Happy 75th birthday to Charley Beamon, a high school teammate of Frank Robinson and one of the first black pitchers in Orioles history. I hope you don't get cheated out of birthday gifts by thrifty friends and relatives, Chuck.I hope that you've all had as restful and enjoyable a Christmas as I have. For those non-Christians among my readership, I hope your Friday was just tops. After a leisurely morning of exchanging gifts with my folks, I got to sit down to an early dinner with the extended family (my sister and her husband, and my aunts, uncles, and cousin). Later in the evening, we did our Secret Santa gift exchange and watched the first half of the Chargers-Titans game. It was a festive and warm day, and best of all, I didn't have to leave home. Having heard my parents' horror stories about being dragged from family gathering to family gathering in their youth, I've always been grateful that I was allowed to remain stationary on this holiday - the better to play with my new toys.
And what of those new toys? I did pretty well this year. My big gift was a Garmin GPS, so that I can meet my girlfriend for dinner in Annapolis without circling around the same few blocks aimlessly for half an hour...not to mention getting away from Camden Yards without winding up on the light rail tracks! I also scored season two of 30 Rock on DVD, A Hard Day's Night on CD, Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball", and a few snazzy silk ties to wear to work (had to incorporate an old man gift in there somewhere). Oh, right, and the baseball card stuff. I received complete factory sets of 2000 Topps and 2005 Topps, as well as a $25 gift certificate to Dave and Adam's Card World. That should keep me busy for a while...
Now I'm wrapping up Christmas 2009 by watching the fine Yuletide film, A Muppet Christmas Carol. Good times.
6 comments:
My big gift (from the wife) was a 13 game plan Orioles season tickets, section 43. I haven't had season tickets since 2000, I hope to have these for years to come... in other words: they need to start winning.
She also got me an Orioles program from 1976 (year I was born). It's cool because they have a section in there featuring new faces on the Orioles including someone named Reggie Jackson. It's clearly a picture from his Oakland days with an Oriole bird cut and pasted onto his cap. Good stuff, of course my wife was clueless about the Reggie Jackson thing.
i was going to make some chuck joke, but then i read ftb's comment, and it stopped me in my tracks-- that's a crazy reggie jackson story! i bet that's actually worth something besides it's awesomeness factor.
In 2006, I went to an O's vs. A's game at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. I was with another Baltimore friend, decked out in orange from head to toe. Overall, all of the Oakland fans were very polite and welcoming to us.
An older African American man in the stadium's custodial uniform approached us and asked if we were from Baltimore. His name was Carl Beamon and he wanted to proudly tell us about his father Charlie who'd played for the O's and had pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees. Even though Carl worked for the A's organization, you could tell he'd light up whenever the Orioles came to town and he could talk to visiting fans about his father.
Error card, error card!!! It's 'Charlie'.
Pete: That's a nice story.
You didn't tell us you had a girlfriend, you little devil! Hope you got her some nice stuff too...maybe a pearl necklace or, if she's a keeper, a '91 Fleer factory set.
FTB - Sounds like your wife knows you well (as I would hope she does)!
Pete - Great story. You never know what you'll find at the ballpark.
Bob - Yeah, I'll trust Baseball Reference over Topps. After all, Topps called him "Bob" Clemente for years.
William - Too funny! We haven't been dating that long, so I kept it simple. Sent her flowers at work, and it was a big hit. I guess I have to plan for Valentine's Day now...1991 Fleer won't cut it. Maybe 1991 Ultra...
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