#21 In My Program #1 In My Heart

Found these on August 18th in my yard:

20 cent stamps issued in 1984
honoring the late Roberto Clemente.

Clemente is my all-time favorite ball player and August 18th would have been his 79th birthday. Kind of weird to find these on his birthday, but also very, very cool (that would be an example of coincidence, not irony, if you're scoring at home). They brought back a lot of good memories. Read about him here. 

After he died I carried this baseball card with me until it fell apart.

His 1973 baseball card. 3000 hits!
So cool to an eight year old.

I was once asked if I knew what that card would be worth if I hadn't ruined it by keeping it in my pocket all those years. I replied that I knew what it was worth to me and that's why I carried it around in my pocket all those years. That everyday I could still see my hero and that was pretty damn valuable as far as I could tell.

Thank you Mr. Clemente for giving one little boy such a great athlete and great man to look up. I have always been in your debt for that.