Your experiences with HOF'ers

[MilBraves]

He isn't a baseball player nor a Hall of Famer yet, but I have a couple of interesting stories about Brett Favre.

I was working a second job bar tending in the mid 90's, down on Water Street in Milwaukee. It was a typical packed Friday night with people 4 deep at the bar when all of a sudden the mass of people parted like the Red Sea and it got really quiet. Up to the bar comes Brett, Frank Winters and Mark Chmura. It was like a comedy act with them. Very funny guys. Honest to God, Brett came back behind the bar and slung drinks for about a half hour. He was a genuinely nice guy. Frank and Mark were as well. Every drink Brett served to people was paid for by them. Eventually, they headed on over to the bar next door, along with every hottie that was in our bar. I still have the bottle of Cuervo signed by all three.

The second story was from the second time I met Brett. My wife is a huge Favre fan and her and I went up to Green Bay to watch training camp in '98. After the Packers were done practicing, we went over to Lambeau and stood in the players parking lot waiting for them to come out to get some autographs. This was before 9/11. Since 9/11, the players parking area has been gated off. Anyway, my wife and I see Brett's agent, Bus Cook come out and we head over and talk to him. I told him the bar tending story and asked if he could get Brett to sign my wife's Jersey. So Bus heads back in and about 15 minutes later, we see Brett looking out a second story window then walk away. Bus comes down and tells us to come in and we got to spend about 5 minutes with Brett. He actually remembered me from the bar(which was surprising considering how much he drank) and he was extremely nice to my wife, signed her jersey and HE even suggested I take a picture of her with him. He put his arm around her and had a big genuine smile.

[Wihawk]

My best experience was with Warren Spahn, In the mid 80's he had a table set up at a Triple A game in Portland OR. Autograph tickets were only 4.00$, so I decided to have 3 items signed. The first item he signed was an APBA game card of him self. He asked "what is this" and I explained to him as well I could about how the game worked, He seemed genuinely interested and asked more about it. A lady sitting with him at the table tried to get him to look at the line and on to the next person but he then asked me where the best places to golf were in the Portland area.
I talked with him for about 5 minutes and loved how friendly he was.
Warren Spahn will always be tops in my book with Duke Snider a close second.
Mays gets #1 on my jerk list but that's another story.

[travrosty]

a guy in line had a home plate nicely signed by mickey mantle and duke snider, he went up to mays and mays signed it, but didnt bother to check the sharpie - it was dried out, and the signature turned out very light, ruined the guys piece. hopefully he found a way to wash it off and get a dark signature eventually. i would have not been happy with that outcome if it was me and i paid good money for a very light washed out signature.

mays looked down the whole time except for once, someone brought a bat, and he stood up and gave it a mock swing, and everyone oohed and aahed like he had really done something. they fed his ego when he didnt deserve it.


if he would have just looked at people and gave an ocassional smile and been polite i think thats all that people would ask from him.

[murphusa]

Everytime I purchased a ticket to get an autograph from a player that is what I got, an autograph, yes some of the players were nice and talkative and some just sat there. In every case they fulfilled their duty.

I wasn't looking for someone to help me with a dream or my need to be associated with that person

That said I had conversations with Di Maggio Mays and other tough types at autograph show because I went there with something more to talk about than "Boy I loved you as a player"

Like Richard, I was lucky enough to sit down with Ted Williams for an extended period and talk baseball with him

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by murphusa

Everytime I purchased a ticket to get an autograph from a player that is what I got, an autograph, yes some of the players were nice and talkative and some just sat there. In every case they fulfilled their duty.

I wasn't looking for someone to help me with a dream or my need to be associated with that person

Well, you are in a minority. Some want a little something, at least politeness. Assembly line autographs and just plain jerks like Mays are not good at all.

[sycks22]

I have a couple stories about HOFers.

Puckett: My mom worked for them back in the early 90's and knew Kirby really well, he was the nicest guy on the planet and his former wife Tonya was great too. One day Puck came home with 2 bags of Mcdonald's food what was called "the puck pack" back in the day. He tried to slip it past her, but she caught him and made him throw it out. It was pretty funny. His house was also amazing as I got to visit twice and being a 10 year old looking at his gold gloves and all of his awards it was like a kid in a candy store.

Griffey: After a Twins game back in the early 90's our neighbor Wayne Terwilliger (1st base coach of the twins) who we always waited for outside of the locker room saw Griffey walk by and Twig introduced him to my brother and me. He shook our hands and think asked us some baseball questions. It was amazing just to talk to Griffey for a minute.

Blyleven: I was at Twins fest about 5 years ago and Bert was walking by us so I grabbed a ball and a pen and walked over to him to ask him for his auto. I was wearing my college baseball uni as we were doing a baseball camp for the little shavers that day and Bert says "Usually I don't do this, but you're with a good team." and signed my ball. I told him that he was my dad's favorite player and he asked about him too. Bert is the man.

I haven't had a lot of bad experiences with HOFers, but kind of felt bad when getting Feller's auto also at Twins fest that year. He was sitting in a booth in the back of everything by himself asking for $15 for an auto and nobody was in line. I didn't notice he was there until I turned my head and said to my bro "That's Bob Feller". He was a very genuine guy and shook my hand.

[barrysloate]

I told this story a few years back, but it's worth repeating. It's about an accidental meeting with Nellie Fox.

When I was a kid, maybe 13 or 14, my friend Steven and I went to Shea Stadium to see the Mets and Astros. Steven was a huge Astros fan and somehow he got these incredible seats in the front row behind first base. Don't remember how he got them, but they were as good as it gets.

As we were buying food throughout the game, we were accumulating loose change which Steven kept in his top pocket. At one point in the game he leaned forward, and all the change came pouring out onto the field, rolling in different directions. At that point we wrote it off and assumed it was lost.

Nellie Fox was coaching first base, and when the inning ended, to our surprise he ran over, got down on his hands and knees, and picked up every last coin and returned them to Steven. I don't recall him even saying a single word, and when he was done he ran back to the dugout. We said thank you and I know I never forgot that small gesture of kindness from a major league ballplayer. And when he made the Hall of Fame that was the first thing I thought of.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I told this story a few years back, but it's worth repeating. It's about an accidental meeting with Nellie Fox.

When I was a kid, maybe 13 or 14, my friend Steven and I went to Shea Stadium to see the Mets and Astros. Steven was a huge Astros fan and somehow he got these incredible seats in the front row behind first base. Don't remember how he got them, but they were as good as it gets.

As we were buying food throughout the game, we were accumulating loose change which Steven kept in his top pocket. At one point in the game he leaned forward, and all the change came pouring out onto the field, rolling in different directions. At that point we wrote it off and assumed it was lost.

Nellie Fox was coaching first base, and when the inning ended, to our surprise he ran over, got down on his hands and knees, and picked up every last coin and returned them to Steven. I don't recall him even saying a single word, and when he was done he ran back to the dugout. We said thank you and I know I never forgot that small gesture of kindness from a major league ballplayer. And when he made the Hall of Fame that was the first thing I thought of.

BEST Story yet..

I love this thread, good and bad, its awesome stuff

[7nohitter]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

BEST Story yet..

I love this thread, good and bad, its awesome stuff

Agreed!

[GrayGhost]

Seeing someone comment on Ernie Banks reminds me of another card show experience many years ago at a show in Waterbury CT. A major snowstorm hit and many dealers/customers couldn't make the show, but Ernie did. Before the signing, he told everyone to all join together in a big rousing Take Me out to the Ballgame. Was awesome and he was SO COOL to those he signed for.

Another one was a late buddy of mine, who used to travel all over to get autographs in a HOF hardcover book he had. He went to Sturbridge mass once where Enos Slaughter was signing. there was no line and Slaughter was reading, when J came up w the book, and said, could you please sign my book. Slaughters reply? "Your face is uglier than the cabbage in my garden. Now, I got this info second hand, but the source was reliable. ha

[jdmeltz]

I was at a boxing event about 10 years ago collecting signatures on a boxing glove. Muhammad Ali made an unexpected appearance so of course I headed over to where he was walking in. His security was saying "no autographs" but he saw my glove hung over my shoulder, and without saying a word he motioned me over, took the glove and signed it.

I was at an event where Brooks Robinson was one of the guests. An announcement was made "no autographs please." Robinson leaned over to me and a few other guys and whispered "follow me." He led us out into the hallway where he signed for everyone.

And another boxing story: Former great Archie Moore was signing autographs at a public appearance. I noticed he had a hand full of pens. Seems if you didn't say "please" when you asked for his autograph, he kept your pen!