[canjond]

I have lots of stories of kindness players showed me as a kid that used to hang around the show circuit, but one moment especially comes to mind. I was at a show where Jim Palmer was signing, and I was hanging around him and chatting him up as best as a 12 year old kid could do. He asked me if I played little league, and I told him that not only did I play, but I was also a pitcher like he was. He looked at me and said "oh really, want to show me what you got?" I looked at him a little bewildered - which he clearly could see - and said "come on - I need a break anyway. I happen to have my glove with me so let's go see what you got." So, to the back parking lot I went with Jim Palmer his glove, and a newly unboxed baseball. He crouched down and had me fire it in at him. For a good 5 or 10 minutes we played catch in the back lot. And after our warm up was done, he spent the next 5 minutes showing me grips on the ball while an assistant at the show grabbed the glove to catch. That 15 minutes playing catch with an HOF'er will be a memory I won't soon forget.