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.
Koooooz!
My wife recently visited her aunt and was given a number of older Life magazines for me. I found the September 26, 1969 Jerry Koosman issue and decided to send it to him right away. I included my April, 1970 issue of All-Star Sports that I recently had signed by Boog Powell too. I sent them a week ago and received them back unsigned with a note that his prices went up, substantially. I resent with the updated price and received them back signed today. They are awesome!
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.
A Team HR Record!
Back on 09.29.2019, the Twins were in Kansas City to face the Royals. The Twins had already broken the all time team home run record that was set by the Yankees the year before but there were four teams who had a shot at setting a new record going into the final series of the season. The Twins ended up coming out on top at the end of the season with a new MLB record 307 home runs (this record was tied by the Braves in 2023). Jason Castro hit HR #307 on 09.29.2019. Josh M (ridiculousxdream on SCN) announced a signing with Castro just about a year ago so I sent in a pair of cards for it. The signing went down but Jason dropped the FedEx package in the USPS system and it never arrived at its destination. After going back and forth with the company Josh was working with, they agreed to have Jason resign the items if they were resent. I took this opportunity to send in my ticket to the 09.29.2019 Twins at Royals ticket and I am glad I did. Jason signed it with his name, “MLB Team HR Record” and “Team HR #307”. It looks magnificent! He also signed my 2019 Topps #406 and my 08.09.2019 Topps Now card #661. These items were worth the wait and I appreciate Josh’s efforts to eventually make the signing happen. And, kudos to the USPS for delivering my package on Columbus Day!