Musings from Mandy

Jason Giambi mailed back my card, complete with signature, I guess he didn't have anything better to do. So to keep our tally up, I recieved signed cards back from Mike Timlin, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and A-Rod.

I got another returned SASE only this time, there was a real life autograph in it. Good old Mike Timlin is my first success story! I sent him the card of him on the Blue Jays, and he sent me back that card signed, and the card of him on the Red Sox with a spiritual message on the back of it. Running Tally: Items returned signed: 1 Items returned unsigned: 1 Items still out there: 18 The back reads, "I play baseball and I hunt. While those seem very opposite activities, they are actually quite similiar - at least in one aspect. They both require focus-whether the focus in on the outisde of the plate, or on the target in the woods. Actually, focus is parkt of what it means to be a believer in Jesus as well. The focus is not on what we're trying to do-but on Who we're doing it for. Read the rest of my story at www.TheGoal.com "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men: since you kno wthat you will receive an inheritance ...

Hello on this lovely Sunday, I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I am currently enjoying the Sox game, but I was going through my mail and I had one of my SASE from the Great Autograph Experiment of 2007 . I sent out 20 "fan" notes with SASE to 20 Major Leaguers, just to see who I'd get back. I got my first back today, unsigned along with my note, from Manny Ramirez. Apparently Mr. Ramirez doesn't deal with fan mail, but someone took the time to send my card back, which is nice. Dear Mr. Demarlo Hale, If you ever run my torn minicus boyfriend into a GD out at home to end the inning again, I promise to inflict SEVERE bodily pain. Love, Amanda And I leave you with the handsomest third baseman and El Capitan...

So, the other day I was reading my ESPN the Mag, and there was a section about the best way to get autographs. Now, I have to say, autographs have never done much for me. I'd much rather get my picture taken with the player then have them sign something that will end up in a photo album and then eventually get ruined when the basement floods. In my autograph collection, I have Nancy Kerrigan (at Toys “R” us when I was maybe 12). (Funny side story, I need a piece of paper, so my dad handed me a notebook that we hadn’t bought yet, and I thought for sure I was going to get arrested. And then, my dad wouldn’t even buy the notebook that I had used to get the autograph, he just tore out the page and put it his pocket…and I was horrified we were stealing paper!). My second autograph is ML Carr. My mom won some contest when she worked in the bakery at Shaw’s (I’m serious, she worked there). So my dad and I got to go play basketball on the court at the Garden. The real Garden, not TD Bankno...