[The Mark Grant Appreciation Page!!]
Story 01-001 August 7, 2001 Edition 2.0

CELEBR-EIGHT!!!!!!!!!

Eighth-Inning Appearance By Mark Grant Himself
Highlights First Annual "Visit To The Vet"

[August 7, 2001] The MGAP's August 7 trip to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia surpassed members' wildest expectations when our hero, Mark Grant himself, made a surprise visit to our section!

Grant, a former major-league pitcher and current broadcaster for the San Diego Padres, stopped by to meet the brilliant minds behind the large "Mark Grant For Hall of Fame!!" banner displayed on the upper-deck facade during the Padres/Phillies matchup.

We entered the stadium as soon as the gates opened at 5:30, got to our seats, and went right to work hanging our sign. That's when we realized that anyone sitting behind it would have no view of the game. We thought about pulling it down, but in the end we decided to keep the sign up until/unless somebody complained.

Nobody so much as mentioned it until the top of the 8th inning, when a voice behind us said 'Who's responsible for this sign??' "I figured it was a security goon ready to throw us out," said MGAP Founder and President-for-Life Jim 'The Genius' Pursel. "But when I turned to look, I saw it was Mark!! I gladly took responsibility for the sign and he told me that it had been on-camera several times during the Padres' TV broadcast."

"He said that the guys in the booth had been making fun of him, saying that he got to the park at noon to hang the sign, stuff like that. He came out to our section to get the real story and clear his good name. I told him I'd been a fan of his for 11 years and explained how he'd become my favorite ballplayer."

Mark was impressed, and offered us free tickets for the next day's game. Believe me, we weren't about to pass that up! He wanted me to call him at the Padres' hotel the next morning to confirm the arrangements, but nobody had a pencil or paper to write down the number. We ended up running down the concourse to a Phillies credit-card stand and jotting the info on the back of an application.

I called Mark the next day, and he told me that he left 2 tickets for us at the courtesy window. When I asked, he said he'd try to get me a video of Tuesday's game.

We didn't see Mark at the ballpark that day, but we did run into his producer, Nick Davis, while we were waiting for the courtesy pass window to open. He told us that we were on TV the whole time Mark was out talking to us! WOW!! Now, if we only had that video...


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