My day with Baseball Royalty

By Mike Stelzer aka puffster31

My wife and I vacationed in Las Vegas for my 30th birthday. When researching the hotels, events, casinos, etc., I stumbled across an article about Field of Dreams in Caesar’s Palace’s Forum Shops. I’ve been collecting Baseball cards for 21 years so when I saw that Pete Rose signs autographs at Field of Dreams, I almost jumped in the car and drove to Vegas just to meet the man that day. The wife said no so . . . I waited.

I’ve lived in Ohio all my life and started watching Baseball around the time Pete became the All-Time Hit King. I remember watching the hit, seeing the crowd erupt and then watched in awe as the celebration ensued for Mr. Rose. I was already a Reds fan and now I was hooked – Pete Rose because my main target. Granted I was 10 at the time so obviously, cash was at a premium. I do remember buying packs for $0.35 and getting 17 cards and a stale piece of bubblegum – searching for elusive Rose cards. When I pulled my first Rose card, I was on cloud nine! An 1986 Topps card, to this day I still have it.

Well, needless to say the card mentioned above was in pretty bad shape and I wanted a good card for Pete to autograph. I went to a local card shop, Dave’s Dugout in Celina, Ohio, and told Dave that I was going to meet Pete Rose and I wanted a good card for him to autograph. I searched through his stack of cards until I found the perfect card – a black and white photo of Pete with an individual with Down’s Syndrome, handed out by the K of C. There is no date on the back of this card but I’m guessing it was produced during the early 80s. This was the one . . . unique and sentimental, a perfect card for an autograph. Dave gave me the card and said that he wanted to see the autograph after I had it signed.

Day three of our vacation . . . today was the day! Pete was to begin signing at 10:00 and I was kind of miffed at my wife because we got there 15 minutes late. My heart was racing, my eyes bugged out of my head, and if the security guard was not there, I would have run into the man before paying for the autograph. I paid the fee and then waited in line for my turn. I remember thinking . . . this is Pete Rose! Pete Rose! All-time Hit King Pete Rose! The shop helpers took my camera and then they started taking pictures. I don’t think I said a word – I was just in awe until Pete saw the card.

He put on his glasses and asked me where I found this card? I stumbled that a local card shop gave me this card and he asked me how old the kid in the picture was? I didn’t have an answer for him. He looked at the card again and commented that the kid is probably in his 40s by now. Again, no words on my end. He took the card and provided a perfect autograph:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn256/puffster31/PC/Baseball/Big%20Red%20Machine/Autos/?action=view&current=kofc.jpg

And here are the pictures from that fateful day:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn256/puffster31/PC/Baseball/Big%20Red%20Machine/Autos/?action=view&current=kofc1.jpg
http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn256/puffster31/PC/Baseball/Big%20Red%20Machine/Autos/?action=view&current=kofc2.jpg

I remember after the card was autographed, I was afraid to touch it. Pete Rose just signed a Baseball card for me. I think I might have shuffled through a thank you and then I left the shop. This IS my prized possession. I met Pete two more times within the next few years and he signed another card and a baseball for me . . . nothing could ever compare to the first meeting and my first autograph from Pete Rose.

This card is very special for me because for six years, I was a SSA (Service and Support Administrator) for the Mercer County Board of MRDD. This was basically a glorified way of saying ‘Case Manager’. I had an adult caseload of 47 individuals, whom I began working with when they turned 16 years of age. It wasn’t long before I started to volunteer for Special Olympics – first helping out during sectional bowling, then basketball, the 1st and 2nd Polar Bear Plunge at Grand Lake St. Marys, and then for the past two years, my wife and I volunteered for Special Olympics Summer Games in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, this past year I took over as Head Coach for the Mercer County Bobcats. Here is a pic from last season:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn256/puffster31/Polar%20Bear%20Plunge/?action=view&current=scan-1.jpg

Although I left this position a year ago, I see many of the individuals I worked with on a regular basis. Mercer County is very small - if you shop at Wal-Mart, you meet the world! Working with these people and helping them achieve their dreams was very rewarding. These are remarkable individuals whom I had the utmost respect for.

As you can tell, this card is very sentimental to me and is my prized possession.

Oh, and Dave was pretty impressed as well. He asked me for the card back and joked that I never paid him for it. I imagine you already know who won that conversation.

My day with Baseball Royalty

By Mike Stelzer aka puffster31

My wife and I vacationed in Las Vegas for my 30th birthday. When researching the hotels, events, casinos, etc., I stumbled across an article about Field of Dreams in Caesar’s Palace’s Forum Shops. I’ve been collecting baseball cards for 21 years so when I saw that Pete Rose signs autographs at Field of Dreams I almost jumped in the car and drove to Vegas just to meet the man that day. The wife said no so I waited.

I’ve lived in Ohio all my life and started watching baseball around the time Pete became the all-time hit king. I remember watching the hit, seeing the crowd erupt and then watched in awe as the celebration ensued for Mr. Rose. I was already a Reds fan and now I was hooked. Pete Rose had become my main target, granted I was 10 at the time so obviously cash was at a premium. I do remember buying packs for $0.35 and getting 17 cards and a stale piece of bubble gum, searching for elusive Rose cards. When I pulled my first Rose card, I was on cloud nine! A 1986 Topps card that, to this day, I still have it.

Well, needless to say the card mentioned above was in pretty bad shape and I wanted a good card for Pete to autograph. I went to a local card shop, Dave’s Dugout in Celina, Ohio, and told Dave that I was going to meet Pete Rose and I wanted a good card for him to autograph. I searched through his stack of cards until I found the perfect card, a black and white photo of Pete with an individual with Down Syndrome, handed out by the K of C. There was no date on the back of this card but I’m guessing it was produced during the early ‘80s. This was the one, unique and sentimental, a perfect card for an autograph. Dave gave me the card and said that he wanted to see the autograph after I had it signed.

Day three of our vacation was the day! Pete was to begin signing at 10:00 and I was kind of miffed at my wife because we got there 15 minutes late. My heart was racing, my eyes bugged out of my head, and if the security guard was not there, I would have run into the man before paying for the autograph. I paid the fee and then waited in line for my turn. I remember thinking this is Pete Rose! Pete Rose! All-time hit king Pete Rose! The shop helpers took my camera and started taking pictures. I don’t think I said a word; I was just in awe until Pete saw the card.

He put on his glasses and asked me where I found this card. I somehow managed to say that a local card shop gave me this card. He then asked me how old the kid in the picture was. I didn’t have an answer for him, so he looked at the card again and commented that the kid is probably in his 40s by now. Again, there were no words on my end. He took the card and provided a perfect autograph:

Here are the pictures from that fateful day:

I remember after the card was autographed I was afraid to touch it, thinking that Pete Rose just signed a baseball card for me. I think I might have shuffled through a thank you and then I left the shop. This became my prized possession. I met Pete two more times within the next few years and he signed another card and a baseball for me, but nothing could ever compare to the first meeting and my first autograph from him.

This card is very special for me because for six years, I was a SSA (Service and Support Administrator) for the Mercer County Board of MRDD. This was basically a glorified way of saying ‘Case Manager’. I had an adult caseload of 47 individuals, whom I began working with when they turned 16 years of age. It wasn’t long before I started to volunteer for Special Olympics, first helping out during sectional bowling, then basketball, the first and second Polar Bear Plunge at Grand Lake St. Mary’s and then for the past two years my wife and I volunteered for Special Olympics Summer Games in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, this past year I took over as head coach for the Mercer County Bobcats. Here is a picture from last season:

Although I left this position a year ago, I see many of the individuals I worked with on a regular basis. Mercer County is very small, and if you shop at Wal-Mart you meet the world! Working with these people and helping them achieve their dreams was very rewarding. These are remarkable individuals whom I had the utmost respect for.

As you can tell, this card is very sentimental to me and is my prized possession.

Oh, and Dave was pretty impressed as well. He asked me for the card back and joked that I never paid him for it. I imagine you already know who won that conversation.

Nice, heart-warming story.

Articles: http://www.sportscardforum.com/articles/?p=705
Digg: http://digg.com/baseball/My_Day_with_Baseball_Royalty_Sports_Card_Forum_Art icles
Prop: http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/07/16/my-day-with-baseball-royalty-sports-card-forum-articles/
Buzz: http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:04336a8f0df176e64b208827a806c85d:76667defa224b6f e493004bee9af7b95/My-Day-with-Baseball-Royalty?usc=1

wow, wasn't expecting for this to go out to differnt sites - cool! and thanks for the help with editing!

Articles: http://www.sportscardforum.com/articles/?p=705
Digg: http://digg.com/baseball/My_Day_with_Baseball_Royalty_Sports_Card_Forum_Art icles
Prop: http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/07/16/my-day-with-baseball-royalty-sports-card-forum-articles/
Buzz: http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:04336a8f0df176e64b208827a806c85d:76667defa224b6f e493004bee9af7b95/My-Day-with-Baseball-Royalty?usc=1

Great story.