The Big Stick

Some surprises are bad -- you know, like the surprise that the person you thought you were dating just got engaged to someone else (not that that has happened to me, mind you). Others are good -- like finding a $20 bill in the pocket of a pair of pants you haven't worn in a while.

Others, though, are so good that the only thing you can say about them is "WOW."

I had a WOW moment today. It might make you say the same.

For context:  I've been working a lot lately. Yesterday, for example, I got to the office at 6:45 AM and I didn't leave the office until 10:30 PM. I was in depositions all day (and night). Then, this morning, I got up and into the office by 6:40 and didn't leave until 6:45 PM.

My wife had made the decision a couple of weeks ago to get a present for me. Today, she decided that I had been working so hard that I needed the pick-me-up of the present that she got for me.

Yes, it's a bat. A Rawlings Adirondack Pro bat -- never used, I'm quite sure. Can you read the name on it?

Yes. Yes it is.

It's a PSA/DNA certified autographed bat from Robin Yount.

WOW.

Here's the backstory:

My wife does a lot of volunteer work for a couple of local charities, including the local art center called the Spruill Art Center. Spruill is a nonprofit center which helps provide art classes to thousands of students in the northern Atlanta area each year. Spruill enjoys the benefits of its association with the women who are members of the Spruill Guild.

Each year, the Guild has a big fundraiser bash called Artistic Affair. It's a "black-tie" (these days, it's "wear a suit") event that features a live auction and a silent auction. Every year, the Guild works to get local businesses and people to donate items of value to be auctioned off in those two auctions to raise money for the Art Center. One issue they have had in the past is that most of the items for auction while have a lean toward a particular gender lean toward feminine items -- women's jewelry, for example.

In trying to find more "masculine" items for men to bid on, this year the Guild was put into contact with a company that focuses on supplying signed sports items for consignment for charity auctions. The company is guaranteed a far lower amount of money on the sale than it might otherwise get, and the Guild will keep the rest. Some of the items up for auction this year will include a Peyton Manning-signed helmet, a Herschel Walker-signed helmet, Chipper Jones and Bobby Cox autographed baseballs, and Master's Tournament flags signed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Some pretty awesome stuff.

The women with the Guild, for the most part, do not have sports fanatics for husbands. Except my wife, of course. The ladies involved know I am a baseball card collector, so my wife was nominated to work with the guy on identifying the items to put up for sale. In those discussions, the guy brought up this bat.

And now, it's mine.

Like I said during Card Chat when I mentioned that my wife often encourages me to spend more money on cards, I'm a very lucky man.

And I now carry a Big Stick.

I've Got Some Work to Do

Christmas came early to Off Hiatus HQ yesterday. My wife told me on Thursday that her parents had gotten me a big Christmas gift, and that they were making the 2+ hour drive to bring it to our house yesterday.

To be honest, I had no idea what they were bringing. I theorized that it could be a new grill since the one we have -- though just three years old -- is already looking a little worse for the wear. 

The gift arrived yesterday...in the back of my father-in-law's pickup truck.

I look happy there.  This photo is the realization that I need to go through these and sort them all out:



There are about 75 binders to go through.  Seriously. This is going to take a while.

Here's another view of the binders out of the truck, stacked in my screen porch:



My initial flip through these binders -- in moving them to my office and, then, getting them so they aren't just thrown all over the floor -- is that there is a lot of junk wax with a few oddball early 1990s sets thrown in and, randomly strewn throughout the binders, are cards from the 1970s. 

The man who had these cards passed away, and his wife and son wanted to get rid of them. The previous owner had pretty detailed inventories of what he had, so that's been helpful. However, his definition of star and my definition of star are slightly different. I would not, for example, have included Dave Bergman or Francisco Cabrera or Tracy Jones in a star binder.

Still, that's a lot of the fun.  It's too bad that I have a bunch of work to finish up today, as I might otherwise spend all day blowing through these things.

The best part for my wife and her parents was that this was a huge surprise to me. It's great to have in-laws who like me generally, but to care enough to find this, buy it, and deliver it to me is just unbelievable.

I really am a lucky man.