Today was a successful trip to the mailbox!! The streak is broken. Today's prize is a 1967 Topps Autographed card of Baltimore Orioles 2nd Baseman Davey Johnson. Card # 363 in the set and has the 1966 Topps All-star rookie trophy.I sent this card on December 26, 2009 to Mr. Johnson care of the Washington Nationals Baseball team because he was recently hired by the Nationals as an advisor. I congratulated him for the new position with the team and requested his autograph. 18 days later, it arrives in the mailbox with a nice black sharpie signature!
My original attempt to get Mr. Johnson's autograph was not as successful. During the 2009 Spring Training, Davey was the manager the USA World Baseball Classic team and on two occasions I attended exhibition games. I was able to get Davey's attention, but he would not come over and sign the card. A manager's job is never done and he was busy directing players like Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Braun and his coaches Mike Schmidt, Barry Larkin and Mel Stottlemyre (a success to be discussed in a later blog). Leaving a little discouraged, I decided to mail the card to him at his home address, well I thought it was his home. I later found out that the address was for another Dave Johnson, former pitcher for the Orioles in the 1980's and 1990's. The pitcher Dave Johnson returned the card with an explanation and included an autographed card of his own. I surprise success!!
Davey had a nice career as a player, but most people recognize him as a long time Major League Manager and manager of the 1986 World Series Champion New York Mets. He also managed for the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds. To learn about Davey Johnson and his biography, go to wikipedia.com.
Did you know that Davey Johnson was the last player to get a hit off of Hall-of-Fame Pitcher Sandy Koufax? It happened in the 1966 World Series.
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