A generous act by Cat Whitfield

ripkenintheminors · February 4, 2010 12:52PM

For those of you familiar with my site you will know that I had the pleasure of interviewing Cat Whitfield last fall. Before the interview I was told that Cat was aware of his example as a pro baseball player and gave consideration to the way he conducted himself in front of young people. Speaking to him personally I loved his gentle spirit.

After completing the interview I told Cat of how I had picked up a Charlotte O's jersey worn during the 1980 Southern League championship season. The jersey had since been signed by Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken, Jr. Cat informed me that plans were in the works for the 30th anniversary reunion for the Charlotte O's. Cat graciously offered to take my jersey to the reunion to get it signed by the former Charlotte players in attendance. Today I received the jersey back from Cat along with his name badge for the reunion. Here are the pictures:

jeffcbay · February 4, 2010 1:04PM

SWEET!!!! What a cool piece!!

Ironmanfan · February 4, 2010 1:04PM

what a great thing for Cat to do.........love the Bob Bonner & Drungo Hazewood signatures too!!!

Congrats on a great pickup!

IMF

Stone193 · February 4, 2010 1:17PM

That was really nice of him - cool item - plan on framing it?

Thanx for the scan
mike

ripkenintheminors · February 4, 2010 1:24PM

<< <i>That was really nice of him - cool item - plan on framing it?

Thanx for the scan
mike >>

I have a jersey display case that opens up so you can change out the jersey. I'm sure it will make an appearance at some point. Some of the guys couldn't make it to the reunion so I may be able to add other signatures to it in the future.

ripkenintheminors · February 4, 2010 1:26PM

<< <i>what a great thing for Cat to do......... >>

Agreed. It says a lot about the guy that he would even think of getting it signed at his reunion. Then again you know his character.

csmtampa · February 4, 2010 4:13PM

Awesome piece! One to hand down to your kids along with the story.

GDM67 · February 4, 2010 5:23PM

Incredibly cool, both the jersey and the fact that Cat made such an effort.

WinPitcher · February 4, 2010 9:48PM

Very nice indeed.

Steve

ripkenintheminors · February 5, 2010 2:30AM

Thanks, folks. It's been a busy stretch so I just had an opportunity to assess what is on the jersey. I think it's going to be my new project to add sigs to the jersey if at all possible. Here's the breakdown:

-20 signatures on the jersey
-15 signatures of a possible 35 players for the 1980 Charlotte O's
-5 signatures of a possible 14 1980 Charlotte players that would play in the majors (Palmer did not play for Charlotte in 1980)

hotmush · February 5, 2010 4:44AM

Geeee zuz. That is amazing.

Why was Palmer there? Rehabbing from surgery or something?

ripkenintheminors · February 5, 2010 5:00AM

<< <i>Geeee zuz. That is amazing.

Why was Palmer there? Rehabbing from surgery or something? >>

Fantastic question that I've never considered. When I originally purchased teh jersey it was already signed by Cal and Jim. Having the "1981" inscription really helped to date the jersey to the 1980 season along with matching it to another jersey confirmed to have been worn in 1980.

Ironmanfan · February 5, 2010 5:18AM

keep in mind there was a long MLB players strike in 1981....perhaps Palmer was making some sort of an appearance there

hotmush · February 5, 2010 5:29AM

I don't know the details of any kind of bargaining agreement, but would it be possible for MLB players to take minor league contracts during a strike just to keep playing and keep sharp? Or would that be a no-no?

Ironmanfan · February 5, 2010 5:39AM

<< <i>I don't know the details of any kind of bargaining agreement, but would it be possible for MLB players to take minor league contracts during a strike just to keep playing and keep sharp? Or would that be a no-no? >>

that would be a no-no

ripkenintheminors · February 5, 2010 6:01AM

Checked my old e-mails to see if the seller offered any information as to the Palmer and Ripken signatures. He said in the message that he purchased the jersey already signed. He got it from a friend who had Jim sign it at a card show in 1981. This same friend had it signed by Cal at a Knights game.

GDM67 · February 5, 2010 7:56AM

Jim pitched a couple of games in Hagerstown in '83 on a rehab assignment (I remember seeing a photo of him in Sports Illustrated) but Baseball Reference doesn't have any other rehab stints listed for him after that period in the late '60's when he struggled with arm trouble. He may have just been visiting during the strike.

A generous act by Cat Whitfield

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