The Excitement of the Playoffs

Well last year at this time was around the time Joseph attended his first ever baseball game- Game 1 of the World Series. You may remember that he caught his very first home run ball at that game and there is a classic picture of him trying to hold the ball (his hands didn't quite work yet so Mommy is helping him)

Well a lot has changed in 1 year. Now Joseph's hands work just fine and there are two other boring teams in the World Series. Because the Rockies aren't in it, this gives the players some time off. Though the playoffs are way less exciting this year, there are certain opportunities.

Throughout the year we have had a chance to meet and get autographs from almost all of the Rockies- except one- 2007 NL MVP Matt Holiday, the Rockies Left Fielder and easily the best player in baseball. Matt never comes aout and warms up with the team, he plays all the way on the other side of the diamond from where we sit, and at public appearences he always charges like 50$.

Well I heard on the radio that he was going to be at the RC Willys or Soundtrack or whatever its called now (Ultimate Electronics) signing and it was free- the only catch was he was signing baseball cards, and only baseball cards that he brought with him. We thought it might still be fun to go so we went up to the RC Willy's Megastore and stood in line. Sure enough Matt Holliday came but he's such a nice guy he decided to sign anything! Fortunately I brought my very first ever Home Run ball just in case, which was good because that's what he signed! Joseph got his infamous Rockies coat signed by #5 and Mommy got the baseball card. Here is a picture of us with Matt! Sweet!

But wait there's more!

Speaking of legendary encounters with Rockies players, Did I ever tell you about the time I had lunch with Todd Helton? I know I haven't told William so at least for his sake, here's the story. My Parents had just got back from a road trip which took them through Kansas City. They were at a local baseball shop and they noticed on the clearence rack was a set of Todd Helton jerseys for 10$. So they bought up the lot of them and the guy at the register asked if Todd still played for the Rockies- as if!

Well I went to visit them to see the pictures of the trip and they bestowed the jersey to me which I decided to wear right there. We were hungry so we decided to go to lunch- ah but where should we eat? This ended up being a huge decision as we decided to eat at Quiznos by Target.

So we're eating our sandwhiches when slowly we start to realize something about the guy sitting at the table in front of us- he was massive, a big huge bulky guy with a big goatee and huge, giant arms. He was eating his sandwhich and reading a religious book, possibly the bible. When I first noticed him I thought, "hey that kind of looks like Todd Hel- hey it IS Todd Helton!"

Sure enough it was him, the Rockies 1st baseman who is first among active players in average. We were debating whether we should go talk to him and approach him and have him sign my shirt. In the end we decided to leave him be and let him enjoy his sandwhich.

Eventually he finished his sandwhich and dumped his tray and on the way out he saw us. We said something like, "Hey Todd are you going to win today?" Todd, seeing my new shirt said, "Hey I like your shirt!" "Hey thanks, I guess we'll see you later, though you won't see us."

I still have the receipt from that encounter, and I even asked the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coperstown if they would display it but they declined. Still it's only a matter of time before he is inducted.