CLEARWATER, Fla. - The two college baseball players waited most nights outside the gates of the minor-league ballpark, hoping to score a signature from one of the future big leaguers that rolled through town.
The autograph hounds armed themselves with baseballs and trading cards. Pat Neshek - a Phillies pitcher with a quirky hobby and a quirkier pitching motion - and his college roommate, Paul Beck, were obsessed with autographs. They would track athletes across the midwest, camping out at stadiums and hotel lobbies. It was the foundation of an autograph collection that continues to grow.
Their ballpark watch one night was long enough that it outlasted the minor-league team’s bus, which returned to the hotel without some of the team’s players.