Phillies Ricky Jordan Confirms His Debut Homer

Same sweeping “R” and “J.”
Don’t expect to see the “y”
in current autographs…

I didn’t get a lot from Ricky Jordan. However, the former Phillie did one notable thing:

He autographed the letter ‘Rick Jordan.’

Imagine being told in middle school, “The name you choose right now will follow you the rest of your life.”

It’s that way in the majors.

I asked Jordan about his debut for the Phils, July 17, 1988. Thanks to http://www.retrosheet.org/, I discovered that the premiere featured his first home run in his first game.

Q: Did any friends or family attend the game?

A: YES, father and mother.

Q: Did you get the ball as a souvenir?

A: Yes.

Did I miss one burning question that baseball historians haven’t attempted? How does someone born Paul Scott Jordan get the nickname of “Ricky?”

Writing to Mike ‘Hit Man’ Easler & Company

A sweet stroke with
bat AND pen!

In the last batch of letters I sent, I chose non-pitchers.

I chose nine “if only…” players.

I remember seeing each of them play. Stars? They were in my eyes. They didn’t hold back, leaving it all on the field. The nine include:

Mike Easler
Ricky Jordan
Tom Lawless
John Grubb
Wilbur Howard
Mike Laga
Herb Washington
Johnny Ray
Greg Gagne

Readers: what have your experiences been corresponding with these nine? I’ll share results as they arrive!