I believe I shared this before on my blog, but I didn’t really explain what happened…so here it is:
I am a big collector of sports memorabilia and baseball cards. I was on this trading card forum (Beckett Message Boards) where I was looking to obtain some Phil Hughes cards, and this guy sent me a private message. His username was “nyyphily45” and he told me that he could hook me up with anything Phil Hughes. We exchanged messages for a while and I asked him what he had for me. He told me that he had anything from hats, jerseys, balls, cards, etc. I was interested in all of that stuff, so I asked him what he needed. He told me that he was Phil Hughes. I didn’t believe him when he first said it, but I gave him a chance. The ’04 Yankees #1 Draft Pick was hanging around on a baseball card message board? I know it’s hard to believe. He was my favorite Yankee youngster at the time, (and he still is now) so it was really cool. I mean..how often do you run into one of your favorite players on the computer? I guess I was the first to know about his identity, because he told me to keep it on the down low. You know how people are..they would attack him, and wouldn’t leave him alone. I offered him money or baseball cards in return, but he refused to accept that. He told me that he would send me some stuff for free. I was like..what do I have to lose? He told me that he would cover shipping and handling.
A couple of weeks later, I received a box from UPS. I noticed the return address had the name Phil Hughes in it. I opened it up and there they were. He sent me three brand new autographed hats, along with a bunch of signed baseball cards, and a small note on the envelope. I was amazed. I later thanked him for everything he sent me. He was very generous, and nice enough to take the time and package this stuff up and send it to me. He later revealed his identity to the message boards, and everyone went wild. Most of them didn’t believe who he was claiming to be, so he had to prove it.
He posted this picture. haha:
Later on, the administrator of this message board was notified about this. The site verified that it was him and they posted this image on the front of their site:
Phil held a contest on the site, shared previews of his upcoming baseball cards, and interacted with many of the fans. He is a very down to earth person. Hughes collects baseball cards just like everybody else. I thought it was awesome that he was willing to interact with his fans. Most pro athletes wouldn’t take the time to do that. I spoke with Phil many times through the forums and through AIM, and he took the time to answer all my questions. I asked about Spring Training, how the baseball season was going, what some of the Yankees players were like, baseball cards, etc. He was a great guy about it.
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These were the three hats he sent me. All autographed on the brim. The NY Yankees hat was actually worn by him. It’s not game used though. He told me that it was issued to him from a trainer in the Yankees clubhouse when he got the call up to see what the big league club was like. He wasn’t actually called up and added to the roster, but he was invited to the stadium. I don’t know if you guys can see it, but under the brim it has the name “Hughes” written. Also, the inside white band of the hat is partially cut out. I asked him why, and he told me that he felt more comfortable wearing it that way. He has a big head. haha.
These are some of the baseball cards he sent me. As you can see, he put an inscription on one of the cards. “Kev. Great Collection. Keep it up!” and signed his name. (I showed him my collection of him)
those cards were sent to me in this envelope. He added a nice little note on the front of it:
He couldn’t have been more generous. I still have the UPS box, the original packaging, and the items he sent me. It is something I will never forget.
The rest of my Phil Hughes collection….
This was the article published in the 2008 September Issue of Beckett Baseball. The cover of the magazine can be seen on the right. I bought two copies of the magazine for myself. Maybe I can get Phil to sign the magazine one day.
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Kevin Rozell
Great story!
That’s a great story, Kevin. Really shows you the kind of guy Phil is. Hopefully he’ll stay healthy and put up good numbers this year.
That is an awesome story.
Awesome story!
Great job Phil!
I remember when he was outed on that forum. Funny stuff.
That’s such a cool story. Phil’s been my favorite player for a long time, I wish I had the chance to talk to him like that.
So, what would it take to pry one of those Hughes auto away from you? Haha
Did you ask him anything regarding his pitching?
I’ve been following Phil for a while now.. and that’s a great story..
Talk about making a fan for life.. :)
As a memoribilia dork, this story gives me a halfy
Amazing
that’s a cool story. I actually won one of his contests that he holds on his blog. Won his team issued player fleece which he signed for me
Great post! Really enjoy your blog, btw.
Good read, Kevin.
Man, what an awesome story. I hope Phil pitches well this year, he has a lot of talent, and is clearly a gentlemen.
Wow, Phil is quite the nerd!
…this just makes the already easy job of rooting for him that much more fun. He sounds like a great guy. Man, I hope he really breaks out this year in the bigs.
Great stuff, Zell! Always nice to know that a famous athlete you admire is just as down to earth as you imagine.
Yep. He’s a great guy. Phil couldn’t have been any nicer. Took the time to answer anything I wanted to ask him.
Kevin
absolutely incredible!
Great story. Great to hear about an athlete (especially one of my favorite ones) who’s so down to Earth and in touch with the fans like this.
Can I pry a hat away from you? I’m sure I’m not the only who has/will ask.
wow , good read
That is an absolutely amazing story!
I was a member of a specific Ford F150 website (Harley Davidson Edition) back when I owned one – and there was a moderator there that would always offer anyone on the east coast baseball tickets…..
I always talked with the guy, shared a few PM’s, I even sold him some truck stuff. Turns out it was then Nationals reliever Jon Rauch.
Maybe baseball guys – pitchers specifically, spend more time on message boards?
Too cool!
Mike from http://www.islesblogger.com
Phil Hughes is a great guy. I ran into him in a Toronto hotel during the 2007 season. (It was the series when Joba made his first appearance and Clemens caused the benches to clear) Phil was in the lobby at the front desk and I was like oh man thats Phil Hughes. He heard me and walked right up to me and asked if I was a Yankee fan. We started talking and I told him I was from NJ and came to Toronto to see the Yanks play. He thought it was great that Yankee fans “follow” them to all of the ballparks and actually thanked me and mygirlfriend for the support. The hotel security gave me a hard time saying I was bothering him and Phil actaully told the guy that we were old friends and everything was fine. He then proceeded to call Joba over and introduced us. Here I am talking with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain for nearly 10 minutes. THey took an awesome picture for me and Phil said to send him a copy of the picture and he will autograph it for me. So I did, but I never thought that I would get it back. I was wrong about a month later i received a package from Hughes with the signed photo (by Hughes and Joba) as well as a few other autograph pictures. Hughes is really down to earth and really loves the fans.
Wow, Phil is really down to earth, great story!
-Alex H
Wow, that is very cool indeed.
Very cool. Nice to see players interacting with the fans.
That is awesome!
Dude, that is an amazing story! Wow, that is so awesome! Seriously, you have me kind of speechless here…
you have me kind of speechless here…
I can’t believe I’m reading this now for the first time… Awesome story. I’m a collector myself but not nearly as big as you it sounds. Keep up the good work on the blog.
Pardon me. Does somebody know how to find true EA from fake and a true signal from fraudulent? thank you
Good article! Thanks for share! I like it very much!
Hello TO all zellspinstripeblog.com members,
I just wanted to introduce myself to all of you and say that I am extremely happy to be a new member here. I have been enjoying the conversations here for some time and look forward to participating now..
Glad to be a part of the community..
Cool post, I will be sure to recommend to friends!
After reading this I think I will do the same :)
I all ways wanted this! but was thinking that players don`t give a damn for us :)
Thanks and Regards
…..Wow, that is so awesome! Seriously, you have me kind of speechless here…