![Did Kris Bryant leave any autographs behind? That'll be one of the mysteries drawing fans to Autographed Ball Giveaway Night Aug. 26 in Des Moines. By Minda Haas from Omaha (Kris Bryant) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Kris_Bryant_2014.jpg)
The Iowa Cubs are continuing a hobby tradition: Autographed Ball Giveaway.
I first wrote about the tradition in 2011.
Thankfully, the team includes an ID note with each baseball. Not that a current player would ever have questionable penmanship!
Great collector-friendly idea. Great organization. Ask your favorite minor league team why they don’t do the same.
Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Blake Cooper made headlines for an off-the-field reason.
No, he didn’t get arrested.
The PCL hurler’s temporary home caught the attention of the state’s biggest newspaper.
Seasons ago, former Iowa Cub Rod Beck redefined portable lodging when in Des Moines, keeping his RV parked just outside the outfield fences.
Good luck figuring out where Cooper will park in The Windy City. I’m guessing collectors may need to stick with the “c/o team” route in this case.
![Mascot, not to be confused with Randy Wehofer. The latter calls one fine game. By Scott McLeod (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Cubbie_Bear.jpg)
Beat the crowd?
Joe Superstar needs to test his pitching arm. Is he ready to come off the DL? It’s time for a short tune-up and test in AAA first.
Why not write the in-demand signer when he’s back in the minors? Surely, the fan mail crush can’t be the same as the bigs, right?
I posed that question to Randy Wehofer, talented broadcaster and director of media relations, for the Iowa Cubs. I’m grateful for his response:
“As a front office staff, we deliver all mail addressed to players to our clubhouse when it is received. In the specific case of rehabbing players, I wouldn’t suggest sending things in the mail. Typically their stay with us is very short. By the time we announce that a player is going to join us, and someone puts a letter in the mail to Principal Park, there is a good chance that the player will be gone by the time we receive it. We do forward mail on during the season, but that is done as time allows for our staff, so it would be impossible to predict when the player may receive it. Any mail that we get for players after the season ends is typically marked “Return to Sender” since we have no idea what players may return the following year or access to their personal addresses.In my dealings with players, I know that a self-addressed stamped envelope significantly increases – but doesn’t guarantee – your chances of getting a response. I would also never put any item in the mail to be autographed that I wasn’t willing to never see again since there are a lot of variables and steps for that item to reach the desired player and ultimately find its way back to you. It’s also hard to guarantee the condition of that item with all the hands and machines it will pass through in the process as well.”
I spotted this surprise in the Sunday Des Moines Register newspaper.
My autographed Bob Feller ball was a gift. A gift from the Iowa Cubs. I attended their 2006 promotion, thinking it was too good to be true.
Here’s the inside story from Iowa Cubs broadcaster Randy Wehofer:
Justin Berg
Two to-be-named Iowa Cubs will be signing free autographs near the Gate A concourse that night from 6-6:30 p.m.