I've written a few posts about Mama Fuji and the positive influence and impact she had on me, my siblings, and my father. She was he most generous and caring person in my life and I was truly devastated when she passed away nearly five years ago.
Thankfully... time has a way of healing the heart (at least for me). That doesn't mean that every now and then, I don't have my moments where I reminisce and shed some tears. It still happens. It just happens on a less frequent basis.
There weren't any tears this morning, but I've been thinking about my mom all week as today is her special day. In honor or my mom's eighty-ninth birthday, I pulled out a few cards featuring athletes who wore 89 on their jerseys...
1977 Topps #513
1958 Topps #16
Marchetti's career was over before I was born, so I never got to watch him play. However my parents attended several Green Bay Packers games at Milwaukee County Stadium back in the late 50's, so there's a chance she got to see him play in person when the Colts came to town.
1995 Classic Pro Line Autograph #NNO
When my parents migrated to the Bay Area in the early 70's, they became San Francisco 49er fans. Blades played for Seattle from 1988 to 1998, but back then the Seahawks were part of the AFC West. He faced the 49ers twice, but only had three receptions. Although I still watched some 49er games with my family in the late 80's and 90's... it wasn't nearly as often as when I was little. So it's not likely we watched these games together.
2009 Certified Fabric of the Game DC Jersey Number Signatures #63
Although my parents' 49er fanfare dipped when they moved to Las Vegas in the late 90's, they still would watch them play if they were on the television. This is especially true if they were playing the Packers or Raiders... the two teams Jones played for during his career. Can't say for certain if my mom ever got a chance to see him play though.
1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier #75
I am 100% certain though that she never watched Mogilny play. Even when the Sharks started playing in 1991 and Team Teal was soaring in popularity, my mom had little interest in them. That's why I was so surprised to see her rooting for the Las Vegas Knights. I remember her checking the box scores in the Las Vegas Review-Journal when I was there visiting. I guess it helps that the Knights were awesome during their inaugural season. They'd end up reaching the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Washington Capitols.
The next season they were eliminated by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the playoffs. But they shut out the Anaheim Ducks on her birthday that year... and beat the Calgary Flames the night before she passed away. I never asked my dad about the specific details of that morning, but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the last things she did was check the box score from that game.
Happy birthday Mom! Hope you're enjoying your special day with Dad. Sorry to report that your Knights are off tonight... but they are having a pretty decent season. Love and miss you!
Happy Friday and sayonara!
16 comments:
Nice choice of tribute 👍
My mom was biggest influence as well, miss here dearly.... always will.
Happpy heavenly birthday to Mama Fuji! Great selection of cards to honor her here.
She had a good run it seems.
I did not know Dryer was on Cheers. Four episodes it looks like, so I'm not sure how I missed it.
Anyway, voting for Marchetti.
A great tribute!
Nice tribute to your mom! She raised a great son.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
Beautiful way to pay tribute, though.
Nice tribute to your mom and sounds like you guys shared a love of sports!
Nice tribute and post. It takes time to heal and its okay not to have a moment here and there. I still think about my grandmother who meant the world to me. Everytime I play monopoly or eat thanksgiving food she comes to mind.
I am also chasing that 1995 Pro Line autograph set. More on that to come :) If you have an extra Blades or any others kicking around let me know and we can trade
Nice tribute! I was also probably on some couch at some point having seen Hunter. Probably didn't even know he was a football player when I watched it :-)
Nice tribute. When Dryer was on TV, I basically forgot he was a NFL player. Now when I see a card of his, I forget he was an actor. Dang, I'm getting old.
Happy Birthday Mama Fuji! Wish I could have met her!
mark zentkovich - thank you mark!
johnnys trading spot - you're absolutely right. it may hurt less for me as time goes on, but it'll never not hurt... and i'll always miss hear dearly
dennis - thank you dennis!
elliptical man - yeah. she lived a good life. as for the marchetti, i actually had another card in mind, but the jersey number wasn't showing.
johngy - thanks johngy!
the lost collector - thanks aj!
ginko-5 - thank you ginko!
uncle charlie's shoebox - we definitely both loved football... but she was always rooting for the niners while i was rooting against them. as for hockey, i wish she would have been a fan back in the 90's. she actually started following it when my fanfare was dying down. but i still loved the fact that she loved it.
matt - there are definitely specific moments that will immediately make me think of her. thanksgiving is one of them. as for blades, i unfortunately don't have a duplicate copy. i do have a few other singles from that set, but they are all ones i hand picked for my collection. best of luck with your set build
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - my memory sucks, but i feel like either my mom or dad pointed out to me that dryer played football. then again... maybe i only thought of him as an actor back then
michael d - i doubt i ever saw dryer play (except maybe the 1979 super bowl), but i think my mom or dad told me that he was a former football player while watching hunter or cheers.
sumomenkoman - she would have loved to meet you. you two could have talked about japan. although i don't know if she knew much about sumo wrestling :D
This was a really nice post, Fuji!
Very nice tribute, Fuji!!!
jon and the snorting bull - thanks guys!
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