I think the discovery of this baseball has helped me solve my entire childhood.
Here’s what we know about me as previously mentioned on the blog
– I love Lee Mazzilli
– I don’t remember Joe Frazier and the first guy I remember as Mets manager was Joe Torre.
– I met Tom Seaver as a kid, he gave me a 1946 Cardinals baseball, and as an adult I talked with Tom about it.
– I also met Jerry Grote on the Seaver trip.
– I have been a big Mets fan since 1977
– I just found this Lee Mazzilli baseball which is autographed to me and has signatures from Mazz, Kranepool, Lenny Randle….with Torre’s signature in a prominent spot, as if he were the manager.
I called my mom to tell her about the ball and she says it was from the day a nice man named Emmett brought me and my dad out to Shea…ah, now I remember…..and suddenly this all makes sense.
It’s May or June 1977. I’m 7 years old. A very impressionable age. Since Junior is about that age now it’s easy for me to see what registers in his brain and not…he’s kinda sorta aware about baseball but not really but starting to get interested.
So we head out to Shea in May or June 1977 and I get to go on the field and meet Seaver and Grote who are on the roster. I pin it to May or June because Torre is the manager by then. (Lenny Randle came to the Mets on April 26, 1977)
By May or June 1977 Seaver is very frustrated and…speculating here…maybe he is starting to tidy up a bit. Seaver gives me the Cardinals ball from his locker (I remember that very clearly and have asked Tom about it and he told me it was possible since he collected autographs).
On said trip I get an autographed ball from some young player nobody cares about yet named Lee Mazzilli. It’s signed to ME.
A few weeks later Seaver leaves the Mets, which I remember well, and remember being hurt by. The nice man I met isn’t a Met any more?????!!!!
That leaves this Lee Mazzilli fellow who signed a ball to me. He becomes my favorite player, well before poster day and all that.
It’s 1977 and while all the other kids are in love with Reggie Jackson, I become a Mets fan.
Wow, that all makes sense now!!!!
…
Great story right? One problem.
That sure looks like a Bobby Valentine autograph on the ball. Bobby came to the Mets on June 15, 1977 – a date which you should know.
Boom. My unified theory destroyed. More years of therapy for me.
I called Mom again to ask her and the best she had was, “Well you went out there a few times. I remember you came back one day with a bunch of autographs.”
Hmmm.
Well the Seaver thing happened, but now I can’t pin a date on it.
The question now: am I Lee fan because I had the ball, or did I get the ball because I was a Lee fan. I think it’s the latter. I’ll let you know what I can uncover from my subconcious.
Great story!!