Monday, March 22, 2010

Friendly Encounters

This is another in a series about my friends meeting celebrities.

I have been a frequent visitor to 30-Year Old Cardboard, a blog written by Brian Applebaum for a while. Brian is always putting up interesting things, like Did You Know... (bits of trivia), Same Card, Different Paths (career paths of multi-player cards) and other cool stuff.
Brian is a loyal fan of the Florida Marlins, but he has a soft spot for the Chicago Cubs after living in Chicago for 5 years. He is a bit of an autograph hound (and he tells those tales), but in a respectfully enthusiastic manner (as in you won't see him bowling over kids to get to a player).
Brian shares many of my ideas about collecting and sports. We are flip-flopped when it comes to fandom. My team is the Chicago Cubs, but I have a soft spot for the Marlins.
Why would a lifelong Chicagoan like me like the Marlins? Jeff Conine. Oh my friends have heard that name too many times. Yes, I admit a mancrush on Mr. Marlin.
I happened to be checking some older stuff on 30-Year Old Cardboard and I saw a picture of Brian, his son and Conine. Conine! I had to have this on Johngy's Beat. Brian was gracious enough to allow me to share his story and picture.
Brian summed up his experience by writing, "I cannot begin to explain the feeling of sharing the bench with a player that has been in that same spot for hundreds of baseball games - it was electric!!!" I know that feeling and Brian described t exactly.
I appreciate Brian allowing me to run this. Someday I hope to have a picture of me with Conine, but at least I finally have Mr. Marlin on my site.

Jeff Conine, Brian Applebaum and his son in the Marlins dugout in Miami, FL-February 2009.

2 comments:

'30-Year Old Cardboard said...

It's always fun to relive a memorable story like this one. Good Times!!

Johngy said...

Hopefully someday I will relive my moment of meeting Conine, although my friends will probably want to kill me then.