Today I received a neat baseball I had sent to Jim Marshall. Jim is not someone a typical baseball fan thinks of or even heard of in most cases. I happened to be watching MLB’s 2015 Legends In Scouting where they honored a few baseball scouts. I was so impressed with Mr Marshall’s resume that I knew I had to send him a baseball and ask him to write his “stats” on it. Mr Marshall was introduced as “an original Met. He played for Casey Stengel, worked for PK Wrigley, Managed for Charles O’Finley and was the first Major League player to play in Japan”. That is quite the resume spanning a number of decades! I sent him a baseball requesting all that on a baseball and received it back with:
His name and “2015 Legends In Scouting” on the sweetspot.
“Original Met 1962”
“Played for Casey Stengel”
“1st ML player to Play in Japan Chunichi Dragons 1963”
“Managed for Charlie O’Finley Oakland A’s 1979”
“Managed for P.K. Wrigley Chicago Cubs 1974-1976”
He even wrapped the baseball box up in tissue paper when he sent it back to me and included his business card and even returned my donation. What an awesome baseball! It certainly tells a story of an amazing person and their life devoted to baseball!
Author: Kevin
Happy For Javy!
Today I went to the Iowa Cubs game with the kids and Caden’s baseball team. We were all in Des Moines for a baseball tournament and it worked out that the Cubs were in town so we got forty tickets and everyone went. It was a blast. Cami, Caden’s friend Cayden, and I got to the ballpark just as the gates opened. It had rained up to that point so the tarp was on the field and the players were not out taking batting practice. The three of us waited where the players take the field and most walked past us. Cayden and Cami saw that Corey Seager (the number five prospect in baseball) was going to the Dodgers’ dugout and decided to head there. I had a ML debut ticket of Javier Baez that I was hoping to get signed so I waited halfway down the third base line watching him warm up. Once he was done, we went to a couple kids and signed for them and posed for a photo and then signed my ticket. I was really excited. On the other side of the field Cayden and Cami were able to get Corey Seager. They also got another player after the game. Cami conned me into buying her a game used signed bat but Chris Valaika.
We all had a blast and the kids got on the scoreboard video screen twice! Unfortunately for the Cottage Grove Wolfpack, they only won one game and lost three on the weekend. It was fun though!
Catch Ya Later!
Today I received a couple items signed by Charlie O’Brien. Charlie is friends with my friend Robert T (lutherlafy on SCN) and when Charlie released a new book, Robert hooked me up with a signed copy and a really neat baseball. The book is titled “The Cy Young Catcher”. I did not realize this until the book came out but Charlie caught 13, yes THIRTEEN, pitchers who won the Cy Young Award! That is pretty impressive! Charlie signed the book “To Kevin, Catch ya later, Charlie O’Brien”. The baseball he signed with his name and Cy Young Catcher on the sweetspot and around the whole baseball he listed all 13 pitchers. They were:
Pete Vuckovich
David Cone
Frank Viola
Dwight Gooden
Bret Saberhagen
John Smoltz
Steve Bedrosian
Greg Maddux
Tom Glavine
Pat Hentgen
Roger Clemens
Chris Carpenter
Jack McDowell
Pretty impressive list! The ball looks awesome! Thanks Charlie and Robert!
Balls & Cards
Today I received a pair of packages. The first one was the remaining items Lou R (signatures on SCN) got me in spring training. There were a bunch of cards in this package for my Twins project! The cards are:
Alex Presley 2014 Topps 624
Josmil Pinto 2014 Topps Heritage High
Trevor Plouffe 2014 Topps 325
Trevor Plouffe 2014 Topps Heritage
Trevor May 2015 Topps
Kennys Vargas 2015 Topps
Michael Cuddyer 2011 Allen & Ginter
Chris Colabello 2014 Topps UH182
Chris Colabello 2014 Topps Heritage
Matt Capps 2012 Topps Heritage
All are signed perfectly in blue Sharpie! Thanks Lou!
The other package had five baseballs signed on the sweetspot in blue ink perfectly that Paul C got for me from the Florida minor league teams he goes to. The baseballs are:
Eduardo Rodriguez
Yoan Moncada
Dominic Smith w/”2013 1st RD Pick NYM!”
Amed Rosario
Michael Conforto w/”1st Round Pick 2014″
Another batch of beautiful baseballs! Thanks Paul!