Fernando Vina Autographed Ball

Fernando Vina
2x Gold Glove

Another Menards opened in the St. Louis area a few weeks ago, and they brought in Fernando Vina to sign autographs. After getting there too late to make the line worth it for David Eckstein at my previous Menards try, I decided to show up about an hour early. I wound up about 75 minutes early due to low traffic, and about 10th in line. When Fernando arrived, early no less, he actually walked from the back of the line all the way up to his table, waving and saying hi the whole way. He definitely seemed to appreciate that people came out to see him. When signing the completely empty ball, he even asked me whether I wanted his autograph on the sweet spot, which I always take as sort of a humble question, since I assume that means he knows I might want to get multiple guys from a team he played for, and put the bigger star in that spot. I'm pretty much a one-auto-per-ball collector though, so I told him, absolutely.

Vina played for the Cardinals during a time they gave away a lot of bobbleheads, because I saw at least 2 distinct variations that some fans brought, and he only played here 4 years. The woman behind me was a big Vina fan, and actually had an authentic jersey for him to sign, along with her bobblehead, which she asked him to sign on the butt. He obliged, and she couldn't have been happier.

Between my spot at the front of the line and Fernando's early arrival, I was out of the 6pm signing by about 6:05 and on my way home, with another ball for my collection.