My family and I had THE MOST AMAZING DAY today! I’m still on “Cloud Nine” just thinking about it. Even my son thinks it was all a dream. A few days ago my family and I were suppose to meet some of the NY Rangers at an event in New York City for Ronald McDonald House. Due to a slip I took (which is fine now, just sore to the touch), and incredibly bitter weather, we were unable to attend the event. We were all disappointed but our son took it the hardest. He really wanted the chance to meet the Rangers and maybe get his picture taken with them and autographs. He was looking forward to telling the kids at school all about it. It broke my heart that I had to disappoint him like that. He has no friends and I think he was hoping if the other kids knew about how he met the NY Rangers that they would think he was “cool” and want to be friends with him. A WONDERFUL lady name Laura P. was reading my blog post about missing out on the NY Rangers event. Out of the kindness of her beautiful heart she made a phone call to a friend of hers and made arrangements for my family to meet some of the World Champion New York Yankees today. OH MY! This was totally unexpected. My husband, son and even my Father are all NY Yankee fans. It almost seemed too good to be true! This morning we bundled ourselves up (it was SO COLD today) and drove across the Hudson River to where Steiner Sports (www.SteinerSports.com) was having their SteinerFest NY Championship Show. Thankfully the location was about 10 minutes away from where my husband’s job is relocating to so it wasn’t that hard to find.When we arrived at the location we saw an extremely long line waiting outside. Everyone was bundled up like Eskimos because it was THAT cold outside. My family and I stood on the end of the line. I had a phone number of a person to call when we arrived. His name is Chris C. and works for Steiner Sports. Chris was SO NICE. Laura told me he was a great guy and I can see why. Chris gave my family ID badges and brought us into the venue. I could swear I heard some people in the line grumbling too. Once inside we saw tables of sports items (pictures, baseballs…) that were for sale. If I’m not mistaken you can purchase these items and have the players sign them. We were whisked inside a former ice rink (the ice was replaced by cement). There we saw various vendors selling sports memorabilia. There were also tables to the one side with lines of people waiting in front of each table. At the first table was Brett Gardner who plays the Centerfield for the NY Yankees. My husband also noticed Andy Pettitte, who is a Pitcher for the NY Yankees, at a table down at the other end. Chris surprised us with brand new baseballs for the kids. He then arranged for the kids to meet Brett Gardner, who not only took a picture with them but also signed their baseballs.
Next Chris arranged for the kids to meet Joba Chamberlain, also a Pitcher for the Yankees. Joba also posed for a picture with the kids and signed their balls. My husband even jumped into the picture too.
I’m not kidding when I say my husband must have said “Wow” about two dozen times by this point. My kids were a bit taken back by everything and barely uttered a word. I knew they were excited, most especially our son, but I think it was just too good to be true in their eyes.
My husband got to see one of his favorite radio personalities, Michael Kay, which totally made his day.
Chris took us around and showed us a lot of the incredible gifts that Steiner Sports has made available. I am going to post more about them in a separate post. I will say that they offer very unique gifts for the sports fan in your life. I was very impressed by how affordable they are too. If you are a sports fan, or know a sports fan, you’ll want to read my other post about their fabulous gifts.
After we checked out all the great merchandise Chris took us across the street into Stiener Sports headquarters. He took us downstairs into the warehouse where all their products are housed. To quote my kids – “OMG!”. I like sports (Football especially) but I wouldn’t consider myself a “Sports Nut”. However the moment I stepped foot inside the warehouse I was in total awe of it all.
First we got to see a steer (cow?) from Mickey Mantle’s restaurant. The steer is done in Yankee pin stripes and signed by over a dozen (if not more!) NY Yankee players.
I asked Chris if this was going to be sold or auctioned off? He said he wasn’t 100% sure what they planned on doing with it. Whoever eventually ends up owning that is going to be the happiest person on the planet.
We walked up and down the rolls with more sports equipment, photos, and furniture then you can imagine. Almost all of the products have been autographed by athletes.
There were signed baseballs.
Signed football helmets.
Chairs from the locker rooms.
Game used baseball bats and hockey sticks.
Even a locker room chair that was used by NY Yankee Derek Jeeter.
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I was totally impressed by the actual locker used (and autographed) by legendary athlete Joe Namath. WOW!!! I would love to own this!
My husband’s most favorite part was jerseys that were worn by Dallas Cowboy players. These are considered “Game Worn Jerseys”. They have never been washed and still have the grass stains and dirt they got on them during the games. I think I saw rainbows and heard angels singing when my husband laid his hands upon them. Ha Ha. My husband was on top of the world at that point. I swear he’d probably roll around in them if he could (I’m joking…or am I?).
As if all of this wasn’t incredible enough we were taken into a back room where the players come to sign the products that are sold on the Stiener Sports web site. The athletes sit at the table where employees bring them the products that need to be signed and they just sign tons of things in one shot.
As luck would have it two more NY Yankees were in the room. Sitting at a table signing baseballs was AJ Burnett, also known as the Pie Man (something like that) because he would hit each Yankee who had a walk-off hit with a pie during their post-game interview. He had dozens of baseballs there in front of him that he was signing one by one.
Seated next to AJ was Nick Swisher, who is the Right Fielder for the Yankees. I think our son was most excited to see him. The middle school our kids attend is having a raffle to win a baseball signed by Nick Swisher to raise money for the school. My son brought home the paper for it and asked if we could give him money to buy a few raffles so he could try and win the baseball. HA! Forget about that… he was face to face with Nick Swisher himself. He was really nice to the kids too, asking them their names and talking to them, even joking about the school raffling off his baseball. He was kind enough to sign their baseballs as well as pose for a picture with them.
Here is another picture of Nick and AJ just hanging out until it was their turn to head on over to the SteinerFest to meet and greet their fans. AJ also signed the kid’s baseballs.
When we left Chris walked us back to where our car was (all along everyone was freezing!). Chris is a wonderful person who went out of his way to make our family feel extra special and for giving us a memory that will last a lifetime. Not only was meeting the players, getting their autographs and pictures taken with them out of this world WONDERFUL, but taking the tour of the warehouse gave us a new appreciation for sports memorabilia.
On the ride home the kids enjoyed going through a goodie bags they received which had a copy of ESPN magazine, a T-shirt, gifts cards, mouse pad and more.
We had to stop at the mall on the way home to pick up display cases for their baseballs. They could not wait to put them in their cases. Our son especially cannot wait to show Grandpa, Grandad and the kids at school. I’m not sure if I want him to bring it to school. What I might do is tape the case closed so no one can open it and let him bring it for homeroom and then go to school and pick it up. I rather not risk it. I don’t need kids handling the ball and getting it dirty or smudging the autographs. These balls are precious to our family and will be displayed proudly in our home.
The first thing my husband did when we got home was go online to www.SteinerSports.com and check out all the memorabilia they offer (he has a lot of things bookmarked I’m sure…LOL). Needless to say when it comes to Christmas, his birthday and our Anniversary I know exactly where I’m going to look for the perfect gift for him.
NEVER in a million years did we ever expect anything that happened today. We were grateful enough for the opportunity see some of the Yankees players. We had hoped to shake their hands and maybe get a picture taken with them if we were lucky. We NEVER, EVER expected to get their autographs. Nor did we ever anticipate getting to see the “behind the scenes” things at Steiner Sports. Even before heading to bed my husband had to say “Wow” a few more times. Even our son thinks it was all a dream.
Steiner Sports puts on many events year round. If you go to www.SteinerSports.com you’ll see a tab on the top task bar that says “Upcoming Signings”. You can also join their e-mail list (found at the bottom of the home page, towards the left) so you can get e-mail alerts to keep you up to date.
I’ll do another post to tell you all about the gift ideas that Stiener offers that will help buying gifts for the sports fan in your life a lot easier.
I wish to extend a very heartfelt “THANK YOU” to Laura P., for her huge heart and for making this all happen. And the same heartfelt THANK YOU to Chris C. for going out of his way to make us feel extra special, the incredibly behind-the-scenes experience, and for giving my family a cherished memory that will last a life time.
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