It’s the sort of thing that might have rankled a serious collector but Helen Gonzales doesn’t fit that description. She’s a Washington Nationals fan first and
foremost. So when she entered the team’s ‘shirt off our backs’ day on Sunday, then won Jordan Zimmermann’s jersey, she didn’t complain when the team pulled the old switcheroo. If they hadn’t, she’d now be holding a mighty valuable game-worn jersey.
On the season’s final day, Zimmermann pitched a no-hitter, the first in team history. After the game, while the shirts of other players were given away to lucky fans who paid to enter the charity fundraiser, Helen got to go down on the field and meet Zimmermann but she wouldn’t be going home with a historic piece of memorabilia–one that was soaked in shaving cream and other celebratory liquids.
Instead, give her a different jersey autographed by Zimmermann, the former Wisconsin-Stevens Point ace who has become one of the National League’s top aces.
“It was just so awesome, just an amazing thing to be present at a no-hitter, and then to be able to congratulate the pitcher,” Helen told Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, who posted a column and photos.
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