Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordstan
I was a dealer who set up at roughly 30-40 shows per year from 1979 to 1990ish. I saw Mantle and Dimaggio probably 30-40 times and Williams probably 15 times during that time span. Not only did i get hundreds if not thousands of autos signed by these men during that span, but i also interacted with all the customers.
While there were times that were exceptions Dimaggio, Williams, and Mays generally were surly, confrontational, and sometimes downright rude. As only ine example, I have had Dimaggio take baseballs he just signed and roll them on the table back to me instead of handing them to me. Stuff like this happened all the time to lots of people with all three of them.
I am glad you had positive experiences with them, but i can say with confidence that you are the exception.
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DiMaggio was well-known for being quite the egotistical ass (see "Joe DiMaggio," by Richard Ben Cramer). I obtained May's autograph in Atlantic City in 1997, actually flying out there specifically for that very purpose (it may have been the last show he did--not sure), since he was one of my primary heroes in the '60's. I made sure to keep up with his fantastic 1965 season (.317, 52 HR, 112 RBI) every week in the Sporting News, and watched every time the Giants were on the Saturday Game of the Week.
I thanked Willie quite politely after he autographed my official NL ball, and I'm not sure--he may have grunted in return! But what the heck. What meant the most to me was that he was WILLIE MAYS!
For congeniality, it was hard to beat Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard and Hank Aaron!
Ah, the joys of collecting!
Larry