I Shantz Not Be Sad!

I recently received a Baseball Digest back signed by Bobby Shantz. Bobby was on the cover twice and I had to track down the first one he was on. It proved difficult to find a nice one but I did and today I received it back signed. Bobby signed my August, 1952 issue beautifully and included “1952 AL MVP” which is cool since it is the year he won it!
I also received a pair of signed tickets today! A buddy of mine sent me a pair of tickets from the June 14, 2023 Giants at Cardinals game from when Luis Matos made his Major League debut. I noticed Luis was doing a signing with Mike C (Mac6185 on SCN) and sent them in. Mike got Luis to sign them beautifully with “MLB Debut”. They are fantastic!

Campy

Today provided a pretty neat return from Bert Campaneris. I found an October, 1969 issue that had a cool black and white photo of a play at the plate and did a little digging to see who the players were. I was able to identify the baserunner sliding home by his uniform and the ballpark. I knew it was Bert Campaneris and the play was at Oakland Alameda Colosseum. Since it was October, 1969, I guessed the photo was from late in the 1969 season. I went through a bunch of game logs for the A’s home games in September and August to see if I could identify a play where Bert was out at home. I could not but I found a few where he scored. I gave up and posted a picture as well as a closeup of the catcher’s partial patch in a Facebook group hoping someone could identify the team at least but received no replies. So, I sent the magazine to Campy and in my note asked who the catcher was. I received the magazine plus a 1972 Topps card he threw in signed for me along with a note stating the catcher was Ed Hermann of the 1969 Chicago White Sox. I thought it was pretty cool that he read my note and could remember the player. Sadly, Hermann passed away in 2013 so I won’t be able to complete the cover but at least the mystery is solved on who it is!

Maz!

A couple weeks ago I received my August, 1966 Baseball Digest signed by Gene Alley back and immediately sent it to Bill Mazeroski to get him to sign it and finish the cover. Today it arrived beautifully signed by Maz. What is even cooler about this is that Cami and I were in Pittsburgh a month ago and went to the Forbes Field wall and the Bill Mazeroski statue at PNC Park. Nice way to tie in a memory to the magazine!