A couple of months ago I sent a copy of my book "
The League of Outsider Baseball" to President George H.W. Bush. President Bush has a two-page spread in the "People's Game" chapter. Back in 1947 and 1948 he was described as "Yale's Fancy Dan" for his defensive work at first base and played in the very first two College World Series'. As captain of the baseball team, Bush personally accepted on behalf of the Yale Library a signed copy of Babe Ruth's autobiography just before he passed away in 1948. A particularly neat piece of trivia I had to include in my book was that throughout his term as President, George Bush kept a well-oiled first baseman's mitt in the drawer of his desk in the Oval Office - just in case.
So anyway, I thought he might like a copy of the book and sent it off, not really expecting anything back or at the most a form letter from one of his secretaries or assistants. Imagine my surprise when the following items showed up in today's mail...
I'm pretty sure they are both actually signed by him (excepting the calligraphy of course) and represents the very first presidential autograph I ever received.