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The day I ran into Phil Hughes on a baseball card forum.....

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Aug 7, 2008
488
0
Long Island, NY
Remember when Phil was a member of the beckett forums? Some good times.. :lol: I'm sure a lot of you remember when he was a member. I don't know if all of you heard my story, but here it is:

I believe I shared this before on my blog, but I didn’t really explain what happened…so here it is:

I was on the BMB where I was looking to obtain some Phil Hughes cards, and this guy sent me a private message. His username was “nyyphily45? and he told me that he could hook me up with anything Phil Hughes. We exchanged messages for a while and I asked him what he had for me. He told me that he had anything from hats, jerseys, balls, cards, etc. I was interested in all of that stuff, so I asked him what he needed. He told me that he was Phil Hughes. I didn’t believe him when he first said it, but I gave him a chance. The ‘04 Yankees #1 Draft Pick was hanging around on a baseball card message board? I know it’s hard to believe. He was my favorite Yankee youngster at the time, (and he still is now) so it was really cool. I mean..how often do you run into one of your favorite player on the computer? I guess I was the first to know about his identity, because he told me to keep it on the down low. You know how people are..they would attack him, and wouldn’t leave him alone. I offered him money or baseball cards in return, but he refused to accept that. He told me that he would send me some stuff for free. I was like..what do I have to lose? He told me that he would cover shipping and handling.

A couple of weeks later, I received a box from UPS. I noticed the return address had the name Phil Hughes in it. I opened it up and there they were. He sent me three brand new autographed hats, along with a bunch of signed baseball cards, and a small note on the envelope. I was amazed. I later thanked him for everything he sent me. He was very generous, and nice enough to take the time and package this stuff up and send it to me. He later revealed his identity to the message boards, and everyone went wild. Most of them didn’t believe who he was claiming to be, so he had to prove it.

He posted this picture. haha:
hughes907548906408664.jpg

Beckett posted this image on the front of their site:
hughesfrontcoverbeckett.jpg

Phil held a contest on the site, shared previews of his upcoming baseball cards, and interacted with many of the fans. He is a very down to earth person. Hughes collects baseball cards just like everybody else. I thought it was awesome that he was willing to interact with his fans. Most pro athletes wouldn’t take the time to do that. I spoke with Phil many times through the forums and through AIM, and he took the time to answer all my questions. I asked about Spring Training, how the baseball season was going, what some of the Yankees players were like, baseball cards, etc. He was a great guy about it.

—————————————————————————–

These were the three hats he sent me. All autographed on the brim. The NY Yankees hat was actually worn by him. It’s not game used though. He told me that it was issued to him from a trainer in the Yankees clubhouse when he got the call up to see what the big league club was like. He wasn’t actually called up and added to the roster, but he was invited to the stadium. I don’t know if you guys can see it, but under the brim it has the name “Hughes” written. Also, the inside white band of the hat is partially cut out. I asked him why, and he told me that he felt more comfortable wearing it that way. He has a big head. haha.

aaaaahughes90750986404ri7.jpg


These are some of the baseball cards he sent me. As you can see, he put an inscription on one of the cards. “Kev. Great Collection. Keep it up!” and signed his name. (I showed him my collection of him)
aaaahughes9075489648964yv8.jpg


those cards were sent to me in this envelope. He added a nice little note on the front of it:
aaaahughes9075904746ad3.jpg


He couldn’t have been more generous. I still have the UPS box, the original packaging, and the items he sent me. It is something I will never forget.

This was the article published in the 2008 September Issue of Beckett Baseball. The cover of the magazine can be seen on the right. I bought two copies of the magazine for myself. Maybe I can get Phil to sign the magazine one day.

hughesarticle09657098640.jpg
arod9057509605665jf1.jpg
 

Jaypers

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
48,935
1,435
IL
I wonder if he's aware of these boards, and if not, if anyone could lure him here.
 

Wes

OG
Administrator
boxbreaker44 said:
Jaypers said:
I wonder if he's aware of these boards, and if not, if anyone could lure him here.
I dont think he still collects he sold most of his stuff I believe.

Prospecting gone bad, I blame Conger for driving him away! If he hadn't gotten hurt last year and had blown up Phil would have hit the jackpot! Not that he needed the money but the success would have felt nice.
 

J.O.

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,507
0
anyone think.....

he was paid by beckett to pump up the boards?

just a thought. no need to freak out at me for saying it
 

All In Cards

Super Moderator
Aug 7, 2008
23,269
184
21208
I use to talk to Phil all the time on IM, he just did not have time to collect anymore.

He has not been on IM in months. Yanks must be keeping him busy. And by the way he was engaged and might be married by now.
 

xcantgobackx

New member
Aug 20, 2008
2,144
0
Jersey Shore
Thats cool. I remember when I met him at Spring Training this year he was signing and there was a crowd of people around him. Everyone was doing the regular "Phil! Phil take mine next! Phil, over here!" I was right in front of him, but kind of getting ignored because you had to hand your item over a tall fence and I'm pretty short. I was polite and waited and finally I said quietly, "Phil, I'm a fellow BMB member." he laughed, looked at me and immediately took my ball next and signed it. It was pretty funny. He was really cool and signed for a LONG time. 3 games and he was the only Yankee auto I got.
 

J.O.

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,507
0
LLWesMan said:
J.O. said:
anyone think.....

he was paid by beckett to pump up the boards?

just a thought. no need to freak out at me for saying it

The thought that upper deck was crossed my mind when he previewed black etc.


ye it just sounds a little "too good to be true" like he was on beckett, then didn't come to fcb to even "stop by"

i'm going to get flamed for saying this but w/e
 

JoshHamilton

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
12,205
320
J.O. said:
anyone think.....

he was paid by beckett to pump up the boards?

just a thought. no need to freak out at me for saying it

Yeah, I agree.

Beckett paid him to come on their site to increase traffic, then tried to throw everyone off when they banned him for not providing proper identification

It was a genius marketing decision
 

caseya10781

New member
Aug 7, 2008
2,431
0
Tennessee
Good times. I was lucky enough to get in a trade with him. He was also kind enough to sign a few cards and ball for me. We need Phil back!
 

Terry

New member
Aug 11, 2008
2,251
0
The Swamp
Utleyfan1 said:
Terry said:
Utleyfan1 said:
Terry said:
Remember when Chase Utley signed up and was posting from the dugout during a game?? :lol: :lol:
Is this for real? :eek:

Someone wanted everyone to think that... but it wasn't really him.
Ah :cry:

Somebody signed up and made a thread saying they were Chase Utley.. first couple people fell for it, then the questions arose about 5 minutes later when someone asked why he was on a bb card message board during a game. Then everyone realized he was hurt.. so they believed it again.. then someone brought up, if he was hurt long term wouldn't he be in the owners box or rehabbing or something? Not on the bench. And that's when it was revealed he couldn't provide further proof, and that was that.

I'm sure a few people remember, but it was short-lived Tom.
 

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