With all the negativity surrounding baseball, this die hard fan just might turn to college sports as his elixir for his sports necessities. I just have a hard time feeling sorry for these multi-million dollar athletes who complain about money, especially since I have a part time job to go along with my full time career to support my family.

The negativity surrounding baseball has also affected the autograph requests I have sent out in the mail lately. Just sent out requests to Don James, former UW Football Coach, and a few actors from "Dead Poets Society" that I want to complete my ensemble celebrating that wonderful movie. Since I already have autographs from the major stars, namely Robin Williams, Ethan Hawks, and Robert Sean Leonard, I mailed out requests to Gale Hansen (Knox Overstreet) and James Waterston (Pitts) and Leon Pownall (the teacher McAllister).

The Tampa Bay Bucs are practicing at Disney this year. I'll head out there in the next week or two but not holding my breath at getting many autographs. My drive to Tampa last year for camp was somewhat a waste of my gas though I did get signatures from Tony Dungey, Joe Hamilton, Dave Moorer and finally got Ryan Leaf to sign a TV Guide for me from his college days (the TV Guide was only available in eastern Washington). Speaking of Leaf, is he not the biggest bust ever? I lived in Spokane when he led the Cougars to the Rose Bowl and I certainly believed he was a better QB than Peyton Manning. Boy, was I wrong!

This month's mailbox

Phil Bradley: Already have Mr. Bradley’s autograph but I recently acquired a Mariners program from 1986 that featured the last great left fielder Seattle has had (don’t get me started on all the horrible left fielders we’ve had since we traded Phil…Kevin Mitchell, Vince Coleman, Darren Bragg, Rich Amaral, Mark Whiten). I wanted to try out the new address before I sent off the program. In three weeks, Phil was kind enough to sign two more cards for me. Now that I know the address works, I will be sending off the program as well.

Jack Lazorko: Jack spent a few years of his middle relief years in Seattle and was a reliable set up guy. He signed in about three weeks from his addy in Smallings. However, he did keep one of my Angels cards that I sent him.

Thomas Jane: OK, so Thomas is not a baseball player which has been my focus the last few months. Last August, after watching the superb movie "61*" on HBO, I sent Thomas a nice letter about how much I enjoyed watching him portray Mickey Mantle. Nearly a year later, he sent me a nice autographed photo. Now that I have Thomas’ signature, I’m sending out a request to Barry Pepper who portrayed Roger Maris in the movie.

In Person Autographing: Seattle in Tampa & a trip to Richmond

I remembered why I enjoy autographing minor leagues and Spring Training. I spent July 11^th and 12^th in Tampa to watch my beloved Mariners and to possibly get a few autographs.

The 11^th started out with getting Gerald Perry, the Mariners hitting coach, to sign a few cards. This was not a good sign. A few years ago when I went to Vegas for the Big League Weekend, Gerald Perry signed a few cards to start out the afternoon…and he was the only one associated with the Mariners that would sign for me.

Batting practice was uneventful. Luis Ugueto signed a newspaper and Desi Relaford stopped to sign a few cards. I was positioned next to the bullpen and got Mark Watson, one of their "bullpen for a week" pitcher, on an index card. While this was happening, Edgar stopped to sign a few items in front of the dugout. Of course, I was nowhere near getting him. Bummer. Bret Boone stopped to sign for a number of people and I was able to reach over the throngs of people with my Tacoma newspaper that had his picture on it. Unfortunately, Bret grabbed a ballpoint pen from someone and was using that for every item he signed. His autograph has been reduced to a "B B."

The Mariners were done with their workout and I went to the D-Rays side. I was able to get Jared Sandberg, Jesus Colome, and Travis Harper. I tried to give Travis Phelps an index card to sign and he told me that he wouldn’t sign an index card. I was denied by Travis Phelps. How embarrassing.

After the game, I decided to go out by the Devil Rays parking lot where the Mariners bus was parked. I was lucky enough to get Mark McLemore, John Olerud, and Freddy Garcia. All of them looked quizzingly at my newspapers that I asked them to sign. None of the Devil Rays would stop to sign. Then again, most of the fans were only interested in Mariners.

The following day, I brought my 12 year old niece and 10 year old nephew to the game with me. Unfortunately, the autographing was even worse on the 12^th. But, John Moses did stop to sign a few cards for us and he even gave my niece a ball. She was really excited about that. The only other guy who stopped to sign autographs was Ben Davis.

After the game proved to be fruitful. Freddy Garcia again stopped to sign as did Carlos Guillen and a few Devil Rays, including Ryan Rupe (I didn’t get him), Paul Wilson, Tanyon Sturtze, and coach Billy Hatcher.

Later in the month…

I was in Richmond Virginia on business and had some time to kill so I drove over to the Richmond Braves vs. Indy Indians game. I was able to get the following:

Chris Jones 3/3

Skeeter Barnes 3/3

Bobby Smith 2/2

Marcus Jensen

Tim Harrikala

Roberto Giron

Jimmy Osting

Jason Childers

Jim Rushford

Takahito Nomura (signed in Japanese character)

Ozzie Timmons 2/6

I tried to get more Braves but there was a little league team on the field for pre-game festivities and none of the players were stopping because they would then be mauled by the little leaguers to sign for them. I was told that the Braves signed after the game (I wanted Betemit and Wilson) but I got bored in the third inning and left early. It would also have been nice to see Aaron Small who I met a few years ago in Salt Lake City. As you can tell by the list above, neither team really had any major prospects (except for Betemit) and the flow of the game proved that point. Maybe that or my dislike for the Braves extends far beyond just the Atlanta team and trickles down through the minors.

Hope you've enjoyed this. Let me know what you think. Send your comments or questions to me at the_autographer@hotmail.com

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