On Wednesday February 20, 2013, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena hosted a Mike Piazza book signing. Piazza was scheduled to sign copies of his book, Long Shot, starting at 6 p.m. This was the first book signing i've attended at Vroman's and was impressed by how orderly and well planned it was. They used a ticket system and had us line up in that order. There were 50 tickets per letter and I was in group B. They printed tickets through the letter F and after that it was first come first serve, so there were at least 300 people in line.
I arrived at Vroman's at approximately 4:00 p.m. and jumped in line with others in group B. Time went by as I chatted with folks in line next to me and realized I was a few people in front of Greg from
plaschkethysweaterisargyle, as always it is nice to meet fellow bloggers! As you might imagine people in line were discussing Piazza's comments on Vin Scully and the Dodgers front office. I finished reading the book on Tuesday night and will save my opinions for another post.
The signing began promptly at 6:00 p.m. and Piazza was signing like a madman. I estimate I was roughly the 60th person in line and I was out of the store by 6:10 p.m. In order to keep the line moving there was a Vroman's employee taking your book from you, placing it in front of Piazza and security guard rushing you out once your book was signed. Piazza was engaging and friendly. I thanked him for signing my book and told him I was a big fan and he smiled and thanked me for coming out to the signing. You were allowed to take photos in line and were also allowed to hand your camera to a Vroman's employee to take a photo or two for you while Piazza signed your book(s). Unfortunately, the pictures she took for me came out really blurry.
I overheard someone ask him if he had any plans to do a memorabilia signing any time soon and he said, he would try and work something out. I won't get my hopes up to high but it would be awesome for Piazza to have a local autograph signing! Overall, the book signing was a great experience and I was able to get a few books signed. Check out my photos below.
Fans taking lots of pictures
Mike Piazza smiling for the cameras
Mike Piazza looking at the next book to sign
One of my signed copies of Long Shot
True to the Blue!
