Brush with HOF fame...

[t213]

I once witnessed Frank Robinson blow off a little kid at Camden Yards -- "I get paid when I sign" and he stomped off.

On the plus side, in the mid 80s Lyle Alzado lived in my town and he used to come into the Pet Store where I worked. He was always very cool. One time I spent over an hour with him talking about parrots. Very nice man and he always had his wife and kids with him each time we met. He also always wore a muscle t-shirt and I've never seen anyone so big up close.

Other nice guys I've met:
NHL: Mike Knuble, Matt Bradley, Marcel Dionne, Jason Chimera
Baseball: Brooks Robinson, Frank Howard (if you get in line for his auto, be prepared to wait because he talks to everyone, poses for pics and it's easy to get him telling stories from his playing days)
NFL: Henry Ellard
TV: Mr. T (A little kid (maybe 6 years old) came up to him at the baggage carousel at LAX in the late 80s - he had the gold chains and mohawk. The kid said "Mr. T, when I see a bad guy, I'm going to bop him on the head." Mr. T replied "Hey little man, Mr. T doesn't want you to do that. If you see a bad guy, you come find Mr. T and Mr. T will take care of him." The kid responded with "Alright!" or something like that and Mr. T patted him on the shoulder. Mr. T made that kid's year.

Bruce Willis once very politely and friendly asked me if he could cut in line in a shopping mall bathroom when he was filming a Moonlighting episode. He looked like he was 2 seconds from dying so I said yes.

Andy