Post a photo of you with a famous athlete...

[53Browns]

Hey Doug, I started the thread and I say it is fair as it is baseball themed.

[mantlefan]

Here's my daughter Mary with Johan Santana:




And myself with David Wright:

[whitehse]

I had a chance to invite Notre Dame great and Heisman winner Johnny Lattner to be a signer at a small card show we produced at a suburban Chicago shopping mall. He showed up ahead of schedule, found me behind the table and we talked for a few minutes before I realized he had pushed a K-Mart shopping cart in with him. I looked down and in that red cart sat his Heisman Trophy that he won in 1953. I could not believe I was standing next to that iconic trophy in a red shopping cart.

I made a comment about it and he said it was really no big deal, he knew Jay Berwanger used his to prop open his door leading from his house to his garage.

A few Nationals ago in Chicago I was browsing the show floor and saw that an auction company was selling off much of the Goose Gossage collection so I stopped to take a look. It was then I realized that, sitting behind the counter was none other than Gossage himself. I patiently waited and did not disturb him and he noticed me standing there. He stood up, came around the table and happily posed for a photo with me.

[Tabe]

I will never tire of sharing this photo of myself and some random hockey player. He was at a Spokane Indians game. His son was signing with the Cubs, whose farm team was playing Spokane, and he was meeting with team officials. Something like that.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Tabe

I will never tire of sharing this photo of myself and some random hockey player. He was at a Spokane Indians game. His son was signing with the Cubs, whose farm team was playing Spokane, and he was meeting with team officials. Something like that.

Something I never thought I would see: Gretzky will a sunburn!

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Something I never thought I would see: Gretzky will a sunburn!

LOL. Never thought about that

Gretzky was incredibly gracious and nice. He accommodated every photo and autograph request all night and refused multiple attempts to move him into a less conspicuous seat. I was over the moon meeting him. Only Steve Yzerman would rank higher were I to ever meet him.

[Gary Dunaier]

The Mets graciously invited me to attend the press conference where they announced the signing of Todd Frazier. After he spoke to the media he spotted me, and we spoke briefly about how we needed to turn thumbs-down into thumbs-up. (Frazier promised me that they'd do something, and that developed into the salt-and-pepper grinder. It may be early in the season, but the Mets ARE 11-2, so if it works, I'm down with it... but I digress.)

I wasn't part of the actual press conference, despite rumors to the contrary, and I don't think even Frazier knew I was going to be there. I loved how the photographers rushed to get pictures of us once they saw that we were chatting. This photo shows us doing a thumb-bump - a fist-bump with the thumbs up.



I also got a pretty cool piece of memorabilia - note the placard with my name on it on the back of the chair. It also says "Thumbs Down Guy" underneath my name. A nice touch, because the Mets could have just as easily put up a generic "Reserved" sign on my seat.