The other day watching highlights of a Cubs a game I saw a coach walk onto the field with SINATRO stitched onto the back of his jersey. "Gee, is that Matt Sinatro, the catcher on the Richmond Braves when I went to my first-ever game as a kid?" It made sense - he was a catcher, and a ton of coaches are former catchers.
Turns out it was indeed him. Sinatro was the 3rd autograph I got on that day at Parker Field in 1981, my first time ever getting an autograph from a ballplayer. The second was Brett Butler, who went on to be the IL MVP that year and then play about 60 years in the majors.
My first autograph was some reliever that would end up having a cup of coffee in the bigs later on. But he was my first-ever autograph from a professional baseball player, and I can still picture exactly where I stood, and what he looked like. And, even more clearly, I can remember exactly what he said as he signed his picture from the media guide: "You gonna put this on the fridge to scare away the flies?"
Awesome.
2 comments:
And from that day forward, Xmastime knew... Comedy was king.
I still have a signed baseball from those old LL days. Tony Brizzolara, Steve Bedrosian, etc. But the cheap ass ball had a shiny sheen on it and the autographs have mostly faded out. Serves my parents (and me) right for buying my sporting goods at Roses.
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