Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by Collectorsince62

Curt Flood was my favorite player growing up. I met him at a card show and he was wearing a WS ring. I asked if it was '64 or '67 and he takes it off and hands it to me to hold. He also addressed the crowd before he began signing and thanked the fans for supporting him throughout his career. Class Act all the way.

Stan Musial. Growing up in St. Louis, of course I idolized The Man. I went to his STM offices one day to drop off the two scorecards from his 5 HR doubleheader to be signed. He happened to be there at the time and his staff asked me if I would like to meet him and get the autographs in person. Uh, yeah. Not only did he cheerfully sign the scorecards, he wrote "5 home runs" on each one and started telling me about that day. He laughed and said "I should have had 6 - Mays caught one at the centerfield wall!" We opened the scorecard and sure enough there it was. He said he never tried to hit homers but he really wanted one in his final at bat and popped out to first. Again, there it was. Such a genuinely nice man who made this lifelong Cardinal fan feel like we were old friends.

Exactly what Flood said to me when I met him in Palma Majorca, Spain in summer of 1972. After drinking rum and coke and chain smoking with Curt for about 3 hours he asked me if I wanted his autograph since we were "old friends". Almost 46 years ago and I remember that clear as yesterday. What an amazing guy to talk with and being a Cardinal fan made it even better. Only autograph I have that is not for sale.