DOWN TO THE LAST WEEK - August 2002

Well, it's vacation time. I always take the last 2 weeks of August up to catch up on my baseball. I usually treat myself to some road trips during that time. This vacation has been no exception.

My first trip was up to Duluth with my wife to bring her mother back down for a week. Of course I timed this so I could take in a Dukes game. Nancy got autographs on the Explorers side for me, while I worked the Dukes. Derrick Gibson, the former Colorado slugger is playing with the Dukes now. He was a very good signer, signing 14 cards for me. He said, "I don't mind, I'm not doing anything else right now." He's got some beautiful cards. The Dukes put out a card set, so I worked on getting a couple of them signed, and did very well, only missing the starting pitcher, their hitting coach, and "Dirty Al" Gallagher, who usually is a very good signer, but he came out very late, just before the first pitch.

The Dukes showed up late as well, falling to the Explorers 7-2. I ought to know better. I went to the stadium in shorts and a tank top. When the sun sets in Duluth and the wind comes off the lake, it gets COLLLLD! It dropped to 45 degrees and I sprung for a Dukes sweatshirt. I had a special treat as well. I got to visit a few innings with Bernie Gerl, the last survivor of the 1948 Dukes team (they were a Cardinal affiliate at that time. The team was involved in a horrendous bus crash that killed 4 players, their manager and the bus driver and injured the other players. Mr Gerl was the last player pulled out of the burning bus. He goes back to the ballpark whenever his family heads up to Clear Lake, Wisconsin, where they have a cabin, and the Dukes honored him by inviting him to throw out the first pitch of the ballgame the previous evening.

The following Tuesday I went up to Joliet to catch both the home team and Sioux Falls. By this time I had the Sioux Falls card set. I did very well working the visitors before the game. One of my Burlington baseball friends has done alot of research into the Keokuk Kernels and their short-lived stint in the Midwest League. Knowing that I was going up there, he'd given me a couple B&W pictures of Billy Williams, the Canaries hitting coach, in his youthful baseball days, showing him in a Keokuk Kernels uniform. Billy went on to the majors briefly (10 at bats) with the Seattle Pilots in their inaugural season in 1969. Both he and the players he showed it to thought the picture of him as a young Keokuk player was quite a neat item. I gave him the extra copy to keep as well as a copy of a picture that I'd taken of him in a Sioux Falls uniform earlier this year. Had a great time. I was a little miffed at myself though. Marlyn Tisdale came out and I handed him his Bowman, Topps Heritage and Gold Label cards, but forgot that I had the two team cards too. Ouch!

After the game I waited outside the parking lot to get some of the Joliet players that I needed yet. Rick Wilkins signed his usual one (I got his Donruss Diamond King signed) and Bubba Smith signed 8, and Greg Hibbard 4. I got some other players as well. A good night. To top it off it was "Salute to Toilet Paper" night. I learned more trivia and facts about that necessary article than I probably needed to know.

The following night a couple buddies and I drove up to Beloit. Michigan's team sets came out late, and it was our closest place to catch the Battle Cats at. We did well, getting 25 of our 30 cards in the set signed. We paid for it, though. About 10 minutes before the game started a cloudburst like One that Noah would've been familiar with unloaded upon us, and we ended up spending about an hour under the bleachers before it cleared enough for us to dash to the care. We missed seeing Cecil Fielder but I caught Prince and he signed the picture that I took of him, another laminated newspaper picture, and 5 homemade cards of mine. I also caught roving instuctor Ed Sedar for 6 cards.

I'd be at a ballgame tonight, but it's Country-Western night in Peoria tonight where the Bees are playing. THey're playing both Country and Western tonight. Bob, of Country Bunker fame would be proud of them. For me, its an excuse to stay home. Oh yeah, while we're on the subject of crappy music, one of the MWL Clubs (I believe Cedar Rapids) did a tribute to Britney Spears night. Ouch!

If you're into Bobbleheads, Schaumburg has a Ron Kittle on their site that's reasonably priced. ($10) and Cedar Rapids is selling a Jarrod Washburn, perhaps the most impressive young pitcher to explode on the scene this season, in his Cedar Rapids togs for $17. I didn't go out of my way to accumulate Bobble heads this season, but ended up with 9. Recently adding Albert Pujols. Michael Restovich, Matt Nokes and the Burlington Bee (Buzz) to my cluttered baseball room.

For you card collectors...Dayton IS selling sets for $10 now that their promotion is done. They zap you on shipping though. Still, that's better than South Bend, who let us autographers down for the second year in a row by not getting their sets done in time for us to get before the season ends. They must really be in dissarry up there. I went up to South Bend for the SilverHawks/Diamondbacks exhibition game, but the story of that debacle will have to wait till my next article, as this one's running pretty long. Time to call it quits. Anyway, have fun with the hobby, I sure do. Most of the time. More on the South Bend debacle next time.
All for now.
 

~ Rich Hanson