Amazing Christmas Gift From Sam

My good friend, Sam, told me that he was still working on another part of a Christmas gift for me when he sent the first bit of it back in December.  He even told me what he was working on; he was sending an 8x10 to Nolan Reimold TTM to try to get it signed and inscribed to me for Christmas.  Funny thing was, when I was at Fan Fest, I got Nolan to sign a ball for Sam, inscribed "To Sam, Merry Christmas", without knowing that Sam was working on this TTM.

The package with the signed photo came today.  I was still amazed by Sam's generosity, even though he told me a month ago that this was coming.  The photo looks great, and I will get it framed this weekend.

Sam, wasn't done, however.  He said he had picked up a surprise and would include it with the Nolan photo.  When the Nolan got here today, it was in a page protector and some cars stock that served as protection.  I had shown my wife the Nolan photo, and as I was taking it out of the protector, I told her "You know, Sam said he was sending something else, I wonder if he forgot to put it in the package." Then, as I got the photo out of the page protector, I noticed there was another photo behind it.

This awesome black and white 8x10 signed by friend of this blog, Mr. Virgil Trucks.  I had tears in my eyes as I studied this photo that I had never seen of him before.  Clearly taken in Spring Training of 1958, this was something I definitely wasn't expecting from Sam.

I once was really hard on Sam.  He had asked me to find a bunch of cards for him, which I did.  I spent hours of several days going through boxes of cards, pulling out guys he said he was looking for.  He would message me as I was halfway through and ask for additional guys.  I had to stop a coupld times and go through the same boxes again and again.  Finally, I had him a stack of cards, then when he said he wanted them all, I named a modest price.  He balked, and walked away from the deal.  I was upset and didn't talk to him for a while after that.  Sam, would message me a few months later, asking if I had cards of a certain player, to which I jumped on him because he made me go through those boxes of cards for hours, just for him to kill the deal.  I overreacted, and was rude to a kid.  That was something I swore I wouldn't do.  He apologized, and I apologized.  I felt terrible that I jumped all over this kid, all about some cards.

Since then, Sam and I have become really good friends.  I have helped him grow his collection.  I made him a really cool photo book from Shutterfly that he could use for his trips to Spring Training.  He keeps telling me that my blowing up on him wasn't a big deal, but I still regret it to this day.  He has been very generous over the last couple of years that we have been friends, and now he goes above and beyond to get me something he thought I would enjoy for Christmas.  Sam is a really good guy, and I am happy to call him my friend.  Thank you so much for working so hard on getting these photos for me.  I appreciate it, and I will love having them hanging on my wall.  Thank you, little buddy.  You're a great guy!