Gavin Nielsen opened another pack of Topps baseball cards, sifted through the stack and — in a perfectly timed coincidence — just so happened to find the card of the one Mariners player standing a few feet in front of him.
“Mitch! Mitch! I got your card,” Gavin shouted.
Mitch Haniger, the Mariners’ right fielder, and his wife, Amanda, organized a “reverse signing” charity event in conjunction with Topps and Seattle Children’s Hospital on Tuesday afternoon at T-Mobile.
Topps made a special set of cards featuring some 20 kids as Mariners players, and the kids signed their cards for the actual Mariners players who came through and greeted the kids and their families. (The actual Mariners players signed autographs of their own and exchanged them with the kids.)
Gavin is a promising 5-year-old slugger — pardon, “5 and a half” — playing for Sky Valley Little League in Monroe, and he sat at the end of a long podium with his dad, Nate, and excitedly handed out his card to anyone who asked.
Each of the kids were also given their own box of Topps cards, with 24 packs in each box, and they took their time opening each pack and poured through the stacks, looking for recognizable names and faces of Mariners players.
After finding Haniger’s card, Gavin got Haniger’s attention — and then got Haniger’s autograph.
“It was awesome. I have a blast every year we do this, and I hope we can do it again next year,” Haniger said.
