Pat Neshek is a heck of a guy. Not only is he a collector, he helps other collectors as well. Pat runs the Phillies clubhouse autograph scene and helps us fellow collectors procure autographs of certain teammates. Today I received a Trevor Plouffe 2010 eTopps card and a 2012 Carl Pavano card signed by Drew Butera (who is featured on it) that Pat helped me obtain. This is the fourth or so time I have sent in and have been extremely pleased each time. THANK YOU PAT! You are a first year hall of famer in the Autograph Hall of Fame!
Feeling Chipper
Today we returned from our vacation and in the pile of mail was a couple Hall of Fame postcards signed by Chipper Jones. Isaias F (franco on SCN) had a private signing with Chipper and I wanted a postcard signed. I told my pal Jim W about it and he wanted one too so I sent in a pair. They look great. Thanks for your efforts Franco!
My Friend Vinnie
Today I met up with Vinnie M (vinniemiller on SCN). Vinnie swung by our hotel in AZ to drop off most of what he got signed for me so far in spring training. He still had to sort out the cards but got me most of the other items he completed. It was really cool to meet Vinnie as I he has been getting things signed for me for more than a few years now. He was everything you could imagine. He was so nice and personable. I really appreciate guys like Vinnie who I really trust and who really puts in the work to get things signed for me. The items I picked up are:
Joey Bart OMLB vinnie’s ball
Dylan Cease OMLB
Yisei Kikuchi OMLB
Matt Harvey 05.20.2013 SI
Hideo Nomo 07.10.1995 SI
Theo Epsten 11.21.2016 SI
Michael Kopech ML Debut ticket
Chih-Wei Hu ML Debut ticket
Matt Harvey ML Debut ticket
Amir Garret ML Debut ticket
Mason Williams ML Debut ticket
Chi Chi Gonzalez ML Debut ticket
These were great items but meeting The Man, The Myth, and The Legend was pretty cool too!
Paul Sorrento-oh-oh-yeah!
When we left for Arizona for a six day vacation in the desert I had one want for an autograph. Yeah, it would have been cool to get Mike Trout or Albert Pujols or Manny Machado but the one I REALLY wanted was Paul Sorrento. Paul played on the 1991 World Champion Twins team and was one of the last three post season roster players I need on my baseball. I tried to get him during batting practice when the Angels were in town last summer but the Saturday game had a rain delay and they did not take batting practice and Sunday is typically a non-batting practice day so I missed out. We got to the ballpark as the gates opened and I thought I saw him behind the cage while the players took batting practice. After they were done, I hoped he would go to the dugout but that was not the case. He walked to a tunnel like area to get to the clubhouse. As he walked I shouted “Mr Sorrento!” but he did not look over. I thought maybe I had the wrong guy. I walked parallel to him in hopes of catching up to him. He ducked into the tunnel as just as I got there he was almost out of sight so I said “PAUL!” I noticed he stopped and backed up a couple steps and I leaned over the railing and asked him if he would mind signing my baseball. He said sure and I dropped it down to him. I told him I had been working on this baseball since Twinsfest in 1992 and he said “Wow! That’s a long time!” He spun it around and found a place to sign it and tossed it to me. I thanked him and he continued to the clubhouse and I went to my seat. I was successful in my one true goal. As it turned out, it was the only autograph I got on the entire trip but It was all I needed.