Which players made you work for the autograph?

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by djson1

This is a great story, Scott. I think that was pretty cool of Rod.
Another Angel that was a rocky request was Reggie. I remember hanging out after the games and he would get into one of his classic cars and yell at these little kids for getting too close to his car. He did sign for kids, but on those days, his signature was basically a horrible "RJ"...not worth even getting. I remember thinking what a jerk he was for yelling at the kids like that. I also remember one time an adult stuck his hand in front of Reggie to congratulate him on his homer that day and Reggie yelled at him saying "Don't stick your hand in my face! Can't you see I'm signing autographs!?". I never bothered to ask him for his autograph as I thought his attitude was so rude.

Thanks Jason! Yeah, that was definitely a nice gesture by Carew. At the time I was really pleasantly surprised.

During Reggie's era with the Angels, several friends and I sat out by the right field foul pole at Anaheim Stadium. We would talk to him over the railing a fair amount. Reggie did sign for me a few times through the years in various settings. All the sigs were his better, more complete autograph. With Reggie, as well as other players, I am certain that timing and approach are critical in terms of getting his autograph. Reggie was never rude or off-putting with me IP, but I was respectful and engaged him in dialogue other than just asking for his autograph before asking him to sign. Maybe the approach made the difference?

[theshleps]

Two years ago I was at an A's minor league spring training game and Rickey Henderson was there. I a few months earlier had gotten a great deal on one of his minor league rovers spring training jerseys on milb.com. I called my wife and asked her to drive up to the field and bring the jersey. Meanwhile all the dealers waiting for him said that Rickey never signs jerseys. The game ends and Rickey comes off the field and the dealers stepped back while my 60 year old wife wearing the jersey walked up to him and asked him to sign it. He comes unglued and starts yelling at my wife "Where did you get that jersey. They are not supposed to sell those, etc etc in quite a loud voice" She had no idea where I got it and was pretty intimidated. Suddenly he took the sharpie and signed it, walked on and didn't sign for anyone else.

[7nohitter]

These stories are awesome!

[sycks22]

One of the best auto stories I have happened last year at Target field. We went to a Tigers game and saw Omar Vizquel is their hitting coach and made eye contact with him and said "Omar, can we please get an auto?". He looked at us and nodded "no". The next time they were in town we found him again and asked for an auto, he finally said sure. He was in the camera area which it about 10 feet away from the field so my buddy threw him a ball, which he caught and when he threw the pen Omar fumbled it and dropped it. Next I throw him the ball, which he caught then came the pen which he again fumbled and dropped. Everyone around him started laughing and giving him a hard time about how he used to be sure handed, now he can't catch a pen. The one person who didn't sign for anyone on all 3 games we went to was Pujols, he didn't even look at the kids. Trout on the other hand was the man and signed for pretty much everyone.

[rjackson44]

i was at a dodgers mets game in L.A .had great seats to my right tom cruise and larry king both signed my program it was very cool.im not into autos so i will never sell .p.s mets lost.

[Deertick]

My mom was down at Phillies spring training in 1983 and made it her mission to get autographs for me as a gift. She bought a cheap souvenir ball and had about 12, including most of the stars sign it.

She knew Schmidt was my favorite, so she approached him several times during the day but he kept giving excuses and saying "later". Finally after they were done practice, she asked him again and he said that he would sign after his shower. So she waited. And waited. Then she saw a figure briskly walking across the field behind the clubhouse. She sprinted around the fence and chased him, yelling the whole time. When she caught up to him, she scolded him about lying to her and that he could have just said no. He apologized, signed the ball, and reached into his duffel and handed her a pair of batting gloves.
I just wish I could have seen my barely 5' 95lb mom confronting the greatest third baseman of all time.

BTW, the signatures all bled like crazy into indecipherable blurs, and I wore the batting gloves out. And I have had nothing but pleasant encounters with Mike.

[parker1b2]

In the late 80s/early 90s my parents used to take me and my brother to a few Yankee games a year. We would always wait outside by the players entrance wich was connected to their parking lot and you could hang around and get some autos after the game. Usually it was easier to get the visiting team cause they also had to walk by you to get to their bus. Scored many signatures there including guys like Reggie and Roberto Alomar.

One time I begged my parents to stay, pretty much everyone passed by and the visiting team bus left. They started to break down the gates seperated the fans from the players and personnel, which was sign that most everyone was gone. Almost all the fellow autograph hounds were gone, except for me, my brother and parents and maybe 5 other people or so. Phil Rizzuto came walking out as he was still the Yankees Announcer at the time. My mom grabbed my hand and we ran up to him. She told him she grew up in Hillside( the town Rizzuto lived for many years) and how she walked by his house everyday on her way to school. She asks very politely if he could please sign my ball. He said he was sorry but if he signs for me he has to sign for everyone and jus walked away. My mom took a look around and just laughed cause other then us there was less then 10 people there.

Fast forward about 7 or 8 years later and my mother was working for Macy's in their PR dept. She had to set up some kind of event, but they had Rizzuto and Yogi signing autographs in the Bridgewater NJ mall. Well she made sure she told Phil the story and made sure I got a few extra autos that day. You were only allowed one auto from each guy.