Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

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Best: Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew and Frank Howard. All very congenial, down to earth people willing to engage in at least brief conversation. I told Killebrew that I was pleased to meet him at an autograph show, even if he had been instrumental in beating my Tigers so many times. He replied, "Well, I'm very glad to meet you," and appeared to be very sincere in saying so. One of his neighbors said when he died that he was the kind of person that made the whole neighborhood feel safer! Treating people with respect until they prove themselves unworthy of it goes a long, long way. See Ted Z's story above with regard to meeting Ted Williams.

Worst: Derek Jeter and Reggie Jackson. The former was rude to the point of being insulting upon being very politely asked to autograph a baseball bearing the signatures from as many all-stars as I could get to sign at the hotel where they were staying for the 1999 game in Boston. He strongly insinuated that because I was an adult (then 46) I only wanted his autograph to sell it and make money. He stated he only signed for the kids, and indeed he was--signing for a number of kids who were repeatedly being fed balls for that purpose by a couple of dealers just a few yards away. What a jerk! His shabby treatment of Giancarlo Stanton recently with regard to waiving the latter's no-trade clause only serves to underscore that assessment. Stanton, notably, had the good grace not to sink to his level. I should add that Tony Gwynn and Joe Torre were extremely gracious in signing and even conversing a bit at the same time and place.

With Reggie, his act upon being asked for an autograph in even the most polite manner possible, when he was only standing all alone in the hotel lobby, was to treat you as if you weren't even there--completely invisible and inaudible, and unworthy of having your presence acknowledged in any way! Guess I didn't realize how special he still was at age 52 or 53.

Compare the latter two with Babe Ruth, who was known to sign until every person who wanted his autograph got one!

Best regards,

Larry