A Great Opportunity....

[HexsHeroes]

.

Back in the early 2000's I sent an autograph request to former Detroit Tigers' Red Borom. In the cover letter I mentioned that my wife use to live in the Dallas area, and that we would be visiting that area a month or so later. Two weeks later, out of the blue, I get a phone call from Red Borom stating that he would love to meet me at his favorite Dallas-area restaurant for breakfast (which he did daily), when my wife and I visited Dallas. He had his son-in-law search and locate my home phone number, so that he could make the call. Red asked me if it would be OK for his son-in-law to join us, since Red's eye sight was quite poor, and his son-in-law drove him around. I said that would be just fine, and we scheduled a date and time to meet. It was a lovely visit, that lasted a couple of hours. Just one of those unexpected, memorable moments that you treasure.

[tazdmb]

Back in 1998, when Lee got in the HOF, I got his address in FL and he was actually listed in the phonebook. My dad and I called him up and asked if we could come over for an autograph. He said sure! My dad ended up "friending" him and they met for lunch several times since then.

Another story is in regards to Al Lopez, since I was a big IP collector and he never did shows, I wrote to him in 1996 asking if I could come to his house (flying in from MI to Orlando on holiday) and get an autograph. He wrote me back saying that when I come to Tampa, stop by and he would sign 1 (underlined) autograph-and did not sign the letter. Finding his house (in the days before mapquest/GPS) was no easy task. We get to his house only to find out he wasn't home. I was devastated and left a note in the mailbox (only to find the keys to his home inside, no I did not steal them). Went to dinner and went back for one last try. Sure enough, he answered the door! He couldn't have been more gracious and laughed that someone came from Michigan for his autograph. He wished us well and signed my most cherished baseball.

[jgmp123]

Originally Posted by tazdmb

Back in 1998, when Lee got in the HOF, I got his address in FL and he was actually listed in the phonebook. My dad and I called him up and asked if we could come over for an autograph. He said sure! My dad ended up "friending" him and they met for lunch several times since then.

Another story is in regards to Al Lopez, since I was a big IP collector and he never did shows, I wrote to him in 1996 asking if I could come to his house (flying in from MI to Orlando on holiday) and get an autograph. He wrote me back saying that when I come to Tampa, stop by and he would sign 1 (underlined) autograph-and did not sign the letter. Finding his house (in the days before mapquest/GPS) was no easy task. We get to his house only to find out he wasn't home. I was devastated and left a note in the mailbox (only to find the keys to his home inside, no I did not steal them). Went to dinner and went back for one last try. Sure enough, he answered the door! He couldn't have been more gracious and laughed that someone came from Michigan for his autograph. He wished us well and signed my most cherished baseball.

Great story Taz!

[milkit1]

haha ted I did the same thing! Probably around 1994. I had mailed Tony Cuccinello about stopping by during my upcoming Florida vacation of which he nicely agreed. When I go to Florida I called him up but his wife answered and said he was in the hospital and would not be there. So we drove over to Al Lopez 's house ( I think they actually lived on the same street but I may be wrong). He answered the door in a robe and might have been sleeping (it was 3 in the afernoon) but was nice and signed one item for me. I felt bad about doing that though and never did it again. That was about the onyl way to get him though at that time.