Who's the earliest HOF you met in person?

[commishbob]

Early 60s...Yogi Berra at his bowling alley in Clifton, NJ. It was a promotional event of some sort and my father took me. He signed Yoo Hoo promo cards. I wish I knew where mine was.

Slightly OT:

In football, I was up-close-and-personal with a bunch of the Baltimore Colts during training camp a few times. Unitas, Berry, John Mackey..but I can't say I really 'met' any of them.

My only real extended encounter with a Hall of Famer was with one of my favorites.... Here is the abridged version of my 'brush with (somewhat drunken) greatness' in the person of Kenny Stabler. My wife and I attended Nolan Ryan's Houston Astros' debut game in 1980. Ryan went six and walked that many but homered and the game lasted 17 innings with the Dodgers winning, 6-5. We left early as we were going to Gilley's Club in Pasadena east of Houston for a show.

We were sitting at one of those 'picnic-style' tables near the front waiting for the show to start. Then a guy came up and asked us if we'd mind sharing our table with Kenny Stabler (he was the Oilers qb back then) and his group. Hell, why not?!?! And so he sat down with a couple of other people and introduced himself and said thanks for letting them sit there.

Stabler bought a couple of rounds of beer as I recall and had a guy fending off autograph requests while the live show was going on. He signed during the break and he signed an Astros cap my wife was wearing and a Gilley's bumper sticker I dug up. We felt like big shots. LOL