Mike Coolbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament

Read the following email that I sent to 49 current & ex-MLB players, wives, GMs & agents.  Sorry.  Please read the following email, which has been reprinted for you.  Actually, it's the text of an email, not an actual email.  There.  I've used proper manners and also been very clear.  Clear enough?  I will never know because to one person, the glass is half full and to the other person, it's half empty.  That's an analogy that, in this case, means the above may have been totally clear to many but entirely confusing to others, like my sense of humor.

With that in mind, the email - sorry - the text below of an email I sent to 49 people associated with the great game of beisbol (Spanish for "baseball") is being posted here for your eyes and minds to absorb because the Mike Coolbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament needs auction items.  Do you remember Mike Coolbaugh?  I've written about him HERE before and, if you have the wherewithall, you can read more about him below.  In a nutshell, his family needs the income from this tournament to put bread on the table and send the kids to college one day.  In addition, they're raising money for a San Antonio-based baseball clinic for kids who've lost a family member.  Two great causes.

"Why, Jimmy, are you telling this to us?" you snicker.  "To prove how much more awesome you are than we are?"

Maybe.  But that's not the real reason.  Maybe some of you reading this are wives or ex-wives of current or ex-players.  Maybe some of you are just regular, lovely people who have an autographed baseball just sitting in a box for no real reason than to tell people you have it.  If that is the case, would you consider donating it to a greater cause?

"What are you sending, Jimmy?" you say, venom spewing from your stinger.

To be honest, I don't have much of anything.  Seriously.  I don't collect autographs.  I talk to people and collect their stories.  That's been good enough for me.  You can't make money off of what Shea Hillenbrand or Kym Byrd said, but you can share their triumphs and disappointments with the world in the hopes that others can understand these people a little bit more.  It doesn't always work, but the effort is worth the time. 

That said, I'm one of those guys with a thing or two stashed away somewhere, really doing nothing but being an item in my stash.  I have a Lou Piniella autograph from 1979, I believe.  I have Mickey Rivers and Sparky Lyle autographs from the same era.  Maybe a Paul Blair too, but it's not on a photo.  What would somebody pay for these?  A couple of bucks?  They're not in good shape.  I once put a tack through each one to hang on my bulletin board at home as a youngster.  Who was I to think that one day they could help bring a family a few bucks to pay some bills?  No, I don't think ahead very well.  Never did.  Probably never will.

See what I did?  I turned a whole thing about Mike Coolbaugh into an autobiography about autographs I had when I was a kid.  So your first question about why I was doing this?  Maybe it had more to do with me than I thought.  Great.  Thanks for making me feel like a jerk.

Here's the point of this whole thing; the email for the Mike Coolbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament.  Just ignore me and go to Mike's family.  His wife Mandy and his cousin Cheryl are working hard for this.  Can you help?  Somehow?  Thank you.  It really means something.

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I received an email the other day from Mandy Coolbaugh and her cousin Cheryl, saying that the Mike Coolbaugh Memorial Tournament is falling behind in terms of items for their auction.  In case you who don't know, Mike Coolbaugh was the first base coach for the Tulsa Drillers who was struck in the neck by a line drive two years ago, resulting in his death.  Friends and family have organized this annual golf tournament as a way to remember the amazing man Mike was and to help support his wife Mandy and their three children.  The proceeds from this year's tournament will go partially to help support Mandy and the kids, but also to start a baseball clinic for kids from San Antonio who have lost a family member.