Article: Memorable Memorabilia

[Seth Stohs]

I was young. It must have been about 1984. I was eight and my family was at the Twins game. We got there early and watched batting practice. The Twins were playing the Red Sox. We were down the third base line. There was a roller and the ball was right in front of us.

 

Lefty-hander John Henry Johnson of the Red Sox came to get the ball. Me, being eight-years-old, did what any eight year old boy would do. "Hey Mister! Mister, can I have that ball!?"

 

Johnson got to the wall, looked up at me, turned away, turned back and said, "I've come too far over here for this." And he tossed me the ball.

 

It was the first and only time I got a ball at a baseball game.Moments later, we walked closer to the Twins dugout. A couple of players were signing, so I went over there with the ball. I can't recall who the first player was, but the second was none other than Kirby Puckett. There wasn't a lot of interaction, that I can recall, but he signed it for me and tossed it back up.

 

I was happy, but now having had some success, I continued to the dugout. I tossed the ball down to one-time All Star catcher Dave Engle. He proceeded to throw the ball into the Twins ball bag.

 

He looked up at me, saw devastation, and quickly went to the ball bag, chuckled, signed it and tossed the ball back to me.

 

Who knows where that ball is? I'm guessing my brother and I played catch with it in the backyard within no time.

 

But even now, over 30 years later, I can remember that.

 

It's the holidays which means that there is a lot of gift-giving. It can be fun. It can be stressful. So, my goal with this article is to not provide you with any stress. No arguing over who the Twins have or haven't signed, or for how much. No worrying about whether Player X or Player Y will do with their contract in 2016.

 

Today, at least in this article, I want to pose a question to Twins Daily readers. Hopefully the question(s) will make you pause and give some thought to an answer and you'll share it with us. It's actually a two-part question, so bear with me.

 

#1 - The first question I would like to ask you is, what is your favorite memory of an interaction with a professional ballplayer. Obviously as Twins fans, if that story happens to involve a Twins player that would be wonderful, but don't limit yourself. Did you or your kids ever get a player's autograph and it became a great conversation or something memorable?

 

#2 - In your dream world, what is the one piece of memorabilia or an experience with a big leaguer (current or past) that you would want? And why?

 

I'll give a couple of examples to kick this thing off, but please consider adding your stories.

 

#1 - I have many great stories now about interactions with ballplayers. I've had the great opportunity to meet several in the clubhouse at Target Field, or in spring training ,or when I make trips to Cedar Rapids.

 

But one that will always stick out for me was Twins Fest probably in probably 2010. I had my then-three-year-old daughter with me, and we were going through the free minor leaguer autograph line. I told my daughter she had to ask nicely if she could have their autograph. When she asked Plouffe, Trevor looked at her and said, "Only if I can have your autograph first." He gave her a Sharpee and told her to write her name on the paper covering the table right in front of him. She loved that and scribbled a few lines. He thanked her and then signed something for her.

 

That's the kind of stuff I won't forget. Or Mike Radcliff coming up from behind Plouffe and saying, "Seth, keep your daughter away from this guy!"

 

#2 - As far as what piece of memorabilia or experience I would love to have. That's a little more difficult. I know I would have loved to meet Harmon Killebrew and chat with him and get his autograph on a ball or a picture or something. When we went to the Hall of Fame ceremony in 2001, a friend of mine shelled out the money to get Killebrew's autograph and also took a selfie with him (way before selfies were really a thing).

 

Another that I think would be neat would be to get some sort of poster of Mudcat Grant. One half of it a picture of him pitching for the Twins in the 1965 World Series. The other half a picture of him signing at Killebrew's Memorial Service at Target Field. Again, to meet him and have him sign that would be pretty neat.

 

So there you have it, a challenge from me. Something to make you think. And feel free to expand as much as you'd like. I'm sure some of you have some tremendous stories!!

 

Please have a safe and happy holidays!

 

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[Vanimal46]

I'm not sure exactly how my family got this opportunity as I was only 9 or 10 years old at the time. We were able to get a full tour of the Metrodome, checking out the locker rooms, the bullpen, dugout... I'm sure my mother has a picture of myself and my older brother on the bullpen phone. The best part was after the tour, we went into a room to have a private meeting with Kirby Puckett. Keep in mind my age at the time, but my memory was he treated us like we were life long friends. He was cracking jokes, and willing to sign anything that was presented. He must have signed around 40 items, including several baseball cards, bats, and magazines he was featured on.

 

My favorite item he signed, and is still framed proudly in my bedroom today, is an authentic Kirby Puckett jersey. He signed the jersey and put a personal note to me as well during his time when we met. It's a conversation piece that everyone brings up when they see the framed jersey in my place to today.

[gil4]

I've this before, so I'm just goi copy and

 

When I was about 12 I got to go to a couple of games at Fenway with a friend of mine. We stayed at the same hotel as the visiting teams (my friend's family had some kind of partial season plan and they knew their way around).I bought a 3x5 spiral notebook and we just hung out in the lobby getting autographs. The Orioles were in town for the Sunday game (rained out - got to see Rick Dempsey do his routine on the tarp before they called it) and the Yankees came in for a Monday night game. 

 

Reggie came out, and of course he was mobbed. He excused himself after a minute or two (before we got to the front of the mob) and went into a restroom. I turned to my friend, said "I think I have to go' and followed him in. I took care of business, finished washing my hands about the same time as Reggie, then asked him if I could get his autograph. He said, "You don't even let a guy pee in peace, do you?" I don't know if I even answered, but he signed my book.

 

I still have the darned thing, and it's amazing some of the names in it.Palmer, Weaver,  D and T Martinez, Oscar Gamble, I think Catfish Hunter...I'm going to have to get that out again, because there were a lot more familiar names. I also got the autograph of some guy who turned out to be one of the trainers for the Orioles, but he looked like somebody and he was with somebody...

 

OK, I dug it out.  McGregor, Bumbry, Singleton, Ruppert Jones, Dempsey, and Tommy John were the other significant names.  (No Catfish Hunter)

[Rosterman]

In the sixties my family had a business executive friend who worked for Cargill. Every spring he would take me to the Twins "Welcome Home" Luncheon. Back then, they were pretty much just bigshots from around town. And every year I would show up with my Topps cards from the previous year and go right down the entire front-of-the-house table at some point, the players getting a kick out of seeing their card (only one card back then) as well as a kid in a suit amidst all these executives.

 

I quit the autographing for awhile and got back into it, with my most memorable experience being the first person to write to Pat Neshek getting an autographed card and, I'ma shamed to say, calling him an outfielder. Of course, Pat is one of the most accessible of players ever. But a bonus Neshek event was proposing to my wife on the scoreboard in a game started by Matt Garza which Pat ended up winning for the Twins. He has, of course, become our pitcher and I look forward to attending at least one game when he is visiting, shouting him down from the outfield pre-game.

 

And I used to love the Metrodome, with the bullpen down the third baseline. I would choose those September afternoon games when no one would be in the park and I would have the whole row for myself before and during the game and could interact with the current and future bullpen throughout the game.

 

Check out www.twinscards.com where we keep track of Twins players - majors and minors - and you can check out autographs from different collections (I'm "rosterman"). After the New Year, we should have the beginnings of the 2016 look at the Twins roster and minor league system.

 

 

 

 

[TwinsFanTK71]

When I was 5 my mom took me to see this up and coming guy named Kirby. We waited in line a couple hours and right when we got close I asked my mom if we could go. I got a ball signed by Kirby and a photo. Too this day that is one of my earliest memories as a kid. I also liked the opportunity to meet with Michael Cuddyer as he was brought in by Tommy Bahama for a special edition Twins shirt they did in 2011. I was able to have a nice conversation with him and get a photo taken. One of the nicest guys!! Always talked about the way he looked to Harmon Killebrew and spending time with fans and ensuring they had a nice autograph. Of the many signatures I have over the year's, my favorite ball is the Cuddyer...it is one of a few that I didn't need to put a label on the case to identify.

 

 

 

 

I'm a huge baseball fan who loves collecting game used items (caps, bats, bases, baseballs, batting gloves, etc.). However, one piece I would love to have is Gene Larkins 10th inning single from Game 7. I said to my dad as the celebration was going on, isn't anybody going to go out and get that ball? That ball sure would be some conversation piece. I'm not sure if they ever went out to get it or who has it, but that would be some piece.

[glunn]

#1  At Angels Stadium in Morneau's final year.  Next to the Twins dugout the first row is gated.  I scalped some tickets on that row.  Kids who wanted autographs had to hand their items to me and then I set them up on the rail for Morneau to sign.  We got to chat a bit and I told him that I hoped that he would be re-signed by the Twins and he said that he hoped so too.  It turned out that he was let go at the end of that year.  This was my first and only interaction with a MLB player.  Morneau seemed like a really nice person.

 

#2  I wish that I had been able to attend the game where Tovar played all 9 positions.

[USMCTwin]

#1 My wife and I had planned a trip to Arizona to see some of her family and it just happened to coincide with the Twins playing against the Diamondbacks so we were pretty excited to catch the series while we were there. It also just happened to be the time when Killebrew passed away. My wife and I had met him a couple of times, as autograph junkies and he was always the nicest guy in the room. We were able to go to the funeral and it amazed me to see the number of players (both active and retired) and fans that honored him. That was when I made the connection to realize that these are not just on the field heroes, but they can truly transform and impact people when you leave a legacy of caring for people the way Harmon did.

 

#2 I was born and raised in Kentucky.  We didn't really have any professional teams that dominated support. I naturally gravitated towards certain players in each sport and they became my team. For baseball it was Kirby. I truly wish I had got to meet Kirby before he passed away. The joy he played baseball with transcended the way I watched baseball and single-handedly made me a fan of the Twins.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Probably not a JR Graham autograph.

[Guest]

#1 As a kid at a Camera Day at Met Stadium, Ted Uhlaender invited me to come inside the ropes to get my picture taken with him. That was "against the rules" at the time, but my dad was one of those guys who was better at setting rules than complying with them, so he asked Uhlaender if he'd do it and Ted smiled and called me over.

 

The thing I remember, as an adult, though, is from 1984. My son was just a year old and we were in Kansas City to watch the Twins and Royals. Minnesota had traded for a pair of new pitchers in the offseason, Mike Smithson and John Butcher. Before the game, I walked over behind the Twins dugout with my 1-year-old, both of us wearing Twins gear. Smithson was standing in front of the dugout and I asked him if he would sign our program. He did, then he gave it to Butcher to sign, too. Then he had someone toss him up a ball from the dugout and he gave it to us. Certainly above and beyond expectations.

 

#2 I’ve actually had just about the best "dream experience" I could imagine having. One of my boyhood heroes, Tony Oliva, came to Cedar Rapids for a weekend during the 2013 Kernels season and I got to spend a little over an inning sitting alone with him in the pressbox and talking about baseball and the Kernels. He seemed genuinely excited to be there and he obviously enjoyed watching and talking about various members of that very good Kernels roster. For a child of the 60s, it can’t get much better than that.

[zenser]

My favorite autograph story comes from my dad.  When he was little, my grandparents took him to Milwaukee to see the Braves play.  That was back before the Twins came to Minnesota.  He was a young boy with a handful of baseball cards (Aaron, Spahn, Matthews among others) waiting outside the clubhouse to get autographs.  They waited awhile before someone came out.  The first person to come out was Bob Uecker.  Uecker was a rookie at the time.  He was signing all sorts of items but when he came to my dad, my dad was a little embarrassed.  Dad didn't have a Uecker card.  Uecker took his collection of cards and went back into the clubhouse.  After a while, he came back out.  Uecker had everyone sign my dads cards and if he didn't have their cards, they signed a Milwaukee Braves letterhead.  So, my dad was able to get his Aaron, Spahn, Matthew cards signed and a nice letterhead full of autographs. 

 

My wife and I were able to go to the first home opener at Target Field.  We went to gate 6 for the opening and Tony Oliva was supposed to open the gate.  We were the first people in line.  The gates were supposed to open at noon but Tony and which ever member of the Twins staff opened the gate early so my wife and I got in then.  They then learned that we shouldn't have been let in so we had to stand by Tony O and wait for the official opening of the gates.  The rest of my family was watching on TV and it showed us standing and talking to Tony O.  I caught a lot of grief for that because i was holding my wifes pink bag.  Once we were let in, we went down to the field.  Gardy tossed a couple of balls our way and my wife caught both of them.

[Teddy]

Thanksgiving of 1992. My girlfriend and I were traveling with two friends from LA to San Antonio to visit her parents.  We flew Southwest, which at the time, had a few rows of seats that faced each other, so families could sit together. The four of us found one of these sections, and sat there with one other guy.

 

Well, at one point on the flight, my buddy said something really idiotic, and so I blurted out, "Oh, shut the f*#k up". Well, at that precise moment, the pilot cut the engines back, and so that word kind of reverberated around the cabin and I noticed that the ten year old boy with the family across the aisle whipped his head around faster than an owl tracking a mouse. I felt like a heel, but didn't say anything more except mouthing "sorry" to the kid.

 

About 20 minutes later, the guy who was in the row with us said to me, "If you were one of the richest players in baseball, would you fly Southwest?" I asked what he meant, and he just pointed to the father of the family, who was sitting in the seat to my right, just two feet away across the aisle.  

 

Orel Hershiser.

 

Needless to say, I struck up a conversation with him, and we chatted for a little while. He ended up signing an autograph for the guy in our row.  Took about five minutes to craft the autograph.  I've never seen a player take so much time to write his name on a piece of paper.  He put a lot of care into it, and it was rather iconic looking.  I didn't ask him for one, simply because he was with his family and I felt bad enough about the F-bomb I had dropped earlier.

[Ben B]

I'm a longtime autograph collector. At one point I had over 5,000 signed baseball cards before I recently sold the bulk of it to focus primarily on collecting Twins players. 

 

From many years of going to Twins Fest, I had amassed autographs of roughly half of the players to ever suit up for the Twins in their history - through 2015, I believe the total number was 765 players. 

 

I recently started a project to get that other half - autographs of every former player, including the guys who came up for 15 at-bats or whatever and were never heard from again. 

 

It's been a ton of fun combing through old rosters, remembering some long-forgotten players, and learning about the older teams of the 60s and 70s. Many of the guys I needed were easy to locate, and I'm down to needing autographs from about 150 former Twins to complete the project. Many of them deceased or living in foreign countries. Some will be nearly impossible - Herman Hill and Don R. Williams, for instance - but that won't stop me from trying! 

 

P.S. - if any other collectors feel like helping a guy out, I can send the list of players I need :-)

[Loosey]

#1) When I a was about 8 my next door neighbor, who's son went to Cretin in the 70's and was very good friends with Paul Molitor invited my family to her son's Christmas party in St. Paul. When we got there her son, Sean welcomed us and then came up to me to tell me there was someone who really wanted to meet me. As a confused 8 year old at a "grownups" Christmas party I had no idea who would want to meet me. When we got downstairs he said, "Pete, this is my friend Paul Molitor." I couldn't believe it. I got to hang out with him all night long, talking baseball and hockey. I got my picture taken with him and a few autographs. It clearly had an impact on me as its now 27 years later and the moment seems like it was yesterday. I finally realized years later my parents obviously knew what was going to happen that night but never told me. I still have that autographed ball and a 2nd ball my neighbor's son got Molly to sign for me again since I brought the first to show and tell and somehow got ruined. The one thing I remember him saying was he had hoped to never leave the Brewers and wanted to work in the front office when he retired.

 

#2) My dream memorabilia would be to meet and get Ken Griffey Jr. to sign my Mariners jersey to be a wall centerpiece for my basement bar.

[Wyotwinsfan]

This is a great idea. Thanks Seth.

1) My daughter was in 1st grade and the Twins' Caravan came to our town. Kirby was there and my daughter and I went to see him. He signed her baseball card but didn't say too much. However as we were leaving, his wife Tonya, stopped us to compliment my daughter on her pretty braids and talk to her. Tonya insisted that I take a picture of the two of them. This made a little girl's day and is a memory that has lasted for 25 years.

2) I wish I had met Harmon and got his autograph on a baseball.

[Madre Dos]

1.  I guess when I go to spring training every March and the "boys" yell mama's here!  I receive some strange looks from the other fans.

2.  I think when I make my 1st trip to Minnesota to see the kids play in a major league park.  Just seeing them on TV is very exciting.

[IndianaTwin]

1) There would be several. We still have the ticket stub from my son's first minor league game, a 1996 contest of the Fort Wayne Wizards starring (don't throw anything at me) A.J. Pierzynski. When the same son was 11, we did a seven-games-and-four-Halls-of-Fame-in-eight-days trip. Afterward, we sent gobs of photographs to players and a large number of them autographed and returned. It's a great keepsake photo album. On said trip, we were standing along the foul line at Comerica Park with a ball my son had gotten. We politely waited until a player finished his conversation, not quite sure who it was. Given his size and the several references to Notre Dame, I deciphered an ID and instructed my son to say, "May I have your autograph, Mr. (Craig) Counsel?" The guy looked a little perplexed, which made sense when he signed his name "Andy Green." Turns out that Counsel had gotten traded from the Diamondbacks that winter and was no longer with the team, but it makes for a good story in our family.

[ScooterDance]

1) when I was maybe 8 or 9, my uncle lived across the hall in an apartment from Kent Hrbeks sister. Fast forward a couple of years and that same uncle lived in a home. Married. Kid on the way. Dog. All american family. That dog had puppies. Carrie Hrbek got wind. Happened to know a Mr Kirby Puckett who was looking for a dog.

 

So there I sat, my boyhood idle standing in front of me wearing normal clothes with his wife Tanya. I could hardly look at him. Was super friendly and nice. Got a few things signed, topps rookie card I still have.

 

Turns out Tanya was allergic. Told my uncle to keep the money. Brought the dog back. With a huge bucket of toys.

 

Cool experience.

 

dont really collect memorablia anymore so nothing jumps out at me. A Honus Wagner in the attic, maybe?

[Seth Stohs]

These stories have been so much fun! I hope that people will continue to share their stories and such! I have really enjoyed it!

[Longdistancetwins]

I guess my ticket stub from David Wells's perfect game against the Twins at Yankee Stadium in 1998 doesn't really count for much, but it's stashed away somewhere. 

[twinsfansd]

My earliest memory is not about meeting any players, as I never attended a MLB game until I was about 30. But I was a big Twins fan. I was in Detroit sometime in probably 1985, while Kirby Puckett was still hitting lead off. I was there for work, but I ended up spending the weekend. The Twins were playing the Tigers, so my first MLB game was at old Tigers Stadium. I bought a ticket from some guy outside the stadium that was trying to get rid of it, and I ended up sitting about 10 rows up from 3rd base, great seats. 

So of course Kirby was the first batter in the game, and he hit a towering home run on the very first pitch. Can't top that experience with much. I think the Twins ended up winning the game like 8-0 if I remember right.

As far as a dream experience, I would love to meet and talk with Tony Oliva.

[gil4]

 

Probably not a JR Graham autograph.

There are two girls in our Awana club at church that know I'm a Twins fan, and they are pretty proud of the fact that their uncle (or possibly cousin - I can't remember exactly) pitches for the Twins.  I might be able to get you that autograph...

 

 

[gil4]

 

I guess my ticket stub from David Wells's perfect game against the Twins at Yankee Stadium in 1998 doesn't really count for much, but it's stashed away somewhere. 

Burn it! Burn it!

 

Just kidding.  I'd keep it too.  But then I also have the program from Dave Goltz' 1-hitter against the Red Sox (complete with my scorekeeping) from the 70's ('76?  It was the year he won 20.  Twins won 7-0.  Jim Rice got the hit in the 6th or 7th). 

[Longdistancetwins]

 

Nice story about a Killebrew keepsake, in case anyone missed it the first time around:

 

http://www.csnphilly.com/phillies/salisbury-remembering-harmon-killebrew

[Broker]

My son worked construction during summer break. My was bringing him home and needed something from the grocery store. He went into get while my wife waited in the car. A man noticed his Twins cap and said it looked like he was a hard worker. After finding out he was on an errand for his mother he took a business and wrote "best ticket available" then signed it. He was one of the Pohlad brothers.

 

My son played high school baseball. I watched all of the games. At one game I was sitting next to an older guy. I had a real nice conversation with him. LOL he knew what he was talking about. 4 or 5 innings into the game I introduced myself. He replied that his name was Tony Oliva. He had a nephew on the team.

 

There are several more so maybe later.

[Halsey Hall]

 

Nice story about a Killebrew keepsake, in case anyone missed it the first time around:

 

http://www.csnphilly.com/phillies/salisbury-remembering-harmon-killebrew

Thanks for that link.  I'd never read that piece before.  And it described Harmon perfectly, he was kind to all and a real gentleman.  I talked with him quite a few times and always enjoyed it.  Probably the best instance was sitting on the bench in a dugout with Harmon and a friend of mine who had one of Harmon's first gloves he used in the bigs.  Harmon had an interest in buying it back.  Me on one side and my friend on the other.  Harmon put on the glove and spoke of those early days.  I put the glove on, it was a treat. 

[Pardon My Dinger]

There are two girls in our Awana club at church that know I'm a Twins fan, and they are pretty proud of the fact that their uncle (or possibly cousin - I can't remember exactly) pitches for the Twins. I might be able to get you that autograph...

I respectfully pass.

[BobAzar]

2007, My  future (at that time) in-laws had come up from Iowa for the groundbreaking ceremony for TF, but due to the 35W bridge collapse it was postponed, along with the game that night. I was moving to Omaha for school the next day, so we decided to go out for a nice dinner at the Capital Grill in downtown. While sitting and eating, I notice Torii Hunter and his family at the table next to us. I tell my wife, and when he gets up to leave, she goes over and asks him to come say hi to our nephew (9 at the time), who is a huge Twins fan. He was super nice, said hi, took pictures, etc.

BUT then as he was leaving, my wife thanked him again, and he said no problem, then tapped her butt, like a ballplayer butt tap, nothing malicious about it.

My wife comes back and says "Torii Hunter just tapped my butt!"

That's my most memorable moment meeting a player.  

[Camdog5555]

My favorite memory was as a 15 year old probably.  I didn't really look up to the players anymore like idols. Being a high school player and starting to see the difference between myself and major leaguers I was old enough to understand that what these guys did on a daily basis was more than just hard. I was developing a respect for what players do.  

 

Anyways, we were waiting outside at the Dome to get autographs and pictures.  Matt Lecroy and Michael Cuddyer came out.  I got both autographs on a ball.  Lecroy was nice but don't remember much about him.  I took pictures with both and shook their hands.  Cuddyer was still a failed second basemen at the time and actually had two errors in the game I believe but he came back and salvaged it by getting a big hit. He signed my ball, took my picture, and I shook his hand and said thanks and told him that he had a great game.  He looked me straight in the eyes and said thanks with a big smile on his face.  It may have been all for show but it seemed very genuine.  Everyone talks about how great an influence Harmon had on Michael but that autograph he signed for me was pretty unreadable so it tells me that Harmon and Michael hadn't become that close yet.  That smile and his words told me that he was a genuinely good person without the influence of Harmon.  I will always remember that.  From that time on I loved to watch him play because I personally felt like I knew who I was cheering for.

[Musk21]

It was May 1990 and the Red Sox were in town for a weekend series against the Twins.  My Dad was a waiter at a downtown restaurant and 3 guys strolled in Saturday night just as the restaurant was getting ready to close.  They told my Dad that they really wanted to eat there and that if he could get the cooks to make them each a meal that they'd get him tickets to the Twins/Red Sox game on Sunday.  He asked if they played for the Twins and they said "No, we're on the Red Sox."  My Dad told them that he had wanted to take his family to Boston soon and wondered if they might be able to get him tickets to game at Fenway.  They said "Sure, no problem."  He was mostly a casual baseball fan, but told one of the guys that he looked familiar.  He said "Yeah, I'm Roger Clemens."  My Dad told them to sit down, that if he had to make the food himself, he'd do it.  The other two guys were Marty Barrett and John Marzano.

 

About a week or so later, Marty Barrett called our house one evening to set everything up for us.  Said he'd have the tickets waiting for us at Will Call.  We planned a trip to trip out to Boston for early August.  Before the game, my Dad knocked on some door in the stadium and told the clubhouse attendant who we were and to see if we could personally tell Marty Barrett thanks.  He let us in the clubhouse and we chatted with Barrett for awhile.  It was in a hallway of some sort, not the actual locker room.  A few players walked by including Clemens.  I said "Hi Roger!  Good luck today!"  He ignored me.....Barrett said "Don't feel bad, kid....He's pitching today.  That's part of his pregame ritual to not talk to ANYONE.  He does it to us too!" 

 

They game was great.  Barrett had provided us with tickets right behing the plate.  Clemens pitched a great game and it was on his 28th birthday.  Afterwards we went to the players parking lot and got a bunch of autographs including Clemens, Cecil Fielder, Jack Morris....Was a pretty amazing trip for a 13 year old baseball fanatic!