Ann's Comments (March 1997): “One of my favorite pastimes is to sit in my studio working on a quilt and listening to a baseball game. In order to combine these two loves, I made a quilt which, during the period from about 1992 to 1994, at spring training in Arizona and at the Oakland Coliseum, many Oakland A’s and several San Francisco Giants autographed.

Sometimes I was one of a crowd frantically shoving a pen and to-be-autographed item under the nose of whatever player bravely passed nearby. Sometimes the encounter was personal, as in the hotel restaurant when Carney Lansford, newly retired, said he would really miss being with the A’s.

Dennis Eckersley, in a quiet moment at the Phoenix airport, expressed concern about his pitching that day; and broadcaster Lon Simmons, caught before a game, was his usual gracious and joking self. When I complimented Tony LaRussa on his manager’s show, he seemed truly pleased.

Kelly Down’s autograph was obtained after my husband and I investigated the clothing and shoes being lobbed out of a hotel window (the A’s were checking out and this was his shortest route to the parking lot.)

Rickey Henderson was just hanging out near the virtually empty stands during a rain delay in Phoenix; and, as we admired the new Scottsdale Stadium, an almost unrecognizable Roger Craig in cowboy hat and boots walked by.

In retrospect, I was (maybe unreasonably) disappointed that no one recognized or acknowledged he was signing a quilt. Next time I’ll use a standard black Sharpie pen, instead of a finicky gold one, and I’ll get autographs on small squares of fabric instead of dragging around the whole quilt. And I’ll make note of who signs, since some of the signatures are difficult to decipher.”