It was a typical game in July, and I tweeted one of my usual “where are you watching the game today?” posts.
Out of a literal corn field came Tim Gilara (@FatdogChubbs), telling me he was tending to his cows in rural Pennsylvania and listening to the radio broadcast of the game.
I know we have fans everywhere but a 41-year old (single; no kids) dairy farmer in Pennsylvania?
I wanted to hear his story.
It turns out that he is a diehard fan, a current season ticket holder, yet he has never been to Petco or Qualcomm to see the Padres play in San Diego. His seat is in Section 219, Row 4. Earlier this summer, he just wanted to see the view from his seat. So, he put out a tweet, asking if anyone at the game that day would post a picture.
Tim hopes to sit in his seat for a game in 2020. When I told him I wanted to be sure to see him at the 4th inning meetup but it’s too bad that he can’t bring a cow into the stadium, he responded: “Who says I can’t. Therapy animal, right?”
He also has a farm dog, Mr. Chubbs, the inspiration for Tim’s handle on Twitter.
How did Tim become a Padres fan? Here’s what he says:
Grew up around the farm. My uncle owned it. I’m always asked “why the Padres? How did you become a fan?” by people here. Not sure the exact answer. I tend to think: growing up I am the youngest of 5 boys, from oldest to youngest 4 years separate us. So we were very close in age.
Dad used to buy us baseball cards. We each had our favorite team. Pirates, Phillies. Rangers, Twins, and Padres. Maybe I had more Padre cards. Not sure. We’d play one-on-one baseball. You’d gather your cards and make a line up. I was Terry Kennedy, Tim Lollar, Steve Garvey, Craig Nettles, Gary Templeton, etc. (Man I love those memories.)
He took a liking to the greatest Padre of all.
A goal I made in the in the early 90s was to collect every Tony Gwynn card. That one is almost impossible, but I have fun trying.
Tim has approximately 1,000 unique Tony Gwynn cards. Including duplicates, the total count is more than 8,000.
His uncle, who lives in San Diego, is also a Tony Gwynn fan.
He used to go to Padre games until the strike. He was so upset. He wanted Gwynn to hit .400. To this day he still holds the grudge.
Tim has been able to see his Padres when they play in Pittsburgh, driving the 90 minutes from his farm to PNC Park, back and forth for each game.
And, he recently had this thought about the Franmil Reyes trade:
He says that everyone in several surrounding counties knows him by his love for the Padres.
If you do word association and say “San Diego,” they will reply with my name. I wear my Padre Pride in the best of seasons and in the worst of seasons.
Not sure it’s a great story, but it’s mine.
It’s a great story, Tim.
Thank you, Geekster, for introducing us to Tim. Once I read that he had TK in his lineup I knew he was a solid dude! Keep the faith, Tim.
Thanks, Maggie! #ILoveCatchers too!!!
So he’s been a season ticket holder all that time and he’s never even been able to attend? That’s a lot of money to not be able to use his seat, I feel bad for the guy, hopefully he makes it out here someday.
I believe he’s only been a season ticket holder for this year – but still. I didn’t ask but hopefully he is able to sell some on Stubhub. Gavin (@CT2SD) had a great idea that we have a pregame meetup at his seats and Facetime him so that he can at least have a virtual meetup with us. Stay tuned! Thanks for reading the article, Christine.
This comment was from me – the Geekster!