Hi guys, I'm new to this forum and I'm very glad to have come across it. My name is Ryan (I think you could already guess that one) and I'm from Pensacola, FL, I'm also a huge baseball fan and an autograph collector. About two years ago I believe it was I received the thrill of my life when I learned Pensacola was getting a minor league baseball team (later to be known as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos). Now I'll be honest with you guys I'm a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan but I (and the rest of the town) are very happy to have the Cincinnati organization here. You guys have a very strong future ahead of you. I've seen a lot of great talent come and go during this first season (LaMarre, Gregorius, Hamilton, Cingrani, Corcino, Joseph, Costanzo.....I think you get the idea). Anyway, I look forward to making more Wahoos related posts on this forum.
Moving on....
This past Thursday I received an e-mail from a friend of the family (who works at a local Toyota dealership where every Friday the local ESPN radio station records a Blue Wahoos radio show) that said this week's radio show was going to be open to the public and Billy Hamilton was going to be on the show and we could go up and have a meet-and-greet, and they were also going to have free pizza, ticket giveaways, etc. I also got a Wahoos Newsletter e-mail saying the same thing. So on Friday morning my family and I drove up to the dealership. We arrived at the event about ten minutes late which scared me because I figured we'd have to wait in an hour long line (If you've been to an organized autograph signing, you know what I'm talking about). We walked in to discover that only one other guy had shown up (The flaw with this event was it was poorly advertised. It was just that one e-mail sent the night before). One ESPN guy was doing the show the time we walked in and the other was on the phone with Billy and he told us that Billy was close to the dealership but he was lost and was giving him directions. (Which I found a bit humorous since Billy is new to town) Anyway, so we waited about ten minutes and I walked out real quick to the car to grab something and guess who walked right past me at the entrance, Billy himself. So I ran to the car, did what I needed to do, and ran back in. And since we were the only ones there the friend of the family I was telling you about walked over and personally introduced us to Billy. I shook his hand, he asked my name, and I along with the other guy there started talking to him. We then got some autographs, took pictures, Billy did his interview, he talked with us some more, then went on his way. I also had some free pizza and was given the tickets they were supposed to give away (Since we were the only ones there). Autographs, Billy Hamilton, free pizza, and free baseball game tickets, pretty cool day, eh?
Really nice to meet Billy, he is a very nice man. Soft spoken too, which surprised me.
Also you can see some more pictures and video here-
Billy Hamilton Autograph Signing And Radio Show Interview - YouTube
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Originally Posted by BPhil4
