I’ve written previously about the Phillies Grandslam Sweepstakes Contest, so I won’t repeat the entire saga, but here is the short version.

Back in 1988 I was in charge of the personal computer support group at the Defense Personnel Support Center (DPSC) as it was then known (or the Quartermaster to the community at large). As we were all Phillies fans, I decided to take an afternoon off and take the whole office to a Phillies Business Person’s Special.

When we got there, before the game started, there was something happening on the field, a drawing of some sort, but I wasn’t paying any attention to it until I heard them announce the winner: “Arthur J. Troutman of Lebanon, PA” who happened to be my father.

When I got home I called my mother, who had only been informed of the win a few moments earlier, so she was shocked that I already knew about it. It was a contest where she had submitted one entry, even though multiple entries were allowed.

The prize was a Jeep Comanche plus the winner got to attend a dinner and a game when the July 4th fireworks were shot off.

My parents got to bring my sister and me along, and my father threw out the first pitch and it was a fun night. They met the Phillie Phanatic, and after the game we were taken to the Phillies dugout to watch the fireworks where we met Tug McGraw. Yes, the famous Tug McGraw. And he graciously posed for a picture with my parents. Which turned out better than a point and shoot pic from an Instamatic camera has any right to turn out.

It was a very memorable night.

Well, a few weeks ago I told the story to Andrea and Chris at The Space gallery. And when I showed them the pic, Chris asked if I had ever had it framed. And for some reason the idea had never occurred to me. Duh!

When I tried to do so, it turned out that the scan wasn’t of good enough quality, which led to another visit to the gallery for some advice, which I wrote about here. 

And then I managed to get the picture rescanned and printed and framed. I had it done at Keepsake, and I was very satisfied with the experience, the quality of the finished product, and the price.

Now I only have to figure out where to hang it.

Here is the Tugger explaining the final pitches of the 1980 World Series where the Phillies finally won.

And here is video of that final pitch and what happened after that final pitch which Tug McGraw described in the previous video.