Lowell and Shirley Hinkle have been collecting baseball memorabilia for nearly six decades.

Their massive collection started in the 1950s with programs Lowell collected from Toledo Sox games at Swayne Field.

“When we got married, I said, ‘If you’re going to keep all this stuff, we’re going to display it.’ And it just grew and grew and grew,” Shirley said.

Today the collection includes a couple thousand signed baseballs — which line the walls of their Perrysburg home nearly floor-to-ceiling — as well as signed bats, posters, photos, ornaments, magazine covers, baseball-themed record albums, bobbleheads, menus from restaurants named after famous ballplayers and much more.

They focus mainly on collecting autographs from minor leaguers, studying stats to try and gauge which players will make it to the majors.

“We evaluate the minor league players as a scout would,” Lowell said. “We say, ‘Yeah, we want him,’ and then we try to get him. It’s fun doing. It’s a hobby.”

Sometimes they guess wrong. One case in their collection is devoted to balls signed by players who never made it to the majors.

“We still keep them,” Shirley said. “You never know. Sometimes it’s amazing and a couple years later, they’ll come back.”

Shirley keeps a meticulous inventory of their collection, which fills several notebooks.

“Mainly we like to follow the players,” she said. “When we get their autograph, I keep a list of where they go. It’s a lot of work, but knowing all these names, I think that keeps our brains moving.”

The Hinkles, who are members of the Society for American Baseball Research, have been to 10 induction ceremonies at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and have visited the spring training camps of numerous teams. They spend their summers touring ballparks and have been to about 130 so far.

“We’ll take a five-day trip and see four stadiums,” shirley said. “We’ll keep doing it as long as we’re able.”

Lowell is retired from a 45-year career with the Bostwick-Braun Company, where he served as vice president and director of transportation. Shirley is a retired office manager at Harbor Behavioral Healthcare. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

“We don’t go to Mancy’s for dinner; we’ll get two autographs instead,” Shirley said. “Everyone has a different way of looking at things. Whatever you do to have fun.”

For the Hinkles, fun is scouring antique shops, flea markets and garage sales in search of baseball treasures.

Meeting Whitey Ford

Once, they found a poster for the 1955 Brooklyn dodgers vs. New York Yankees World Series, which they later had signed by Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford and dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe.

“Whitey Ford was amazed. He said, ‘Where did you get that at?’ I said, ‘I picked it up at a flea market,’” Lowell said proudly.

Another discovery was two framed 1931 Toledo News-Bee articles about the Mud Hens, including quotes from manager Casey Stengel, who would go on to become a legendary Yankees manager.

Friends from across the country also donate to their collection.

A former Mud Hens bat boy gave them several bats after taking a tour of their “museum.”

“He said he just had them up in the attic,” Shirley said. “We’ll donate them all back to the Mud Hens someday.”

The Hinkles have held Mud Hens season tickets since the mid-1990s.

“We loved Ned Skeldon stadium,” Shirley said. “It was more personal. Our seats were near the [players’] wives, so we talked to the wives and saw their children. It was just a totally different atmosphere. It was a close-knit group.”

They were in the crowd at the Maumee ballpark in 2000 when Detroit last visited Toledo, and they have tickets to the Tigers-Mud Hens exhibition game April 4.

“We’re looking forward to the game because it’s been so long,” Shirley said. “They’ve promised every starter will at least go to bat one time.”

Detroit’s Prince Fielder is one they are especially looking forward to seeing. They got the first baseman’s autograph years ago when he played in the minors, but have never seen him play in person.

For Shirley, the most memorable part of the 2000 exhibition game, which the Tigers won 6-3 in front of a crowd of 7,150, was how available the Tigers players were.

“I remember how the players hung out afterward and signed autographs. They were so nice about it,” Shirley said. “This time, my gosh, they are selling standing-room only tickets. I don’t know. It’s going to be a zoo.”

Both Lowell and Shirley attended their first Toledo baseball games at Swayne Field. Lowell’s first was in 1948, where the highlight was watching one-armed former major leaguer Pete Gray play first base.

“That was a beautiful park,” Lowell said.

A standout pitcher for Anthony Wayne High School, Lowell was a member of the first All-Ohio baseball team along with classmate Larry Morrison, now commissioner of the Northern Lakes League.

Sometimes after baseball practice in Monclova, he and a friend would hitchhike into Maumee, where they would catch the bus into downtown Toledo and walk to Swayne Field. Then Lowell’s father would pick them up on his way home from work.

“That was quite a hike, but worth it,” Lowell said. “One night, we had a couple neat little girls we were running around for and missed our ride home,” he added, grinning as his wife protested the story. “We walked from Swayne Field to Maumee where the Trail comes in, and here comes my dad and my mother. Oh golly, was he mad. I’ll never forget that.”

After high school, Lowell played for a year in the independent Ban Johnson league. A few years later, he got the chance to work out with the Tigers at Briggs stadium.

“I worked out in the outfield and then pitched along the side,” Lowell said. “If you’ve ever been in that stadium and looked at that green background and looked at the ball coming off the bat, it was just unbelievable. I’ve never been in anything like that. That was the most awesome thing I have ever done.”

“He’s still mad no one was there to take his picture,” Shirley added, laughing. “So we only have his word for it he was there.”

Lowell, an Indians fan, was at Municipal stadium in Cleveland in 1959 when the White Sox beat the Indians to clinch the American league pennant, its first since 1919 and what would be its last until 2005.

Cleveland had the bases loaded in the ninth inning with one out when the White Sox made a double play to win the game.

“Bedlam broke out,” Lowell said. “We went down by the locker room and it was just awesome, just unbelievable.”

One autograph missing from the Hinkles’ collection is Babe Ruth’s. Lowell had the chance to get the famous slugger’s signature as an 11-year-old batboy for a Monclova legion team, which heard Ruth speak at Detroit’s Briggs stadium shortly before he died of cancer in 1948.

“I could see him so plain,” lowell said. “He had his hat and his collar up. He was so hoarse talking that day, but he did it. some guy came down and asked a couple of kids if they wanted to get his autograph. I could have went with them, but I was shy then.” Lowell said.

Perhaps his favorite ball in their collection is one signed by Willie Mays. The legendary outfielder helped the New York Giants defeat Cleveland in the 1954 World Series, in which standout Indians pitcher Bob Feller did not play.

“I asked him, ‘Willie, if Bob Feller would have pitched against you in the ’54 World series, would he have beat you?’” Lowell said. “He said, ‘He lost those fastballs, curve ball wasn’t breaking; we would have hit him all over the place.’ Then he said, ‘If you see Bob uptown don’t tell him I said that.’ That was my favorite. That was awesome.”

One of shirley’s most memorable autographs came from major leaguer Nomar Garciaparra. “We were up in Detroit and I was standing there all by myself. He was there doing calisthenics and he walked over and signed a ball,” Shirley said. “Immediately I had 50 people on top of me, rushing over. But I was standing all alone and he came over and I thought that was so neat.”

Gazing around the room at their collection, Lowell said he ought to write a book.

“There are so many stories,” Lowell said. “Every ball has a story.”

“We have definitely run out of room,” Shirley added. However, they don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

“It’s an amazing hobby. We just love it,” Lowell said. “I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t do this.”

The Ringleins

Jane Ringlein has been a diehard Tigers fan from a young age.

“I remember going to bed with a little transistor radio and every night I listened to the Tigers games and scored them. Every night I went to sleep with the Tigers,” said Jane, who saw her first Tigers game in fourth grade.

She remains as devoted today as she was as a girl growing up in Toledo.

“I’d be at the Tigers every day if it didn’t take me an hour to get there and back,” she said. “I don’t drink; I’m not there for the food. I go for the game. When the Tigers lost 100 games in a season, I would still go. You always go with who you grew up with.”

When she heard Detroit would be coming to town to play an exhibition game with the Mud Hens, she snapped up the maximum number of tickets allowed.

“I knew the tickets were going on sale at 11 a.m. [Jan. 7],” Jane said. “I got on my iPad and got four tickets. I talked to someone else who got on right after me and didn’t get any. I think they sold out within 15 minutes, so I was fortunate I got them.”

After season ticket holders were given the opportunity to purchase tickets, a limited number was released to the general public on Jan. 7 and all 1,000 did indeed sell out within 15 minutes, said Erik Ibsen, Mud Hens assistant general manager of tickets and operations.

Standing-room only tickets went on sale March 3 and there are a limited number still available, he said.

‘I have to be at this game’

Thanks to supportive co-workers at New Jersey-based Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, where she works as a medical science liaison in oncology, Jane was able to arrange her work schedule to be free for the game.

“I said, ‘I have to be at this game,’ and they said, ‘We’ll work around you,’” Jane said.

“If it gets rained out and doesn’t happen, I’m going to be really disappointed.”

Ringlein’s husband Paul, their daughter Chelsea and Chelsea’s fiancé will join her at the April 4 game, which will be broadcast by FOX Sports Detroit.

Jane said she is most excited about seeing the Tigers’ newly acquired first baseman Prince Fielder, son of legendary Tigers player Cecil Fielder.

“Our seats are on the first-base side, so I’ll get to see a lot of Prince,” Jane said. “I was a huge Cecil Fielder fan.”

Her husband is also curious to see Fielder play.

“He’s like a modern Babe Ruth in terms of his swing and his power and just his personality,” Paul said.

Paul, a project manager with Toledo’s Division of Code Enforcement, said he is more of a Mud Hens fan than a Tigers fan. He was at the inaugural opening day Mud Hens game at Fifth Third Field in 2002.

“I remember the weather was cold and almost ready to rain, but it was fun to be there,” he said. “Everyone was there. They didn’t want to turn anyone away.”

High fives with fans

Both Paul and Jane were at the 2005 and 2006 games when the Mud Hens won their International League titles.

They recalled Fifth Third Field erupting with excitement, with players lapping the field, giving high fives and interacting with fans.

“The players who did not understand the culture of Toledo were like, ‘My God, these people love us,’” he said, adding that most Detroit fans also back the Mud Hens.

“When Detroit people see you with anything that says Mud Hens, they always give you a nod and a cheer,” Paul said.

The Ringleins enjoy visiting major league stadiums, especially if the Tigers are playing. They’ve had great experiences, but traveling has also made them appreciative of Toledo.

“I don’t think Toledoans realize how good they have it,” Paul said of Fifth Third Field. “If you could hit the easy button and [let people visit another stadium], I think they would be surprised at how good we have it in terms of the quality of the game, the players, the food, the parking, the price and really how good the stadium is. They’d come back and say, ‘My god, we’ve got a great deal here,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, no kidding!’”

Jane said she most enjoys going to Mud Hens games when Detroit players are rehabbing with the team.

“Like when they sent Brandon Inge down last year — that was bad for him, but cool because we got to see him play all the time,” Jane said.

The couple attended a 2006 World series game in Detroit when the Tigers played the St. Louis Cardinals. “We were up in the nosebleed section, but that was really cool,” Paul said. “I love going to live games.”

Upset to be missing it

The Ringleins’ younger daughter, Maureen, follows the Tigers like her mother, but will be out of town for the exhibition game.

“She is so upset to be missing it,” Jane said.

The two once took a trip to Detroit’s spring training camp in Lakeland, Fla.

“It was awesome because you can get right up there with the players,” Jane said. “Mo has a picture of herself with Justin Verlander. She was happy.”

Chelsea’s wedding this spring will include at least one Tigers touch — the ring bearer’s pillow will feature Detroit’s logo.

“He’s a Tigers fan, too. That was the first connection between my future son-in-law and my wife. When I heard that, I said, ‘Well, I don’t have to worry about that relationship,’” Paul said, laughing.

No matter what happens at the exhibition game, Jane is just happy baseball season is starting again.

“It’s so boring in the winter without baseball,” she said.