There was a play during the 1991 World Series where Dan Gladden slide home and the Braves catcher Greg Olson was flipped on his head. Dan is known to sign photos of the play with “Play Hard, Slide Harder”. The play was memorialized on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Baseball Digest. Today I received my Baseball Digest from June, 1992 from Greg Olson and he signed it beautifully in blue Sharpie. I looked for a nice copy of the issue without a mailing label and finally found one and sent it off to Greg.
Gunnar!
One of the most exciting young players in baseball is Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles. He made his debut in 2022 and I happened to purchase a pair of tickets from his debut game. About a year and a half ago, shortly after his debut, a signing was posted on SCN by jamieblye. I have used Jamie many times over the years and he does a great job with my items so I sent in one of the tickets. The signing was postponed and delayed for a long time but it finally happened and today I received my ticket signed along with “MLB Debut 8-31-22” I am really happy to have this one back finally!
Oh Balls!
If you have read these posts over the years, a person who I have gotten many autographs from always comes through for me. Chris L (ChrisL999 on SCN) lives near Washington, DC and chases the minor and major league parks for me. He does a great job and treats my stuff as if they were his own. Today I received a box of baseballs and other items from him he got signed since the beginning of the season. I already sent him another dozen baseballs and some cards and tickets and he already put a dent in them! Today’s box contained the following:
Joey Gallo 2023 Topps Heritage #345
Byron Buxton 2023 Topps #326
Bo Bichette ML Debut ticket
CJ Abrams ML Debut ticket
Trey Lipscomb OMLB
Ralphy Velazquez OMLB
Enrique Bradford OMLB
Bubba Chandler OMLB
Jackson Jobe OMLB
Justin Crawford OMLB
Kenni Gomez OMLB
Mitchell Parker OMLB
Doug Nikhazy OMLB
Tommy Mace OMLB
Andrew Walters OMLB
Chris has a great finger on the pulse on which minor leaguers will turn into studs so watch for these names in a few years in the Major Leagues!
A Whole Lotta Tickets!
I rarely trade my items much less sell them but when Jake Cave signed with the Phillies, Emily P (part of the Facebook ticket collecting group) reached out and asked if I had a ticket for Jake’s debut. I only had one and it was signed already. Since Jake was one of my son’s most favorite players, I had a really hard time moving it but she acquired it from me. Fast forward to recently when Jake was released by the Phillies and Emily made the ticket part of a lot of a huge pile of tickets for sale. I jumped at the chance to bring that ticket back home. Included with it were signed debut tickets for:
JT Chargois
Brandon Kintzler
Jurickson Profar
Christian Bethancourt
Vince Velasquez
Francisco Mejia
Michael Kopech
Adam Haseley
Bailey Falter
Logan Gilbert
There were about another 50-60 unsigned debut tickets that will keep me busy too! It was a fun lot of tickets to go through!