A Fanfest, Caravan, and Mail - February 2002

January is normally the doldrums as far as autographing is concerned, but thanks to the IOWA Cubs I had a great day on January 12th. Nancy and I drove 4 hours to Des Moines to attend the Iowa Cus fanfest. It's a 2 day affair, but best I could do was a Saturday off. Too bad.

Whitey Herzog and Rollie Fingers were the autograph guests of honor on Friday. Whitey, in the process of singing the praises of Bruce Kimm, the I-Cubs manager as a potential major league manager, made some comments that got him in hot water with a liberal Des Moines sportswriter. Too bad. It was far from Mr. Herzog's intent to offend anyone.

We arrived Saturday morning and immediately I blew my mad money at a dealer who was selling older mirnor league sets for $5 each. Then we went for the autographs. Every hour 4 or 5 players with Iowa Cubs or Central Iowa connections would rotate in signing autographs. I-Cubs coaches Pat Listach and Jerry Reuss were there, as was manager Bruce Kimm. Minor and major leaguers from Central Iowa who were available for autographs were Benji Sampson, Todd Sears, Ryan Gripp, Nate and Jason Cromer, Peter and Casey Blake, Joel Hanrahan, Nate Teut and Don Wengert. Not to mention the headliners, Nancy and I each netted an autograph from Bob Gibson and Billy Williams. For $20 admission we netted close to 100 autographs between the two of us.

We also got to meet a nice couple whom I'd been corresponding with for a couple years about autographs and baseball. It was the first time we'd ever met each other in person.

The Iowa Cubs put together some other nice ideas, including a miniature version of Wrigley Field that you could attempt to hit whiffle balls out of, and trivia competition as well. We had a great time, and we'll definitely return to Des Moines if they put together another one next year. The only Suggestion that I could make to possibly improve upon the event, is that they might possibly invite former ballplayers from the Central Iowa area as well.

The following Thursday night the Cardinal Caravan made its appearance in Peoria. Thank you, St. Louis. The Cubs, in what they termed a "cost-cutting" measure, opted not to send out a caravan this season. I was disappointed that Jason Isringhausen couldn't make it at the last minute. I'd laminated a picture I cut from the Galesburg paper of Isringhausen hold up his new Cardinal uniform next to Walt Jocketty at the press conference announcing his signing. Still, the Cardinals sent a nice representation of past and present players, including Jimmy Journell, ranked by Baseball America as their #1 minor league prospect, Jose Oquendo, Mark DiFelice, Al "the Mad Hungarian" Hrbosky Placido Polanco and Danny Cox. It was a fun evening of baseball talk and Cub-bashing.

I received three interesting responses by mail that I'll take a moment to share with you.

When I wrote to Dave Johnson I sent him his 1977 Topps card #478. He wrote me a note about the card.

"Most people don't know it, but I am the original Mariner. My contract was purchased by Seattle from Baltimore 2 weeks before the expansion draft. I signed before the draft. There was a nice article in the Seattle paper about it in 1977. The first player taken in the expansion draft by Seattle was a center fielder by the name of Rupert Jones. Most people think he was the first. Thank you all again and good luck with your collection."

What happened to you, Tom Norton? I asked him. Growing up a Twins fan in Northern Minnesota, I remembered his stint with the Twins in 1972. He appeared in 21 games and posted a 2.78 ERA. His reply is a sad reminder of what too often happened to promising pitchers with arm injuries before the advent of Tommy John surgery.

"I was going for my first save in June of 1972 when I had two outs in the 9th inning and 2 strikes on the batter when I tried to throw my hundred mile an hour fastball, and threw my elbow out, and this caused the end of my Big League career."

Dave Cheadle appeared in 2 games with the Atlanta Braves in 1973. He finished with an 0-2 record and an 18.00 ERA. He was kind enough to send me an article that appeared in his hometown Virginia Beach paper in 1985 when Pete Rose (who SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame as much as "Dud Selig should be deposed as commissioner) broke Ty Cobb's long-standing career hit record. Yes, Dave Cheadle finished with a career total of 2 major league strikeouts, but one of them came at the expense of the all-time hit leader. Oh yes, he got Joe Morgan to ground out that game, then walked Johnny Bench and was lifted. Sure enough, the pitcher who followed him gave up two singles, Bench scored and Dave Cheadle was saddled with the loss. Such is baseball. Still, Dave Cheadle can always bask in the memory of sending Pete Rose back frustrated to grab some pine.

It was good to pound out an article again. Keep an eye out for a new article each month. I'm still having fun with the hobby and hope that you are too.

~ Rich Hanson