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Jason LI have had a few neat experiences, and I wish I had a scanner hooked up so I could show them off (as well as participate in all the "recent pickup" threads), but I'll just try to offer a few very short decriptions so as not to bore y'all (I know, too late, right?)...
Rickey Henderson
As a 13 year old, I got Rickey Henderson's autograph, and I somehow got up the nerve to put a Sports Illustrated magazine in front of him, followed by a pencil sketch of that magazine cover of him. He looked at it for a good minute or so, then asked if I traced it. When I said that I drew it free-hand, he said it was really good. I was on Cloud 9. Rickey could do no wrong in my eyes forever after that.
Lee Smith
When I was 14, I went to a card show in suburban Chicago, got Leon Durham to sign an 8x10 of him....the next player in the line was Lee Smith, and I had a ticket for his signature already. Just in that 10 seconds, I realized that I hadn't gotten an item for him to sign, and that I was out of money...so I quickly flipped the Leon Durham glossy over and had an extremely puzzled Lee Smith sign the BACK of Leon Durham's photo. Weirdest signature experience.
Ozzie Smith
2 years ago, I went to Cooperstown for Induction weekend with my then 3 year old son. Ozzie was the player who first got me interested in baseball when I saw him by chance on tv one day during my early childhood. I talked about this to my son, and when I brought him with me to get Ozzie's signatures on a few things, he was just as rapt as I was in meeting the man for the first time. Ozzie was 200% class, talked to both me and my son, and I got this picture of Ozzie signing a bat, and my son looking up at him, both hands on the edge of the table, watching...it's pure Norman Rockwell, and I doubt I will ever have a prouder moment of blended baseball and fatherhood (unless he grows up to love playing the sport, of course).
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anyway, there may be more, but I worry that some of you are now drooling on your desks, fast asleep...
edited to add: Ozzie Smith pic