In person autograph stories.
craig44
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Thought it would be interesting if we shared some in person autograph experiences, both good and bad. I have met quite a few players over the years. Most have been great. Robin yount spent quite a while chatting about baseball and motorcycles. Eddie Murray talked about the toughest pitchers he ever faced (Doyle Alexander) and frank thomas also took time to chat. Frank Robinson however, is a total jerk unless you are paying. Even then he didn't say anything. He has just ignored me while looking down his nose at me multiple times. What are some of your experiences?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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Jeff Kent --jerk
Bagwell--First Class all the way...signed a ton
Biggio--Friendly but sometimes didn't sign
Billy Wagner--Talkative and signed tons
Lance Berkman--Signed and was friendly
Chipper--First Class and signed a ton
Smoltz--Good dude and signed readily
Glavine--Signed regularly
Joe Torre---Didn't say much but signed a ton
Jason Giambi--signed everytime I saw him
Mel Stottlemeyer--the scapegoat when no one else was signing. He signed a bunch.
Tino Martinez---Signed a ton when he played for Rays.
Johnny Damon--Super nice guy and great signer
Jim Thome--Great guy and good signer
Travis Hafner--Nice, friendly, talkative, and good signer but always wanted to get back in the cage for extra AB's
Trot Nixon--Easy going, signed a ton, stayed after the game to sign more
Cliff Lee--Signed and talked
Ryan Howard--Signed a ton prior to his Rookie year
Bob Feller--What needs to be said
Ken Griffey, Jr.---Would not sign for adults but did sign for every kid nearby. Scum, local dealers would "hire" kids to get autos.
Josh Hamilton--Caught him on his comeback (Reds)...didn't recognize him at first. Signed and chatted for a good while.
George Brett--Sat behind him during a game and made a point not to bother him during the game. Fans would come up between innings and ask for autos and he obliged. I did ask him once the game was over and he signed but did not say a word or look my way.
Tom Lasorda--sat behind home plate during Dodgers/Indians match up. He would sign freely between innings.
Pedro Martinez signed one ball during a rain cancelled spring training game and it was for me.
Tons more that may come to mind later. These were the ones that stuck out the most. Did I mention that Kent was a JERK?
I'll never forget how pleasant John Lackey was when I met him. Kind of defies his on field demeanor. Mark Grace will keep you laughing. Also met Zack Greinke so long ago, when he was a rail thin kid on K.C. Must have caught him on a good day. From throughout the years, these are just a few which stand out.
Best meet and greet ever? Well, if you ever had a chance to get close enough to Stan Musial, you'd understand that there was really no one else remotely like him.
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
adults or kids. At least not the times I saw him.
Edited to add: The only autos I ever got are in order: Johnny Unitas, Ordell Braase (Colts), Rick Volk (Colts), Ted Williams, Carl Yaz, Eric Davis, Alan Trammell, Ivan Rodriquez and Kirby Puckett. Might have missed one or two. All were super nice.
Vladislav Tretiak - Signing along with Ed Belfour. Tretiak started a conversation with me asking if I play hockey, with who and what position.
Vladimir Konstantinov - Just a normal signing except it was right before his terrible, like-altering accident.
Jagr - I thanked him and he didn't respond. He shook my hand, but wouldn't look at me, lol.
Grant Fuhr - First NHL player I met.
Gord Broseker - NHL linesman, family friend, always got me game used pucks and autos.
Joe Montana - Signed and inscribed a photo I brought to him to my brother-in-law for free since he is in the Air Force.
Mike Bossy - I used to fly to Michigan and play high school ice hockey with Southgate Anderson. When I found out he was going to be at a local show I rearranged my plane ticket to stay a couple days extra and meet him. This was around 1995 and he let me come around the table and sit next to him for a photo. Met him a second time last year at Chantilly.
Chuck Rayner - Like most older hockey players, was a great signer. I met him around 1995.
Sergei Fedorov - Met him in a mall and he had on a fly pair of amber colored sunglasses inside. So cool, lol.
Donald Trump - Recently had him sign a hat on the campaign trail in Richmond.
Well, we gave up and went to Duke's hotel. Somehow we found out what floor they were on and even Grant Hill's room number, after much debate, we said screw it and knocked.
He opened the door and he, Chris Collins, Cherokee Parks, Lang and a few others were playing golf on the Sega Genesis. They invited us in and let us play with them and all signed our beware of the dog sign. To this day only Johnny Cueto compares to those guys. What was so painful is I am UK fan so they had just broke my heart two years earlier. To find out they were so kind was just surreal. In this business I have met many of athletes but Grant and those guys were the nicest.
Robert
email bcmiller7@comcast.net
Robert
email bcmiller7@comcast.net
My best was Lester Hayes. I got him at a show when I was a chubby 10 year-old. Lester gets up from the table and pats me on the shoulder and says I would make a good lineman (played one year in high school and hated it, BTW). Very friendly guy.
My worst echoes one of the experiences above - Willie Mays. Never looked up to acknowledge anyone. Very disappointing.
and we were out walking around the course before most of the big name golfers had started their round.
I spot Annika Sorenstam coming towards us on her way to the practice range, so I quickly pull my program out of my pocket
and hand it to her asking for her auto, and luckily she's carrying a sharpie, because I didn't have anything to write with.
She signed it while she was walking, and when she handed it back there was like 20-25 people wanting her auto.
I always thought it was cool that I got her auto right before she started her round in a US Open, the most prestigious event on tour.
The two grumpiest I've been around were, as mentioned before, Willie Mays and Gaylord Perry. Both acted as if it was an inconvenience though both were being paid to be available for autographs.
www.questfortherookiecup.com
He was very nice, but would only sign one per person
Best signers for me: tony Gwynn, Tim Raines, don sutton, Brett butler, Ernie banks,
Nolan Ryan, duke snider, Walter Payton
Not friendly list: ken Griffey sr., bob Gibson, frank Robinson, willie mays, Keith Hernandez,
Will Clark, George Brett, gene mauch, George Hendricks, John Denny, Cedric benson, Chester Taylor, tommy Harris,
Years back the Brewers had "Autograph Fridays," where players would sign before games. I always brought 4-5 balls to get guys I wanted. They were playing the Mets and Pedro was pitching the next day. After getting balls signed from some of the Brewers I went over to watch Petey throwing long toss in the outfield.
He was throwing for a bit, and a lot of people were standing along the rail just watching him. After a few minutes I yelled "Pedro, do you have time to sign a few?" Initially I thought he just ignored my question as he threw a few more times, then turned around and replied "Who has a pen?!" Someone threw him one, and from there it was on. He was pointing to people and they were throwing balls to him about 10-15 yards away, he'd sign em and throw em back.
After signing for about 5 minutes, a guy next to me said to me "I hope he gets to you, no one said anything to him before you came up, you started all this! If he points near us, you toss your ball first" Soon enough he did point to me. And this is where it became intense. I was literally about to play catch with my favorite pitcher of all time. The throw there was right to him. That was the easy part. Now, I gotta catch the dang thing, without smudging it from 30-40 feet away, too?! But I did! And the ball turned out perfect. Sweet spotted, he put 45 on it, and I couldn't be happier. I spent the first three innings of the game texting my friends telling em about it. Haha.
That's among my favorite stories to tell to my buddies after we've had a few beverages.
I've gotten many many autos in person and the biggest thrill was when I got my favorite pitcher ever, Pedro Martinez.
Years back the Brewers had "Autograph Fridays," where players would sign before games. I always brought 4-5 balls to get guys I wanted. They were playing the Mets and Pedro was pitching the next day. After getting balls signed from some of the Brewers I went over to watch Petey throwing long toss in the outfield.
He was throwing for a bit, and a lot of people were standing along the rail just watching him. After a few minutes I yelled "Pedro, do you have time to sign a few?" Initially I thought he just ignored my question as he threw a few more times, then turned around and replied "Who has a pen?!" Someone threw him one, and from there it was on. He was pointing to people and they were throwing balls to him about 10-15 yards away, he'd sign em and throw em back.
After signing for about 5 minutes, a guy next to me said to me "I hope he gets to you, no one said anything to him before you came up, you started all this! If he points near us, you toss your ball first" Soon enough he did point to me. And this is where it became intense. I was literally about to play catch with my favorite pitcher of all time. The throw there was right to him. That was the easy part. Now, I gotta catch the dang thing, without smudging it from 30-40 feet away, too?! But I did! And the ball turned out perfect. Sweet spotted, he put 45 on it, and I couldn't be happier. I spent the first three innings of the game texting my friends telling em about it. Haha.
That's among my favorite stories to tell to my buddies after we've had a few beverages.
Cool story!
I typed all this last night and posted it earlier but the paragraphs all ran in one sentence
1979 My mother sent me off to Ted Williams baseball camp for the 3 week session. Ted always visited the campers that came for the 3 week sessions so I got to meet him then and again in 1980 when my mom sent me again. He was great and I still have one of the balls I got signed.
In 78 or 79 my twin cousins got jobs as clubhouse attendants for the Red Sox. One of them still works for them. Anytime I could make it in to a game, after the 3rd inning, they weren't really doing anything so I could knock on the clubhouse door, ask for one of them and then I was allowed in. Met quite a few of the players back then. Yaz and Rice stick out as the coolest. My first meeting of Yaz was him sitting in a director's chair in front of his locker and smoking a cigarette. I'll never forget that one. I would get to help out a bit, eat double bubble and help my cousins make McDonald's runs for the players.Those visits went on for a few years until life got in the way and I got shipped off to live with my brother when my mom passed away. He and his wife were in the Air Force and we got sent to Madrid Spain. While there, my sports interests waned mostly due to a lack of sports
.
So music came along...
In 1984, while in Madrid, I saw a buddy of mine with a backstage pass for the Saxon concert we were at. He told me his secret and it was to show up at one of the 3 very nice hotels in Madrid and the bands would be in one of them or go down to the arena and since we spoke English it was pretty easy to get in. Next concert was Iron Maiden with Accept. We showed up in the morning outside the bull fighting arena they would be playing in and while wondering what to do next, the back gate opened, the tour manager walked out and asked if we were waiting for backstage pass. We couldn't believe it and of course said yes. He invited us in, we helped move some coolers, hung out all day, ate lunch and dinner with the bands and enjoyed the show. It was very surreal. They all treated us like we were friends.
Next major band to come through was The Scorpions. We just happened to walk into the hotel the morning they were checking in for a 2 night gig. We met them in the lobby and their tour manager asked us if we knew how to get to the arena they were playing at. So we hopped in the rental car with him and showed how to get to the arena and back. We were rewarded with backstage passes for both shows and as many that we wanted for our friends. We were in heaven. Came and went as we pleased for those 2 days, soundchecks, parties and a hell of a lot of fun. Even found the drummer, Herman Rarebell, a new walkman out at the air force base when he said his had died and asked if I knew where he could get one. Paid me about double what it cost and wouldn't settle for less. I recently found their tour manager on Facebook and thanked him those memories.
I had some really cool signed posters and stuff by Maiden and the Scorpions that got thrown away by a future landlord years later because he thought it was some of his son's junk in the garage of the house I was renting and watching over while it was for sale. I still have nightmares about that but at least the smaller items were in my bedroom and survived his cleanup.
Met and did similar stuff with some smaller name bands over there too - Uriah Heep, Helix, Tokyo Blade. All those guys were so ego-free in those days. We were only 16, 17 years old at the time.
At our base in 1984, Stephen Stills, Steve Walsh & Phil Ehart (Kansas) and all 4 guys from Cheap Trick stayed for 2 weeks and rehearsed in the rec center for a USO tour they were doing. They were going to be playing at various bases and aircraft carriers and came here to learn each other's songs and practice. They were all very accessible the whole time. Played a lot of pool with Bun E Carlos from Cheap Trick and got to sit in on the interviews they were doing for the base TV station as the interviewer was a friend and neighbor of mine in base housing. Every day after school, we'd walk over and hang out with them.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Two of the pitchers Mickey Mantle had the toughest time with during the early-to-mid 60s were Dean Chance and Dick Radatz.
Cheers, bro. ---Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)
A friend and I, at the age of 16, drove a few hours to watch Duke, Kansas, Marquette and Purdue play in Knoxville, TN in the NCAA tournament. We tried to get Glenn Robinson to sign a beware of the dog sign for us. That was his nickname. Over the first few days of the tournament he wouldn't even sign for kids.
Well, we gave up and went to Duke's hotel. Somehow we found out what floor they were on and even Grant Hill's room number, after much debate, we said screw it and knocked.
He opened the door and he, Chris Collins, Cherokee Parks, Lang and a few others were playing golf on the Sega Genesis. They invited us in and let us play with them and all signed our beware of the dog sign. To this day only Johnny Cueto compares to those guys. What was so painful is I am UK fan so they had just broke my heart two years earlier. To find out they were so kind was just surreal. In this business I have met many of athletes but Grant and those guys were the nicest.
Glenn Robinson signed for me midway through that season.
Aerosmith. They were taking a break from touring and heading home. I was going to be on the same flight as Aerosmith. I got my picture with Steven Tyler (he's short) at the gate (the whole band thought the baby thing was way cool), and then during the flight the band was nice enough to let people come up to first class and get autographs (there was only like 30 people total on the plane - a 767). They could not have been nicer. Was a little weird seeing a rock god (Tyler) wearing reading glasses and reading Forbes. Joe Perry had a copy of Architecture Digest. We get to Boston and it's like 1:00 AM. Terminal is deserted. They still ushered the guys into a side room and some big refrigerator sized security guard escorted each one out to a limo to go to their respective homes. Who was going to mob them, the cleaning lady??
Sports - Couple years ago was in Tampa for business. Lightning were playing the Bruins. It was Tampa's 20th anniversary and they were saluting people from the past 20 years before each game. Bruins in town, salute the founder - Phil Esposito. There is a courtyard in front of the arena (nice place BTW) where a band plays before games. During a break, the emcee brought Phil out on stage. I camped out right next to the stage and scored his autograph on my ticket as he came off. Nice guy. Looked great for 71 - could probably still skate a line in the NHL.
Topps/OPC Hockey 1966-Present base sets