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live signing experiences
craig44
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Was thinking it would be fun to talk about our live signing experiences. Who have you met? Who did you have great experiences with, who were the jerks??
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The Jerks: #1 Mays(that is well known), Ted Williams, Lasorda(this was more recent)
Wont say jerks but not a great vibe either: Seaver, Mantle, Jackson, Dimaggio(kind of hot and cold - have to admit nice sometimes)
Very Nice: Brock, Koufax, Gooden, Yogi, Feller, Banks, Kiner, Rizzuto, Duke Snider
Prob the kindest nicest man out there goes to - Stan Musial
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I gave Kevan Barlow a hundred dollar bill to sign at an event in Macy's and said that no matter what it would be worth a $100.00. He laughed and signed an 8x10.
After we played poker together,Chris Moneymaker signed a paper with his face on it back when he was famous. He was so drunk I thought he would throw up any second!
During a card show I went to an out of the way bathroom and stood in between Frank Robinson and Goose Gossage as we all peed!
I didn't have a bad experience with mays, he was just very aloof and distant the day I met him. Seaver also was not a talkative guy. Those are my only "bad" experiences.
Some of the bad Mays experiences I have witnessed is him signing an item upside down, not on sweet spot of a ball, multisigned items in a different color sharpie than all the others, signing close to or almost on top of another sig
It goes on and on
At the Brewers fanfest this year my buddy got him, and while he was signing asked if he was still friends with Norm McDonald. Uecker said "Not since he ripped me on the Late Show" (The story was also told on Howard Stern, and if you haven't seen it, it's pretty much a must watch: ***NSFW (Language)***
In 2008 I worked extremely hard to get a team bat signed by the Brewers through their autograph Fridays promotion and outside at the players lot. I had gotten every player (even CC!) with their number inscribed throughout the season, and now being late September I just needed Jason Kendall. He pulls into the lot, and there's only a couple people around. He signed for a few guys, then signed my bat but didn't put his number down as requested. I noticed right away and thought he didn't hear me. I asked if he'd quick inscribe his number. As he signed his last auto he denied me again saying "Don't worry, you know my number"....and he's right, because of that moment I'll never forget he wore 18.
My favorite experience was getting Pedro Martinez at Miller Park. It's a long story that I've told on this board a few times, but long story short a ton of people were watching him long toss, but nobody asked him to sign, I got up to a rail and made a request, and a few moments later he signed for me and a bunch of others.
Harmon Killebrew, Robin Roberts, Bob Feller, Fergie Jenkins, Ryan Braun, Nick Swisher, Eric Chavez, Paul Molitor, and Robin Yount were all extremely pleasant when I got them.
Finally, this one was pretty funny in the moment: when we went to Cooperstown my buddy and I both got Bob Gibson. I got him first on a ball. My buddy was fumbling through the stuff he had with him to get signed. I joked to my buddy for not being prepared and my buddy replied while looking at Gibson, "You're not even pitching and I'm intimidated!" the staff, the people behind us, and even Bob had a good laugh.
During a card show I went to an out of the way bathroom and stood in between Frank Robinson and Goose Gossage as we all peed!
Greatest experience ever!
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Best experience was Raider great Lester Hayes. Super friendly - got up from the table and chatted for a minute or two.
Worst was Willie Mays. Like others, he never looked up, never acknowledged anyone. This was about 25 years ago.
I have seen tons of players back in the 80's at signings and at the HOF every year. Long time ago so hard to recall many but I can tell you some of them that stand out:
The Jerks: #1 Mays(that is well known), Ted Williams, Lasorda(this was more recent)
Wont say jerks but not a great vibe either: Seaver, Mantle, Jackson, Dimaggio(kind of hot and cold - have to admit nice sometimes)
Very Nice: Brock, Koufax, Gooden, Yogi, Feller, Banks, Kiner, Rizzuto, Duke Snider
Prob the kindest nicest man out there goes to - Stan Musial
I like this type of breakdown by category.
Like many on this board, I've experienced more signings than I can keep track of.
Time for some hockey:
I'll put in my vote for nicest guy being Aaron Downey, and a vote for Robert Lang for being the rudest db to his fans that I've seen.
For the most part it was as expected. The major superstars you had to be completely professional and the interactions could be a pain in the you know what. It was interesting that the guys making the most always had the most demands. I had one guy that was a younger semi-star player however that instead of a limo he wanted me to give him and his wife a lift in my car and just wanted for dinner after he always requested a 6 pack and Mexican food and always made sure I joined them. Many of the younger players were just like me and my friend so we all got along well and became pretty friendly. The old timers were always my favorites. There was one HoF player that always stressed me the hell out. He had like 7 girlfriends and a wife to boot and it was pretty much my job to keep all of them separated while he was signing. Just about every occasion he had a signing he would have multiple side girls show up.
The most humorous aspect to doing this job was how many incredibly beautiful girls would approach me and my friend basically in obvious attempt to try to get to the players. It's incredible how charming, funny and interesting I became when these women wanted something from me.
As a child my parents would take me to Wrigley Field about four times a year and I would always take a baseball with me to get signed. The theory was that players were more likely to sign a ball than a scrap piece of paper. The year was about 1973 and the Reds were in town to play the Cubs on an overcast summer day. Being a ten year old I didn't care what autograph I got but I knew Johnny Bench was pretty special as he was on all the covers of the baseball magazines I would read all the time. I was camped out right next to the visitors dugout closest to home plate and the Reds players would filter by but rarely signed. A group was gathering behind me as Johnny Bench was in the cage and would be leaving the field right by where I was standing. I do remember looking behind me and saw what had to be thirty people crowded in as the crushed me against Wrigley's brick wall.
Bench took his last cuts in the cage and headed right towards the group I was part of. I remember he looked right at me and in the most pleasant voice I could muster I said "Mr. Bench can I please have your autograph?" I was sure he did not hear me as the crowd was also trying to get his attention and no doubt drowned my ten year old voice out. Bench walked up to the group, grabbed my baseball and ball point pen and placed a perfect signature right on the side panel of the ball, handed it back to me and walked into the dugout. Instantly I was no longer a part of the group trying to get autographs but because the focal point of the group. I felt congratulatory back slaps and heard a few awesomes sprinkled in while one old woman wanted to actually see the autograph. I stupidly handed her my prized possession for her to look at and she stared in amazement the ink that was on the baseball. Thankfully, she handed it back and I ran back to my parents to show them when I had just received. To this day I remember this event like it was yesterday and vow that someday I will actually pay to get a Bench autograph so that I can meet him and relay to him this story. I have heard he can be a bit of a *****ly person so he may not really care that he made a ten year old's day but it will be worth it to see his reaction.
My other story is one in which I was a local promoter of card shows where we would always bring in a retired athlete to sign free autographs. I had caught wind that Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner lived within an hours drive of where our show would be so I called him to arrange his appearance at our show. The day of the event rolled around and about 45 minutes before he was due to arrive I had someone tell me an older guy is looking for me. I found the gentleman and introduced myself and he smiled and told me that he was my autograph guest for the day. Johnny Lattner was a slight, unassuming man that nobody would ever guess that he played at the highest level of college and pro ball let alone with the Heisman. I stood and talked with him for a few minutes and realized he was pushing a K-Mart shopping cart. I looked down in the cart and I believe my heart stopped because right there, staring back at me was his Heisman Trophy. I remember gasping when I saw the trophy and I looked at him in amazement when he said he wanted to bring it so fans could actually see and touch it. Needless to say the trophy might have been a bigger hit than Johnny himself.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
By the way, I just recently met a guy who had probably the best job we could ever dream of. Originally from Cooperstown, he "volunteered" every year at the Otesaga Hotel to work for the HOF during Induction Weekend. His job? The HOF gave him 6 dozen baseballs, and he had to get autographs from every HOFer in attendance each year. The Hall then gives each HOFer a ball as a keepsake. They gave him credentials and he set up a table in the hotel. I asked him if he was able to keep a ball every year, and he said yes. I asked him if he was able to ask for autographs of the HOFers and he said "Oh yeah.....definitely". Sounds like he absolutely racked.
He said his last year doing so was 1994, as the HOF Administration changed. I asked him if he missed it, and he said that he did, but it was just getting really too hard to deal with some of the players. He told me a bunch of stories, but here are two that really stick out:
He had to get 72 baseballs done. Most every HOFer would sit down and do them all at once. Tom Seaver was notorious for coming in, signing two dozen, then leaving. He would then have to track him down and try to keep track of what balls had and had not been signed.
One year he had already gotten a ton of HOFers to sign them. Willie Mays came down and told him to bring them up to his room and he would do them there. So he obliged. When he got there, Mays told them to leave them. This guy wouldnt budge, as he tried to explain they were very valuable and they couldnt leave his sight. Mays then refused to sign them. So that year (and I wish I had asked him what year it was), every HOFer had signed the ball except for Mays. I asked him if he got in trouble with the Hall, and he said that he explained it to whoever he reported to, and they just knew how Mays was so it wasnt a big deal.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.