Episode 169 — Eddie Browning: Creating The Browning Baseball Collection, International Travel, & A Lifetime of Baseball Fandom

[00:00:00] Eddie: So one night, I am in bed sleeping, and I hear the garage door opening. So I’m saying, what the heck? So I look out, and Lou is pulling into the garage. So then I hear his car door slam, and the door from the basement to the hallway slam, and the, from the basement to the stairwell slams, and the top of the stairs slam, and his front door slams.

[00:00:21] Eddie: Bunch of doors inside his, apartment slamming. I’m thinking, what the heck? So next day I get to work and my secretary was a huge Reds fan, so I told her what I just told you, and she starts laughing. She says, you didn’t see the game, did you? And I said, no, I didn’t. She says, he got thrown out for throwing the base. 

[00:00:46] Anna: What’s up bucketheads.. Thanks for tuning in and welcome to episode number 169 of the baseball bucket list podcast. I’m your host Anna DiTommaso and each week on the show, I speak with a different baseball fan about their favorite memories, what’s left on their baseball bucket list and what the game of baseball means to them. 

[00:01:02] Anna: This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Eddie Browning who joins us from the San Diego area, Where he’s vowed to never shovel snow again. Eddie’s love for baseball started as a kid watching Yankee games on black and white television with his mom. 

[00:01:14] Anna: And he’s been a devoted fan of the game ever since, Over the years Eddie’s passion for baseball has led him on an incredible journey. He’s visited all 30 MLB ballparks and even created his very own baseball museum filled with memorabilia from his personal experiences and travels. 

[00:01:29] Anna: We talk about how Eddie’s collection got started, the unique pieces he’s gathered over the years, including 832 signed baseballs. And his dream of seeing a Padres Guardians world series. We also hear some hilarious stories, including the time Lou Panella was his neighbor And the wild adventure of meeting Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto in the Dominican Republic. 

[00:01:52] Anna: I had so much fun with this conversation. I know you’re all really going to enjoy it. Now without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy some baseball banter with Eddie Browning.

[00:02:02] Anna: Eddie, thank you so much for joining us today on the Baseball Bucket List. How are things in beautiful San Diego? Heh heh

[00:02:10] Eddie: Uh, everything’s great here. I’ve been here a little over two years, and I just love it. I will never shovel snow again. 

[00:02:19] Anna: It sounds like you’ve shoveled enough snow for a lifetime. You deserve, you know, some sunshiny years out there in California.

[00:02:26] Anna: And I know we’re gonna get into all

[00:02:29] Eddie: years in Ohio. So

[00:02:30] Anna: Yeah, my goodness gracious, but the first question I want to get started with right out of the gate It’s the same question. I ask everybody Eddie is how is it that you fell in love with the game of baseball?

[00:02:42] Eddie: my mom was a Yankee fan when I was little, uh, probably going back to the thirties and the Yankees would be on TV every time there was a game, whether anybody was in the room watching it or not, the TV would be on with the Yankee game. So I got to watch baseball in black and white. And that’s a funny story about my first live game. Uh, when I was. I was delivering newspapers and the manager had a contest for new subscriptions and if you got a certain number, he would take, was gonna take a group of kids to a Mets game. And that was one short, but he said, okay, you can make it up to me. So we piled in a station wagon, went down to Shea Stadium.

[00:03:32] Eddie: 1966, actually it was July 2nd, and, uh, so we get out of the station wagon and it’s a concrete parking lot, and we walk into, toward a concrete structure, it was, uh, second year that, uh, third year that, uh, Shea Stadium was opened, and go up these concrete rams, into this concrete concourse, and then down through this concrete tunnel, and all of a sudden, there was green grass in front of me.

[00:04:02] Eddie: Go I’d never seen baseball in color before, so it was really interesting. I stopped and I’m looking and the kid next to me says, what’s your problem? And I said, the grass is green. And he says, are you stupid or what?

[00:04:21] Anna: It gives a a whole nother meaning to the term concrete jungle, you know, I can imagine when 

[00:04:26] Eddie: exactly. Yeah. 

[00:04:27] Anna: That much just juxtaposition between, uh, what you’re used to seeing on a daily basis and then walking into this just vibrant, lush, live, uh,

[00:04:38] Eddie: Well, right up until I saw the grass, everything was still in black and

[00:04:41] Anna: Yeah. Yeah. Uh. That’s a good, uh, start to, you know, your, your baseball fandom, but you’ve, you’ve lived in several different locations now.

[00:04:52] Anna: You’re out on the West Coast. Where does the loyalty lie in terms of Major League teams? You know, are you, did, you grew up with the Yankees on TV? You spent a significant amount of time in both Ohio and Cleveland and, uh, now you’re out there in Padres land.

[00:05:10] Eddie: Well, I was born in New York on Long Island, so I had Mets and Yankees growing up, and, uh, then, uh, instantly became, when I moved out to Cleveland, uh, my wife was from Cleveland, I had met her at college, and, uh, When we moved out, when I moved out to Cleveland, I still follow the Yankees and Mets until there wasn’t anybody on the team that I saw, actually saw.

[00:05:37] Eddie: I’m doing the same thing with the Guardians now. As soon as the team has turned over, which it’s about halfway there already. then I will, I usually follow more than one team anyway, this, this year. I picked a couple losers to follow, so I didn’t do too good. I’m still following the Guardians and of course the Padres, and uh, after the, all the kids in Cincinnati had a real good year last year, so I figured they were going to do something this year, so I picked them up.

[00:06:08] Eddie: And I did live in Cincinnati for four years, so there is a little connection there. Uh, but these kids aren’t playing up to the potential that they showed last year. And then the other team is my closest American league team is the angels and they just fell apart completely. So, but I do have two that are in the playoff and hopefully, you know, if we can get a, uh, Padres Guardians World Series, I’ll be in heaven.

[00:06:36] Anna: That was gonna be my question. What do you think you would, I mean, do you have an inkling as to who you would be pulling for in that scenario?

[00:06:44] Eddie: I can’t lose.

[00:06:45] Anna: You can’t lose. That’s nice. That’s a good way to look at it. I love it. I love it.

[00:06:49] Eddie: I would probably lean toward the Guardians since, uh, they haven’t won since, uh, 48. But, uh, Padres haven’t, haven’t ever won a World Series since 1969, so.

[00:07:04] Anna: Either way, someone’s curse is, is broken. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. That’d be, that’d be an interesting one. I’d like to see that shake out for you, but, um, all right, I want to move on now because one of the main reasons that we’re talking today is this phenomenal collection of baseball memorabilia items that you have and, you know, most people have like, let’s say, a display case filled with autographed baseballs or maybe they’ve got some specific items that matter a lot to them.

[00:07:40] Anna: But Eddie here has an entire museum and Eddie, why don’t you kind of walk us through where the idea came. To create this special museum,

[00:07:53] Eddie: Um. Back in 1989, we were living in Cincinnati. My wife was doing a medical residency there, so we were there for four years. And I started picking up a few hats, and I started hanging them in one of the rooms. And uh, we were teasingly calling it the Cincinnati Baseball Museum.

[00:08:17] Eddie: And uh, then when we moved back to Cleveland, Uh, I got, there was a very large room in the basement and I just started adding to it and adding and we started calling that the Northeast Ohio Baseball Museum. So now that it’s moved to Lamona, Ohio outside of San Diego. Uh, it is now called the Browning Collection of Private Baseball Museum.

[00:08:42] Eddie: So that way I don’t have to change the name again.

[00:08:44] Anna: right?

[00:08:46] Eddie: So, uh, it’s just things I’ve been accumulating ever since, from 1966 on. And, uh, some of the things I have in, in there, I have a collection of, uh, programs and scorecards from games that I had been to, going all the way back to 1966. I’ve got, uh, 832 autographed baseballs, 93 bobbleheads, 48 stadium models, an ear of corn, which is a separate story. I have a home plate from Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, which is one of the Indian farm teams. Guardians. It was the Indians when I acquired this, but it’s Guardians now. Um, I just picked up and I technically don’t have it yet because it’s a birthday present for September 18th. So it’s in the museum, but it’s still wrapped up.

[00:09:45] Eddie: Uh, I acquired a pitching rubber from Petco Field.

[00:09:48] Anna: Oh, very cool.

[00:09:50] Eddie: I have a swatch of AstroTurf from Riverfront Stadium. Four seats from Cleveland Municipal Stadium. 303 hats. I usually pick up a hat at every ballpark or every special game, like Opening Day, All Stars, World Series, Playoffs. Um, I have a set of poll banners that hung in public square in Cleveland in 1997. 

[00:10:15] Anna: what do they have on them?

[00:10:17] Eddie: It just says, uh, 95, uh, 95, uh, pennant winner, um, American League pennant, and 96, uh, Division winner, you know, from 97 it was on a, on a light pole in a public square. I have a wall cushion from Dekker’s Field. Every 10 years they’re required to, uh, change the wall cushions.

[00:10:43] Eddie: And I was able to pick that up through a friend. I have six seat backs. four are from stadiums that aren’t being used anymore, and the two are from current stadiums that have either downsized or replaced, uh, seats that were fading. 36 jars of ballpark dirt.

[00:11:05] Anna: Wow.

[00:11:06] Eddie: So I have a piece of all those stadiums right there in my museum. Um, there’s three windows that have curtains that my daughter sewed for me. One room is our Indians Guardians room and the other room is, I’m trying to make it a Padres room, but I have so much more Indians Guardians stuff from 50 years than I do from two years of Padres, but I’m working on it. And, uh, in, in the guardian’s room, there’s two original pieces of artwork that my wife drew that are the, uh, the guardians from the bridge, one holding a bat and one holding a baseball. One. The ones on the bridge are the guardians of transportation. So they’re holding, uh, trucks or trains or covered wagons or other things like that.

[00:11:59] Eddie: But so she do these two holding, holding, uh, a bat and a ball. I have two uniforms from two fantasy camps I did when I was much younger. That’s not going to happen anymore. Um, the, uh, the big item is, uh, I was a CPA. One of my clients was a state attorney. And one of his clients, uh, his name was Bertie. I don’t know his last name, but he was the photographer for the Cleveland Press for uncovered baseball.

[00:12:34] Eddie: And he did a, uh, took a photograph of Ted Williams batting in Cleveland Stadium. Catcher Jim Hagen crouched behind him, and Williams bat is all the way around, and you can see the ball disappearing

[00:12:51] Anna: Wow.

[00:12:51] Eddie: of the corner of the photo. And Hagen’s still sitting there waiting for the ball that navigates the field.

[00:12:57] Eddie: And, uh, it is signed by Ted Williams, and it’s the inscription says, To Bertie, looks like we both had good shots that day. So, when I was leaving Cleveland, I called him up and said, you know, I’d like to return this, because he knew I was leaving. He says, are you going to set up a museum in San Diego? I said, yeah.

[00:13:20] Eddie: He said, it goes to San Diego.

[00:13:24] Anna: I love

[00:13:24] Eddie: I still have it.

[00:13:25] Anna: That’s really cool. So, I mean, it sounds like you’ve got plenty of stuff in this museum, right? Like, is this, Are you going to start charging admission? Like if, uh, you know, if someone wanted to come by, they said, Hey, I’m going to be in around Ramona, California in the, in the next little bit, would you, uh, would you allow admission?

[00:13:46] Eddie: At this point I, I would, You know, set up some time when I’m available, and I would take them through and give them a guided tour with no charge. Uh, but they’d have to sign the guest book. I have a guest book.

[00:14:01] Anna: Seems

[00:14:01] Anna: like a fair fair request.

[00:14:03] Eddie: there is also a gift shop in the museum. Uh, the gift shop is duplicate items, and if you bring something to donate to the museum, I would put a tag on the item saying that you donated it, and you get to pick something out of the gift shop.

[00:14:22] Anna: nice.

[00:14:23] Eddie: For your collection.

[00:14:24] Anna: I love that. That’s so cool. It’s just such a unique way to kind of appreciate the game and share that appreciation with with everybody else and I know You know as as folks are staring deeply into their Phones or computers or however, they’re listening to this that they’re wondering about images of, of the museum, and I’m sure that, that Eddie will provide some to me so that I can throw them up on the, uh, show notes page and, and share them on social media and stuff so, so folks can get a good look at kind of the setup.

[00:14:59] Anna: Do you think that sounds like a fair idea, Eddie?

[00:15:02] Eddie: That sounds great, yeah. And if anybody’s in the San Diego area, contact me, maybe we could set up a time to come and see it. I would love for you to come and see it. 

[00:15:13] Anna: Oh, definitely. 

[00:15:14] Eddie: If you’re ever in this area, let me know.

[00:15:17] Anna: Yeah, for sure. It’s got to, it’s got to be on the bucket list. It’s got to be, you know, checked off to, to, to visit the Browning Museum. Uh, that’s awesome.

[00:15:28] Eddie: lot of the stuff has to do with something I was involved with, a special game or a ballpark I went to, everything. There are a few things that probably are worth a little bit, but my daughter thinks when I die she’s going to sell it all and be rich. And I keep telling her nobody’s going to buy most of it.

[00:15:47] Eddie: So,

[00:15:51] Anna: wear the hats? Because, you know, one of my friends, Johnny, Johnny Bowlin, he, uh, he tells a joke about how once he passes away, nobody wants his hat collection because he actually wears them and they’re just, you know, sweaty messes. Um.

[00:16:09] Eddie: a game that I already have a hat for, I will pull the hat down. I was, last weekend I was up at the Angels game, so I took the Angels hat out of the museum and wore it. But, uh, you know, a lot of these, I’m going to be 72 next month, this month. Oh boy. Aging fast. And I’m thinking, you know, there’s a lot of things I haven’t seen yet.

[00:16:34] Eddie: And, uh, so I don’t want to duplicate things. So a lot of these helmets will never be worn again.

[00:16:41] Anna: Alright, so you touched on, briefly, you’ve, you’ve lived in a couple different areas of the U. S. Actually, kind of, one of every flavor, almost, it seems like, but I know there’s a story here about your time in Cincinnati that we’ve got to get to, so, 

[00:16:58] Eddie: Okay. 

[00:16:59] Anna: Why don’t you share who your neighbor was?

[00:17:02] Eddie: we, uh, moved to Cincinnati when my wife, uh, graduated medical school and she did a residency in Cincinnati. So we’re in this apartment complex that had about 20 buildings. And, uh, each building was two stories, and there was a first floor apartment, a second floor apartment, and a townhouse. And we were in the first floor apartment of one of the buildings, and my wife calls me at work one day and says, uh, new neighbor’s moving into the townhouse, and he’s carrying a Yankees duffel bag. so I scrambled to find out, What happened, and it was the, uh, Reds that hired Lou Piniella to be their manager. And, uh, so for six months, he lived next door to me. And the way the buildings were set up, there was a driveway going down between the buildings down to the lower level, and the garages were underneath the buildings from the back.

[00:17:58] Eddie: And the Reds had rented Lou a Cadillac, which he parked out front. So one night, I am in bed sleeping, and I hear the garage door opening. So I’m saying, what the heck? So I look out, and Lou is pulling into the garage. I’m thinking, that is weird. He never parks in the garage. So then I hear his car door slam, and the door from the basement to the hallway slam, and the, from the basement to the stairwell slams, and the top of the stairs slam, and his front door slams.

[00:18:31] Eddie: Bunch of doors inside his, his uh, apartment slamming. I’m thinking, what the heck? So next day I get to work and my secretary was a huge Reds fan, so I told her what I just told you, and she starts laughing. She says, you didn’t see the game, did you? And I said, no, I didn’t. She says, he got thrown out for throwing the base. Everybody, I’m sure everybody has seen that a million times on the replay site. This was four, he got thrown out early in the game and this was four hours after the game ended and he was still fuming. I guess that’s why they called him sweet Lou.

[00:19:12] Anna: Yeah, right. Got a, uh, a bit of a temper, huh?

[00:19:16] Eddie: Yeah. So the whole time he lived there, I always wanted to talk to him. You know, my wife kept saying, you know, you gotta leave him alone, he’d rather see you. And I respected that. It was really hard, but I did that.

[00:19:32] Eddie: And one day I come home from work, uh, Reds were off that day, in the middle of a homestand, and I see Lou’s keys are in his door, and I’m thinking, oh great, I can get to talk to Lou finally. So I knock on the door, and I can hear some shuffling, and then say, yes, Mr. Penella, you left your keys in your door.

[00:19:54] Eddie: He says, oh, thank you. And the door opens, about three inches, a hand comes around, takes the keys pulls them in, closes the door, and says thank you very much. And I did get a glimpse that he was wearing prom pajamas at five in the evening. And, uh, so I’m standing there thinking, Lou, talk to me, Lou, talk to me. So I went back to my apartment. And then the next spring, after they won the World Series, Uh, they always, the Reds always did a meet the team luncheon the day before the, the, uh, opening day and, uh, the insurance agent, I was a business manager for an export company and the insurance agent that I dealt with always would take me to this.

[00:20:40] Eddie: So we go in there and, uh, they have this long table set up for all the team, all the players to sit at to sign autographs. And then they had a raised platform behind it. With another table. And Lou comes in, a couple of people, he signed a couple of autographs and he hustles up to the table there, and myself and about four or five other people following him up there.

[00:21:04] Eddie: And a security guard comes running over and he says, Mr. Piniella, I’m so sorry, I’ll get them out of there. And he says, well, I’ll sign these, but don’t let anybody else out. So I was the last one, and he glanced up at me. And it says, Oh, Ed, how you doing? Do you still live in the same place? And I’m thinking, how does he know my name?

[00:21:24] Eddie: Well, my mailbox is right next to his, so probably that’s where he got it from. And my last name is the same as his ace pitcher, Tom Browning. So, so he says, uh, do you still live in the same place? And I said, no, no, we moved. And, uh, He says, yeah, I moved too. I wish I had stayed there because nobody where I’m at now leaves me alone. And I’m thinking, yes, it was all worth it.

[00:21:52] Anna: I was gonna ask you if, if during that time you noticed, you know, people bothering him or running up to him whenever they would see him out, uh, getting the mail or something like that. But it sounds like maybe at the, the place y’all were both living at that

[00:22:07] Eddie: it was a quiet, quiet place. And, uh, yeah, he’d get home at two in the morning and then I’d leave for work at eight. So he’d still be in bed at that point. So I never really got to see him. Uh, the next building over, Billy Hatcher lived in. He was the outfielder for the team at the 

[00:22:25] Anna: Yeah. 

[00:22:26] Eddie: and he had a little boy, so we had two small Boston Terriers that I had to take up to the woods at the end of the street, and every time I passed the building, whenever he was coming back, he’d be out there with his little boy, so his little boy could play with the puppies, so then, uh, Um, in 2015, this was back in 1990, 2015, I’m, uh, I volunteered with Cincinnati at the All Star Game, and they invited all the volunteers back for a game later in the season, and we got to walk around the warning track before the game.

[00:23:01] Eddie: And so when I’m coming up to the dugout, Billy Hatcher, who’s now a coach for the Reds, at that time was a coach for the Reds, I don’t know if he still is or not, Um, he’s standing there. So I got as close as I was allowed, and I yelled over him, Mr. Hatcher, I don’t know if you remember me, we were neighbors in Hyde Park in 1990, and he looks at me, and he cocks his head, and he’s looking, and he says, You’re the guy with the dogs! So I asked him, and I said, How’s your son doing? And he says, Not little anymore. So then I went online and looked up his son, and his son was like, defensive back for one of the Chicago Bears, uh, uh, sub teams, so he, yeah, probably if he’s a defensive back, he’s not little anymore.

[00:23:51] Anna: Exactly. You wouldn’t think so. Yeah. Man, it’s, uh, it’s crazy, you know, like the 1990, late 80s, early 90s, that, that, that doesn’t seem like that long ago, but you talk about the difference in, like, access that we have to players now, you know, I mean, it’d be unheard of for, for you to be sharing a apartment complex with the manager of a major league ball team now, I just don’t think it would happen.

[00:24:17] Anna: Yeah.

[00:24:17] Eddie: Yeah. Things are so, so different now.

[00:24:19] Anna: Yeah, for sure.

[00:24:21] Eddie: It’s been 35 years.

[00:24:23] Anna: yeah, I mean, I, 

[00:24:25] Eddie: Yeah. It seems like it 

[00:24:26] Eddie: was 

[00:24:26] Anna: yeah, it doesn’t seem that long ago is maybe the right way to say that, but things have

[00:24:30] Anna: changed massively. 

[00:24:32] Eddie: I had been to one playoff game before that, but then I got to every single playoff and most serious game that was held in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, they clinched it on the road.

[00:24:43] Eddie: Well, fortunate, they swept the Oakland A’s with Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco, which, considering their pitching was very iffy, that was pretty big accomplishment. So it was fun.

[00:24:57] Anna: Yeah, that is fun. That’s a, that’s a great story. I love hearing stuff like that. I want to touch a little bit on your, your baseball travel. And when I say travel, I’m not using that word loosely. You know, you, you’ve been to all 30 ballparks here in the US, all 30 major league parks, I should say, but you also have done some, uh, some international travel, or I guess I should say at least, um, non continental travel, right?

[00:25:25] Anna: Because you and I went to Alaska together last summer

[00:25:29] Eddie: was a blast. 

[00:25:30] Anna: Yeah, talk about some of the other trips you’ve been on.

[00:25:35] Eddie: Uh, well I also went with you to the, uh, Houston for 

[00:25:38] Eddie: the animal, which was really very interesting. I wouldn’t say it was baseball, it was more of a, uh, of a theatrical event, with gymnastics and everything else. And it just happened to be a baseball going on in the background. But, uh, it was really fun to see that I also with, uh, Japan Ball, who was also involved with that Alaska trip.

[00:26:02] Eddie: I did a week in Dominican Republic, which was really amazing. The food was really interesting, and we went to all kinds of cultural places. Uh, governor’s Mansion who was, uh, Columbus’s son and all kinds of things and, and the, uh, the crowds at the ball games are insane

[00:26:27] Anna: Oh, yeah

[00:26:28] Eddie: and they just, from everybody brings a musical instrument and they’re either screaming or playing their instrument from the first pitch to the last out.

[00:26:38] Eddie: It never stops, and it’s just crazy craziness. one of the games was the home opener. And, uh, during the ceremonies, uh, their manager, Fernando Tatis, Sr., rides in on horseback, in full uniform.

[00:27:02] Anna: That’s 

[00:27:02] Anna: hilarious 

[00:27:04] Eddie: during the trip, we stopped at a truck stop that was advertising the best barbecue in the Caribbean. And there’s this huge group at the next table, and the people were heading north for, uh, to the North Shore for a family vacation.

[00:27:22] Eddie: And, uh, It was, uh, Juan Soto’s family, and, uh, we had met the dad the day before at one of the ballparks we were at, where, it was a very old ballpark, and there was, uh, youth games going on, and Soto’s younger brother was playing, so we had met the dad, and the dad saw us and came over, and then went back and brought Juan over, and he spent a half hour with us, posing and telling stories, and, uh, And signing stuff for us and everything.

[00:27:54] Eddie: And then, uh, the last day of the trip, we’re out at one of the training camps. And the guy had just put in a state of the art gym. So a lot of major leaguers were coming there, and Fernando Tatis Jr. shows up. And again, he spent a half hour with us, signed everything, posted pictures, and told stories. So then I moved to San Diego.

[00:28:17] Eddie: And the first game I go to is the first game Juan Soto played as a Padre after the Nationals traded him to the Padres. So I have both guys on the same team for a year and a half.

[00:28:28] Anna: Yeah. 

[00:28:29] Eddie: that was great too. So,

[00:28:32] Anna: Yeah. I’ve heard stories about the DR. Like, um, you know, obviously a bunch of very talented athletes come out of there and, um, You know, they seem very proud from what I’ve heard about showing off kind of their home country and probably, you know, if Juan Soto was there, that was the best barbecue offered in the Caribbean.

[00:28:54] Anna: So, uh,

[00:28:56] Eddie: Right.

[00:28:57] Anna: that’s a, that’s a pretty cool story. 

[00:28:59] Eddie: I’ve got one more story I want to tell.

[00:29:02] Eddie: it.

[00:29:02] Eddie: goes back to, uh, my first game in, uh, 1966 with, uh, Mets. They were playing the Pirates. Uh, Bob Fenn was a pitcher for the Pirates for, for 18 years. And they released him at the end of spring training. And the Yankees picked him up and he appeared in 12 games for the Yankees and they decided he wasn’t doing it.

[00:29:24] Eddie: So they sold him to the Mets. This is 1966, when the Mets still could not play baseball. Uh, they do hold the record for most losses in the season from 62, which will be broken this year by the White

[00:29:40] Anna: I was going to say, oh, not for long.

[00:29:42] Eddie: Yeah, and uh, so he’s, he was the starting pitcher in that game for the Mets. So, uh, back in 2015 at Pirate Fest, I bumped into him, uh, it was December 2015. Um, he wasn’t signing autographs, but he was doing photographs. So I got on the line and I got up there. And I told them the story about, this was, you know, you pitched my first game, and, you know, I was telling them about it. And I told them that, uh, you know, I remembered it was you because Valentine Beer was a sponsor and their jingle was, Hey friend, do it again, Valentine Beer. And every time Bob Fren would throw a strike, everybody would start singing this jingle. So that’s how I remembered who it was. So he says, you know, he says, I remember that game because it’s the only one I ever pitched against the Pirates, and he lit up like a candle. He was glowing. And I said, yeah. He says, but we’re not going to talk about the game.

[00:30:48] Eddie: I said, well, you did real good the first three innings. He says, okay, I’m not, we’re not going to talk about the fourth inning. He gave up seven runs. before they got him out of there. But the Mets came back and won. In 19, in the 1960s, early 1960s, they came back from a 7 1 deficit and won. so we’re talking, and where he’s, he’s beaming, and you know, there’s a big line of people waiting to get their picture taken, and they’re all getting impatient, and he spent a good 10 minutes with me, and then he signed all my stuff.

[00:31:22] Eddie: that I had with me, a baseball and a baseball card, which are in the museum, which when you come, you can see them. And, uh, but he was just absolutely glowing and he didn’t want me to leave. And, you know, he, they kept telling him, Mr. Fenn, we need to move along. And, and he keeps saying, just, just another minute.

[00:31:42] Eddie: And, you know, and we just talked for 10 minutes. this was in December of, uh, 2015. He passed away two months later. He was 86. just, I just feel so good that just the joy in his face during our conversation for 10 minutes, just makes me feel so good. Yeah.

[00:32:06] Anna: it sounds like that was super meaningful to him, and I imagine when you’re, you know, a professional athlete, you kind of have this rollercoaster of a, of a life where in the beginning nobody knows who you are, nobody really cares to talk to you, and then at the peak, everybody wants something from you, everybody wants to talk to you, and then, you know, towards the end of your career or the end of your life, it kind of evens back out towards being somebody who, who can go to the grocery store without being recognized, and so I bet As a, as a former big leaguer, to see a fan and hear the joy that the game and, you know, him pitching that day was able to provide to you probably meant the world to him.

[00:32:49] Eddie: And, uh, you know, just the joy I had telling them about my first 

[00:32:53] Eddie: game and, uh, this was one of his last and, uh, just reliving that. And he, like I said, he lit up like a candle. He was just so happy and smiling. you know, I couldn’t believe it two months later when I got the news.

[00:33:10] Anna: Yeah. Yeah. Would you say that that’s your favorite baseball memory or is there something there that, that kind of tops it?

[00:33:19] Eddie: I think that’s my favorite

[00:33:20] Eddie: one. uh, that and the one about Lou telling me that Not directly, but implying that he appreciated that I left him alone. He doesn’t know how hard that was.

[00:33:34] Anna: Oh, I can imagine. I can imagine. 

[00:33:37] Anna: It sounds like, I mean, you’ve done a ton, Eddie, you’ve been to a ton of different places, seen a lot of games, collected a lot of really cool things, but is there one thing that has still eluded you, there’s that one thing that’s still at the top of the baseball bucket list, a place you want to go, a person you want to meet, something you want to see, anything like that?

[00:33:56] Eddie: well, when we were in the Dominican Republic, I don’t know if this is the top of my list, but when we were in the Dominican Republic, we hit four out of the six teams, and now the juror has an extension where he hits the last two teams on the North Shore. And, but you can buy the extension separately, and I keep thinking I want to do that, but I don’t know if that’s even going to happen.

[00:34:19] Eddie: I’ve got my numbers on my ballparks that I’ve been to, if you want

[00:34:24] Anna: yeah, let’s hear it.

[00:34:25] Eddie: Okay, all 30 active, 23 former, which means I’ve seen or touched a building, 19 sites, which means I’ve seen a plaque where it used to be, 23 AAA, 18 AA, 19 High A, and 18 A. Thank you. So it’s a total of, uh, on the minor leagues of 78 out of the 120.

[00:34:48] Eddie: So

[00:34:49] Anna: Is that all active or are there

[00:34:52] Eddie: those are all active and there’s probably a dozen that aren’t active.

[00:34:56] Anna: Yeah I mean you’re within spitting distance of being able to check all those off. Really?

[00:35:00] Eddie: I’m working on it. 

[00:35:04] Eddie: So, 

[00:35:04] Anna: Eddie, I’ve so enjoyed this if folks want to find you online Is there any place we should send them?

[00:35:11] Eddie: um, I’m on Facebook under Eddie Browning. I’m also on the member of the Facebook page Ballpark Chasers. So if you’re on that page, you can see my posts quite often. Um, mostly now I’m just, uh, send a post every game I go to, a view from my seat, and I take a picture of what it looks like from where I’m sitting.

[00:35:33] Eddie: And I send a lot of them with duplicates because I have a 20 game package with the Padres, so they’re all the same.

[00:35:40] Anna: Yeah

[00:35:42] Eddie: But, yeah,

[00:35:44] Anna: Awesome. Well eddie. I’ve had a blast chatting with you. I can’t thank you enough. I know that everybody is anxious to see The uh, the photos from the museum. So like I said, we’ll get those posted but um, man, I uh, I look forward to hearing what’s next and seeing if you get your Cleveland Sand Deigo world series matchup

[00:36:05] Eddie: Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but 

[00:36:08] Eddie: you 

[00:36:09] Eddie: never know. 

[00:36:10] Anna: You could

[00:36:10] Anna: dream that’s right

[00:36:12] Eddie: Okay, thank you so much for having me.

[00:36:14] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode of the baseball bucket list podcast, special things to Eddie Browning for joining us today and sharing those stories and memories. This sounds like something you’d like to do. If you think you might like to be a guest on the show, head to baseball bucket list.com/podcast and fill out an application. I’d absolutely love to hear from you. 

[00:36:31] Anna: While you’re there. Make sure. To spend some time on the site, sign up for a free membership, build your own baseball bucket list, track your ballpark visits and connect with other fans. And if you find yourself enjoying the show each week, please take a moment to rate and review it in the podcast app of your choice. It goes such a long way in helping new listeners find the show. And I would really, really appreciate it. 

[00:36:50] Anna: That’s it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you. Next episode.