Sunday, July 9, 2017

Graphing hits and misses-Pamela Hensley and Eloy Jimenez

Former actress Pamela Hensley (now Hensley-Vincent) and Chicago Cubs outfield prospect Eloy Jimenez may seem to have little in common and they don't.
However, they did both come together on the same day of graphing, so for me at least for a while, there will be a connection and when it comes to the online world, someone out in cyberspace will eventually connect Hensley and Jimenez.

I, like most pre-teen males from 1979-81, watched a decent amount of Buck Rogers on NBC for its two seasons run on the network
Upon watching again so many years later, the show doesn't hold up and not because of the 'special effects' as those will always look dated,because,well they are.but that show was pretty popular, especially for the first season (season two tried to make the show more serious, take on more "issues" like Star Trek did and one other loss sent the series to cancellation).
The ladies watched for Gil Gerard, the really young children watched for the Mel Blanc voiced robot "Twiki" and the teenagers watched for Erin Gray, the beautiful female co-star.
The series did have a villain and was even more beautiful than Gray (to this 11-year-old at least).
Princess Ardala didn't wear a lot of clothes, but Pamela Hensley was able to play "campy" better than most could have in the same role...

Not only beautiful, Hensley showed some acting ability that would have likely played better had she been born earlier and would have been better off in the film contract age.
Hensley cemented herself as a TRS favorite in her next role as C.J.Parsons on a show that I watched on ABC in "Matt Houston", a formula detective show starring Lee Horsley, in what really was a warmed over Magnum P.I. at a time when every network was hiring every guy with a mustache and sticking him in an action/adventure show and trying to find another Tom Selleck.
It wasn't the best show in the world, but Hensley was more than enough to hold this 14 years old attention and then Matt Houston went away and so did Pamela Hensley-gone from acting for good.

What happened to her? Well, she married Duke Vincent (successful television producer and producer of Matt Houston) and has lived a quiet life since.
I still had Buck Rogers cards of mine as a kid (I had gotten Erin Gray to sign a few of hers as well and when I saw a recent success on an autographing site, I dropped a few cards in the mail to (now) Hensley-Vincent among other cards.
One week later, they returned signed and it made me think about her and drop a few lines....

Later in the day, I went to Frederick with Bill Cover to attempt to add Eloy Jimenez in a one-night performance.
Jimenez, the massive Cubs outfield prospect, was most noted for his Roy Hobbesque blasting out a stadium light at the Carolina League All-Star game and his much-sought signature.
Being that Jimenez has about 10,000 cards, he's in high demand in general and I needed him most on the top 100.
Jimenez was only going to be in Frederick for one night since he is playing in Sunday's Futures Game, so we had one bullet to shoot to get him to sign.
I didn't need many cards otherwise for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans since Derreck Chupak had gotten many when he went to Kinston last weekend for their version of the Jimenez show.
I was able to get most of what I had finished, but I didn't move around as much usual because I wanted to be in position for Jimenez, who is already earning a reputation as an enigmatic signer.
To his credit, Jimenez came out and signed one for everyone,, including my top 100!
So, with a rare Friday night off and an early morning call waiting for the next day, you would think I'd be on my way.

You would be wrong.
With several more Jimenez cards, Bill and I decided to watch the game and take our chances on another card.
It was a failure-postgame fireworks sent me repelling in pain (my right ear has never been fully able to handle loud noises since my 2015 concussion) and Jimenez took his time leaving the field.
This isn't always a bad thing, but this was on this occasion as Jimenez walked by everyone without even a head turn.
We decided to try again outside, although I didn't feel confident and I understood why-Jimenez would likely be carrying his post-game food and drink and all of his equipment that he needed for his trip to Miami.
Considering all of that, I even understood if he didn't sign.
What I didn't expect was how he acted in saying "no" as he sneered to two children "Not tonight, Kid" after being asked respectfully by them.
I would have been understanding had Jimenez politely said: "I'm really in a hurry and my hands are full".
It didn't put a damper on the evening because I wasn't expecting anything and I did get the top 100 cards finished, but it was somewhat disappointing to see rudeness towards children-especially those that were polite, something that isn't always the case with younger graphers.

Still, a pretty good day at the mailbox and at the ballpark and one cannot argue with that!
And forever, I'll be unifying the day I added someone from my past and perhaps a future baseball superstar as Pamela Hensley connects with Eloy Jimenez.

I might have one of those special features coming up from the finished folder later tonight or tomorrow...


2 comments:

Mike said...

Said no did he.. I know a guy who said no.. Rather rudely also.. Think we both have documented his exploits lol

Shawn said...

Yes,that guy in question was quite the success story,wasn't he?!