He had Tommy John Surgery in 2007 and put up unspectacular numbers for a couple of Braves affiliates this past season while recovering. Anthony Lerew is currently on the Braves 40 man roster – I hope he gets another crack at the majors.

Okay back to the STS standings. Currently we have completed 2 rounds and Cardboard Junkie is on the scoreboard!

Following the triple they got two bonus questions - the runner on 3rd scores on a wild pitch for the first answer and a walk is awarded for the 2nd answer.

The Night Owl team also gets their first runner on via a walk for getting a bonus question.

At the end of 2 rounds of Spot the Sig! here is the game situation

Cardboard Junkie representing the Braves has a Run across and a Chipper on first.

Stats on the Back and the Stinkin Mets and a man on second.

Cardboard Addiction and the Fenway Faithful has a man on first.

Night Owl Cards representing the Dodgers has young phenom Matt Kemp on first.

If you want to get involved in the Spot the Sig! game click here for background on the contest and some ground rules. The next sig will likely go up Sunday night. I see a trip to card show on Sunday but will try and get a posting up around 10pm.

3 comments:

  1. Why do I have the feeling that Kemp is going to be stranded on first for a looong time?

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  2. WOOOO! Stole home! The signature you have is pretty typical for Frenchy, his facsimile doesn't look like a lot like certified autos I've seen.

    I just read something about Anthony Lerew actually... He's pitching in Mexico this offseason and is getting a lot of work in. He'll probably be in the bullpen mix this spring if he stays healthy.

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  3. Hang in there Night Owl. It's a long season and you're one of my most consistent commentors. I am sure you will spot a sig just at the right overnight moment.

    and thanks to dayf for the Anthony Lerew update. maybe I will bump into him at the gas station while visiting my folks for the holiday.

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