Surprise for Phil!!!!!!!!!!

One day while preparing to close our donut shop for the day, my oldest daughter told me she wanted to send a thank you to Jimmy Wynn for the autographed baseball he had given her. She was only four years old and we wanted to nurture in her a spirit of gratitude, so I told her I would write down what she wanted to say, and we would mail it on the way home. I don’t remember the exact words of the note, but she thanked him for the ball and for calling her beautiful. She told him if he ever came to our little town he should come to our shop and she would give him a free donut.

We did not know the actual address, so we just sent the note to Jimmy Wynn, Astrodome, Houston, Texas. I had my doubts it would ever reach the Astros’ star, but I did not tell my little girl. We dropped it in the mailbox on the way home that night.


A few weeks later we went to another game at the Dome. As was usual for us, after the game we went to the loading docks gate, which is where the home team players exited the building. We were waiting at the base of a long ramp, maybe fifteen or twenty yards from those crowding around the door. I saw a boy from the summer league team I coached among the gathering; he was working hard for autographs. He greeted us and asked what we were doing so far back from the action. I told him we were waiting for Jimmy Wynn, so my girl could say hello to her friend. Phil had his doubts that Jimmy Wynn was her friend, and he went back to the door to obtain more signatures.


A little while later Jimmy came through the door. He had a box under one arm and a couple of bats in his other hand. He was walking fast and obviously was not interested in signing a bunch of autographs that night. Phil was trailing him all the way down the ramp, trying to get him to stop, without any luck. As he approached, my daughter called out, “hi Jimmy.”


Wynn walked directly to where I was holding my little one, switching the bats to his other hand so he had an arm free. He said, “Good Evening, Stacey, I received your card. Thank you very much.” He took her from me, kissed her on the lips and proceeded to visit with her about what kind of donut he should get if he came to the shop.

Phil’s jaw bounced off the sidewalk!