For all those Nats fans who missed Wednesday's final home game, you missed one of the most exciting and improbable endings to any game in the team's first five years in Washington. What you also missed was something I've never seen or heard of at any major league game - dead Presidents with big heads handing out game-used jerseys! However, the evening's fun didn't begin or end with the Presidents' act of kindness or Justin Maxwell's two-out, walk-off grand slam on a 3-2 pitch from K-Rod.
When I arrived at Nationals Park about 30 minutes before game time, I dropped by the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation kiosk to see if they had any game-used items available. They had a rack of jerseys and a small tub of bats. Most of the jerseys were replicas (6200 tagging with no year tag) that were autographed, and most of the bats were generic black Rawlings pro models that had been autographed. However, much to my surprise, there were several alternate-red game worn jerseys from this year and a few game-used bats. The jerseys I saw were coaches such as Randy Knorr (bullpen) and Steve McCatty (pitching coach) and were autographed. Each was priced at $100. The game-used bats included several Felipe Lopez and one Gary Majewski (bullpen set-up man who had a fine season in 2005). These bats were also priced at $100. There could have been more game-used items that sold before I arrived (I didn't ask).
As I walked around the concourse, I ran across a season-ticket booth where they were having a raffle for game-used jerseys and hats. All you had to do was fill out an entry card. The jerseys and caps being given away were the blue "stars and stripes" alternates that they wore on occasion during the year.The gentleman at the booth told me that they would be drawing names during the 3rd, 5th, and 8th innings. Having been a winner in the Nat's first-ever "Shirt-Off-Their-Back" contest in 2006, I was hoping to be lucky once again.
The winners were announced on schedule. Five winners were announced in the 3rd inning, five again in the 5th, and 6 winners in the 8th inning. Each winner got the player's jersey and hat. The grand prize was a 40" Sony Bravia HDTV which I was really hoping to win! Unfortuantely, I was not lucky this year, but I happened to be near the booth when one of the winners picked up their prize. It was nice gamer of catcher Wil Nieves (#23) along with his cap. I was tempted to make an offer as the young lady appeared only mildly interested in her winnings, but I resisted the temptation.
Those of you familiar with Nats games are well-attuned to the President's race each evening involving the "big-headed" presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt) in which Teddy has never won. Before the drawing in the 8th inning, I noticed that George was in the walkway several sections over from me passing out jerseys. I didn't think much of it as I figured it was souvenir replicas from the gift shop. A minute or so later, out came Honest Abe with a huge pile of jerseys. I roamed close enough to tell that these were no souvenir jerseys! Before I could get to Abe for a closer look, he was madly flinging jerseys in all directions. A horde of fans (mostly teenagers) cornered Abe, and I was actually concerned that he might get trampled. By that time, I was caught in the middle of the fray. Abe somehow continued to hand out jerseys - there were easily 30 or more - without losing life or limb (or his head).
I badly wanted a jersey, but felt more compelled to back off and let the younger fans fight for these collectibles. Many of the shirts were BP tops (both blue and red style), but there were a few road greys from the 2005-2008 era. I did not see any home jerseys handed out, but there could have been a few that I missed. Most of the jerseys I saw were of fringe players such as Levale Speigner, Henry Mateo, etc. However, I did see a road grey of former all-star closer Chad Cordero and a red BP top of Jose Guillen.
I was hoping that the other two presidents (Teddy and Tom) would emerge with jerseys, but it didn't happen. Perhaps they were handing out jerseys on the other side of the park while we were scrambling for the goodies from George and Abe on our side (I certainly wasn't looking across the field at that point).
After the game, the players came out and thanked the fans. About a dozen boxes with clothing were brought out on the field and I immediately got excited thinking that it was more jerseys! Disappointingly, it was only tee shirts that were tossed into the crowd by the players. I was standing behind the Nats' dugout at that point, and grabbed a tee shirt that I quickly handed off to a young mom and her daughter. As everyone was leaving, out came fan-favorite Willie Harris with a handful of bats. He passed them out to several kids standing at the railing. The daughter of one of my co-workers ended up with a bat. It showed a ton of use and had so much pine tar gooed on the handle that my fingers are still sticking to the keyboards as I type this post. It was also uncracked - just a great bat!
Only a few of us were lingering by this point when out came the winning pitcher, journeyman Ron Villone, for an interview with the local broadcasting team. When he finished, he turned to the stands, waved a huge "thank you" to the fans, and hurled his glove and warmup shirt into the crowd.
Although I didn't make a score on any of the freebies, it was all quite a fun day at Nationals Park after spending most of the past two summers watching a mostly dismal team.
Tomorrow, I will post some photos of recent acquisitions of the Nats future!!!
Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net
Always looking for game-used Atlanta Falcons and WFL jerseys
When I arrived at Nationals Park about 30 minutes before game time, I dropped by the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation kiosk to see if they had any game-used items available. They had a rack of jerseys and a small tub of bats. Most of the jerseys were replicas (6200 tagging with no year tag) that were autographed, and most of the bats were generic black Rawlings pro models that had been autographed. However, much to my surprise, there were several alternate-red game worn jerseys from this year and a few game-used bats. The jerseys I saw were coaches such as Randy Knorr (bullpen) and Steve McCatty (pitching coach) and were autographed. Each was priced at $100. The game-used bats included several Felipe Lopez and one Gary Majewski (bullpen set-up man who had a fine season in 2005). These bats were also priced at $100. There could have been more game-used items that sold before I arrived (I didn't ask).
As I walked around the concourse, I ran across a season-ticket booth where they were having a raffle for game-used jerseys and hats. All you had to do was fill out an entry card. The jerseys and caps being given away were the blue "stars and stripes" alternates that they wore on occasion during the year.The gentleman at the booth told me that they would be drawing names during the 3rd, 5th, and 8th innings. Having been a winner in the Nat's first-ever "Shirt-Off-Their-Back" contest in 2006, I was hoping to be lucky once again.
The winners were announced on schedule. Five winners were announced in the 3rd inning, five again in the 5th, and 6 winners in the 8th inning. Each winner got the player's jersey and hat. The grand prize was a 40" Sony Bravia HDTV which I was really hoping to win! Unfortuantely, I was not lucky this year, but I happened to be near the booth when one of the winners picked up their prize. It was nice gamer of catcher Wil Nieves (#23) along with his cap. I was tempted to make an offer as the young lady appeared only mildly interested in her winnings, but I resisted the temptation.
Those of you familiar with Nats games are well-attuned to the President's race each evening involving the "big-headed" presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt) in which Teddy has never won. Before the drawing in the 8th inning, I noticed that George was in the walkway several sections over from me passing out jerseys. I didn't think much of it as I figured it was souvenir replicas from the gift shop. A minute or so later, out came Honest Abe with a huge pile of jerseys. I roamed close enough to tell that these were no souvenir jerseys! Before I could get to Abe for a closer look, he was madly flinging jerseys in all directions. A horde of fans (mostly teenagers) cornered Abe, and I was actually concerned that he might get trampled. By that time, I was caught in the middle of the fray. Abe somehow continued to hand out jerseys - there were easily 30 or more - without losing life or limb (or his head).
I badly wanted a jersey, but felt more compelled to back off and let the younger fans fight for these collectibles. Many of the shirts were BP tops (both blue and red style), but there were a few road greys from the 2005-2008 era. I did not see any home jerseys handed out, but there could have been a few that I missed. Most of the jerseys I saw were of fringe players such as Levale Speigner, Henry Mateo, etc. However, I did see a road grey of former all-star closer Chad Cordero and a red BP top of Jose Guillen.
I was hoping that the other two presidents (Teddy and Tom) would emerge with jerseys, but it didn't happen. Perhaps they were handing out jerseys on the other side of the park while we were scrambling for the goodies from George and Abe on our side (I certainly wasn't looking across the field at that point).
After the game, the players came out and thanked the fans. About a dozen boxes with clothing were brought out on the field and I immediately got excited thinking that it was more jerseys! Disappointingly, it was only tee shirts that were tossed into the crowd by the players. I was standing behind the Nats' dugout at that point, and grabbed a tee shirt that I quickly handed off to a young mom and her daughter. As everyone was leaving, out came fan-favorite Willie Harris with a handful of bats. He passed them out to several kids standing at the railing. The daughter of one of my co-workers ended up with a bat. It showed a ton of use and had so much pine tar gooed on the handle that my fingers are still sticking to the keyboards as I type this post. It was also uncracked - just a great bat!
Only a few of us were lingering by this point when out came the winning pitcher, journeyman Ron Villone, for an interview with the local broadcasting team. When he finished, he turned to the stands, waved a huge "thank you" to the fans, and hurled his glove and warmup shirt into the crowd.
Although I didn't make a score on any of the freebies, it was all quite a fun day at Nationals Park after spending most of the past two summers watching a mostly dismal team.
Tomorrow, I will post some photos of recent acquisitions of the Nats future!!!
Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net
Always looking for game-used Atlanta Falcons and WFL jerseys
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