I’m a somewhat apologetic Phillies fan. I love my Phils. I don’t
watch often enough and I don’t check their standings as close as I should,
but I love them.
I watched them in 72 (I was a little kid) and they only won 59
games. Of that, 27 were won by Carlton.
I watched in 80 and their Series win. I watched in 81 and their
series loss. I watched then 08 and 09
when they went to the series back to back.
I also watched them in 93 and nearly cried when Joe Carter
drove one out of the park. I watched
them over the next few years. My buddy and I would
drive to Houston for the weekend and we would catch the Phillies as they playe
d
the Astros.
I would bring a few baseballs and hang out during batting practice
and get the various players to sign. Those were team balls. The once clean
white covers slowly became littered with blue ink. The balls have no value except as memories. I was just excited to say ‘Hey, Dutch, sign
my ball?’, ‘Eisie – got a second?’, ‘Krucker can you come over for a second?’, ‘Nails!
Do me a favor and sign!’ And they did. I
got the big names and the journeymen. I got
starters and benchwarmers.
However, I did not get Curt Schilling. My friend and I went
3 years in a row. Curt never signed for
me. Granted, he signed for kids. He signed for adults that showed cleavage. But
I didn’t fit either of those categories.
No hard feeling.
Then for some strange quirk of fate, Curt Schilling was
going to be at ComicCon. Yeah, the same ComicCon I go to in San Diego. How strange is that?
I brought a ball. I was in line to get a poster signed by
him. I didn’t care about the poster promoting a video game. I just wanted to
get him to finally sign my ball. When I was about 15 people back in line, I dug
into my bag and fished out a ball.
Schilling saw me do this. He
leaned over to his handler and said something.
The handler got up and walked the crowd and said that Schilling was only
signing the poster.
When I got to the front of the line, I mentioned I brought a
ball. I was fan. I had everyone else from the 93 team. I asked he would sign it. He signed my poster
and I left.
On the plus side, I did meet a guy later that day and he
said Schilling signed a ball for his 4 year old.
Then in 2016, TriStar brought Schilling to Houston. I bought
a ticket. While in line, I wondered what
I’d say. I thought about the 93 season. I thought about the ‘bloody sock’. Tickets
left in the box office for his Dad. I thought about SDCC and the video game
poster.
When I handed over my ball, Schilling just looked at me. Even
though he was chatting with others the vibe was: don’t talk to me. So I didn’t
say a word. I gave him the ball. I looked at him. He handed it back and we made
eye contact. He hadn’t said hello. So I didn’t.
I just nodded and left.
Maybe one day, we’ll share moment and chat and catch up on
all of the things that a long time fan has to say.
AH
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