Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

[tedzan]

I have gotten many, many autographs since 1981 at BB card Shows and at Cooperstown during HOF weekend.
Every sports figure that I met was very friendly and gracious. This is partly due to my avoided guys who had a
reputation of being a "schmuck". And more importantly, because I waited until the end of the autograph line to
get their signature. When you are the last guy standing, these ballplayers are more inclined to be friendly. And
it's my experience that they will be willing to spend more time having a two-way conversation with you.


Stay tuned for a great conversation which I had with Ted Williams in Cooperstown back in 1987.








TED Z

T206 Reference
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[Tabe]

I've never had a bad experience with an athlete. They've always been great. I don't do autographs, so maybe that helps. But here are a few of my favorites:

1) Al Kaline - I was probably 8 when I met him and was absolutely terrified. He was signing at a bank and my grandmother took me to meet him. He signed a photo for me and could not have been nicer.

2) In 1989, I had a friend who worked at a movie theater in Pontiac, MI (where I grew up). After the Pistons won their first title, the Pistons had a free viewing thing at the Palace for their championship video they'd be releasing. On the way there, my friend tells me that he'd met John Salley the night before at the theater and went on and on about how much time they'd spent together and how cool Spider was. Yeah, right. We get to the Palace and there's hardly anyone where we are - except one car. As we're walking in, that car's door opens and out steps this gigantic human being. John Salley. And Salley sees us and yells to my friend "Hey Johnny, how are you?" We talked for a couple minutes. Salley was great.

3) Mark Rypien - Mark lives in the Spokane area and has a foundation here. He was at a Spokane Indians game. My wife approached him, said I was a big fan and asked if he'd mind meeting me. She came and got me and I met him, told him I was a Lions fan and that he'd broken my heart in the playoffs when the Redskins killed Detroit. I said, "You guys kicked our butts". Mark got a huge grin on his face and said "yeah, we did". It was great.

4) Steve Garvey - Garvey was in town to be honored before a Spokane Indians game. The night before he was to be honored, I got up to leave after the game and he was standing in the aisle right behind me. All alone, no one around. I asked for and got a photo. The next night, I brought my good friend who was a big Garvey fan. As a kid, he mailed Garvey a letter when he played in Spokane - and got a handwritten response! He brought that letter with him. We get to the park early and look around and there's Steve down in the corner. We went over and started talking to him. He signed my photo from the night before (so cool) and then my buddy showed him that letter. His eyes got REALLY BIG and he immediately pulled out his cellphone and took a bunch of pictures of it. He called over the news reporter he was talking to and showed it to her. Then he signed it for my friend. He posed for several pictures and we talked for a good 20 minutes. Just awesome.

5) Wayne Gretzky - Gretzky was at a Spokane Indians game because his son was in town to sign a contract with the Cubs (whose affiliate was playing Spokane). My friend points out Gretzky and I go over and ask for a photo. He kindly took his sunglasses off and posed for a pic. I immediately called my wife to tell her I'd met Wayne and I'm just over the moon. Only I didn't SAVE the photo. On my phone, you had to manually save it, it wasn't automatic. I was crushed. Then I see Wayne walking into the stadium and ask for another pic. He gives me this huge sigh and says "alright" and then grins at me. Take the pic and I save it and then I see...it's completely dark because we were in a shadow. I go sit down and am really disappointed at blowing my chance to get a good photo with Wayne. Then I see he's sitting near me and I find the courage to ask for one more. He graciously said yes and, well:

[Prince Hal]

Bobby Orr and Harmon Killebrew were the best. Bobby Orr came to Albany, NY many years ago to open the state rink. He then met with fans and signed autographs. I grew up in Western MA in the '60s and '70s and he was my all time favorite. When it was my turn he stood up and shook my hand and thanked ME for coming to see him.

A former Member of Congress who represents Cooperstown used have a political fundraiser during induction weekend and he would bring in 10 HOFers to sign autos and mingle. I had my son with me one time, he must have been around 10, and we met Harmon. He spent 20 minutes talking to my son about baseball and was amazingly pleasant.

The worst, Gaylord Perry. Same event, different experience. Total DB.

[Jenx34]

Good:
I flew to Charleston SC to visit a friend around 2000. Got in on a Saturday evening, friend picked me up and we went straight to a bar in Mt. Pleasant. It was packed so I went upstairs where they had a couple of pool tables to see if there were any seats. Found a round table big enough for 4-5 people and sat down while my buddy went to the bar to get beers. Shortly after I sat down a guy came up the stairs that looked out of place in the bar. He was a little older than the crowd, black (bar was at least 95% white, if not 100%) and by himself. Without saying anything he parks himself at my table and turns away from me and looks over the rail down to the first floor. After a minute or so, buddy still not back with beers, I kept thinking I recognized him. Then it hit me. He looked my way and leaned over and said "Excuse me, are you Dwight Smith?" He smiled and said yes. He was the hitting coach for the Charleston Riverdogs of the South Atlantic League. We chatted and then finally my buddy shows up and I introduce him to my new friend and my friend, who was a die hard Cardinals fan, yelled "Oh My God, I hated you!" Smith laughed and we all hung out the rest of the night, drinking beers and grabbed some appetizers. The team was at home the next day so he left us tickets and will call and we went to the game. It was a weird chance meeting and the fact that I recognized him was lucky, but I was a Cubs fan and remembered the '89 Cub playoff team very well.

Bad:
Moses Malone & Julius Erving - The 76ers arrived at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis in town to play the Pacers. There was a large group of high school kids (me included) in the lobby. Some of us immediately recognized them and approached for autographs. Malone mumbled "I ain't signing no autographs" and kept walking. Dr. J was at least polite and said he wanted to go to his room, get settled in and he would come back down and sign for us. He never did. Other guys on that team were great. Andrew Toney was one, Marc Iavaroni, Mark McNamara and Mo Cheeks are ones I remember being cool. They sat down with us and hung out for a bit.

We took our son back in 2005 to Florida to see the Spring Training Camps of the Mets and Dodgers, he was 11 years old at that time. The worst experience was at the Mets, Mike Piazza was a total idiot with no one around him, told my son I'm working you cant bother me, while walking to a different work out station, but Tom Glavine was a class act he got a ball for my son and signed it for him, Mets were tough to get. Dodgers at Vero Beach were easily accessible, My son got to meet Eric Gagne who signed a Dodgers hat , Tommy Lasorda who talked to him for about 10 minutes, and pretty much got most of the Dodgers to sign a ball for him

[orly57]

Just before starting law school, I worked at a pretty nice restaurant in Miami that overlooked the ocean. One day on a lunch shift, I had a party of four which included a father, mother, and their two children (a boy and a girl). The boy was wearing a cast on his arm. At the table next to theirs sat Eddie George with a GORGEOUS woman (who often frequented the establishment with famous athletes). Unfortunately, Eddie's table was not in my section, but apparently, the family struck up a conversation with him. At some point, the mom allowed the boy to get his cast autographed by him, despite her previously firm "no signatures on your cast" edict. As I was running around getting drinks or whatever, a waiter tells me Eddie George wanted to talk to me. I thought the waiter was messing with me, but he wasn't. Eddie George was exiting the restaurant, and was looking for me. He asked me how much their meal was. I told him I had to check the computer, but he just took out a wad of cash, ripped off four $100 bills and asked me if that would cover it with tip. I told him that it absolutely would. The family was thrilled to find out that Eddie George had paid their tab, but it was I who was the fortunate one. The bill was about $250 of the $400 he gave me. AND, despite my telling them that the tip was covered, the family left me an additional $50. I will always hate Ohio State (See: 2003 Fiesta Bowl), but am forever a fan of Eddie George.

[abothebear]

I am not an autograph guy. I would hate to always be signing autographs for people if that was me so I don't ever ask if I meet anyone.

But, when I was 10 or 11 my dad took me and my brother to a Pistons game. It was in January and the giveaway was a calendar with a player's photo for each month. We got there early and some of the bench players were warming up and my dad made us go down to the court and ask for autographs. I was amazed at how huge they were. John Salley signed and was nice about it, and Dennis Rodman was willing to sign for me too. But Dennis started signing on the calendar part (not his photograph) and I panicked and said, "No, on the picture." I can still remember the look he gave me. It was an are-you-kidding-me look, but there was a trace of a smile in there. It could have gone either way. But then he signed on the picture and it became a great story. I told a huge professional basketball player he was signing wrong and lived to tell the tale.

I took my son to get Jack Morris's autograph at a Twins caravan event because I was a fan of his when I was a kid. We were the only ones wearing Tigers hats in the place. I don't think he was super enthused about the length of the line he had to deal with, but was friendly enough and let me take a picture of him with my son.

Those are probably the only autographs I've pursued.

My brother and his friend were playing golf and there was a guy playing by himself behind them so my brother invited the gentleman to join them. It was Bo Jackson. They played about 14 holes together. Bo is not an extrovert, but they got along well and had a nice time. My brother casually asked him if he'd sign a golf ball but Bo said he didn't sign. I think he said something about how that was work, and he wasn't working today. Which makes sense to me. If you don't have a rule, where do you draw the line?