All posts tagged Reds Winter Caravan

Cara Van Damme!

January 29, 2012

This was better than the mall.

OMGreds hit the road again this year to chase the annual Reds Caravan. The past few years we’ve trekked up to Columbus for the stop at Polaris Fashion Place, but this time around we hit the Dayton stop at the National Museum of the USAF on Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The Dayton stop was the final destination of the Northern Leg of the Caravan tour and featured Thom Brennaman, Phil Castellini, Walt Jocketty, Devin Mesoraco, Tom Browning, Ryan LaMarre and Mr. Redlegs.

And what a venue for this event. Not only was there plenty of room for a great crowd, but you’re surrounded by military history and the famous jets that you had on posters in your room as an 8-year-old. You know, the F-22, that was right below the Ferrari Testarossa and right next to Paula Abdul.

Autographs from Ryan LaMarre, Tom Browning, Devin Mesoraco, Thom Brennaman and Walt Jocketty

As for the program, it was to the point. A short Q&A (Peppered mostly with questions for Walt about why the Reds gave up so much for Mat Latos) preceded an autograph session. There were quite a few folks in front of us during the autograph session, but when we finally reached the stage all the guys were still very personable and accommodating. After a couple of days on the road and meeting a bunch of crazies like us, you would imagine they might be a little weary of the fans, but they were great. It was very much appreciated by the OMGcrew.

Make sure you also catch the Northern Tour wrap-up post over at Better Off Red.

A few snaps of the event…

[Show as slideshow]

Comments: 1 Posted by: Dan Categories: Autographs, Happenings Tags: Dayton, Paula Abdul, Reds Winter Caravan

Reds Winter CaraVan Hagar: Columbus

January 30, 2011

Dusty Baker, Chris Welsh, Homer Bailey and Todd Frazier signing autographs on the Columbus stop of the 2011 Reds Caravan

Alright, Van Hagar is a HUGE stretch, but I somehow had to tie in my inability to “Drive 55*” while heading up 71 North for the final stop of the Northern Leg of the 2011 Reds Winter Caravan. I was nailed doing 85 in a 65. My excitement for the Reds and malls in general could not be contained.

As for the Caravan, like all of the rest of the stops, attendance was up significantly. It was estimated that over 600 folks were taking in the festivities at Polaris Fashion Place just north of Downtown Columbus.

While standing in line, I was unable to hear anything from the stage at the center of the mall. I’m not sure if they did a Q&A, but if they did, it was short and they got on with the autograph line pretty quickly. From my spot, maybe 250 folks from the front, I was able to move through in under an hour and a half. I was really happy to finally add Homer Bailey to my autograph collection. He’s one of the few guys on the team I haven’t been able to track down between Redsfest and other events. Along with Homer, I snagged sigs from Todd “The Situation” Frazier, Chris Welsh and Dusty Baker for my son and myself. Dusty did a very nice personalization on my son’s baseball card. That will be a special card in his little collection. Thank you, Dusty!

All-in-all it was a nice reason to take a little road trip with the family and remedy the winter blues. It’s always great seeing the folks we know with the Reds and Cincinnati USA as well as getting some autographs.

*Yes, yes yes, I know Sammy Hagar did that song solo, but CaraVan Hagar was too good to pass up. Will you let it slide this time?

Comments: 1 Posted by: Dan Categories: Autographs, Happenings Tags: Chris Welsh, Dusty Baker, Homer Bailey, Reds Winter Caravan, Todd Frazier

Reds Winter Caravan: Athens

January 30, 2011

OMGReds wanted to get to a couple of Reds Winter Caravan stops this year, and heading to Athens – home of Ohio University, where former Red Frankie Baumholtz, 9-year MLB veteran Steve Swisher and Hall of Fame third baseman and Reds Killer Michael Jack Schmidt (.608 slugging percentage against the Reds was his best against any opponent … he had 55 homers in 630 at-bats vs. Cincinnati) once starred – was a no-brainer.

Check out our photos from Thursday night at the Market on State (formerly University Mall).

There was a Q&A with fans; biggest news to emerge from that is that Dusty sees Jay Bruce in the mix for leadoff hitter consideration. Wha? I was a little surprised that didn’t get more of a reaction from the crowd.

Shortly after the Q&A started, Chris Welsh seized the mic and told attendees to start forming the line for autographs. He discouraged fans – in the interest of moving things along – from posing for pictures while going through the line. This reds.com article said that “at most visits, the groups will take time to participate in question-and-answer sessions, pose for pictures and sign autographs.” (I had wanted to get a picture with Dusty for my wife’s grandmother who is a big Dusty fan, but Welsh was sitting next to Dusty and I was afraid he’d muster up the strength in his recently surgically repaired shoulder to reach over and slap me if I did, so I just stuck to autographs.) But I figure Athens was one of the visits with no photo opportunities, so that was definitely no biggie.

What did bother me – through no fault whatsoever of the Reds – was people around me in line a) asking where Homer Bailey was (the website CLEARLY stated all along that Bailey was only doing Saturday and Sunday on the Northern Tour) and b) going all Jay Cutler on the Cowboy and complaining that he wasn’t there. It was announced just before the others arrived that Brantley was under the weather and wouldn’t be able to attend. And I heard people bitching about not being able to get their Brantley stuff signed. THE POOR GUY (it turns out) HAD STREP THROAT! Have you ever had strep throat? The remedy is plenty of fluids and rest – not signing autographs and interacting with fans. And it’s highly contagious, so people should be glad he didn’t try to tough it out. Geez. Give the Cowboy a break, people.

Good time. Was I jealous when I saw that Joe Morgan was at the Air Force museum today? You betcherass. But then again, the fans who were in Dayton couldn’t go down the street after their Reds Caravan stop and have a beer at the Maplewood Inn like I could.

Comments: 2 Posted by: Dave Categories: 2010 NL Central Champs, Autographs, Baseball Cards, Beer, Dumb Reds fans, Dusty Baker, Former Reds, Friggin' Brantley, OMGrant, Reds Killer, Road Trip, WTF? Tags: Reds Winter Caravan

Reds Caravan: C-Bus

January 31, 2010

Brandon Phillips signs autographs at the Reds Caravan stop in Columbus

The OMGreds posse kicked around the idea of a quick Reds Caravan road trip to maybe Athens or Louisville or some other stop for a night, but schedules were tight and nothing came of it. So, it was out of the blue when Twitter told me that the Reds Caravan was at the same spot in Columbus I was heading to Sunday morning.

Really, I was really planning to go there. The Reds were not involved with my plans at all. I SWEAR. It was just a nice coincidence. SWEAR.

As the Caravan stop at Polaris Fashion Place (MALL) was just kicking off, I hit the road from Cincinnati to Columbus.

In spite of the I-71 being patrolled by EVERY SINGLE State Trooper in the state of Ohio, I made good time and actually caught the last 30 minutes of the autograph session, getting in line right outside of JC Penny. Oh, I how I love Pennys. Anyways, though Reds officials let us back-of-the-liners know that we probably won’t make it through the line in time, but we stuck it out anyways. We were soon rewarded by a very kind Brandon Phillips, who hopped up from his seat on the stage and came out to make sure that every person in line that wanted an autograph and/or photo with him was taken care of. Total class act. This was the last stop of the weekend tour for these guys and I’m sure they wanted to head home, but they took care of everyone. I also managed to snag an auto from Zach Cozart and Glenn Braggs right before they bugged out. All those guys couldn’t have been any nicer.

Glad I made the stop in C-Bus to hook-up with the Reds Caravan.

While I didn’t get much in the way of photos (sorry!) make sure you check out Jamie Ramsey’s blog, Better Off Red. There is a plethora of photos and stories from all the 2010 Reds Caravan stops. Great stuff. While Redsfest is awesome for us fans here in Cincy, the Reds really do their best to take care of the rest of Reds Country.

UPDATE: Make sure you check out The Writer’s Journey for photos and autographs from Saturday’s Caravan stop at National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton on Saturday.

For even more, Red Hot Mamma has posted some photos from the Muncie, IN stop on Saturday.

ALSO…
Looks like the Reds inked Orlando Cabrera. Nice upgrade at short. We are really rooting for Janish, but this is great. Hopefully The OC can produce this year.

Our boy Slyde over at Red Reporter is at Reds Fantasy Camp. We couldn’t possibly be more jealous. Have a great week, dude!

Comments: 2 Posted by: Dan Categories: Autographs, Outstanding, Road Trip Tags: Brandon Phillips, Glenn Braggs, Reds Winter Caravan, Zach Cozart

Follow the Reds Caravan

January 22, 2009

We love this stuff! You can follow the Reds Caravan over the next few days on MLBblogs. We do love the squished photos – makes Brantley seem taller.

Also, our good friend Jackie Reau is apparently DRIVING one of the vehicles in the caravan and throwing down on Twitter at the same time. You can follow her updates here.

Of course, OMGreds.com will be holding down the homebase right here in the ‘nati. You can follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/omgreds.

AND IN OTHER NEWS… The Reds have frozen payroll for ’09. Not much a surprise really.

Comments: 2 Posted by: Dan Categories: Happenings Tags: Blogs, Reds Winter Caravan, squished photos, Twitter