The R-Phils playing in Bowie worked out well for me since their Manager and Pitching Coach are both former Orioles, and while I had autographs of both of them in my collection, neither were obtained in-person, so I had a chance to upgrade.
Mark Parent is the team's manager, his first season in that position for the team. He was a two-time Oriole, in '92-93 and again in '96, and played in the Majors for twelve seasons.
Mark signed for me next to the visitor's dugout, and seemed like a nice guy. I asked how the season was going and he didn't seem very happy with how the team was performing, even though their record was over .500 at the time. Maybe he's tough to please, I don't know.
Next up was the Phillies' pitching coach, Bob Milacki, who spent five of his eight seasons in the Majors with the O's.
He was down in the bullpen warming up the starting pitcher, so, not wanting to bother him while he was busy, I sat and watched for a bit. It was almost game time after the pitcher was warm, but I called out to Bob anyway. He quickly shot me down and said he didn't have time to sign. Bummer, but not much I could do about it.
After the game was over, I made my way down the visitor's foul line, figuring I would give one more shot at getting Bob's autograph. This time my request worked, and he came right over. He even remembered me and apologized for not signing before the game. I told him that I completely understood that he was busy and I was just happy he took some time for me. Well played Bob.
I had two cards of both Mark & Bob and they kindly signed both for me. So these two are for trade if anyone is interested.
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4 comments:
Nice autographs. I'm debating if I want to try to see the Reading Phillies when they visit Trenton in a couple of weeks.
I was a fan of Bob Milacki when he first came up - for some reason, I thought he would become a big star so I traded for a ton of his rookie cards.
- Paul
Mark sure does have an interesting signature. I never would have guessed that his first name started with anything but a "W". His "P" is pretty cool, too.
As for the most runs I have ever seen, I was lucky enough to be on hand to see a 2000 Royals club give up a franchise high 21. It was a 2-2 game until the A's put up 10 in the third. It was all downhill from there. My girlfriend wanted to leave early, but I had to stick around to see how bad tha carnage was going to be.
But, for most combined runs, you might have me beat.
Paul-I seem to have a lot of Milacki cards too, but don't remember specifically targeting him.
Zach- You're right on Parent's signature. If you know what you're looking at, you can kind of see it, but if not, it's hard to follow.
And you're a lucky guy to have seen your team do so poorly. I somehow missed the Orioles giving up 31 runs to the Rangers in Baltimore a few years back. I was actually watching the first Transformers movie with friends and got a few texts that referenced 30-3. No one mentioned the O's specifically, so I thought it was a football score until I got how and turned on the TV.
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