John,

 

Glad to hear the Barbies arrived.

 

My dad, Jim, grew up in a small town in Illinois. His dad was a die hard Cubs fan, and they used to take the train up to Chicago to watch the Cubs. My parents owned a grocery store when I was growing up so we were never able to go on a regular vacation. But every year we would get to go up to Wrigley Field and watch the Cubs, and then down to Busch Stadium to watch them play the Cardinals. He would also take me to Meinen Field in Peoria to watch the Cubs Minor league affiliate , the Peoria Chiefs, every chance he had.  This picture I included is my dad and Fergie at the 1994 Cubs Convention. (After I graduated from college,  I moved to Chicago and he would come up and visit me and make me take him to see the Cubs.) He got to live his dream at that convention. He met all his heroes from the 1969 Cubs. Fergie, Billy, Ernie, Randy, and his favorite Glen Beckert. He loved to tell everyone the story of how Glen Beckert stopped us at the door on the final day to tell him “I’ll see you later Old Timer.” One of my dad’s friends, Pete McAllister, who was the grandfather of MLB pitcher Zack McAllister, asked him to get some autographs. My dad gave him all of the baseballs he got autographed by the ‘69 Cubs. He didn’t keep one. He was just a really nice man.

 

Luckily, I was able to replace every one of those autographs over the years. And one of his favorites was a Fergie Jenkins windbreaker that Fergie signed for him. He never wore it. It had a place of honor in his man cave next to a Santo and autographed Billy Williams jersey.

 

Thanks for displaying the dolls. I just donated some stuff to the Baseball Hall of Fame last summer when I was there for Lee Smith’s induction and my dad thought that was pretty cool.

 

And I know Fergie is celebrating his induction anniversary this year. When I get a chance this weekend, I will send you some pictures of him at past inductions. I also have some really  good photos of him and Lee Smith because I was lucky to get sit close to the stage.

 

Thank you,

 

Shelly