Sunday, June 27, 2021

Austin Hendrick


 Austin Hendrick signed this 8x10 picture for me as he was heading towards the Daytona Tourtugas team bus following a loss to the Clearwater Threshers on Sunday, June 27, 2021.  Austin was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st round in 2020. 

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Mike Evans

Mike Evans was hosting the 3rd annual "Catch for Christmas Charity Bowling Night". The event was rescheduled for June 10, 2021 due to COVID19. Mike and several Buccaneers players attended. I'm a baseball guy and know virtually nothing about any other sport. Luckily, my 9 year old son was with me and is very knowledgeable with the NFL, especially the Bucs. Walking through the parking lot, I saw some guys walking in and asked my son, "Do you recognize anybody?" He said, "Yeah, that's Cameron Brate!" I responded with, "Ok, does he play for the Bucs?" My son couldn't contain the disappointment in his voice. He said with a very sarcastic tone, "Uh, yeah! He plays tight end, number 84!". To give him the appearance that I'm not stupid, I responded by saying, "Oh yeah"... But he knew that I was completely full of shit. The event was held at AMF University Lanes in Tampa. It was closed to the public and was a sold out event. Security was outside of the entrance to make sure only authorized people were admitted inside. After about an hour, I noticed the security guard was no longer there, so my son and I took our chances by entering. My 9 year old, who clearly takes after his Mom, is a social butterfly and instantly made friends with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl Champion offensive line, Cameron Brate, Scotty Miller, Donovan Smith, OJ Howard, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. Because I'm clueless when it comes to Football, I only had an 8x10 picture prepared for Mike Evans. Also, there was no list of which players would be attending the event. Mike signed the pictures for us and was very cool about it! He told me, "Your son is so smart and knowledgeable!" Braden was complimenting each player about specific plays they made during specific games that weren't even related to the Super Bowl! I'm so proud of my amazing young man and we're glad to add Super Bowl Champion, Mike Evans into our autograph collections!