Your experiences with HOF'ers

[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.