Talk about YOUR meetings with an MLB'er

[GoldenAge50s]

Back in 1993 when I was doing shows I set up @ one of Mike Riccio's Stamford CT weekend affairs when Mickey Owen & Tommy Henrich were guest signers.

Right after the Sat show closed my wife & I adjourned to the motel bar for some well-deserved cocktails and I grabbed a seat @ the bar right next to Tommy Henrich.

I had the great pleasure to sit w/ Tommy & drink Budweisers for about an hour & 1/2 while he told story after story about every Yankee he ever knew or played w/--from Ruth right up until he saw Mantle arrive for Spring Training in 1950.

Greatest thrill I ever had talking to a ballplayer and will never forget it!

[MVSNYC]

2 years ago my wife & i went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. when we landed in Honolulu airport, i was reading the flat screen monitor to see which baggage claim was ours...standing right next to me, and easily a full 12" taller, was none other than Ken Griffey Jr. he was much bigger than i ever thought, and had that unmistakeable smile. i couldn't help but introduce myself and tell him i was a big fan. he thanked me and wished me well. very brief interaction, but still very cool.

[btcarfagno]

Boston area high school show around 1995 or so. Drove up in what was essentially a blizzard. Unpacked our stuff in the hotel room when we finally arrived and headed downstairs to drink away the memories of driving for 6 hours straight in a blinding snowstorm.

We took our drinks out to the lobby and who do we see but Frank Mahovolich. He had sat down in a chair in tbe lobby and was soon holding court with about 15 or so of us gathered around. Then who shows up but Jean Beliveau. The best way I can describe Beliveau is dapper. Strikingly well kempt. Just seemed like he was incredibly classy. He and Mahovolich talked to each other for a couple of minutes then Beliveau shook hands with everyone and left. Mahovolich kept going until his drink was empty and then he also shook hands with everyone before retiring for the evening.

Both were extremely nice and gentlemanly and gave my wife and I a memory for a lifetime.

Tom C

[Duluth Eskimo]

You mention MLB specifically so I will play. I had the rare opportunity to spend many hours with many HOFers back in the 80's and early 90's when signings were still reasonably priced and many of the guys were still alive.

Someone mentioned Brooks Robinson. I have to admit that Brooks was a tie with Buck O'Neil for the two nicest baseball guys I ever met. Buck was truly a sincere gentleman and just like you may have seen in the Ken Burns series. Unbelievable stories that I just ate up.

Worst MLBer was without a doubt Willie Mays. A complete jerk. Joe DiMaggio was also completely disgusted with having to sit and sign for people. I am a big Yankees fan and it really disappointed me with DiMagggio.

If you step outside of baseball, Muhammed Ali was a gentleman as was Gordie Howe, although Gordie would know exactly how many items were signed and if you owed him an extra dollar.

Other really good stories came from Warren Spahn and many of those stars of the 50's. Great times that I will always remember. The best part about it is that at the time, just about every player would sign anything, with any inscription, without thinking twice. Sometimes they would sign an extra just because they felt like it.

I have not paid for an autograph in many, many years. Hard to pay $50 or more for something I got so many times for $5.

[kmac32]

Don Larsen was at the National a few years ago and my wife asked him what his favorite thing to do was. He told her he liked to gig frogs. I about snorted my beer when he said that.

I also have the line Lee Smith used when he put me behind the dish and told everyone he found a place to hide me and my horrendous fielding abilities. Actually ended up being a good catcher after he did this. I also closed one year at Cuns camp and picked him off of first base.

[7nohitter]

Love these stories.

[scmavl]

Originally Posted by 7nohitter

Love these stories.

So do I. Keep 'em coming, guys!

[Scott Garner]

A store grand opening in my area offered up HOF and no-hit pitcher Gaylord Perry as a free signer today.

You've gotta love getting the opportunity to meet a HOF player, get to talk baseball with him for a minute, and also get a photo op for FREE!!

I brought a ticket stub from Perry's 300th career win for him to sign. I also had an opportunity to ask him what pitches he featured in his historic no-hitter on September 17th, 1968.

For the record, he no-hit Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cards throwing fastballs, sliders and a fork ball. No foreign substances were applied...
The following day, Ray Washburn of the visiting Cards returned the favor and no-hit the hometown SF Giants.

Here is a photo of me and Mr. Perry, my 300th win ticket that he signed as well as a picture that he also signed for free. Pretty cool!

BTW, not a MLB player, but I did sit next to hockey HOF'er Gordie Howe at a dance competition last weekend. Gordie's high school senior grandson Sean Howe and my 10 year old daughter both dance for the same dance school. Grandpa Gordie must be exceedingly proud of Sean because he just got accepted into the famous Julliard School of Dance. He really is an amazing dancer and deserves all the accolades that he receives.

Here is a picture of my daughter from last weekend. I'm a proud father as well!

I was in line at Bi-Mart with a bag of birdseed in one hand and box of buckshot in the other when the voice of my childhood, Mariners play-by-play legend Dave Niehaus, pipes up behind me.

"Are you looking to shoot your dinner?"

I hesitated to explain myself, "NO, NO. These purchases are unrelated". He rolled his eyes and gave me a good ribbing about "you really should have bought a magnet to get the shot out", "you shouldn't shoot in city limits", etc. and continued to give me a hard time out to my truck. There, he signed the butt of my winchester XTR1500 "HAPPY HUNTING, DAVE NIEHAUS" with a sharpie he said "he always kept in his pocket for the fans".

Just a real gentleman, his baritone will always be remembered as the voice of the Mariners.

[GKreindler]

AMAZING stories, guys.

Fred, I'd LOVE to hear more about Henrich. He was always one of my favorites from those late-30s teams.

Graig

[bbcard1]

A few brushes worth mentioning....

In college, Joe Nuxhall came to Marshall and after speaking played quarter bounce with a bunch of us...

Jose Canseco could not have been nicer, talking at length with my son about baseball and the beauty of the game. My son didn't notice the ankle monitor.

Bob Gibson was an ass, which I understand is to be expected.

[SmokyBurgess]

Baseball- Dale Murphy. Signing with 2 other players before a Sunday night game. Very cool. Gave the photo to a nurse friend of mine.

Non-Baseball- Mother Teresa. Went to her complex in Calcutta and spent an afternoon at the orphanage with the kids. Meeting was very short (as was M.T), but playing with the abandoned kids (starved for attention) was a memory that still lasts after all these years.

[71buc]

When Tacoma was the Twins AAA affiliate I played whiffle ball with Lyman Bostock in the parking lot of Cheney Stadium. I was 11 and he was very friendly and left a lasting impression. I was crushed when he was murdered.

I posted this story about my son couple of years ago. Although it is not a baseball story it is still fun nonetheless. I took my son to an Oakland A’s spring training game about eleven years ago. During the game Mohammed Ali made a surprise appearance. When he entered the ball park you could hear a pin drop. It was surreal. The game stopped and the players applauded him.

The crowd chanted Ali, Ali! He sat a few rows away from us and an autograph line quickly formed. He signed between innings. Those in line knelt to avoid obstructing the view of others during the game. My son asked why people were kneeling. My wife smiled and told him you do that before royalty. I told my son that this was an autograph opportunity he should not miss. At that time he was painfully timid but with a bit of coaxing he stood in line by himself for two innings. When it was his turn to receive an autograph play resumed forcing him to kneel and wait. Ali looked over at him and motioned to him. My son approached Ali rather nervously. He told my son to sit next to him in a vacant seat. He then opened a bag and pulled out a large oatmeal cookie broke it in half and handed half to my son. He sat with Ali eating that cookie for a half inning. At the end of the inning Ali smiled at him and threw a quick jab his way. He then signed the autograph and thanked my son for sitting with him.

When we returned home my shy son shocked us with the announcement that he wanted to be a boxer. My wife and I cringed but he was persistent so we relented. He boxed for a few years and although he was an average boxer the sport changed him in a positive manner. He became assertive, disciplined, and extremely confident. He has grown into a young man I am very proud of. I have to attribute some of that to boxing and his fifteen minutes with Ali.

[Mr. Zipper]

[thenavarro]

Last year at the Rangers game. I was sitting there emailing on my phone while Maven (my daughter) was just hanging out. Next thing I know, I hear Maven chatting with someone, and I look up and see her holding Scott Feldman's glove, and he was right there with her. I heard her tell him, "I can't sign your glove because I only have a black marker (he had a black glove), do you have anything else?" He said "sure, how about this piece of paper" and next thing I know, she is signing an autograph FOR Scott Feldman. He told her he was going to hang it in his locker. VERY COOL of him, she was so ecstatic. I got a picture of them, and you can see him holding her autograph in his hand in my pic. Most of the Rangers are very cool to my daughter. Ever since Nellie Cruz told her she was cute, she's been hooked as a Rangers fan, LOL. They are a great fan friendly organization

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by 71buc

When Tacoma was the Twins were AAA affiliate I played whiffle ball with Lyman Bostock in the parking lot of Cheney Stadium. I was 11 and he was very friendly and left a lasting impression. I was crushed when he was murdered.

I posted this story about my son couple of years ago. Although it is not a baseball story it is still fun nonetheless. I took my son to an Oakland A’s spring training game about eleven years ago. During the game Mohammed Ali made a surprise appearance. When he entered the ball park you could hear a pin drop. It was surreal. The game stopped and the players applauded him.

The crowd chanted Ali, Ali! He sat a few rows away from us and an autograph line quickly formed. He signed between innings. Those in line knelt to avoid obstructing the view of others during the game. My son asked why people were kneeling. My wife smiled and told him you do that before royalty. I told my son that this was an autograph opportunity he should not miss. At that time he was painfully timid but with a bit of coaxing he stood in line by himself for two innings. When it was his turn to receive an autograph play resumed forcing him to kneel and wait. Ali looked over at him and motioned to him. My son approached Ali rather nervously. He told my son to sit next to him in a vacant seat. He then opened a bag and pulled out a large oatmeal cookie broke it in half and handed half to my son. He sat with Ali eating that cookie for a half inning. At the end of the inning Ali smiled at him and threw a quick jab his way. He then signed the autograph and thanked my son for sitting with him.

When we returned home my shy son shocked us with the announcement that he wanted to be a boxer. My wife and I cringed but he was persistent so we relented. He boxed for a few years and although he was an average boxer the sport changed him in a positive manner. He became assertive, disciplined, and extremely confident. He has grown into a young man I am very proud of. I have to attribute some of that to boxing and his fifteen minutes with Ali.

Wow, Mike! What a great story! How cool is that?

[Big Dave]

I think these are the best kind of postings on here. All the drama queens take a break from these and the stories are really interesting and worth the read.

Thanks for the insightful stories.

[7nohitter]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

I think these are the best kind of postings on here. All the drama queens take a break from these and the stories are really interesting and worth the read.

Thanks for the insightful stories.

Hell yes!

[toyman55]

How great of your son Mike to be influenced by Ali. I've told the story here before but my two boys were 4 and 7 when we met Ali. While getting the autographs with my boys Ali saw my wife on the side taking pictures. he picked up my 4 year old and gave him a kiss on the cheek. We have the pictures framed along with his autograph. Ali is the Greatest of all Time.

[shelly]

When Ali would do signing for Prince of Cards he would alway ask Darren did that guy just call me a name. Stand up a pretrended to take a punch. When you saw the size of those fist comeing at your head you thought would die right then and there. He always smiled and never complained even though you could see that each time he signed it was getting harder and harder to do. He is a great man.

[RichardSimon]

A friend of mine was friendly with Ted Williams' agent the notorious Vince Antonucci and my friend had chatted with Ted at a show.
One day he gets a phone call from Vince Antonucci inviting him to Florida to look at a huge autograph collection he had just gotten. My friend invited me along.
Vince owned a large hobby store. When we got there much of the collection was spread out in the store on showcases. Vince had many, many showcases in the store. Vince said we can purchase items the next day as he was busy that first day we were there.
Vince was also the agent for Monte Irvin who was in the store at the time. I had been told before hand that we had a chance to meet Monte so I brought along all the wire service photos I had of him. He signed every single one of them (maybe 20) and told me the story about each photo as he signed it. We then took him out to lunch and later to dinner. He came back to our hotel room. All day long he regaled us with baseball stories. What a wonderful man he is.
The next day we get to the store in the morning and my friend says to Vince "give Ted a call and tell him I am here." Vince calls Ted Williams. He then comes over to me and says that Ted is coming over but I should not bother him or ask him any questions as he does not want to talk baseball.
Well about 20 minutes later, driving up to the front of the store, in a jeep, is Ted Williams, literally larger than life. My friend introduces me to Ted, who after shaking my hand glances around at the store and sees all the items on top of the showcases.
He encourages me to join him and he does a walk around in the store and every time he would see an autograph item of someone he knew something about he would tell me about that player. This lasted for a full hour. When he found out I was a Mets fan he told me how he loved the swings of Darryl Strawberry and Greg Jefferies. He told me a story of a three game series, Tigers vs. Red Sox in Boston where he won the first two games with late hits. Then in the third game, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, Williams coming up. Tigers bring in lefty Billy Hoeft and the count goes to 3-2. Curve ball after curve ball and Williams keeps fouling them off. Listening to him was just jaw dropping. Finally Ted says "that SOB throws me a fastball, and I took it for strike three. The next day the papers in Boston ripped me to shreds: WILLIAMS FAILS IN CLUTCH were the headlines." And this after he won the first two games .
One of the greatest times of my life. And of course he signed two photos for me but I won't show them because I have done that about 6 times already and my friend Shelly will just tease me about it again .

[dwr11]

This is a great thread!

I have been fortunate to have numerous conversations with MLB players. A couple of the cooler experiences were meeting Killebrew at a show in January of 1984 at the Metrodome. It was right after it was announced that he had made the HOF. I am almost certain autographs at the show were $1.00. I had this shirt made up that said on the front "Minnesota Loves Harmon" and on the back it said the "Killer is in". Harmon loved that shirt. I told him I was going out to Cooperstown for his induction in August. He told me to look him up when we got out there. We went to the Otesaga Hotel and Harmon recognizes me and the shirt right away. He asks me if I want to meet the other players. That day he introduced me to Koufax, Campanella, Drysdale, PeeWee, Musial, Kiner, Aparicio and many others. At that time they were signing anything and everything I had along except for Campy. Each of the guys gave me a few of the yellow HOF plaque cards signed. Harmon was just a class act and would occasionally write letters to me wishing me luck for the upcoming high school sports season.

One other cool Cooperstown story was in the early 80's (I think it was 82) I was able to watch Ted Williams play Tennis at the Otesaga Hotel. There was a smaller group of people watching him play and after he was done he came over and had us lineup and went down the line and signed autographs for us.

Numerous times I have talked with players in the bar. Some of the nicer guys (including all sports) were Eric Davis, William Perry, Marcus Haynes, Steve Carlton, Billy Sims, Ricky Henderson, Anthony Carter, Earl Morrall and Don Larson.

Some characters included Spahn & Matthews.