I honestly forgot that he was one of my favorite players, until I came across his autograph on COMC. If I remember correctly, I became a fan of his because my buddy's little league team was the Pirates. Like thousand of other little kids we pretended to be real baseball players. Chris was Kent Tekulve and I was Bill Madlock.
By now, some of you might have realized that I am a compulsive shopper and I knew right then and there, I had to have a Madlock autograph in my collection. So, while searching eBay for a Bill Madlock autograph, I came across a postcard lot that consisted of these four players.
Monte Irvin
(Hall of Fame outfielder, 5x Negro League all-star, & 1x MLB all-star)
Max Lanier
(2x MLB all-star)
Vida Blue
(6x MLB all-star, 1971 Cy Young award winner & AL MVP)
Bill Madlock
(3x MLB all-star & 4x NL batting champ)
I realize that there's a chance that these autographs are fake, due to the price I paid. However, the COA comes from a legit company: Green Diamond Sports, which is run by the Ted Williams Family Enterprise.
Anyways if you're an autograph expert, I'd love to hear your feedback. I compared the Irvin, Blue, and Madlock to certified autographs (Topps Retired, UD, and Fleer Greats of the Game) and they're all in the ballpark.
One of the prizes in the contest is an autographed postcard of Max Lanier (sorry, the winner doesn't receive the COA... they only sent me one). He played for 14 seasons posting a record of 108-82 and a 3.01ERA. Unfortunately Mr. Lanier passed away in 2007 at the age of 91.
So, are you ready for today's question of the day? Here it is... while growing up, did you ever role play and pretend to be your favorite sports star? If so, who and why? If not, then just tell us your favorite baseball player as a little kid.
Now for the results for yesterday's mini-contest. I asked people to guess what my favorite John Hughes movie is. Two people (SpastikMooss & Hoopography) had the correct answer and were rewarded 3 points, everyone else received 1 point.
Here's the updated point total:
82Redbirds - 13 points
Spastikmooss - 13 points
Hoopography - 12 points
G Moses - 12 points
TJ - 11 points
Tony MC - 11 points
Sal - 11 points
BA Benny - 10 points
Cam - 8 points
dkwilson - 8 points
Play at the Plate - 7 points
Steve D - 5 points
John - 5 points
night owl - 4 points
Jeremy - 3 points
Martyn - 3 points
Redsox101 - 1 point
Captain Canuck - 1 point
(...Joe) - 1 point
longlivethewho - 1 point
Thanks again for reading my blog and participating in the contest. I love reading your responses to the question of the day. Hopefully, you're finding the time to check out what some of your fellow collectors are writing.
Before I go, I apologize for the late post. I'll try to publish them a little earlier, but the blog is going to revolve around my work schedule and the first week back is usually the busiest. I'll keep this question open until at least tomorrow morning. Have a good evening.
17 comments:
I always pretended to be Dermonti Dawson - center for the Steelers. I played center every year I played football. I was the fattest kid on the team.
Haha. Im still only a teen, and when I was really little I liked the Phillies. I pretended I was Bobby Abreu, because I loved playing outfield in teeball
I was always Roger Clemens. I picked #21 on all my little league jerseys. I choose to remember his as a hero and there's nothing you can do about it.
Football - Colin Hendry
Hmm I used to pretend I was Colin Hendry The Scottish blonde centre (center) back for Blackburn Rovers, I had the same hair.
He was big, tough, & alway's there. The first name on back of a shirt was his. He played in my first visit to Ewood, and had two spells for Rovers.
Sadly recently his personal life has had a few bad years.
But an Idol!
Shawn Green. I would always pretend to be him when my friend and I would play home run derby. Until he found out he was left handed, then I had to be Butch Husky...
haha
Woohoo, glad I got the Hughes question right!
As for guys I emulated, it was all about stances. Fred McGriff was my favorite player, but Griffey Jr. was the guy I emulated. I did his bat wiggle, I lusted after a pair of his flip uo sunglasses...all about that dude. I occasionally "played" Craig Biggio since I was a 2B, but mostly it was Griffey Jr all the way.
Nowadays my swing rotates...sometimes Griffey, sometimes Tony Batista, sometimes Jeff Bagwell. All great stances.
I played basketball a lot as a kid, and I used to pretend I was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the court. I would always try to perfect my imitation of his hook shot.
Even though he batted left-handed and I don't, I used to pretend to be Don Mattingly. Growing up, everyone told me to model my game after him, so I tried to.
When I played street hockey, I wanted to be Bobby Orr. But when I played ice hockey, I wanted to be Dave Manson.
Never played baseball as a kid but my favourite player was the Giants first baseman JT Snow.
Griffey Jr. - My favorite player and had the sweetest swing in all of baseball.
as a young child in the 70's I was a third baseman so as much as it hurts as a Mets fan, I was Craig Nettles. My dad was a Yankee fan so I was too as a youngster. I still love those 70's Yankee teams with Munson, Guidry, Randolph, etc.
Sorry guys... too tired to post another article... I'm going to let this one run another evening. So if you haven't posted an answer to yesterday's question... you still have some time.
I'll have another article up tomorrow evening.
G'nite... Fuji
Glad you were tired! Ha, just kidding, but it gave me a shot. I was a catcher in little league so I always pretended to be Johnny Bench or Carlton Fisk. That's where my obsession with catchers came from.
I used to play a lot of basketball back in the day. To warm up, I used to pick an NBA player out and play him one-on-one. For ever basket I made I got one point, for every basket I missed, the opposing player got two points. Who ever got to 21 first won. The trick is you could only take two layups and you had to move at a quick pace. Lets just say that Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas beat me once or twice.
I always pretended and kinda still do that i was kevin youkillis cuz his batting stance is crazy awesome
Contest entries are officially closed: Feel free to continue commenting, but it won't count for points.
I'm glad a few of you were able to add your responses. I'll have an updated point total in a couple of hours along with my next post/question.
See ya in a few.
BTW... Charles... sweet game. I'll have to teach it to my nephew.
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