Earlier this week, the Fort Worth Cats had their first exhibition game of the 2009 season. It was against the Grand Prairie AirHogs, which, if you've been paying attention, are managed by the greatest baseball player ever*, Pete Incaviglia!
While everybody else on the team wore jerseys, Pete was laid back in his polo shirt. It seemed like Pete was really taking this seriously... as an exhibition game. I forgot my Topps rookie card this time out and realized I had nothing for him to sign if I got the opportunity. Fortunately, late in the game, a foul ball landed on one of the pavilion concourses on the third base side and there wasn't ANYBODY over there (except for me and a Cats employee named Bucky who had an interesting discussion for about 4 innings). So, I ran over and got it. This also is the FIRST EVER game used ball I have acquired at a game.
When the game ended and Pete and the boys were headed back to the dugout, I got him to sign the ball. YAY! Finally, I got Pete's autograph!
He's a little gruff and I get the feeling he's not much of a fan of fans, but hey... too bad, Pete. You'll just have to suck it up and enjoy the attention that is due the GBPE*!
Since I foolishly forgot my camera, I had to use my crappy mobile phone camera. These pictures were taken with the highest resolution available to me on this camera, which is apparently crummy X lousy mega pixels. I'm particularly enamored by the first one, which reminds a whole lot of another blurry photo of large mammal walking with arms swinging:
And so, because of the startling resemblance, I announce that Bigfoot has been inducted into the "Pete Incaviglia Hall Of Fame"! Congrats, Sasquatch!
Here are some bonus pictures of the visit to LaGrave field for the Fort Worth Cats v Grand Prairie AirHogs Exhibition game, May 4, 2009 (GP won 7-2...)
*Incaviglia is the Greatest Baseball Player Ever according to the Pete Incaviglia Hall of Fame voters which currently happen to be just me... and maybe Ray Grabeel. And come to think of it, Inky is actually my second favorite player, after Nolan Ryan.
Thanks for posting the photo of the signed ball. I have a 1993 signed Phillies World Series ball with 16 signatures. Several players from that team are to appear at a card show and I looked at the ball to see who was on the ball so I could determine who I still need on the ball. It's been so long since I acquired the signatures I had forgotten some of them. There was one large scribble in particular that i had no idea about....until I saw your ball!! It's Inky's signature!! Thanks. This is a pretty cool site by the way.
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