Your experiences with HOF'ers

[7nohitter]

I am loving this thread!

Before a game against the Twins at Fenway in the early 90's I was by the visitor's dugout with about 100 other people. Everyone was yelling Winfield, Winfield" and the guy would not turn around. Me, being a brash lad of about 14 yelled, "Hey David, come sign some stuff!" Oh boy, he did not like that. He spun his head around faster than the girl in the Exorcist. He shoots me the dirtiest look and shook his head 'no.'

Guess he doesn't like being called David

[Scott Garner]

Great thread all!

I was always a stadium rat, chasing players down for autographs at Anaheim Stadium and other venues in Southern California for more than 25 years. Baseball players were a major focus. I had similar experiences with many of the HOF players mentioned previously.

I've got to say that Nolan Ryan has to have been the most friendly, consistent and prolific HOF signer that I ever came across.

During the peak of his popularity (1989-1993), I never saw him come to Anaheim where he wouldn't exit the Doubletree Hotel in Orange and sign for everyone in the massive line that surrounded the hotel. He would only sign once for each person and would stop only if the crowd got out of control or discrespectful. The way that he knew that he had gotten everyone is that he looked at each person's shoes. Once he spotted the same pair of shoes, the session was over and he would wave to everyone and head off to the stadium to put in his legendary exercise regiment. In 1992-1993, there were literally hundreds of fans that would line up out in front of the hotel. What a signer!! On September 17, 1993 I was fortunate to have gotten Ryan's last sig before he pitched in his last game at Anaheim. In this game, Ryan got his last career strikeout- # 5,714. Pretty cool!!

Cal Ripken, Jr. was a signing machine in the stadium, especially towards the end of his career. Both of these players (Ryan and Ripken) absolutely understood the value of giving back to baseball fans throughout America.

Rickey Henderson never signed for me even though I asked him politely dozens of times in different settings. He would always say that he would sign in the stadium, but would not. I would see him sign for black kids occasionally. That was the only exception.

Rod Carew was difficult to get after his playing days, but he did sign for me several times and was always cordial. The key with him was how you treated him.

Reggie Jackson has a bad rap, but I found him to be a great signer in a variety of venues and always willing to talk baseball and cars. He loves his cars!

Eddie Murray played for the Angels in 1997 only and I was determined to get his autograph. He never did sign for me in 1997, but thanked me every time for asking for his autograph. When he left the stadium after the game on Fathers Day 1997, he scanned the crowd of autograph seekers looking for me. Once he spotted me he handed his FILA wrist band with his uniform number on it and then winked. That was Steady Eddie's shout-out for putting in the consistent effort to get his sig. That was awesome!

There are many others, but those are the one's that stand out the most in my mind.

[matty6]

One of my favorite stories...

I went to the Atlanta National a few years back and decided to get a hot dog and a coke. Got my food and looked for a place to sit outside. There was an elderly couple sitting down at a table with an open seat. I asked if I could sit down, and they cordially agreed.

We got to talking and the gentleman asked me my name. When I said, "Andrew Parks." He said that's our last name, too! He introduced himself as "Dallas Parks." I looked at him and said, "There was an AL umpire with that name." He said, "Yeah. That's me." Earl Weaver was signing at the convention and he said he came to see him!

I asked if he saw him yet and he said that he had. He added that "Earl said the nicest thing he ever said to me" that day. I asked what that was and looked at me dead in the eye and said, "He said, "'How ya doing, Dallas?'"

That was it! I laughed so hard, I about peed myself. Earl always did hate umpires. Also, it was during the time the umpires went on strike. I asked him about that and he said, "It's bull shit. We never would have thought to strike."

Later I skipped outside to have a smoke and while I was standing there this elderly woman walked up to me and asked me for one. We got to talking, and I asked if she was enjoying the convention. She said that she was and explained she was there because she used to play in the All-American Girl's League! She was a Rockford Peach! I asked her what she thought of the movie A League of their Own, and she said, "All the girls loved it. It was 95% accurate." Very cool!

[Kalineman]

Someone mentioned in this thread how boxers were a nice bunch of people... and I agree. The group that I've most enjoyed is hockey players - from having dinner with Gordie Howe to golfing with Nick Lidstrom - really down to earth good people. And I laughed out loud when I read about someone's spot on observation about Lee Trevino - the persona of the Merry Mex but really a miserable person to be around... unlike great players and great people like Nicklaus, Palmer and Gary Player. Player, in fact, is one of the most interesting of all the athletes I've ever met in 40 years.

[David W]

I am on the advisory board for a sports complex in Indiana, each year we have the BPA world series at our park. We've brought in Ken Griffey, Sr, Bruce Sutter, and Scott Sanderson as keynote speakers, they have been magnificent, they sign and pose for pics with every one of the participants as part of their fee (this has been close to 700 boys ages 8 to 18 some years).

Sutter was great to talk to afterwards, let me wear his WS ring, signed anything and everything. Griffey and Sanderson were great as well. This is my wife and I with Sutter.

Also, Muhammad Ali was a total gentleman. He signed 3 S.I's for my wife at a baseball tournament he was at that his son was playing in, and between innings and games posed for pics with dozens of fans.

[Big Six]

Over the years, I've gotten to meet quite a few players but my favorite, by far, was Bob Feller. The guy was the epitome of the proud American from the heartland. Several years back, I had picked up a nice J.C. Higgins Feller model glove...always wanted one and had it reconditioned, relaced and oiled up...sharp glove. Fast forward a few years and Feller was at a show in NJ...I hopped in the car and brought my glove with me. When I showed the glove to Mr. Feller, he grabbed it out of my hand (in a good way) and put it on his hand, pounding the glove with his other hand to make a nice pocket. Spent a few minutes talking with him about the glove and snapped the photo below. A little over a year later and he's gone..I never saw him play but he's one of my favorite players ever...

[mabjae]

The coolest I ever met was Bobby Doerr at the All-Star Game at Fenway a few years ago. Great guy. Signed a (reprint) Heads Up card for me. Had a huge smile on his face when I showed it to him and asked to sign it. He hands it back & says, "You know this is fake, right?"
The worst was Yaz, about 10 seconds later. I had a kind of beat up card of his and handed it to him to sign. He says, "You couldn't find a nicer card of me?"
So I said, "Well, I'm not really a Sox fan. I'm a Yankees fan."
He stopped signing it and shoved the card back to me. Somewhere I have a Carl Ya... signed card of Yaz.

[tjb1952tjb]

Back in 2007 Tony Gwynn was signing at a local Ford dealship (San Diego). He was to sign for 2 hours. But, at the end of two hours the line was still out the door. He continued to sign until the very last person in line....at least another hour. This was just after the announcement of his HOF vote. He looked every person in the eye, smiled, and treated each person as an individual......unhurried. My son, then 11, was very impressed, as was I. He signed two baseballs for my son. He asked my son what inscription he wanted ("Tony Gwynn #19" and "Tony Gwynn HOF 2007"). Perfect signatures........perfect gentleman.