“I received the following from George Riley today, which I thought might be of interest to you.  In response to my question about what advice he would give to high school pitchers, he had this to say:

 

“I would tell all athletes to get school in first.  You never know [if you’ll] get hurt.  And also, you must maintain your concentration to the max, and success will come.  Work very hard at what you decide on a position.  Pitchers, do a lot of curls.  I always had a twenty-pound dumbbell with me at all times.  Good luck.”

 

Then he went on to add the following:

 

“In the year 2011, I got colon cancer. Then my friend of sixteen years had a spinal cord stroke. Living with her [illegible] paralyzed waist down. I had to give up my [illegible]. If possible if you could help a little, no job, no car. Thanks for the great gift.”

1. Never assuming. How many people look on a hobby forum, expecting someone else to be the first collector to report a successful breakthrough? Past stats aren’t always a guarantee of whether you’ll get a response or not.

Mr. Skidmore is a marvel. I love the custom card-work of Dave Auwerda. And the former player agreed. It’s so sad to see ex-players not appreciating such tributes. Check out Dave’s site, please: http://djsautosandcards.weebly.com/index.html

I received one awesome letter from Roe Skidmore, a brief member of the 1970 Chicago Cubs. He was one of the AAAA stalwarts of the early 1970s, someone who conquered AAA but couldn’t get a full shot at the majors.

I’m grateful that such men like Skidmore aren’t bitter, but cheer on collectors.

I loved most the story about his one game in the majors: Sept. 17, 1970.

Skidmore wrote:

“In 1962 (my junior year of high school) we won the Illinois State Baseball Championship — Eisenhower HS, Decatur, Ill.

As luck would have it, my HS baseball coach was in attendance at Wrigley Field that day.

After the game, I called my Dad and we cried together on the phone! First Big League Hit!!!”

Coming Monday: Skidmore’s one Topps card.