I got to the parking lot at 7am, and a lot of players were already inside.  Most of the players that arrived after I did said they would sign after practice.  The bus that would be taking the travelling players to Orlando arrived at around 8:15.  Livan Hernandez and Drew Storen were the only players to sign in the morning.

At about 9am, my buddy Gil and I head over to the door that the players usually emerge from on their way to the practice fields.  But nobody ever came out.  We met up with one other grapher, and headed towards the main stadium entrance.  The door was open, so we head inside.

The team was stretching on the field.  We headed down to the first base side autograph pit, and waiting for an opportunity to call over the guys we were most interested in:  Willie Harris and Devon White for myself, Adam Dunn for Gil, and Stephen Strasburg for both of us. 

After about an hour and fifteen minutes, Willie Harris headed towards the dugout.  I asked if he would mind signing, and he came over to us.  I started my usual spiel about how I'm a huge White Sox fan, and he was the whole reason I was there.  Willie surprised me with his response.  He told me he is also a huge White Sox fan, and that he loves the South Side.  He also said he thinks he may be heading back to the Sox at some point.  Willie is a great guy, and happily signed my cards and baseball, though he did ask if I planned on selling the baseball.  Gil spoke on my behalf, telling what a crazy Sox fan I am.  All in all, getting Willie has probably been my favorite experience of the spring.

Shortly after getting Harris, several Nationals employees converged on the three of us, and basically kicked us out of the stadium.  We were told that the stadium was closed, and that we should never have been there in the first place.  It seems quite ridiculous to me that THREE fans can't watch the team practice.  They should be happy that any fans wanted to be there in the first place.

We headed back to the parking lot, where several players signed that I had either already gotten (Hernandez, Storen) or that I had nothing for (Balester, Guzman, a few others).  Finally, Stephen Strasburg emerged.  At this point there were 5 of us waiting near the parking lot, including one older gentleman.  We asked Strasburg to sign, and he responded "Not today".  The older guy said "Please, this is the only day I'll be here", to which Stephen coldly replied "I've heard that before". 

I am now officially rooting for Strasburg to be a monumental failure, a la Brien Taylor.  What goes around, comes around.

Billy is one of my all-time favorite White Sox players, so I'm thrilled to finally have both of his rookie cards signed.  Billy uses a perfect pen for vintage autos, so I didn't even have to send a pen!  I was lucky to get a pretty good deal on both cards, and both are in very nice condition.  Thanks Billy!