My favorite story of meeting a ballplayer

[bbcard1]

is on my blog now. Bob Feller will always hold a special place in my heart. This entry tells you why.

http://bbcard1.com/double/

[ethicsprof]

met jay bell when he was a fine major leaguer some 25 years after i had coached him as a precocious 'little leaguer' at the ages of 5 and 6, along with his older brother Jeff.
I knew he had 'it' then!!!
not exactly vintage but a 'long,long ago' memory of the best of times.

certainly, mine was not a dying quail hit off a hall of famer but still an honor for this ole wannabe coach.

best,
barry

[ls7plus]

I don't usually collect autographs (have just a few favorites--Mays, Aaron, Killebrew, Ryan, Schmidt, etc.), but I was going to be in Boston in 1999 about the time of the All-Star Game, and thought what the heck, I'll take a ball along in case I happen to run into any of the players. As it turned out, I happened to take a walk right by the hotel where the players were staying the day after the game, about the time they were checking out and the valets were bringing cars around. Joe Torre and Tony Gwynn were most gracious signers. And then I saw Jeter. I very politely asked if he would also sign the ball, and will always remember his rude, gruff response: "I only sign for da kids!" And indeed, he did sign a few balls that kids brought up to him for his autograph. Only trouble was, these kids he signed for were being fed baseballs by a couple of dealers off to the side, over by the curb! Every time I've seen him since on TV, the same derogatory thought goes through my mind: "Jeeeeter Jerk!"

When you think about it, Jeter's very premise was extremely insulting: If you're an adult and you're asking for my autograph, you're just going to sell it. I suppose that when he gets older, he'll come to realize that a lot of the little boy fan remains inside all of us that love the game, and maybe even realize what a tremendous jerk some of us will always remember him as because of his prior actions. Sure, some adults might just put the autograph on e-bay, but I wouldn't have been one of them, and even if I had, what would it have cost this jerk but a couple of seconds of his time? He needs a few lessons in manners from guys like Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripkin and Brooks Robinson, and after the way this memory has ingrained itself in my mind over the years, I'd absolutely relish the opportunity to tell him exactly that, right to his face!

Jeeeeter-Jerk!

Larry

[steve B]

Great Feller story.

I wish he'd been doing that when I saw him in 74 or 75. I'd have loved to try a swing or two. I wonder of he'd have eased up a bit for a 12 year old? He was pitching a home run derby between games of a doubleheader. And sitting in the stands signing for a bit of the second game. I didn't get to hit, but I did get to talk baseball for an inning or so since all the adults were watching the game and drinking and the kids just wanted the paper the autos were on for paper planes. Bob Feller was really great, I wonder how many hall of famers would have spent any time with a 12 year old whose baseball skills wer sorely lacking. I learned a lot about pitching that day.

Steve B

[almostdone]

Great Feller story!

I have two stories one that I did meet and the one I was too younbg and stupid not to meet.

First a friend of mine invited me to a game in New York when I was a kid with his family. The best seats I ever had. 2nd row behind the visitors dugout. Turns out my friends dad was a friend of Tommy Lasorta (Dodgers werein town vs. the Mets). Thgey exchanged hellos accross the dugout before the game. I was stunned. After the game we went to eat and happened to sit next to the table where HOFer Ralph Kiner was sitting. He was a Met announcer at the time so I knew who he was but sisn't really know anything about his HOF carrer. After much prompting and nerves I wen up and asked for his autograph. He was gracious and polite and signes my scorecard I still had in hand.

The other story of stupidity came when I was in college and just getting into buying cards. I went to a smallish show to see what was new. There was a guest star signing that day. I watched him from a distance and was impressed that he took the time to talk to everyone wanting a autograph about baseball, his career, history or anything else. I only had a bit of money left but decided to take my chance on a few more packs rather than take the chance to meet and talk to the great Warren Spahn. I don't know what packs I bought that day but I wish I had a bit more foresight. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

[Big Ben]

Nice Feller story. I had a great experience with Feller at a lightly promoted Memorial Day weekend baseball card show near my hometown around 1984. Feller was there and very bored as there were probably 25 people in the room. So for about 2 hours, I had a conversation with the Hall of Famer and we talked about everything from baseball, Indianapolis 500, and the Titanic! I still remember Feller telling me that he thought that the captain of the Titanic was drunk as when he was on a ship, as he could smell an iceberg a mile away. :D
Good time!

[CTDean]

Mentioned this a few years ago, but here it is again.

In the mid 1950's our Little League seasons always opened with a parade, which included Frank Baker riding in the lead car. Four teams would play two games and Mr. Baker would stay for both, sitting on the bleachers and happy to talk to any kid that sat down beside him. I sat and talked with him a number of times, but was too young to understand his importance to the game. Funny thing, I never remember anyone ever asking Mr. Baker for an autograph, in either of the three years he attended our opening day. I do remember the parade was extra special one year, as it also celebrated his election to the Hall of Fame.

[forazzurri2axz]

grew up in Silver Spring Md as an avid Senators fan---Harmon Killebrew was my favorite---my friend and I had a neighborhood newspaper--a monthly!!_ about local news, book review, croosword puzzle, science etc articles and his Mom arranged interviews in the DC area which we published in The Messenger---was $.10 by the way
We interviewd the Director of the Arena Stage, the National Zoo, members and children of the Japanese Embassy, and got an interview lined up with Rocky Bridges through the front office.....freaked my friend's mother out who knew NOTHING about sports when she saw his chaw bulging in his cheek----then we got written up in one of the DC newspaper's as "the fastest growing newspaper in the Washington area is The Messenger, by Billy Latzko, 11, and Joel Goodman, age 10
Was downhill for me after that and Joel became famous world wide in his field(The Humor Project based out of NY state

cheers Bill(y) Latzko

[Exhibitman]

I posted this six years ago but this thread seemed like a good place to reprise:

I had a really great experience.

A friend invited me to Dodger Stadium to have lunch with Don Newcombe and to meet the current team, as part of a charity thing he'd won at a golf tournament. It was amazing. We met Newk at 2:00 sharp and spent the next hour and a half on the field at Dodgers Stadium. I met Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca, Manny Mota, Maury Wills (who gave me tips on teaching my daughter to field), Jose Hernandez, David Ross and Alex Cora. Jose Lima was really cool; gave my nephew his batting gloves. My nephew, who is 5, also got to meet Eric Gagne and got a single-signed ball. I had the players sign my hat and had Green sign a 2001 Upper Deck Vintage card (the ones that look like 1971 Topps cards). I also took a bunch of pictures and an hour or so of video. Best of all, I was able to get Don Newcombe to tape a greeting for my Dad, who was a Brooklyn Dodgers hardcore fan, and sign a nice personalized team photo for him.

The field is like the nicest golf green you have ever seen. The players are all a heck of a lot bigger and stronger than they look on tv. Most are about my size (6'3") but built a heck of a lot differently. They also have a lot of fun that you never see. The pitchers were taking bunting practice and playing games with it, and the regulars were playing home run derby. Honest to God, they were putting the ball into the bleachers and giving different points for the closer orange seats and the farther away blue seats. Green even smashed one into the scoreboard, which must have won him something. You cannot believe how hard these guys can hit until you are ten feet away in an empty stadium listening to the ball explode off the bat.

Lunch was great. Newcombe played 2 years in the Negro Leagues and then 3 in the minors and 10 in the majors, so he saw it all and did it all. Since my friend and I are baseball history nuts (me much more so than him, which is why he wanted me there to talk with Newcombe), we had a hell of a 2+ hour discussion about what it was really like back then. Among the more interesting things we learned:
--The best pitcher he ever saw: short term, Koufax. For a career, Spahn and Roberts.
--The toughest hitter: Stan Musial. I asked him about Williams. He said that he faced Williams a couple of times in an all-star game. Teddy Ballgame hit the hell out of the ball all four at bats. Two were caught over the fence, the others were long hits. I said I guessed he was pretty tough too; Newcombe sighed and shook his head.
--Beanballs: He was adamant about the lack of quality of today's pitching because of the reluctance to go inside. He said that his era had pitchers who dominated the plate (which is why Clemens is the pitcher he likes most today) and there were never the fights that break out today. It was just part of hard, tough play. He said that once at Wrigley, Duke Snider had a home run and the Cubs hit Rocky Nelson, the next batter. Robinson asked him to do something about it. Newk threw at the next 7 Cubs. The ump came over and told him to stop, as did Alston. Alston said if he did not stop, he'd have to come out. Newk told him to take him out after the next two because he still had two batters to throw at. Alston yanked him. He also said that no one threw at him because the pitchers all knew that they'd have to stand in against him later on.
--Minnie Minoso: I asked him if he'd played with Minoso in the Negro Leagues because I'd heard the guy was a character. Newcombe said no, he wasn't a character, just crazy. He said that there was only 1 restaurant in Tampa Bay that would serve the black players, so all of them ate there. Minoso liked their chicken and would order it every time. The others would come over to talk with him and steal the chicken to eat. Finally, Minoso got so mad that he spit on all the chicken and dared the others to take it. Of course, he had to eat spit covered chicken afterwards.
--Racism: I asked whether he felt he had been held back because of his race when he was signed. He said absolutely, that he was 54 and 9 in the minors over 3 seasons, but Rickey was reluctant to promote too many black players at once.
--Chuck Connors: the Rifleman was a teammate of his in the minors. He said that the only time someone charged the mound against him was when a redneck came at him. he ducked out and Connors "beat the hell out of him." Connors said that he (Newcombe) wasn't allowed to fight, but he (Connors) was allowed to fight. Afterwards, he was approached by an elderly black man who said that he had done the right thing not to fight. It was Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
--Jackie Robinson: I asked whether it was true that Robinson told the black players to get out and mingle with white teammates. He said they were very careful to do that. In fact, the clubhouse man had put all 3 guys (Robinson, Campy and Newk) lockers side by side by side and they insisted that they be spread out instead.
--Josh Gibson: He pitched to Gibson and says that he was every bit as good as any major leaguer, and then some.
--Batting Practice: He used to throw BP instead of throwing on the side between starts, which he said was great for him and for the batters because he could work on live batters and they could hit live pitching. He claims that the Dodgers started using a screen at his request because he was tired of ducking liners. They used to try to hit it through the box at him and he would always threaten to knock them down. Carl Furillo was the "best" at hitting back through the box in BP.
--No pepper: he has no idea what the reason is why pepper was banned. He said that he and Furillo played it constantly as a means of improving their control.
--Drysdale: Whenever Drysdale had a batter who liked to dig in, he'd yell: "Keep digging, because you are going into the hole!" and then throw at them.
--Cheating: Lew Burdette taught him to throw a spitter. He in turn taught a number of players on other teams. I asked him if it was a feeling of pitchers against hitters and he agreed that there was a cameraderie among pitchers that extended beyond teams to the point where they would share information and techniques. He also told me how pitchers load it up today. You can go to the mouth off the mound and there is no way to force the pitcher to dry off afterwards. I asked him how a spitter worked (I already knew from physics, but I wanted to hear what a pitcher thought about it). Sure ehough, he had a practical explanation of what the ball does that fits right in with the physics explanation: the ball is thrown straight as a fastball and it dives. (The scientific explanation is that a spitter works by changing the wind resistance on a ball, causing a straight looking pitch to dive). What I did not realize is that water and sweat don't work. It takes spit.

Anyhow, it was an awesome experience to talk baseball for hours with a ROY-MVP-Cy Young winner.

Oh, I had him sign all 3 of his Exhibit cards, a 1956 Brooklyn team card and a 1955 Bowman card.

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneouscards/websize/Newcombe%202.jpg

Also got this signed that day; Vin Scully is a class act all the way...

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneouscards/websize/zzz_1961_Dodgers_booklet_Scully.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/miscellaneouscards/websize/Green%201.jpg

[sportscardpete]

I was once bat boy for the yankees when i was a little boy. It was a few days after David cone threw his perfect game. He signed my baseball and i asked him about how he felt during the perfect game. We had about a 15 minute conversation about what he was going through and how awesome it was. Best experience ever.

On the flip side, I asked Chuck Knoblauch for an autograph and he refused...

[DixieBaseball]

My favorite experience would have to be meeting Stan Musial in the 80's, when he was here in Nashville set up at a local card show alongside Enos Slaughter. Both were gentlemen, and Stan was particulary gracious as it seemed that every autograph he signed, he would tell a story, talk to the autograph seeker, etc. Also, while on my honeymoon in the Virgin Islands in the early 90's, I spent a week at a all inclusive small resort and bumped into Daryl Strawberry several times on the beach, dining, etc. I recall that Strawberry was much larger in person than he appeared on T.V. (He appeared real skinny and tall) He was anything but skinny.... He was all muscle, and had huge arms, etc. 6'6 frame, lean but all muscle... I was totally surprised as I had him pegged for a lanky guy... Not at all. Solid. If I can dig up the photo's, Straw-man and I are on the beach like 2 buddies vacationing with their wives... Pretty odd couple, but he was cool and we traded a few stories that week.

[pariah1107]

I was at Bi-Mart buying birdseed and buckshot (getting strange looks) when a gentleman in line behind me asks, "Do you need some dinner?" I turn around and there's the voice of my childhood, the late great Dave Niehaus.

"No, no I need to fill the birdfeeder, and I am going duck hunting tomorrow....really."

We both had a great laugh and talked out to his car. What a true gentleman, he signed the butt of my shotgun and wished me happy hunting. We all miss you Dave.

[byrone]

My favorite experience would have to be meeting Stan Musial in the 80's, when he was here in Nashville set up at a local card show alongside Enos Slaughter. Both were gentlemen, and Stan was particulary gracious as it seemed that every autograph he signed, he would tell a story, talk to the autograph seeker, etc. Also, while on my honeymoon in the Virgin Islands in the early 90's, I spent a week at a all inclusive small resort and bumped into Daryl Strawberry several times on the beach, dining, etc. I recall that Strawberry was much larger in person than he appeared on T.V. (He appeared real skinny and tall) He was anything but skinny.... He was all muscle, and had huge arms, etc. 6'6 frame, lean but all muscle... I was totally surprised as I had him pegged for a lanky guy... Not at all. Solid. If I can dig up the photo's, Straw-man and I are on the beach like 2 buddies vacationing with their wives... Pretty odd couple, but he was cool and we traded a few stories that week.


Too bad Strawberry and Gooden didn't keep on the right track.

Sure fire Hall of Famers if they kept clean. They were fun to watch.

[lharri3600]

mine is meeting and holding a conversation about catching with johnny bench when he played for the buffalo bisons, i grew up around the corner from war memorial stadium (the rock pile as it was called). i was a little leauge catcher and wanted some tips on catching. man, johnny was willing to talk to me and give tips. i never dreamed that he would go on to be a hall of fame player. he gave me a bat and signed a photograph, and i told him, i will always keep these with me. today i still have them. if johnny reads this forum, hey johnny remember old bubble?:) bubble used to sneak me into the bison games!!

[scottglevy]

At least a decade ago my dad and I met Johnny and Pee Wee at a country club on Long Island. "Pee Wee" could not have been nicer or more personable. We had a baseball that we asked him to sign but had brought along another 5 items or so (just in case). He chatted with us for a while reminiscing with my dad who was a dodgers fan about the good 'ol days and when he saw a few of the other items he took the time to sign each and every one of them - concluding the 'meet and greet' with a handshake and heartfelt smile.

Mr. Bench was not quite rude - but certainly far less interested in small talk at least with us. Still he did sign a baseball for us - which was nice of him to do.

-SGL

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

It's been my great fortune to have met countless players over the years. The majority of them are no longer with us now. My biggest regret is not taking up the open-ended offers to visit Al Lopez, Pee Wee Reese and Ted Williams that were extended to me from people who were mutual friends (and former teammates of those HOFers). Out of the three mentioned, I would have most enjoyed to have met Pee Wee, but he was in bad shape for much of his last ten years. There were a handful of players who offered to call both Lopez and Williams in order to "pave the way" (as they put it), but I always thought that guys of that stature had been bothered enough. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20.

[David Atkatz]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/datkatz/mminlot-1.jpg

That's Mickey Mantle, putting on his jacket after leaving his car. He's in the player's parking lot, across the street from the Stadium. That door just visible over Mickey's right shoulder is the player's entrance to the Stadium. Notice the iron pipe railings to the right of the door.

OK, let's set the scene. It's late August, 1967, and the Yankees are playing a day game. It's a hot, humid, summer-in-the-city weekday, and my friend Howie and I are bored to tears. So, we decide to walk to the Stadium, about a mile away, wait for the game to end, and get some autographs--you could do that in those days. Mantle had been playing first base, but was pulled in the third to save his legs. We're walking to the Stadium, listening to the game on our transistor radios, when Steve Whitaker--remember him?--homers. I've got a brand-new, snow-white American League baseball with me, and I tell Howie that if I see Whitaker after the game, I'm gonna tell him it's his home run, and have him sign it. (I didn't know back then that game balls are "rubbed up," and are no longer white.)

We get to the Stadium. It's the seventh inning, and absolutely nobody is around the player's entrance. So, I sit down on the iron-pipe railing to the right of the door, my back to the Stadium, facing across 157th Street and the player's lot. Howie takes the same position on the railing to the left of the door. After a few minutes, a guy leaves the Stadium, through the player's door. As he passes me, I can only see him from behind. He's big, blond, wearing a red polo shirt, and the back of his neck is a mile wide. Holy shit--it's Mickey Mantle! By the time I realize who it is, he's across the street, and just entering the parking lot through that door in the chain-link fence you can see above.

I run after him, waving my baseball and pen, screaming "Mickey, Mickey, please--I'll never have this chance again! Please, Mickey,..."

He slams the door in my face, and walks to his car. I run down 157th Street, to the gate where the cars exit and enter, and I'm standing there as he drives out. He stops his car, rolls down his window, takes the ball and pen, and places a beautiful signature on the sweet spot.

I still have that ball, and always will.

[Kawika]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/datkatz/mminlot-1.jpg


My oft-cited encounter with Hank Greenberg occurred in the same spatial reference about a decade earlier.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?p=859301&highlight=Greenberg#post859301