Act of Kindness from a Hall of Famer

[Writehooks]

In 1978 I drove from Edmonton, Alberta, to Seattle to watch a Yankees-Mariners series and was lucky enough to catch a foul ball. A couple of weeks later, I boxed up the ball, along with a short note and a US money order for $20 to cover postage, and mailed it to my all-time favorite player, Catfish Hunter. A month later a package arrived at my home, sent by special delivery. Inside was the autographed ball, inscribed to me, two signed 8x10 glossies of Catfish on the mound at Yankee Stadium ... and the unused money order. Attached to it was a hand-written note saying "Always happy to hear from my friends in Canada."

[71buc]

I have had a few such experiences with Stargell, Puckett, and Edgar. However, my favorite experience occurred when I was around 12. My friends and I would hang out in the parking lot waiting for foul balls at Cheney Stadium which was the home of the Twins AAA team. One such day we were entertaining ourselves by playing wiffle ball in the parking lot prior to a game. At that time Lyman Bostock was a raising star on his way to the big leagues. Nonetheless, he approached us and asked if he could take a few swings. He wound up taking quite a few swings. He was laughing and overly friendly. After about 15 minutes a crowd began to gather. He shook our hands and said he had to get to work. Before he jogged off he signed a small piece of paper for me. I folded it about 20 times and stuffed it deep in my pocket so I wouldn't lose it. I still have it all creased up. Whenever I see it I think of that day and smile. I was devastated a few years later when I learned he had been murdered. What a tragic waste of a nice man.

[7nohitter]

These interactions are nice to read!
I've had many positive encounters with players at Fenway, but also when I was a teen working at a grocery store in Natick, MA. So many Red Sox and Celtics shopped there and they were all beyond nice.
The one who stands out the most is former Celtic player and coach, KC Jones.

[cubman1941]

Not a HOF'er but a great person. Growing up Hank Sauer was always my favorite player. In 1952 I sent an autograph request to him during Spring Training. Never heard back but he remained my favorite player anyway. In 1995, I think, he was signing autographs at a show near Atlanta. We would drive down from Baltimore to Asheville to visit wife's family so I decided to drive on the show and get his autograph. When I got to the podium I related the story of never getting his autograph back in 1952. He said he was surprised because he always answered requests. He invited me to sit next to him on the podium which I did and we talked baseball and family in between him signing autographs for about 2 hours.

[canjond]

I have lots of stories of kindness players showed me as a kid that used to hang around the show circuit, but one moment especially comes to mind. I was at a show where Jim Palmer was signing, and I was hanging around him and chatting him up as best as a 12 year old kid could do. He asked me if I played little league, and I told him that not only did I play, but I was also a pitcher like he was. He looked at me and said "oh really, want to show me what you got?" I looked at him a little bewildered - which he clearly could see - and said "come on - I need a break anyway. I happen to have my glove with me so let's go see what you got." So, to the back parking lot I went with Jim Palmer his glove, and a newly unboxed baseball. He crouched down and had me fire it in at him. For a good 5 or 10 minutes we played catch in the back lot. And after our warm up was done, he spent the next 5 minutes showing me grips on the ball while an assistant at the show grabbed the glove to catch. That 15 minutes playing catch with an HOF'er will be a memory I won't soon forget.

[LeftHandedDane]

As a kid growing up my favorite player was Rod Carew. I managed to talk my Dad into taking me to a White Sox game against the Twins so I could see my favorite player in person. But I also desperately wanted to get his autograph. So I brought his latest card with me (71 Topps) and a marker and after the game we went over to where the players exited the stadium to get on the bus to go back to their hotel.

There were a few other people hanging around looking for autographs as well, and we waited patiently for about 20 or 30 minutes, and then the players came out. Unfortunately, the security people hustled them right onto the bus without allowing them to interact with the fans at all. I was super disappointed and my Dad was already starting to console me by trying to come up with other ideas for how to get Rod's autograph, when I happened to look up at the bus, and there was Rod sitting at the window pretty much right above my head. So I pounded on the bus to get his attention and held up his card.

Rod saw the card, and promptly got up, went up to the front and had the bus driver open the door so he could get off and come over to sign my card, as well as sign for the other people who were still there. This act only strengthened my fandom for Rod Carew, and that card, while kind of beat up now, remains one of my favorites in my collection.