Category: Call Ball Collection

“That ball never came down!”

Today I received an awesome baseball from current Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Joe Angel.  Mr Angel used to broadcast for the Twins and was behind the microphone when Dave Kingman hit the ball that got stuck in the Metrodome roof.

The kids and I went to the Twins game on May 4th which happened to be against the Orioles as well as the anniversary of Dave Kingman’s hit.  On ethe way home, the Twins post game report on the radio played Mr Angel’s audio of his radio call of that moment.  I emailed my favorite Twins employee asking him if there was a way I could get a copy of that call.  He came through for me in minutes.  THANK YOU PAL!  I wrote my letter to Mr Angel with the call and received it back today.  He did a great job on it.  It goes with a Story Ball I have on that moment perfectly.

Getting the ball in the mail was a great way to kick off the weekend!

Another Trifecta of Packages!

I received three packages with autographs for the second time this week!  This was just as much fun going through them as was the previous day!

I received the final spring training package as well as a 50/50 package and another Call Ball from a Yankee broadcaster.

The first box I opened was a package from Michael Kay.  You may remember a couple months ago I sent a ball for his call of Derek Jeter’s home run in the World Series when he became Mr. November.  I had sent him a thank you note right after receiving it but I put the wrong address on it and got it back so I sent it along with another baseball asking for his call of Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit.  Mr Kay did not disappoint!  I got a beautiful baseball with his call “done in grand style!”  Thank you Mr Kay!

The next box was a real nice Dontrelle Willis Sports Illustrated magazine.  When Brian W (pumbaa673 on SCN) posted he would do 50/50’s for Dontrelle Willis at the Fresno Grizzlies’ Welcome Home Dinner, I knew I had to send in a pair of mint newsstand SI issues I had.  Brian came through big time with a gorgeous autograph on the SI.  Thanks Brian!

The last box I opened was the biggest.  It was the second “installment” of stuff I sent to Ethan R (ethanoah on SCN) and Kent B (doggle3 on SCN).  They already knocked out a bunch of items for me that I received a few weeks ago.  This box had the second group and remaining unsigned items in it.  The signed highlights were:
Walt Weiss on the Sports Illustrated already signed by Dave Winfield
Yasmani Grandal ML Debut ticket
Taijuan Walker ML Debut ticket
Sonny Gray OMLB
Tyler Skaggs OMLB
Andrew Cashner OMLB
Michael Cuddyer 2011 Topps US275
Jim Thome 2011 Topps Heritage 180
I have been getting stuff signed through Ethan and Kent for a while and they never let me down!  Thanks guys for another spring well done!

Michael Is More Than Just o-Kay!

A couple months ago Cami and I were watching the MLB TV channel where they had the World Series top moments and one of them was in 2001 when Derek Jeter became Mr November.  The regular season was delayed a week or so because of 9/11 so the World Series went into November as a result.  Game 4 started on 10/31/2001 and the game had just continued past midnight into 11/1/2001 when Derek Jeter hit a home run to win the game earning the nickname Mr November.  Michael Kay is a broadcaster for the New York Yankees and called the game.

While watching the highlights on the MLB channel, Cami told me I should send a baseball to the broadcaster and see if he would write his call on it.  I told Cami that there is no way a Yankee broadcaster would take the time to do that and if she wanted me to try, she would have to write the note first.  Within 10 minutes she had a note written to “Mr K” (she knew his name was said as Mr K!) so she called my bluff.  I sent off a package to Michael Kay along with Cami’s note the next day.  Today I received the baseball signed along with his awesome call and he wrote “Cami, it was my pleasure.” on her note.  What an awesome baseball.  I showed it to Cami and she remembered it and everything.  As soon as I showed her the note she wrote she said that was for the Yankees World Series game and smiled from ear to ear.  Thanks Mr Kay for making Cami’s and my day!

Dandy Dave!

Today’s mail brought a really cool baseball.  I was watching MLB tv a couple weeks ago and they had on some great Divisional Series games from the past and one of them was from Game 4 of the 2003 NLDS.  They played the audio of Dave O’Brien calling the game and the exciting finish when a collision between Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and JT Snow at home plate ended the game.  Pudge hung on to the ball after getting hammered by Snow.  It was a great ending.  Not only did Mr O’Brien write his call on the ball but also returned my donation to him and wrote a note thanking me for “bringing back one amazing memory”.  Not too many times the signer is as happy as the recipient but this might just be the case here!  THANK YOU Dave!