Bigger Jerks Than Joey Belle in the Hall of Fame

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

Nope, for real.


I met him at a Sports Illustrated hospitality room in DC when I was 13. Him and two football players autographing a 3 picture panel for publicity for SI. Dad brought me there, and the line wasn't bad. Maybe 20 people, mostly school administrators. The two football guys were polite but not real talkative.


Brooks asked me about playing baseball, and we talked for a bit. Someone far back in line bitched loudly about the line being slow, and he stood up and said "Hey, I'm talking with a kid about baseball! you can wait!" Then we talked about baseball a bit more.

For a shy 13 year old who was actually really bad at baseball that was a pretty big deal. As was him saying that as long as the game was fun not to worry about not being good at it.


I suppose the guy in a rush to get his autograph and get down to drinking might see it the other way around.

I meant that the reference to him as a snake was not intended to be real.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I meant that the reference to him as a snake was not intended to be real.

Ah, that makes some sense.


I do wonder if somewhere out there there's an old guy who tells a story about wanting a quick drink and being shut down by Robinson because he was talking to some kid.
It was a national association of secondary school principals convention, so that guy would likely be pretty old or dead by now.

[frankbmd]

When I was 9 years old, I obtained Harmon Killebrew's autograph in person during spring training. Harmon was a 20 year old bonus baby at the time.

I bet he wondered why a nine year old punk wanted his autograph.

The nine year old punk had similar thoughts about if this 20 year old was a legit major leaguer.

His autograph was quite nice though and worth keeping. Still have it

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

When I was 9 years old, I obtained Harmon Killebrew's autograph in person during spring training. Harmon was a 20 year old bonus baby at the time.

I bet he wondered why a nine year old punk wanted his autograph.

The nine year old punk had similar thoughts about if this 20 year old was a legit major leaguer.

His autograph was quite nice though and worth keeping. Still have it

That's great, Frank. The only thing I've kept that long is a mole.

.

[Jeffrompa]

Mike Schmidt , my late and great friend Bob Brown wrote about it extensively.