Jim Umbarger (yes THE Jim Umbarger) of the Texas Rangers down the first base line at Tiger Stadium in the mid 1970's. I had no idea who it was, just that someone with a uniform on signed my program. I raced up 50 rows of stairs to show my dad, and together we figured it out.
I have gotten no autographs in person from athletes who participated in the first sport.
Martial arts and physical combat are the oldest known activities that could be labelled as sports and I don't have any in-person autographs from any of those athletes.
<< <i>If memory serves me correctly and sometimes it does not, I believe it was Bob Feller. >>
Brick,
I think implied in any question of this sort is the caveat "not including Bob Feller", as he is the only MLB'er whose cards are rarer without his authentic signature than with it.
Back in 77 or 78 I got Merlin Olsen when he was on Little House on the Prairie and during the same era I got Glen Burke's auto at Dodgers Stadium on a signature day when he was playing for the Dodgers.
A few years ago I was sitting down near the Dodgers dugout and Juan Pierre came up to us and signed my son's glove.
<< <i>I remember getting Jim Abbot before a game at Angel Stadium. I also remember getting Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco on the same ticket stub, it's still somewhere at my parents house. >>
Not to be a jerk and this is a serious question. Did you have to hold the card for Abbot while he signed. or was he at a table? >>
I wasn't the OP about Abbott, but I got him a few times in person outside of Fenway Park and at the Angels' team hotel. When he signed a ball for me, he took it and held the ball with his impaired arm (not sure what to call it), and signed it perfectly. When he signed a card and 8x10 photo, I held them and he signed them. I have seen him hold cards for people with his impaired arm and sign them fine as well.
(As an aside, Abbott was one of the nicest players in-person that I remember. Once at the Marriott in Boston in his rookie year (when he was a HUGE phenom), I approached him as he was coming back into the hotel. He told me he'd catch me later, since he had bags in his hand. I assumed it was a blow-off excuse. About five minutes later, he came back downstairs off the elevator and walked over to me, to sign my autograph then. He signed it, then went back up to his room. So basically he came back down to the lobby to sign my autograph, then went back up to his room. Awesome.)
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Martial arts and physical combat are the oldest known activities that could be labelled as sports and I don't have any in-person autographs from any of those athletes.
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<< <i>If memory serves me correctly and sometimes it does not, I believe it was Bob Feller. >>
Brick,
I think implied in any question of this sort is the caveat "not including Bob Feller", as he is the only MLB'er whose cards are rarer without his authentic signature than with it.
-Tom
A few years ago I was sitting down near the Dodgers dugout and Juan Pierre came up to us and signed my son's glove.
brian
<< <i>
<< <i>I remember getting Jim Abbot before a game at Angel Stadium. I also remember getting Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco on the same ticket stub, it's still somewhere at my parents house. >>
Not to be a jerk and this is a serious question. Did you have to hold the card for Abbot while he signed. or was he at a table? >>
I wasn't the OP about Abbott, but I got him a few times in person outside of Fenway Park and at the Angels' team hotel. When he signed a ball for me, he took it and held the ball with his impaired arm (not sure what to call it), and signed it perfectly. When he signed a card and 8x10 photo, I held them and he signed them. I have seen him hold cards for people with his impaired arm and sign them fine as well.
(As an aside, Abbott was one of the nicest players in-person that I remember. Once at the Marriott in Boston in his rookie year (when he was a HUGE phenom), I approached him as he was coming back into the hotel. He told me he'd catch me later, since he had bags in his hand. I assumed it was a blow-off excuse. About five minutes later, he came back downstairs off the elevator and walked over to me, to sign my autograph then. He signed it, then went back up to his room. So basically he came back down to the lobby to sign my autograph, then went back up to his room. Awesome.)