Saturday, January 31, 2015

Chris Phipps

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Chris signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3472.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=phipps001chr

Friday, January 30, 2015

Scott Erickson

I met him at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, when the Minnesota Twins came to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game.

Scott signed the back of the September 1991 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/ericksc01.shtml

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Kim Batiste


I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Kim signed a 1992 Upper Deck card #422.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/batiski01.shtml

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Ramon Aviles

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Ramon signed a 1988 ProCards card #302.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/avilera01.shtml

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Rich Hunter

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Rich signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3468.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hunteri01.shtml

Monday, January 26, 2015

Al LeBoeuf

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Al signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3163.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=leboeu001ala

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Linardo Diaz

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Linardo signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3488.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=diaz--001lin

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Jason Sikes

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.
Jason signed a 1994 Topps Stadium Club Draft Picks card #53.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=sikes-001jas

Friday, January 23, 2015

Mobb Deep

On August 16, 2013, Mobb Deep performed at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Before the show started, I was standing outside the venue and Prodigy walked right by me. No one around me seemed to recognize him, so I just casually followed him, hoping to get an autograph without drawing a crowd. He walked into the lobby of a nearby motel and that's where I stopped him. He was really cool and thanked me for not drawing attention to him outside the club.
I didn't get to meet Havoc until after the show. Since I knew where they were staying, I just walked over there after the concert and waited for Havoc to show up.
I had such a great time seeing them perform and getting to meet them. Seeing "Shook Ones" performed live is one of my favorite concert experiences.

Prodigy and Havoc signed the inside cover of The Infamous CD.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Doug Angeli


I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Doug signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3151.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=angeli001dou

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Kris Kirkland


I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Kris signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3142.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=kirkla001kri

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Ramon Henderson

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Ramon signed a 1992 Fleer Pro Cards card #2074.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hender001ram

Monday, January 19, 2015

Derek Stingley

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Derek signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3490.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=stingl001der

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Floyd Rayford

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Floyd signed a 1984 Topps card #514.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rayfofl01.shtml

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Danton Pierre-Louis

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Danton signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3484.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=pierre001dan

Friday, January 16, 2015

Dave Stewart

I met him at Englebert Complex, the Toronto Blue Jays spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida.

A funny thing happened when I got this autograph. Dave was signing for a group of people. When I got close enough to hand him this picture, I asked him if he could personalize it to me. He obliged, took the picture and pen and proceeded to sign the photo. When he finished, he handed it back to me, I thanked him and got out of the crowd's way. As I'm putting the picture away, I noticed Dave wrote "To Dan, Best Wishes" and that was it. He neglected to sign his name. I called out to him, holding the picture and told him he forgot to put his name. He laughed, blamed his age for forgetting, grabbed my picture and pen once again, and added his name.

Dave signed an 8x10 photo.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stewada01.shtml

Thursday, January 15, 2015

John Martin

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

John signed a 1991 Line Drive AA Pre-Rookie card #509.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martijo05.shtml

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Mike Shipman

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Mike signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3479.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=shipma001mic

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Larry Andersen

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Larry signed a 1992 Upper Deck card #587.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/anderla02.shtml

Monday, January 12, 2015

Blake Doolan

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Blake signed a 1994 Fleer Pro Cards card #2521.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=doolan001bla

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Scott Shores

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.
I got to know Scott that year as he spent the season with the Clearwater Phillies of the Florida State League. One day he gave my brother and I a ride home after a game. We invited him inside and I got to show him my entire autograph collection, which at the time was on display on my walls. Unfortunately, this is the only picture that I know of that shows how my collection was displayed.

It was neat seeing Scott point out guys that he played against professionally, as well as those he competed against in college. I even got to show him where his own signed card was.
Scott signed a 1994 Topps Stadium Club Draft Picks card #61.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=shores001sco




Saturday, January 10, 2015

Chris Gambs

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Chris signed a 1992 Stadium Club Dome card #54.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gambs-001chr

Friday, January 9, 2015

Jeffrey Hammonds


I met him at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida when the Baltimore Orioles came to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game.

Jeffrey signed the cover of the September 1993 issue of Beckett Focus on Future Stars.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hammoje01.shtml

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Tony Fiore

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Tony signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3139.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fioreto01.shtml

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Jon McMullen

I met him at Carpenter Complex, the Philadelphia Phillies spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.

Jon signed a 1992 Classic Best Draft Pick card #116.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=mcmull001jon

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Ron Reams

I met him at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, when the Toronto Blue Jays came to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game.
He was a replacement player for the Toronto Blue Jays during the strike-shortened 1995 season.

Ron signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #1264.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=reams-002ron

Monday, January 5, 2015

Scott Miller

I met him at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, when the Toronto Blue Jays, whom he was a coach for, came to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game.
During the strike in 1995, the Blue Jays refused to allow their Major League coaching staff to work with the replacement players. Instead, they used Minor League coaches.

Scott signed a 1993 Fleer Pro Cards card #3754.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=miller002s--

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Jason Alstead

I met him at a spring training game at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.
He was a replacement player for the Philadelphia Phillies during the strike-shortened 1995 season.

Jason signed a 1992 Classic Best card #106.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=alstea001jas

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Larry Bowa

I met him at a spring training game at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida in 1995, when he was the third base coach for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Larry signed a 1993 Ted Williams card #71.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bowala01.shtml

Friday, January 2, 2015

Biz Markie

I've been fortunate to have met Biz Markie twice. The first time was on July 27, 2013, when he performed at Club Detroit in St. Petersburg, Florida. When the show was announced, ticket prices were $15 but a week before the show they scrapped the admission price and made it a free event.

I was standing outside before the show, hoping to catch Biz when he arrived. After several minutes I spotted him in the passenger seat of an SUV waiting to pull in. I went over to where the vehicle was pulling in and out came Biz. I was the only one standing there hoping to get an autograph. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of Biz's CDs to get signed, so I settled for a compilation CD which he appears on. The pen I gave him also went out at a bad time for me as the autograph didn't come out so well.

On December 5, 2014, Biz returned to the Tampa Bay area, performing with Yo Gabba Gabba! at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. This time I was better prepared with a Biz Markie CD and a pen that I trusted. Also, I was able to get a picture with him along with my brother, Brian.

Biz signed the front cover of his The Best of Cold Chillin' greatest hits CD.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Jeff Stone

I met him at a spring training game at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida in 1995.
He was a replacement player for the Philadelphia Phillies during the strike-shortened 1995 season.

Jeff signed a 1987 Fleer card #189.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stoneje01.shtml