Like him or hate him, Joe West will be a Hall of Famer some day. What he did for baseball is legendary. Todd S (toddschafer on SCN) and his company Under The Radar Sports Promotions had a signing with West and today I received the items I sent in for it. I received a pair of baseballs, one with just Joe’s name on it and the other with his name and “5460 MLB Games Umpired”, and a ticket from August 15th, 2018. The ticket is from the game when Joe umpired his 5,164th MLB game when he passed the previous second place all time leader for games umpired (Bruce Froemming). This game was at Target Field. I had asked for an inscription on it but it was missed. I will resend it back to have Joe add the inscription.
A Giusti Of Wind
Today’s mail brought me a baseball signed by Dave Giusti. Dave witnessed Roberto Clemente’s 3000th hit and I asked him to write about it on the ball. Dave only signed his name but his wife included a note that said he has a hard time signing things as he had a number of hand injuries over the years while playing sports. I am grateful he signed and returned my baseball.
Giving a Rip(ken)
Today’s mail brought a pair of packages with really neat items for the collection. The first package I opened was a Sports Illustrated from 05.01.1995 and the other was a Sports Illustrated for Kids from August, 1995 both signed beautifully by Cal Ripken Jr. Both have Ironclad and MLB authentication. I acquired them from my buddy Joel B (brad0112 on SCN and formerly of the Twin Cities here). Joel is selling a number of items in his collection so he can buy a cool Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb or someone of that stature’s autograph. I am sure you will see Joel’s name popping up here again soon!
The other package had a Wayne Garrett Story Ball about Roberto Clemente’s 3000th hit game. Mr Garrett mentioned what Roberto meant to the team and baseball and how he played third base in the game Roberto got the hit. Pretty cool baseball and recollection!
Not a Pain In My Blass!
Today I received a Story Ball from Steve Blass. Mr Blass wrote a cool story about Roberto Clemente’s 3000th hit game. He did a great job but forgot to sign it! I will send it back to him for his signature tomorrow. It was a really cool story too!