The Beckett Blog

Yes, the Texas Rangers lost tonight…to an inferior team.

Well, I just don’t care right now.  I will be hated on and most likely cussed repeatedly for that statement.

Let me let you in on a little secret…

I DON’T CARE!

*cue the gasps of horror, the foul words, and the possible physical violence directed at little ol’ me…*

Check this out–

Ugh.  Just ugly, isn’t it?

This little peice of metal is going on my wall…ASAP…once I get done “score boarding” it around the office (well, mostly the high-security grading room) in the morning (if I even decide to show up there at that Beckett place).

What this thing is, and why it means so much to me, is a LONG, potentially boring story, that nobody could possibly care to hear, save for my wife, mother, and grandmother.  In a nutshell, it’s the black-ink printing plate from the August issue of Beckett Baseball, and I love it dearly.

MR.  Josh Hamilton (yes, MR. is all caps) signed that autograph for me on the printing plate this wonderful evening.

WAIT!  Let’s be honest…That is only half the story…maybe only 33% of the story.

MR.  Josh Hamilton (yes, caps again) signed two (2) autographs for me this wonderful evening.  He signed this Goudey card for me (hate that it’s the Reds, but who am I to complain?), and would have signed one more had I not had this overwhelming bit of madness overtake me.

I had this– –in my hand, and he was ready to sign it…but I couldn’t let him do it…I had to know something first.

I asked MR. Josh Hamilton if he had the August Beckett issue…

He did not.

No shock to me, ballplayers have to deal with 6,090 sources of media every day.  He will be on a few hundred magazine covers in the next couple of years.  For goodness sake, they cheered him and chanted his name in Yankee Stadium!  (For the record, most likely the last game of any consequence to ever happen there!)  He’s beyond just a great ballplayer at this point…he’s an icon!

So…I gave Josh my copy of the magazine.  He took it, and shook my hand while I babbled some garbage to him about how much it meant to me to just shake his hand and have him sign my stuff.

Thing is, he actually reacted like it meant something to him, too.  He did not have to do that.  He did not need to “cater” to me like that.  He could have smiled, nodded, and moved on to the next people and I still would have been thrilled to death.  He did not need to listen to me, he did not need to talk to me, he could have said anything to just blow me off and get rid of me quickly.  I would have been happy enough that he signed a couple things (even one) for me and moved on.  He also did not need to give the grading department ammo to belittle me and tear me apart like they will surely do in the morning.  (Vile curses to you all!)

What he did was human.  He shook my hand, looked me in the eye and he responded to what I said with much more than a, “Uh, huh, sure, that’s great,” kind of thing.

That meant a ton to me.  More than he could ever know.

He signed quite a few autographs for folks after me, until he had to go to his prayer service (seriously…who else DOES things like that these days?!?).  And then, to top off what was already a great day for me…MR. Josh Hamilton walked into the Rangers dugout with a Beckett Baseball magazine in his hand.

Yes, you grading department doubters, I have witnesses…one of them is one of you!

Oh, does it get better for me?

Yes!  Unreal, but….yes it does!  I got to sit about 33′ from MR.  (yes…more caps, but well deserved) Lynn Nolan Ryan, while we both ate nachos.

That is for another post though.  The post where I figure out how to DL my phone pictures since my [CENSORED] camera was out of batteries today.

Can’t win them all, I guess…but at this point…I couldn’t be happier!  Go Josh…uhhh…and go Astros (?).