One of my son’s best friends was drafted by the Oakland A’s a year and a half ago. He spent the first half season in rookie ball but last summer was assigned to the Stockton Ports Single A team. I was excited when the ticket manager responded to a couple emails of mine asking for tickets to his debut and first win. I was able to give a couple of each to his parents and added the others to my collection waiting until the off season to get them signed. Today my son hung out with Tucker Novotny and their other buddies and got Tucker to sign the tickets for me. Tucker is a great kid from a great family and I wish him the very best for a successful career. He signed three tickets with “Minor League Debut” and five tickets with “1st MiLB Win”. These are fun items for my collection! Thanks Tucker!
Category: Tickets
The Wizard of Oz
Tom O (orr23mj on SCN) had a signing about a month ago with Ozzie Smith. I had mailed in a cool 2002 Hall of Fame induction ticket that was postmarked on the front from induction weekend in Cooperstown to get signed. It got hung up in the USPS and finally arrived today. I am excited with this one! It looks great!
Sweet Lou
I loved watching Sweet Lou Piniella manage. He was fiery and motivated his team with a “I got ya back” attitude. He was also known to have a meltdown once in a while. I vividly remember one at the Metrodome years ago where he argued a play and got tossed. Before leaving the field, he tossed a bunch of bats and equipment on the field. It was glorious!
Today’s mail brought in a ticket that he signed from the April 8, 1986 game that was his managerial debut. He did not inscribe managerial debut as I requested but did include a 2007 Allen & Ginter card! Only one out of my three requests for the managerial debut inscription on a ticket worked and that was at a paid signing. I wonder if these guys consider managing when they were a bench coach or similar situation count as their debut and shy away from it otherwise.
Gardy!
Ron Gardenhire was one of the more feisty managers in Twins history. He was also a big time winner (even though he never won the World Series like Tom Kelly did). After he left the Twins, he managed in Detroit. I remember reading articles about how he would walk around the outside of the ballpark when the fans were waiting in line to enter and would chat with them. What a great guy. His son, Toby, is the manager of the St Paul Saints, the Twins AAA team. Gardy had some health problems and abruptly retired from managing late in 2020. I was able to acquire a ticket from the Tigers Authentics group for the game on September, 18, 2020. Since there were no fans allowed in 2020, the ticket really isn’t a ticket, at least for admission, but it is printed and looks just like a real ticket. I sent it off to Gardy and he signed it along with “Final Game as Mgr”. He did deserve a better send off than his last game with no fans but 2020 was a strange year anyway. The ticket is a pretty cool item from a pretty cool person.