Celebrating our Independence...

and the freedoms it allows each and every one of us.
Today I am off somewhere with my wife and good friends, turning fuel and oxygen into a lot of noise.

Please don't forget the brave men and women who have paid the ultimate price for today's festivities.

Now for something baseball related:

have a GReat 4th!
Dawgbones

P.S. Please think of your four-legged friends. Bring them inside for the fireworks displays and if you are not going to be there with them, leave a television or radio on to distract them from what they fear is the end of the world as they know it. The 4th of July is the day/week/weekend with the highest amount of strays turning up at your local shelters. (most of them trying to get away from all the fireworks)

Meanwhile, over at the Eagles convention...

So, I get a call from my mother last week, telling me she has a baseball card for me. My dad is a member of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and there was the annual convention being held at a hotel near our house.
They were walking around the convention when they came across a sign for autographs from a former Major League Pitcher that used to play for the Texas Rangers.

Knowing my new found penchant for baseball, they popped in and met the man face to face, and got him to sign one of his baseball cards for me.

Personally, I've only met 1 MLB player, though it was a good one. My dad, on the other hand, is 1 ahead of me now, having met and shook the hand of Joe Dimaggio back in his younger days, he has now also shook the hand of Jose Guzman.

according to wikipedia:

Guzmán was signed by the Texas Rangers as an amateur free agent on February 10, 1981. He made his major league debut on September 10, 1985 against the Oakland Athletics. He remained with the Rangers for six seasons winning the1991 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award after improving from an 11–13 season to 13–7 in 1991.

In December, 1992, Guzmán signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. On April 6, 1993, in defeating the Atlanta Braves 1–0 at Wrigley Field, Guzmán had a no-hitter broken up by an Otis Nixon single with two out in the ninth—the only hit he would allow. The no-hitter would have been the first pitched by a Cub (and, in fact, the first the Cubs had been involved in) since Milt Pappas in 1972.

He remained with the Cubs for one more season pitching his final game on May 23, 1994.

He also has a very nice signature. Thanks for the auto Mom and Pop. Love ya! And thank you Mr. Guzman, both for the autographed card as well as being a super nice guy to my parents.

thanks for reading,
Have a GReat 4th!!
Dawgbones