Posted By:
Chris CountsHere's a few more stories worth retelling ...
1) When I was about 12 or 14, I rode my bike to Angel Stadium for an old timers game. I was standing in the parking lot before the game when Joe DiMaggio popped up out of nowhere. It was hours before the game an nobody was in sight ... just me and him. I pulled out a stack of 3x5 cards and handed him the entire stack, since he needed something firm to write on. I only expected him to sign one, but after he had signed about 12, I started to feel guilty and I asked him to stop ...
2) At about the same time, I was looking for autographs in a hotel near Angel Stadium when I saw Billy Martin, the Yankees manager. I was going to ask him to sign a ball, but his left hand was in a cast, since he had recently broken it punching somebody or something. He walked right up to me with a big smile, asked if I wanted him to sign my ball, then proceeded to wedge the ball between the cast and his chin, somehow managing to sign his name beautifully ...
3) Around the same time I got Martin's signature, I saw Dock Ellis at a hotel in Anaheim. Just before I asked him to sign a card, a security guy runs up and starts yelling at me and a couple other kids, telling us to get lost. Ellis (who I remember was a big guy)grabbed the guy by his shoulders, shook him a little kind of playfully, and with a sly smile said, "These guys are with me. They're my friends."