I recently found a newly retired sports writer for various newspapers and he was selling some of his memorabilia from over the years. Some items that caught my eye were Hall of Fame induction tickets for seating in the Press area. These tickets were real nice with nice images and such and the writer got them stamped and cancelled at the Cooperstown Post Office during induction weekend. I purchased a couple tickets for the express reason of mailing them to the people on the ticket to have them signed. Today I received my first one back. Pat Gillick signed the 2011 ticket. It also features Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar so I will have to wait until Robbie is doing a signing. I hope to get Bert last and in person at Twinsfest and see his reaction to it since it is a real nice looking it.
Oh Lourd(es)
Jesse L (jlast2013 on SCN) was supposed to have a signing with Lourdes Gurriel Jr but Lourdes and Yuli both ended up stiffing Jesse on the signing. I happened to have sent in a debut ticket for Lourdes to sign. When Jesse reached out to me and told me how the Gurriel brothers treated him, I felt bad for him but he offered me an option. He could return everything or send me a ticket he already had signed and authenticated from one of his previous signings. I went for that option and today I received it and am very pleased with how Jesse handled the situation. I love the ticket and am glad to add it to the collection!
Not Maddon-ing
Today brought another autograph to what started as a little “what the heck” project when Pat Neshek was playing for the Phillies. At that time, Pat coordinated autographs for fans for certain players so I sent in a couple Sports Illustrated magazines for Jake Arrieta. He was the first of now nine autographs on the cover with the latest being Joe Maddon. Jackson T (zagurski2016 on SCN) had a signing with Joe and I sent in the magazine. My 10.10.2016 issue is looking good! I doubt I will ever finish it because it has Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and John Lackey and neither of them are very accommodating with the Sharpie but it is fun to chase the others.
A First & A Milestone
Wow! What a story! Today’s mail brought me a return for a Story Ball from Chuck Goggin. I sent Chuck a baseball asking him to write about his memory of leading off in the game when Roberto Clemente hit his 3,000th hit and Chuck’s reply did not disappoint! It turns out that Chuck got his first two hits of his career in the same game Roberto got hit 3000! What a cool memory and story on the baseball from a personal point of view of that game!