2002 Donruss Rookies, Mitch Wylie

#74 Mitch Wylie

Here is the third and final 2002 Donruss Rookies card that I have signed. The first one featured a guy that played in just over a hundred Major League games. The second had a guy that pitched in 11 Major League games. This one features a player that never played in the Majors.

I got this card signed last season in Wichita, Kansas while Mitch was playing for the St. Paul Saints of the American Association. The clubhouses at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium are located behind the left field fence for both teams, so it is a good place to get autographs since all of the players have to cross the field to get to the dugouts.

On the particular game that I went to, I got all of my Saints cards signed along the left field line except for my three Mitch Wylie cards. I think he might have been walking to the dugout with Kerry Lightenberg, but I was more focused on Kerry than Mitch. So, I went down by the dugout to look for him and I wasn't having much luck. I ended up asking one of the more friendlier players that I got an autograph from where Mitch was and he said that he was in the dugout and offered to grab him for me. I took him up on that offer and and he fetched Mitch for me.

When he did that, he got a dirty look from Mitch. Mitch slowly got up and came over to me as I asked him for a few autographs. Based on the look he gave his teammate, I wasn't expecting many pleasantries while he was signing. But, out of the blue, he asked me if I was from Wichita. I told him that I live about eighty miles north of town and he wondered if I go to many games there. I told him that I didn't make it to too many games because the organization seemed kind of childish and bush-league. He agreed with me and I went on to tell him how the team was ran by the local minor league hockey outfit and that they present the ballgame the way they do their hockey games. I ended up talking to him for a few minutes after he signed and I must say that it was a good conversation. It was certainly better that I ever would have expected by the look he gave his teammate.