A Fathers Day Tale

[NiceDocter]

Well.... I was going through a bag of 200 autographs I had bought from a dealer long forgotten about 40 years ago ...... and I found one in the bag that looked more interesting. It was a signed index card dated 1946 from Mike Garbark.... a guy Id never heard of before, but it was printed on the card that he was a New York Yankee. In doing some research, he was far from a star but rather a "replacement player" during the end of WW2, unable to be drafted because of a failed hernia repair. See this link for a lot of fascinating information about this guys life in and out of baseball....
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/mike-garbark/
This included a lifetime relationship with his minor league roommate Yogi Berra!
Anyhow, I noticed that when he passed on in the early 1990s he had three children..... and one was listed as being in Jacksonville, Florida where I live.
Its an unusual last name so I Googled up the younger son John Garbark and found an address about 20 minutes from my house. Could not find a decent working phone number. What the heck.... I got in my car and drove over to his house, hoping I wouldnt get shot or attacked by a pit bull being as I was a stranger showing up at his door unannounced!! But it worked out well, he and his wife Amy were very surprised and grateful for the card and Mike Garbark( his Dad ) made a return visit once more to their house on Fathers Day 2024. The last picture is the son John holding a colorized photo of his Dad during playing days. Making sure the right people get the right items is what this hobby is all about. Happy Fathers Day everyone!!!!!!

[doug.goodman]

Fantastic!

[71buc]

Great story thanks for sharing!

[SyrNy1960]

Love stories like this! Thanks for sharing!

[ooo-ribay]

Good job, Rocky! 👍

[batsballsbases]

Nice Story! good for you...makes you feel good inside....

[Leon]

This thread was moved from the memorabilia section to get a few more eyes on it. A day late but never too late for this kind of story. Way to go, Rocky...
.

[Jay Wolt]

Rocky Great story

[ValKehl]

Wonderful gesture, Rocky!

[Carter08]

That is very cool

[byrone]

Well done, thanks for sharing

[Bpm0014]

Great story!

[jayshum]

Great story and great autograph. I don't have very many autographs, but the ones I have aren't anywhere near that nice or legible.

[mortimer brewster]

Rocky, Thank you for this story.

[Kevin]

I’m glad I read this. Thank you so much for sharing…

[rjackson44]

Wow

[4815162342]

You did a great thing, Rocky.

[ruth-gehrig]

Absolutely fantastic! I can only imagine the feel good feeling you got in doing this and what it must have meant to the man you met!!

[Casey2296]

Awesome story Rocky, reminds me of the time my Dad bought a portrait and spent the time to repatriate it to the family.

[irv]

Good on you, Rocky.
Thanks for the story and the pics.

[FrankWakefield]

Thank you, Rocky... for sharing that story, for pursuing the mystery, for acting on in by driving there, and then for talking with the residents. But the greatest step is giving him that signature on Father's Day. Fortuitous timing, Good Sir.

This yarn is priceless. Thanks.

[LuckyLarry]

Awesome!!