Let's see some pics from signings in the 80's and 90's

[JimStinson]

Bill Terry & I at his home in Jacksonville. Always had an open invitation to drop by whenever I was in Jacksonville. Spoke on the phone with him for over an hour on his last birthday on earth. A fine fellow.
One story he told me that stuck in my mind in talking about the old time ball players Bill told me Ty Cobb was the perfect gentleman, competitive on the field and a gentleman off of it. Told me he never even saw Cobb cuss around women, and was always polite to collectors and fans. By contrast he said that Shoeless Joe Jackson was "trash" hardly worth discussing and deserved everything he got.

[7nohitter]

Jim...

Would love to hear more about the Bill Terry stories! What year was that picture taken??

Also, the above picture of Mantle has me asking: Was that the ONLY shirt that guy owned in the '80's?? STG I've seen other signings where he's wearing that exact shirt....

[mr2686]

C'mon Andrew, don't ya know that that was Mantle's "signing" shirt?
I'm surprised the card companies didn't cut it up and put it out in packs of cards.
You can't really see on that picture, but all the way to the right was Whitey Ford. I remember the line to get autographs started forming about 30 minutes ahead of time (this was at a fairly large hotel and had about 15 HOF'ers signing). After 2.5 hours of no Mantle or Ford, one of the collectors in line told me that he was staying at the hotel and was in the bar the night before when Mantle and Ford came in and they didn't leave until it closed. I guess those 10am signings were a bit early after a night of drinking. Of course, that story always seemed funny until he later admitted his alcoholism and of course his medical problems.
That picture of Bill Terry is fantastic. I got back in to the hobby just a few months before he died and never got the chance to meet him. I was able to get a signed ball from a private signing and was saddened when he passed just a few months later.

[JimStinson]

The picture was taken around 1987. Terry and I talked about alot of things but some that stand out in my mind., he had huge hands and one heck of a handshake, physically very strong despite his age.
We talked alot about his career. he told me "I played my entire career on one leg" I asked him what he meant and he said that prior to his being called up to the majors he was chasing a pop up at first and stepped on a piece of line chalk the size of a golfball and twisted and injured his knee. he said it never healed correctly and hurt almost all the time, he was proud of having been the last National Leaguer to hit over .400 in a season. He hated John McGraw and said that he and Mrs Terry used to talk evening walks and would cross paths with Mrs McGraw and her husband doing the same thing , and the ladies would exchange greetings , He would say hello to Mrs McGraw and McGraw would say hello to Mrs Terry both neither of them would exchange a word (smile). He loved Mel Ott like a son and said he was one of the finest human beings you could ever meet on or off the baseball field. Hubbell too. He liked Lou Gehrig and said that Gehrig was a big strong 225 pounder most of his career and when he saw him right before he died he weighed less than 150 pounds. Said that Babe Ruth was a like a "big overgrown kid" , he hated sportwriters and said most of what they wrote was "bunk". He used to say he liked talking about baseball with me because "I knew what I was talking about" which to me was pretty flattering. His house was always filled with hundreds of sharpie pens and he would laugh that when collectors sent him mail for his autograph they would send pens too, he would ask me "Do you think I need anymore pens?". As a joke for his birthday I bought him a gold pen with his name engraved on it and told him "just in case you run out". Right before he died we spoke on the phone and I had just seen the movie "Eight Men out" , which was in the theatres I asked him if he wanted me to take him to see it when I was in Jacksonville (he didn;t drive much he had a 10 year old car in the garage with 5,000 miles on it...hahaha) he said all those baseball movies are "bunk", that they make up based on the lies the sportwriters told over and over. I told him that it appeared mostly factual about the series and he said "If they say Jackson wasn't in on it, its bunk", he said "Being too stupid to know right from wrong is no excuse" We talked about other stuff too of course but alot of it would not be appropriate for this board.

[7nohitter]

Mike, Jim,

Great stories! I love reading stuff like that. Jim, the fact that you got that insight about McGraw, Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb is incredible....

Mike...good point about the card companies getting their hands on Mantle's signing shirt!

[mr2686]

I could sit here and read Jim's stories all day.

[bender07]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I could sit here and read Jim's stories all day.

+1

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I could sit here and read Jim's stories all day.

Wait until you go out with him for a beer .

[RichardSimon]

Years ago my son would help me out at my table at baseball card shows and promoters gave table holders free autographs. (yes they did).
My son would get on the autograph line and I would take a Polaroid shot of him with the guest signer. We would then get the shot signed.
Here are two of my favorites.

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I could sit here and read Jim's stories all day.

in my 10 yrs on the board, jim is my favorite poster. and he's only been here for a couple weeks.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

in my 10 yrs on the board, jim is my favorite poster. and he's only been here for a couple weeks.

+1

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

Bill Terry & I at his home in Jacksonville. Always had an open invitation to drop by whenever I was in Jacksonville. Spoke on the phone with him for over an hour on his last birthday on earth. A fine fellow.
One story he told me that stuck in my mind in talking about the old time ball players Bill told me Ty Cobb was the perfect gentleman, competitive on the field and a gentleman off of it. Told me he never even saw Cobb cuss around women, and was always polite to collectors and fans. By contrast he said that Shoeless Joe Jackson was "trash" hardly worth discussing and deserved everything he got.

Jim's comment about Cobb always being polite to collectors is definately reflected in all of the letters that I've read that were penned in his own hand.

I've always been intrigued by the contrast of what Cobb was supposedly like in person and the intellegence and demeaner that he brought when he sat down to write a letter.