Let's see things that you have received from former and current major leaguers!

[Scott Garner]

I've wanted to suggest this thread for a while now.
I have been an advanced Nolan Ryan collector for over 40 years. In 1997 I was contacted by the curator of The Nolan Ryan Center (Ryan museum) that was to open up in 1998 (it actually ended up opening in 1999).

I was asked to loan my Nolan Ryan milestone ticket collection to the museum for a display that they had planned. I actually was able to collaborate and help design the display. All in all I donated/ loaned 87 different items to The Ryan Center. Items that I loaned included the Ryan milestone tickets, early Angels Ryan audio recordings that were incorporated into their main theater presentation, game used dugout lineup cards to key Ryan games in Anaheim, etc.

Many of the tickets I was able to eventually find duplicates to, so many of the loans ended up becoming donations over the 3-4 years that they were on display. When I eventually asked for the return of some of my collection, I received an unbelieveable surprise when I opened up the Fedex box.

Nolan had personally inscribed a replica Rangers jersey to me thanking me for loaning my collection to The Ryan Center.

Additionally, I was sent an extremely limited 16" bronze casted Nolan Ryan statue that was created by artist Toby Mendez in 1997. It's a miniature of the one the he created and is on display at the Texas Rangers stadium, The Ballpark at Arlington. The statue depicts Nolan tipping his hat after striking out HOF Rickey Henderson for his career 5,000th strikeout on 8/22/89. BTW, Antonio Tobias Mendez has recently created several statues of HOF Orioles Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver RIP that passed away yesterday. Mendez is one terrific artist!

Needless to say, I was OVERWHELMED!
Nolan Ryan is one classy guy!!

[GrayGhost]

Not to sound negative, but how many of us regular folks, could ever get gifts from ball players? you were in a position to do that, most of us can never dream of such things.

Nice of Nolan to do that tho. f

[Scott Garner]

Scott,

Thanks for your response. I respectfully disagree, though.

I suspect that there may be others on net54 that have known major league baseball players, have been neighbors, etc.

I have another collector friend from Port Crane (Binghamton) NY. When he was a teenager, the local fishwrap (newspaper) ran an article on Jon and his baseball card collection. Port Crane's most famous resident was none other than NY Yankees player/ manager Billy Martin. He happened to read about Jon and brought a huge box of various baseball momentos over to his house. Some were Yankees Stadium giveaways and such, but there were also some signed balls and photos of Billy Martin fishing in the local river and displaying his trophy fish. It was really nice of Martin to take the time to do that.

As a side note, Martin died in a one car accident when he drove his car into a ditch right up the road from Jon's house while out drinking with one of his friends. I'm sure everyone remembers reading about Billy's demise, FWIW.

Anyway, let's see if there are some other cool stories to share...

[packs]

We are all in the position to do something like this. You've just focused your efforts whereas most collectors are dabblers.

[Mr. Zipper]

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing. Love the bronze.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

I've wanted to suggest this thread for a while now.
I have been an advanced Nolan Ryan collector for over 40 years. In 1997 I was contacted by the curator of The Nolan Ryan Center (Ryan museum) that was to open up in 1998 (it actually ended up opening in 1999).

I was asked to loan my Nolan Ryan milestone ticket collection to the museum for a display that they had planned. I actually was able to collaborate and help design the display. All in all I donated/ loaned 87 different items to The Ryan Center. Items that I loaned included the Ryan milestone tickets, early Angels Ryan audio recordings that were incorporated into their main theater presentation, game used dugout lineup cards to key Ryan games in Anaheim, etc.

Many of the tickets I was able to eventually find duplicates to, so many of the loans ended up becoming donations over the 3-4 years that they were on display. When I eventually asked for the return of some of my collection, I received an unbelieveable surprise when I opened up the Fedex box.

Nolan had personally inscribed a replica Rangers jersey to me thanking me for loaning my collection to The Ryan Center.

Additionally, I was sent an extremely limited 16" bronze casted Nolan Ryan statue that was created by artist Toby Mendez in 1997. It's a miniature of the one the he created and is on display at the Texas Rangers stadium, The Ballpark at Arlington. The statue depicts Nolan tipping his hat after striking out HOF Rickey Henderson for his career 5,000th strikeout on 8/22/89. BTW, Antonio Tobias Mendez has recently created several statues of HOF Orioles Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver that passed away yesterday. Mendez is one terrific artist!

Needless to say, I was OVERWHELMED!
Nolan Ryan is one classy guy!!

Awesome!!!!

[Big Six]

I have part of my collection tied to items pertaining to the career of a guy named Josh Phelps (played with the Blue Jays, Indians, Rays, Yankees, Pirates, Cardinals and in the minors). I'll be surprised if many of you guys have any idea who he is, but back in the early 2000's, he was a rising star, even appearing on the cover of Baseball Prospectus.
Anyway, what started out as an appreciation for him for fantasy baseball purposes led to picking up one of his game used jerseys which exploded in to collecting all things related to his career. Twelve years on, I'm the proud owner of 20+ jerseys, 20+ bats, batting helmets, pictures, programs, autographs, etc.
A few years back, he was on a rehab assignment for the Giants up with the Connecticut Defenders. I jumped in the car and went up to meet him and got a couple autographs and shared a quick chat.
Later in the game, he broke his bat and came out mid-inning to give me the bat...told me to meet him after the game and he's sign it, which I did. Flash forward to the following April of 2010 and he ends up signing with the Bridgeport Bluefish. Took one of my twin daughters to the game and, despite the fact he wasn't really in the mood to sign for anyone else, get his attention and he comes over to say high and sign a couple balls for my daughter and I. Turns out a newspaper reporter took a picture of the exchange and we end up on the front page of the Connecticut Post the next day. So I have these great interactions with the guy and I send him a note to say thanks as well as a copy of the newspaper and small gift (a PSA 10 of his rookie card) for giving the broken bat to me a few months before.
Now my phone starts ringing...his wife calls, thanks me for the note and invites the family to a game. Now the kids are playing in one of the boxes at the Bluefish game, they come over to see my collection and we're having a great time hearing stories of playing for Lou Piniella, etc. For my birthday, a signed Yankee bat of his and his wife throw's in a bottle of Dreamland bbq sauce she had flown up from Birmingham, Alabama (we both love this place). Since then we've traded a few things which helped out both our collections of his stuff. You can see my Phelps collection by clicking on my signature below.
Anyway, it's not like Scott's experience, but it's been a pretty neat experience and we still keep in touch to this day...

[Scott Garner]

Matt,
I love that story! How cool is that?

Awesome!

[sycks22]

I don't have scans of my items, but my former neighbor was Wayne Terwilliger who was the first base coach of the Twins in the late '80's and early '90's through both World Series victories. Throughout the years "Twig" gave my brother and I tons of stuff from '91 World Series auto baseballs to champagne from the '91 series celebration to '91 stamped bat of all the players to gloves worn by former players. He even told me when he coached with the Rangers in the '70's I believe with Ted Williams and gave me one of his spring training jerseys. Twig was a player from 1950 - early '60's and his best memories were playing with the Dodgers in the 50's and showed me a picture of getting a high 5 from Jackie. He always had amazing stories and was the nicest guy in the world. He's still kicking down in Texas and in his upper 80's.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by sycks22

I don't have scans of my items, but my former neighbor was Wayne Terwilliger who was the first base coach of the Twins in the late '80's and early '90's through both World Series victories. Throughout the years "Twig" gave my brother and I tons of stuff from '91 World Series auto baseballs to champagne from the '91 series celebration to '91 stamped bat of all the players to gloves worn by former players. He even told me when he coached with the Rangers in the '70's I believe with Ted Williams and gave me one of his spring training jerseys. Twig was a player from 1950 - early '60's and his best memories were playing with the Dodgers in the 50's and showed me a picture of getting a high 5 from Jackie. He always had amazing stories and was the nicest guy in the world. He's still kicking down in Texas and in his upper 80's.

Pete,
That's a great story too. I remember Wayne Terwilliger from his playing days. Awesome stuff!

I'm originally from Orange County, Calif. (Tustin and Orange, CA).

One of my friends, Jason, lived in the city of Orange where two of his neighbors were Nolan Ryan and Rod Carew in the late 1970's. Being an avid youth baseball player, Jason used to sometimes play catch with Nolan Ryan and his son Reid in the back yard. Rod Carew used to talk to him about hitting.

Nolan gave Jason one of his Angels warm up jackets. Rod Carew gave Jason a bat and a couple of other pieces of equipment from his playing days with the Angels. I wish I grew up on his street!

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing. Love the bronze.

Thanks Steve and Chris!

[Jacklitsch]

Represented Johnny in a real estate closing some years ago:

[djson1]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

Not to sound negative, but how many of us regular folks, could ever get gifts from ball players? you were in a position to do that, most of us can never dream of such things.

Nice of Nolan to do that tho. f

I would have to agree with GrayGhost, in that most of us collectors rarely get freebies from ballplayers. I would say that the most we can ask for are the free autographs many of us used to get in the mail. I still treasure the little note I received from Joe Sewell in the '80s thanking me for remembering him. That reply back from him in the mail meant a lot to me as it showed that some HOFers actually DO read their fan mail and appreciate it. To me, Joe Sewell was probably one of the more gracious signers and one of the best natural hitters in MLB history.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Jacklitsch

Represented Johnny in a real estate closing some years ago:

Thanks Steve.Very cool!

Were you aware that your client Johnny Klippstein was involved in a very unusual no-hitter game in 1956?

On May 26, 1956 Johnny Klippstein was the starting pitcher of a game that he, Hersh Freeman and Joe Black combined to no-hit the Milwaukee Braves for 10 innings without a hit. This was the first time in ML history that more than two pitchers combined for a no-hitter.

The Braves scored their 1st run in the the second inning. Klippstein hit batter Hank Aaron, the first batter, and walked Bobby Thomson and another player Bill Bruton. Frank Torre hit a screaming line drive to left field, but rookie Frank Robbinson made a fantastic catch to limit Torre to a Sac fly. Klippstein fanned the next two batters.

The score remained 1-1 until the 11th and the wheels finally came off for the Reds. Reds reliever Joe Black allowed 3 hits and the game was lost 2-1 Braves.

This game remained an official no-hitter until 1991 when the ML changed the rules defining what is a no-hitter and perfect game. Several games became unofficial no-hitters, including Johnny Klippstein's unusual game, a no-hitter that was actually lost.

[JBird]

so this will be only my 2nd post to the forums but thought it was a pretty cool story to add to this thread. my new thing is going through peoples attics. i swear they are people that i get permission from. so i was up in my grandparents attic looking through some old boxes seeing what kind of jewels i could find. my uncle collected a lot of Yankee memorabilia but nothing worth snagging for myself again with his permission. then i found a box tucked in the back under a ton of 1960-1980 Yankee magazines. inside the box i found an autographed and personalized picture of Bobby Orr addressed to my uncle. when i asked my grandparents when my uncle met him they couldn't remember. well anyways i framed it and gave it to my uncle for Christmas. he didn't even remember that he had even gotten it. we all did some brain storming and figured out that my uncle had received gotten it while he was in a hospital in Boston being treated for his cerebral palsy which he was born with. i know we all hear about players doing this sort of thing but it means a little more when it was for someone who is so close to you.
BobbyOrr.jpg

[Runscott]

This is a great thread. Wish I could add to it, but I only collect stuff from dead guys.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by JBird

so this will be only my 2nd post to the forums but thought it was a pretty cool story to add to this thread. my new thing is going through peoples attics. i swear they are people that i get permission from. so i was up in my grandparents attic looking through some old boxes seeing what kind of jewels i could find. my uncle collected a lot of Yankee memorabilia but nothing worth snagging for myself again with his permission. then i found a box tucked in the back under a ton of 1960-1980 Yankee magazines. inside the box i found an autographed and personalized picture of Bobby Orr addressed to my uncle. when i asked my grandparents when my uncle met him they couldn't remember. well anyways i framed it and gave it to my uncle for Christmas. he didn't even remember that he had even gotten it. we all did some brain storming and figured out that my uncle had received gotten it while he was in a hospital in Boston being treated for his cerebral palsy which he was born with. i know we all hear about players doing this sort of thing but it means a little more when it was for someone who is so close to you.
Attachment 86600

Very cool Jesse! Thanks for sharing this!

[JBird]

Thanks it meant a lot to my uncle even tho he doesn't collect. He is an inspiration to me. A guy born with cerebral palsy his parents were told he wouldn't live past 15 and now he lives by himself even tho he's in a wheel chair and going strong at 54 years old