Not a HOF'er but a great person. Growing up Hank Sauer was always my favorite player. In 1952 I sent an autograph request to him during Spring Training. Never heard back but he remained my favorite player anyway. In 1995, I think, he was signing autographs at a show near Atlanta. We would drive down from Baltimore to Asheville to visit wife's family so I decided to drive on the show and get his autograph. When I got to the podium I related the story of never getting his autograph back in 1952. He said he was surprised because he always answered requests. He invited me to sit next to him on the podium which I did and we talked baseball and family in between him signing autographs for about 2 hours.
|