Memories of AngelsWin Fanfests

[tdawg87]

7 minutes ago, Spirit said:

 

Every time I see one of the pictures of the Sunday morning "State of the Team" addresses with Tim Mead I immediately feel hungover and dehydrated

 

Ah shit. Taco bell night. And also forgetting about the time change. 

[BaseballMom]

1 minute ago, katie said:

I missed most of them for this reason. 

But how about the brunch afterward at Aunt Chilada's? Pardon the Timehop, couldn't find the original right now. lol

[katie]

1 hour ago, BaseballMom said:

A few photos from different events. Tim Mead was/is the man! Those Sunday morning talks were so great. @Spirit, I thought what happened at Spring Training stayed at Spring Training. 

Thats why I’m not posting pictures from the “post event shenanigans”

[katie]

4 hours ago, katie said:

Some of my favorite memories from AW spring training trips are when tickets were cheap. 

$18 in 2012

[Crampknees]

What I remember is beers, nap, beers, friends, game, fun, beers, nap, dinner, beers, fun, nap, beers. If the doctor asks any falls recently the answer is not since the last AW fanfest. 

Even one of the softball games I misplayed a ball, dove, and planted my glasses into the grass breaking them. Then beers, nap, fun, beers.....

[Chuck]

49 minutes ago, Crampknees said:

What I remember is beers, nap, beers, friends, game, fun, beers, nap, dinner, beers, fun, nap, beers. If the doctor asks any falls recently the answer is not since the last AW fanfest. 

Even one of the softball games I misplayed a ball, dove, and planted my glasses into the grass breaking them. Then beers, nap, fun, beers.....

We all drank too many kilt lifters at Tempe Diablo and baked in the sun that day.

[katie]

I have a few pictures of Derek sleeping during AW events over the years. 

[Chuck]

@Crampknees was so adamant about taking naps at our fanfest events that he scheduled them. So we, napped. 

[m0nkey]

2 hours ago, katie said:

$18 in 2012

Thanks, Biden

[BaseballMom]

Some photos came up today from The Library and Hail Mary's. Pretty sure that the Christie's night happened after Hail Mary's.  

Edited March 6 by BaseballMom

[Tank]

On 3/5/2024 at 1:53 PM, Spirit said:

 

Every time I see one of the pictures of the Sunday morning "State of the Team" addresses with Tim Mead I immediately feel hungover and dehydrated

 

wait, you mean that's not your normal state? looks like i owe adam $20.

[Spirit]

24 minutes ago, Tank said:

wait, you mean that's not your normal state? looks like i owe adam $20.

 

[Tank]

38 minutes ago, Spirit said:

 

[Dave Saltzer]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:46 AM, Blarg said:

In 2012 I was setting up the location for the Angelswin Fanfest. I was looking for an upgrade from the defunct Hail Mary's sports bar and found a nice place with a patio that could hold up to 50 people. That would have been a record showing for an Angels win Fanfest, and I had it locked down at a fan friendly price which included bar food. 

Then Arte Moreno screwed that all up by signing Albert Pujols to a 10 year contract.

All of a sudden we started getting more and more people wanting to come and quickly it blew past the 50 person limit. Suddenly it had become a major event and how to house all of those old and new fans was going to be a challenge. So I told Chuck the days of grungy sports bars were over, we had to dress up this event and become more, lots more. And we ended up being just that.

 I found the Fiesta Resort and Conference Center, right down the road from Tempe Diablo stadium, and started wheeling and dealing for a conference room. I reserved a room that could seat 125 people with an attached patio, bar service with a real catered meal and to top it off got special room rates. At the time we had only 75 or so reservations and by the night of the event every single table was full. Somehow @Brian Ilten kept track of all partygoers and checked them in, no party crashers at this event. 

But that was only part of the surprise for the fans. Chuck with his connection to Tim Mead, put together and amazing list of players, including Jerome Williams and Cole Calhoun that attended a couple of Fanfests over those years. But the surprise guest was Arte Moreno himself. I almost didn't know what to say when I greeted him at the entrance to the conference room. He wasn't even sure what he was walking into so I explained this was a gathering of fans, both casual and season ticket holders, through a website dedicated to Angels baseball. He looked at me like, what? A handshake later, him and Carol, along with some of his staff, entered the room and the crowd went crazy.

Arte gave a speech to the fans that is on the Angelswin website, I'm sure @Chuck can drop a link to the video. It was the first Fanfest of it's kind and from then it kept growing to the point we hosted over 230 people at the Fiesta Resort in even larger banquet rooms which featured Don Baylor and Tim Salmon as guest speakers. It was a ton of work but to see fans just reveling in being fans of the team made it worth the effort. 

Ahem, I got the Minor leaguers to attend from all of the interviews that I had done with them. Calhoun was so nervous during the meal, but was an an incredible interview. It was the first time that he had really been treated like a star and never forgot it. 

 

Here are 2 stories:

 

1) When Arte showed up, I asked him if he wanted or needed anything. He asked me for a beer, so I went out and bought him a beer. I know that Arte's reputation had taken a hit over the years, but at the time, he could do no wrong. Buying the owner of the team a beer is something I will never forget. He appreciated it, and then started talking for about an hour. All the poor minor leaguers standing behind him, especially Matt Shoemaker with his beard, standing behind him the whole time and unable to sit or do anything because the owner of the team was talking was both painful and funny at the same time. And who can forget when Arte took a swkp at Percy's hat by saying "I used to shoot at things like that back in Vietnam". And it was his own team's promo! 

 

Later, after the dinner, Matt Shoemaker asked me to drop him off at a dinner that he was having with Mike Trout at a Japanese restaurant. So, my two friends, Mike and Kevin joined me driving him across town and getting to meet Mike Trout. Shoemaker was unbelievably chill and telling us all sorts of stories from camp, most of which I can't repeat, and just having fun with a really great guy. 

 

I felt so badly when he was hit in the head. He was definitely a favorite player, as was Calhoun. 

 

Oh, one more nonstory story. Hanging with Steve Geltz. If you know, you know. 

[Chuck]

Geoff and I take you on a trip down memory lane from our past fanfests! 

 

[ELEVEN]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:07 PM, katie said:

$18 in 2012

Try the TickPick app. Saved me a lot of ticket money last week. Especially the weekday games

[Adam]

Didn't Lackey get some beer chick fired for banging her at the stadium?

[Tank]

On 3/7/2024 at 1:16 PM, ELEVEN said:

Try the TickPick app. Saved me a lot of ticket money last week. Especially the weekday games

ever have any problems with it? does it have a good reputation? told my daughter about it and she's skeptical. 

[m0nkey]

12 minutes ago, Tank said:

ever have any problems with it? does it have a good reputation? told my daughter about it and she's skeptical. 

I've used it a handful of times.  It's definitely sketchy looking but I've never had an issue with it.  Sometimes they even give you some bootleg-looking link with the ticket after you buy but it's legit each time I've used it

[tdawg87]

On 3/8/2024 at 2:33 PM, Adam said:

Didn't Lackey get some beer chick fired for banging her at the stadium?

[ELEVEN]

46 minutes ago, Tank said:

ever have any problems with it? does it have a good reputation? told my daughter about it and she's skeptical. 

Never had any issues. The digital Baseball tickets are sent directly to your Ballpark app by the sellers

[Chuck]

While this one may be one of our smaller event weekends, in terms of overall production and special guests, it may go down as one of my favorites since it was the perfect balance of fun, relaxing and still eventful yet without the stress.

Great time with everyone! 

[James]

Four Peaks absolutely crushed it as well. Can't say enough about the service and costs of food and drinks. 

and we are getting ooooolllllldddddd. 

[katie]

I don’t know if it’s because it’s the most recent one in memory for me but I think it may have been my favorite. 
 

I think there should be a white pants dress code going forward. 

[tdawg87]

52 minutes ago, katie said:

I don’t know if it’s because it’s the most recent one in memory for me but I think it may have been my favorite. 
 

I think there should be a white pants dress code going forward. 

Ok but imagine the skidmarks.