The Houston Astros and the Astros in Action Foundation will host the team’s annual FanFest on Friday and Saturday.
FanFest events will take place throughout the main concourse of Minute Maid Park and include autograph sessions with the current roster of players and former Astros, a sports card and memorabilia show produced by TRISTAR, a silent auction, and the popular Garage Sale of Astros promotional merchandise and “memory lane” autographed items.
The card show takes place Friday and Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
Fans can bid on autographed jerseys worn by the players during Friday and Saturday’s exhibition games against the Blue Jays (which were also worn by the players throughout the 2010 Spring Training season) and also bid on other unique memorabilia via a silent auction.
The Astros Garage Sale takes place Saturday with Astros promotional merchandise and “memory lane” autographed items beginning at $0.25.
The team will offer Astros Grab Bags on Saturday. For a donation of $50, fans have a chance to receive Astros current and/or former player autographed items.
Friday’s activities will begin when gates open at 5:30 p.m. in advance of the 7:05 p.m. exhibition game. On Saturday, FanFest will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will end at the conclusion of the 1:05 p.m. exhibition game against Toronto.
FanFest admission is free with the purchase of a game ticket with all proceeds benefiting the Astros in Action Foundation. Only 200 tickets for each autograph session will be sold.
There will be eight autograph sessions plus a special autograph session with Jeff Bagwell. The eight regular sessions will feature multiple players and/or coaches.
Buying a voucher for an autograph session entitles the purchaser one autograph from each player in that session.
Bagwell will appear Friday night from 6-7 PM. An autograph is priced at $50.
Free autographs will be available from Kevin Bass, Enos Cabell, Bill Heath, John Hudek, James Mouton, Shane Reynolds, Brian Williams, Jimmy Wynn from 7:30-8:30.
Current players appear Saturday from 9:30-10:20 with a $20 per session charge.
Session #1- Carlos Lee, Brandon Lyon, Tim Byrdak, Felipe Paulino, Dave Clark
Session #2– Hunter Pence, Wandy Rodriguez, Gustavo Chacin, Cory Sullivan, Jamie Quirk
Session #3 – Michael Bourn, Matt Lindstrom, Chris Sampson, Samuel Gervacio, Gary Majewski, Sean Berry
Session #4- Roy Oswalt, Jason Michaels, Jeff Fulchino, Jason Bourgeois, Brad Arnsberg
11:40 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Autograph Sessions –
Session #5-Geoff Blum, Kaz Matsui, Brian Moehler, Al Pedrique
Session #6-Brad Mills, Brett Myers, Jeff Keppinger, Chris Johnson, Kevin Cash
Session #7-Pedro Feliz, Bud Norris, J.R. Towles, Drew Meyer, Bobby Meacham
Session #8-Lance Berkman, Tommy Manzella, Humberto Quintero, Chris Shelton
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Alumni Autograph Sessions – Free
James Mouton, J.R. Richard, Scipio Spinks, Carl Warwick, Jimmy Wynn, Eric Yelding
Fans will need an April 2 or April 3, 2010 exhibition game ticket to purchase an autograph voucher. Friday special autograph session vouchers for Bagwell will go on sale at the Minute Maid Park center field ticket window 36 at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 2.
Saturday autograph session vouchers will go on sale at Minute Maid Park ticket windows at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 3. Autograph vouchers are limited to fans 3 years or older.
200 autograph vouchers will be available for purchase for each of the autograph sessions.
Fans are encouraged to review the different sessions, choose their priority sessions and line up at the corresponding ticket windows for their preferred sessions.