FERGUSON JENKINS AND ST SUCCESSES UPDATE - April 2002

Well, I know baseball season is just around the corner. We had our live 12 team fantasy league baseball draft last night. We draft 18 active players and 8 reserves, so to have finished in four and a half hours wasn't bad. I drafted 9th. I don't thank that I did too badly, I ended up with Griffey, Bagwell, Sweeney, Kendall, Vidro and Erstad among my hitters, and my staff is bolstered by the presence of Matt Morris and Mark Mulder and Wade Miller, among others. Prospects? I didn't pull the trigger quick enough to get Beckett or Carlos Pena, but do have Hank Blalock and Steve Cox, who is having a very impressive Spring. We'll see. One thing for sure, a 12 player league sure dilutes the talent pool. Stretch this observation to 28 major league teams and you'll perhaps appreciate why Managers age so quickly.

Last article I mentioned my Spring training efforts. I'm up to 220 letters sent out now, and I've gotten 107 responses back. Since last time the #1 draft picks from 2001 have started rolling in. Some of the guys I've received back are Bobby Crosby, Bronson Sardinha (now I have both him and Dane), Jason Arnold (I'd laminated a nice article about his no-hitter), Michael Woods, Alex Herrera, Mike Conroy, Jorge Julio, Beau Hale, Jake Gatreau, Josh Burrus, Justin Wayne, John VanBeschoten and Joe Skaggs. Joe Skagg's Premiere Prospect card has a bit of historical significance to it. Joe poses in front of a backdrop of the "Big Apple" and off to his right you can see the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Two weekends ago Ferguson Jenkins came to Burlington to sign autographs at the grand opening  of a Sherwin Williams store. The weather was nasty and kept the crowd down, but it didn't keep my long-suffering wife and I away. Between the two of us he signed the 3 1970 Topps cards that he is on (my favorite set), a Rangers card, a Cubs card and 2 cards showing him as a pitching coach for Oklahoma City. My favorite item was a picture that we took of him 10 years ago in Peoria when he was kind enough to pose with my then very young son Dylan and a friend of his. Its the kind of picture  that really means alot to me and really helps to personalize our scrapbooks. In my 3 experiences with Mr Jenkins I have always found him to be very personable, a real nice guy. He was signing 2 items per person, and due to the low turnout we were able to go through the line twice.

Got a nice note from Paul Giel awhile ago, a former All-American football player for the University of Minnesota who went on to play baseball with the Giants and Twins. He apologized to ME for taking awhile to get the cards signed and back to me. I'm just glad to be able to add his cards signed to our scrapbooks.

I've got to put in a plug for a website that I both enjoy and find useful. The Official Northern League Website is extremely well done. Take my advise and check it out. It sure puts the MWL's site to shame.

When you're getting ready for the season, just a reminder to some of you new to getting minor league autographs. Don't forget to dig out the team's roving instructors and carry them with you. You're not out anything but the time you spend digging them out, and it makes for increased autograph opportunities for you. Most parent clubs will send roving hitting, pitching, catching, baserunning etc instructors to their minor league affiliates. Find out who they are and carry their cards with you.

Well, I've rambled on long enough. Get ready for the season to start, and have fun with the hobby. I sure do.

~ Rich Hanson