One of the people who got me into collecting cards was my godfather, Jug. He and his wife owned the Dairy Queen in Urbana, Ohio, and I used to ride my bike over to visit them every week when I was living with my grandparents. Jug was an old Marine, ex-Highway Patrolman, and 32nd Degree Mason, known widely for his affability and generosity. He was my godfather mainly because he was so kind to my mom when she immigrated from the Philippines.
Jug loved baseball, and he used to keep a Cal Ripken Jr. rookie card in his desk that he let me look at when I’d visit. He also used to give me a ton of the baseball merchandise that DQ gave out. My favorite was the 1994 Griffey Jr. set that came out when I was eleven. Jug gave me the whole set—“It pays to have friends in high places,” he told me.
The last time I saw Jug was when I came home on leave from Iraq. I’d just been promoted to sergeant, and he joked that finally outranked him since he’d only made corporal. We talked about baseball and he asked me if I still had “that old Griffey set” he’d given me ten years before. I told him I did, but in reality I didn’t. He was sick, so I guess I didn’t want to disappoint him. Jug died a few months later while I was back in Iraq.
I saw this card at a shop a few years ago and I picked it up because it reminded me of Jug. Then I tucked it in a box and forgot about it when my second kid was born. But I found it again while I was cataloging my collection, and it got me to thinking about Jug, his wife, and my grandparents. It think I’ll make a point of putting this set together this year. It feels like home.
