Autozone Park Recon

[Cobra22nd]

An Overview of Autographing at AutoZone Park
By Chad Griffith (cobra22nd)

Autographing can be very productive. The visiting team is almost always accommodating, though sometimes the Redbirds can be a challenge. 2007 brings us a new and more autograph friendly coaching staff. The Cardinals AA team stood in stark contrast to the AAA squad in 2006. I hope they continue to have the attitude they displayed at Springfield, it will be a welcome change to what we have experienced the past few years. This park offers some very pregame autographing, if you are willing to wait on the sidewalk. The problem is, you have to choose between 3 gates, because some Redbirds players live in apartments behind the park. There is a vendor entrance that those players can use. Other players, Redbirds and visitors, will use the 3rd base gate between the garage and Toyota Center. Redbirds using this gate will be coming exclusively from the garage, and visitors will be coming from the street. The main gate is the third location players can enter, and these will be players who were wandering around Memphis on foot, shopping or eating.

The layout has the home team on the 3rd base side and the visitors on the 1st base side. Players enter the dugout via a door to the bowels of the stadium inside it. If you are chasing Redbirds, you will find it to your advantage to set up here, on the home plate side of the dugout. After all the players are out, it is advantageous to move to the 3rd base side of the dugout before they start coming back in. Historically, this has been a massive waste of time; as the Redbirds have been less than accommodating post game, let alone pregame. The bullpen is in the outfield and this presents an opportunity to get some Redbirds relievers as they come back in after the game.

The visiting team enters the field through a door in their dugout, just like the redbirds. The best place to set up is on the home plate side of the dugout, but you can be rather successful on the 1st base side. As a matter of fact, the ushers will ask you to vacate the area about 15 minutes before the game starts. At this time, I will relocate to the 1st base side. This allows you to get the relievers as they head out to the bullpen in center. They generally go down the baseline to the warning track and then across. You can also get them coming back in after the game. Overall, I have had much better results with the visitors than the Redbirds, though the new coaching staff may change that.

After the game, the best place to wait is in the courtyard, outside of the gates to the interior of the stadium. Where you wait is up to you, but if you set up over by the hat gazebo with the Tim McCarver statue, you can see into the stairwell that the Redbirds players ascend to exit. From this vantage point, you can also see into the concierge area where the visiting players and Redbirds with family exit. This area comes in handy, because you have more time to get ready for the Redbirds, many of whom live in the apartments behind the stadium and do not exit via the main gate. If you set up on the benches, you are automatically at a disadvantage for getting Redbirds players. AutoZone park does give you the unique opportunity to get both teams post game nearly simultaneously, but the tradeoff is that you very well could miss someone you need if you do not focus on what you are doing. Since this is my home park, I focus on the visiting team, and approach whatever Redbirds I have a chance to get. Crunch time comes towards the end of May when players are looking to get released to go play overseas.

As with many minor league teams, the Redbirds have a number of meet the team nights. On these nights, if you get there early, you can snag all the Redbirds guys pregame and before the visiting team begins to wander onto the field for warm-ups!