Category: Misc

Three’s A Charm!

Today was a fun mail day!  I received three packages today of a couple items I bought and a nice surprise from a Twin!

The first package was the ticket from Luis Severino that I bought from Dustin K (bigvig56 on SCN) from the same event he got my baseball signed.  This is a ticket from Luis’ ML Debut and has the inscription.  It has a Steiner hologram on the back and a plastic card.

The next package I opened was from Kevin M (mrmain18 on SCN) and had two cards he got signed by John Smiley at an event in Pittsburgh.  Kevin got my only two cards I needed signed by John after multiple attempts to get them signed or buy them from others.  John has a ghost signer at the address he is widely known to have.  I even purchased a couple from reputable sellers in the past which ended up being ghost signed as well.  I am happy to FINALLY be able to mark Smiley’s cards off my need list!

My final envelope I hoped was an SASE I sent to Terry Ryan at Target Field.  He graciously signed the 2015 Topps Twins team card I sent and included a pair of his signed business cards that I also requested.  These items reminded me about the time I chatted with Mr Ryan at a Twinsfest event.  It was a highlight of that Twinsfest for me and these items made me think of that time.

Thanks Dustin, Kevin, and Mr Ryan for making my mail day extra fun today!

The Great Nils Lofgren!

Back on 3/10/2012, I sent a few Nils Lofgren and Bruce Springsteen albums to Rob H (skinsxvii on SCN).  Rob is married to Nils’ niece and told me he would be able to get him at some point when he came home for Christmas or on tour out East or wherever.  Today, I received all but a pair of items I mailed to him to get signed.  Rob is awesome.  He kept me posted throughout all the time with what was going on.  Turns out he was able to get him a couple weeks ago when Nils had a concert in Maryland and Rob had backstage passes.  He got everything signed for me except for a pair of items that he had at the bottom of his packaging.  He said he will get those signed next time he sees him.  This was my first autograph of a musician and one of my favorite E Street Band members.  Rob got signed the following for me:
Wrecking Ball album cover
Night Fades Away album
Tunnel of Love album cover
Tunnel of Love album with “2 Kevin”
A Rhythm Romance album cover (my favorite item signed!)
A Rhythm Romance album
Tunnel of Love album cover (this was for my buddy Mike who introduced me to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band).
Since I mailed those items to Rob, Cami got to see Nils and the rest of the band when they were at the Xcel Arena as part of the Wrecking Ball tour.  Cami wants me to send her program to Rob to get signed for her collection.  We will see…
Thanks so much Rob.  Your efforts and patience is VERY appreciated!  I LOVE the items you were able to get Nils to sign for me!!!

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!

A Peanut Farmer’s Bell

Today I received a pair of items with one being baseball related.

The first package contained a Chris Colabello cowbell that was given away at a Twins game early last year.  I sent it to Lou R (signatures on SCN) and he got it signed during Spring Training.  He also got a bunch of other stuff for me that he is sending.

The other package was a pair of books I bought at Half Price Books that were written by Jimmy Carter.  I thought it would be neat to have a couple president autographs in the collection so I thought I would try him.  I received them both back with a signed bookplate affixed inside each one.