Sorry about the glare from the stadium lights from Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium,but this was our first and one never knows maybe only chance to get our two biggest supporters in the same picture as Fred Landucci (with son Michael in tow) and Big Don both were at the game.
Big Don loves pictures as much as I do,but he graciously allowed me to take this one for the blog's posterity.
The Lynchburg Hillcats (Indians) were in town for their last visit of the season and I had plenty of cards.
Between their team set,prospect cards and some recent callups,I had enough cards that I would need two visits during this series (I'll be going there Thursday) and having plenty of collectors there didn't help much.
I'll keep the graphing talk basic,but two pretty cool things happened with players that were neat enough to mention-both after the game.
First,top Cleveland prospect Clint Frazier was signing at the field level and I had 2 cards left for Mike Oravec of his.
I decided to go down and finish them off,because of the long known first rule of graphing-don't wait until next time,if you can do it today,so I walked down to get Frazier.
I was the last person there and handed him the two cards and Clint said "let me ask you something".
I gulped, mainly because my experience in the hobby was telling me that Frazier might be responding with something along the lines of "I got you earlier" or "Don't you guys get tired of this stuff"?
Instead,Frazier asked "how do you move up on these prospect cards"? I wondered and he said "I mean,(Bradley) Zimmer's gone now (AA Akron) and I want to be the best prospect in this league".
I explained to him that the league prospect set is usually decided by the radio announcer or someone in each teams front office to select the player back in April.
Frazier smiled,said thanks and then said "I am going to work double hard to be the best prospect for next season over the winter".
Wow.As an Indians fan to not only see that someone appreciates his fans (Frazier signs a lot),but wants to work hard,improve his craft and pays attention to his surroundings,I'm a Clint Frazier fan whether he makes it or not,but it's great to see someone willing to bust his hump to make it big,rather than relax on his first round laurels.
I don't do many 8 x 10's of athletes,I save those for celebrities because of their lack of cards,but I've become such a fan this year of Clint Frazier and Tyler Beede (Giants),that I hope to get one,if not now,in the future.
The other cool thing was when Levon Washington (Hillcat outfielder) signed a card for me that is headed for Mike Oravec after signing for me earlier.
I told Levon that he signed for me earlier (3 cards) and if he didn't want to sign that would be OK.
Washington and said that it's no problem and then told me how much he liked my sunglasses!
Very cool!
The graphers were out in full force,but having my two most loyal readers in town made up for the graphing aggravation.
It is always a big deal with Big Don hits town for a visit,but the chance for the above picture with Fred was well worth the drive.
I enjoyed the chat and camaraderie with them,Michael and the lovely Cherie,but also enjoyed a respite as our friend Denise invited us to check the view from a Frederick suite box for an inning.
It was the first time I had ever been in one at Harry Grove Stadium and it was fun to see the field from an angle that I had never seen before.
All and all,with plenty of laughs,humor and good cheer even if the graphing had been awful-it was a great way to wrap up vacation with friends.
Thanks to everyone!
I hope to get a podcast done soon and remember I'll be doing many more podcasts once the baseball season ends!!!!
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