Friend Encounters: Tammy Williams and Chris

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends meeting celebrities.

If I am featuring my pal Chris, he is most likely with a musician or softball player. Today, he is shown with one of the best softball players.

Chris is one of the longer tenured Chicago Bandits fans (or part of the Crusty Old Guys). He goes way back, much loger than I do. At games, he used to take hundreds of pictures of the players and action. He would always give a few to the players. He also gave me a few, along with helping me identify various players when I took selfies. Unfortunately, with Athletes Unlimited taking over, he is not allowed to bring his big camera into the games. It's a shame. He never sold the pictures or even published them beyond his social media pages and the players appreciated his pictures.

Today though, I show Chris on the other side of the camera. Chris posed with Northwestern Hall of Fame shortstop and Bandits legend Tammy Williams and Ozzie. With Tammy at short and Amber Patton at third base, the Bandits had a great left side of the infield. It was pure pleasure watching them. They are still friends and actually now work together, according to Tammy who told me this at the Opening Day for the new softball field.

I love this picture, because it represents a real fun time with the Bandits, who won the National Pro Fastpitch Championship that season. As far as I am concerned, Tammy and Chris are both champs.

Tammy Williams, Ozzie and Chris in Rosemont, IL-August 2015.

Celebrity Jersey Cards #829: Special Halloween Edition: AJ Lee

Celebrity Jersey Cards is a weekly series on which I create virtual trading cards of celebrities wearing sports jerseys. Today is another special Halloween Edition with no jersey, but full costume.

Halloween is over, but I have one more special Celebrity Jersey Cards celebration. This time, AJ Lee is solo, without her wrestler-husband CM Punk.

Lee definitely gets into the Halloween spirit. Lee dressed as Chun-Li from the Street Fighters franchise and Kitana from the Mortal Kombat franchise. While I am not very familiar with either of these, I am a fan of Lee's effort. From what I see, she did an excellent job in creating the costume.

I am a big fan of Lee from her work in wrestling to her work for mental health awareness. She remains one of my interview wishes, but I know that is a long shot at best. The mental health is my best angle, but methinks she is a bit too big and doesn't need me.

Happy Birthday, Cuzz!

Today my pal Cuzz celebrates his birthday. I celebrate with him from afar.

I have been friends with Cuzz for about 30 years. Through those years, we have gone on 20 baseball trips, a few Michigan football trips and several comic con trips. We have also attended Flashback Weekend for many years. Whatever it is, it is always fun.

Recently retired, Cuzz is living the relaxed life now. We need to make more time to get together. We haven't worked on the Backup Catcher Hall of Fame in ages. We also need to sharpen our 3-1-1 skills.

The 3-1-1 is a way to hide a weak link in a set by putting it into the first "1" in a 3-1-1. For instance, Chicago has so many great things like the skyline, sculptures, pizza, sports teams, architecture. The sports teams are the weak link, but they are hidden within the 3-1-1. It can work for any grouping if you want to skim over a weaker component.

Anyway, the 3-1-1 has brought us lots of laughs over the years. The reverse 3-1-1 is a spinoff of it, which Cuzz and I love, but that's for another day. 

Getting back to Flashback, Cuzz and I ran into his old friend and author Martin and his son. I wrote about Martin's first book on Global Traveler.

I appreciate all the good times with Cuzz and I look forward to many more. Happy birthday, Cuzz!

Martin, his son and Cuzz in Rosemont, IL-August 2026.

Celebrity Jersey Cards #828: Halloween Edition: CM Punk and AJ Lee

Celebrity Jersey Cards is a weekly series on which I create virtual trading cards of celebrities wearing sports jerseys. Today is a special Halloween Edition with no jersey, but full costume.

CM Pun and AJ Lee are one of the most interesting wrestling couples and individuals. Punk is a polarizing figure. People seem to love or hate him. I am more pro-Punk. He has always treated me well at conventions. Yes, I know celebs should always be nice at cons, but they aren't always. Love him or hate him, Punk has accomplished a lot in wrestling. Punk and AJ joined the GI Joe universe for Halloween a while ago. While I prefer AJ, Punk did a good job, too.

Punk's wife AJ Lee (aka AJ Mendez) had a relatively short wrestling career, but she crammed a lot of success in it. She also recently made a comeback and looked as shar as ever. Lee has battled mental health and wrote a book about it all. Along with Chicagoan Aimee Garcia, Lee has jumped into the world of comics, too. She has been especially nice whenever I met her at conventions or book-sgings.

Celebrity Jersey Cards #827: Stephen Colbert & Dabo Swinney

Celebrity Jersey Cards is a weekly series in which I create digital trading cards for celebrities wearing sports jerseys. Today I salute the MLB champion Milwaukee Brewers.

A native of Washington, D.C., Stephen Colbert graduated from Northwestern University. Originally intending to be a dramatic actor, Colbert ultimately chose comedy, which worked out well for him. After appearing on and hosting other shows, Colbert has been the host of The Late Show since 2015. Colbert earned his Celebrity Jersey Card tossing a pitch for the Brewers. Joining Colbert is Barrelman, one of the Brewers mascots.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Dabo Swinney has become a successful college football coach. After beginning as a Grad Assistant at Alabama, Swinney moved up the ranks there for several years before joining Clemson as an assistant in 2003. In 2009, he was named Head Coach. Since then, he won two National Championships with the team. Swinney tossed a ceremonial pitch for the Brewers to gain his first Celebrity Jersey Card. He is joined by former player Billy Spiers.

Meeting Coach Drew Valentine of Loyola

The Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team opens its regular season hosting The Citadel on November 2. Entering his sixth season as head coach, Drew Valentine hopes to improve on the team's 9-24 record last season.

Coach Valentine has led the Ramblers to three winning seasons of his five seasons. His overall record is 92-75 for a winning percentage of 55%. A native of Lansing, Michigan, Valentine starred at Oakland University before becoming an assistant coach there. He then served as an assistant at Loyola, before being named head coach for the 2021-22 season. At that time, Valentine was the youngest coach in NCAA Division I hoops at the age of 30.

Although I generally only cover Loyola's women's basketball team, I will be doing a few men's basketball games, too.

For more info on the Ramblers, go to loyolaramblers.com. Also, check here for my recurring coverage.

Drew Valentine and me in Chicago, IL-October 2026.

His Father, Dick Allen

Earlier this summer, I attended a special screening of My Father, Dick Allen, a documentary about the legendary Hall of Fame baseball player. I met a lot of folks that night, but meeting Dick's son was one of the highlights.

Th documentary and his father's induction into the Hall of Fame made for a long journey, but were labors of love. Dick Jr. strongly, and rightly, believed his father belonged in the HOF. Even I, as a fan of an elite HOF, feels Allen Sr. belonged. Allen might have fallen a bit short on total stats, but he was dominate. He was feared. Fans wanted to watch him and pitchers did not want to face him.

Some of his delay might have been caused by his reputation. Fair or not, that's just the way it was. Dick Jr. and the film crew did a wonderful job showing all sides of Allen Sr. They showed the struggles with racism even with his hometown teams. I was always a fan of Allen's, but I gained a whole new perspective on him after seeing the doc.

Dick Jr. has had a few other screenings and events. I had to miss his last one in Chicago, but I really hope he returns.

After the presentation, I made sure to make my way to Dick Jr. to meet him and get a pic. Despite being swarmed, I muscled my way to get to him and he was very gracious.

Dick Sr. played three seasons with the Chicago White Sox. Those were my first three seasons of really watching baseball. I though Allen was super human. Fast forward 50+ years and I enjoyed a great evening of the history of Allen. It truly was a heartwarming night.

Richard Allen, Jr. and me in Chicago, IL-June 2026.

Friend Encounters: Mike Wolfe, Tony and JoAnne

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends meeting celebrities.

I witnessed this one. It is all thanks to Tony.

A big fan of the American Pickers tv show, Tony always wanted to meet Mike Wolfe, who owns Antique Archeology in LeClaire, Iowa. When he saw Wolfe was doing a meet-and-greet there, he enlisted me to accompany him on the several hour drive. Always willing to meet a celeb and knowing Tony has gone out of the way for some of my quests, I quickly agreed. When the day came, Tony's wife also joined us, making it even more fun.

As usual, we arrived early, but there already was a line. Soon, Wolfe pulled up in his truck. He was actually early, a surprise for these such events.

The line moved a bit slowly, only because Wolfe made each person have a special moment. When it came time for us, I let Tony meet him as I stayed back. This was his big moment and he admits he was a bit giddy. I met Wolfe next and found him very engaging. He asked where we lived and why we came. The moment lasted a few minutes, but it was nicer than most such events.

I know this was one of Tony's all time favorites. It was a fun day for me, too. We saw some interesting buffalo statues (there is a Buffalo Bill Museum there) and had a great lunch. I recapped it all on globaltravelerusa.com.

Tony, Mike Wolfe and JoAnne in LeClaire, IA-August 2026.

Celebrity Jersey Cards #826: Jordan Davis & Bob Buckhorn

Celebrity Jersey Cards is a weekly series in which I create virtual trading cards for celebrities wearing sports jerseys. Today, I salute the two teams in the World Series.

Born in Louisiana, Jordan Davis is a country music singer and songwriter. In 2019, David won The Best New Country Artist Award from iHeart Radio. He also won the Country Music Association Awards Song of the Year in 2023 and 2024. I don't know of his connection to Milwaukee. I will guess he had a concert there and threw out the ceremonial pitch. No matter how, he did earn a Celebrity Jersey Card.

Illinois native Bob Buckhorn served as Mayor of Tampa, Florida, from 2011-2019. Tampa earn several accolades during his tenure, including being names as the best city in the southeast by Money magazine. Buckhorn earned his Celebrity Jersey Card tossing a ceremonial pitch for the Rays.

Cards That Never Were: Paul Jata Topps 1973

Cards That Never Were is a recurring series on which I create digital trading cards for players missed in various sets. It is a concept I borrow from far too many to list, but I appreciate all of their efforts.

Paul Jata was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the fourth round of the 1967 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 1972, playing 32 games. He hit .230 with no HRs, 3 RBIs and 8 runs scored. Unfortunately, that would be his entire MLB career. Jata was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Jim Nettles after the 1973 season. He apparently did not play in 1974-75, but returned for a season with the Twins minor league team in 1976. A s a fun side note, of the 32MLB games he played, only one was at catcher, yet that is his picture here. For his entire pro career though, he played catcher for 69 games out of 137.

For his efforts, he received no card from Topps. As I prepared to make one, once again I saw Gio from When Topps Had (Base)Balls already made one. The man is a master, with thousands of awesome cards on his site.