FanFest Ticket Sale, Sort Of

The Orioles have screwed up for years in the front office and on the field, but today they made huge mistakes, in my home. Via Ticketmaster, that is.

Today's sale of FanFest autograph voutures was not smooth at all, but the problems started earlier this week. All week long the Orioles said a full list of signers would be released later in the week. Later meant Friday afternoon, giving us autograph seekers less than 24 hours to plan for one of the biggest autograph days of the year. Good job.

But I got ready. Plotted out who I needed to get and gave detailed instructions to my wife to make the purchase (I was lucky enough to work yesterday morning). Tickets went on sale at 10am and I received a phone call from wifey at 10:09. "Sweet, got em already and I had nothing to worry about," I thought. I thought wrong.

Tickets for my primary session (Jim Palmer) were not available. I went into a back office at work and logged on to see what the problem was. Did they sell out? Was there a glitch? We couldn't figure it out. After freaking out and cursing at work, ever the consummate professional, I had my wife buy my second target before it was gone. I finished up my workday knowing I would at least get Matt Wieters, Dick Hall and Craig Tatum, not how I wanted things to go.

Once home I received a text from a friend at 1:30pm that the Palmer tickets were now on sale. Apparently there was a major error, the vouchers were never opened up. They hadn't sold, they were just never offered. I snatched the laptop from my startled wife, logged in and bought two tickets before they were taken away from me again.

I talked to a bunch of other graphers about their experiences, little of which were positive. Many of the tickets sold were for the wrong sessions or with wrong players. With all these glitches it doesn't bode well for FanFest itself.

On a lighter note, anyone willing to get Palmer for me with my second ticket? You could keep Randolph, Berken or Accardo. Let me know, I am willing to work something out and I am sure my wife will not be attending to help.