2003 Upper Deck 40 Man, Jason Phillips

#624 Jason Phillips

Here is a card that I got signed earlier this year at a Royals game. The Mariners were in town and Jason works for them now. No, he isn't still playing and he wasn't actually a coach for them. His job title for the M's is bullpen catcher. Can you believe that? Four years ago, he was a backup catcher for the Blue Jays and now he is warming up Mariner pitchers in the bullpen. Technically, a good bullpen catcher conducts himself as a coach, so maybe this is his first step in getting into coaching. Either way, I thought it was kind of strange when I saw him on the M's roster in that role.

At the game I was at, Jason was catching for Dave Aardsma, who was on the disabled list at the time. When he came out of his crouch and started talking to the other coaches, I thought he was done warming up Aardsma. I asked him to sign and he told me he would when he was done. He looked done to me, but I waited patiently nonetheless. About five minutes later, he got back into his crouch and caught some more pitches from Aardsma. As soon as that barrage was done, he took off some of his gear and came over and signed like he said he would. While he was signing, I asked him if that was a simulated game that Aardsma was throwing. It was, of course.

The blue Sharpie looks really good on top of that orange Mets warm-up jersey.