I found out late Friday that I was going to Chicago Monday to do a few Yankees signings. I quickly prepped the product and shipped everything out to the office of CSMG. I was meeting up with Randy Johnson and , my new best friend, Chien-Ming Wang. I joked with Wang that, in the past month, I have seen him more than anyone else including family and friends. Ironically he is also signing at Last Licks in Thornwood, NY this Saturday. Anyway, I arrived in Chicago at about 10:00 Monday morning. (I love the time difference, even if it is just an hour) I headed over to their office where my precious boxes had just arrived. I set up for the signings and waited for the Big Unit.
Randy walked in at about 12:30. We had a lot to talk about as I have not seen Johnson since spring training. Despite the up and down year that the Unit is having he is closing in on 4500 strikouts. That is an incredible plateau to hit as a pitcher. We talked a little bit about music which has always been a common ground for Randy and myself. Johnson signed baseballs as well as a limited number of balls with the "Big Unit" inscription. The guy is a first ballot Hall Of Famer so no collection is complete without a Randy Johnson ball.
Shortly after Randy finished Chien showed up. I told him about my experiences in Staten Island a day earlier. Last week the Staten Island Yankees retired Wang's number. He actually went to that ceremony directly from our last signing. We compared directions to the stadium and shared nightmare traffic stories. I also made sure to poke fun at the bobblehead which was given away that night in Staten Island. It really looks nothing like him. I feel like I blog about Wang every week so there really isn't much more to say about his season. He has become the most consistent pitcher on the Yankees staff. I have been trying to watch him pitch more (don't tell anyone that I have been watching Yankees games) and I can now see what makes him so good. It's his slider. He has the nastiest slider I have seen all year. That is why he gets all those great groundball outs.
Anyway, Wang finished in about an hour and we parted ways. I then began to bag each baseball. After a few hours of baseball bagging I taped up each box and set them up to be picked up by UPS the next day.
I flew back this afternoon and am gearing up for another stretch of signings. It should be an exciting week with Julio Franco signing tomorrow and Wang appearing on Saturday.