The Yogi Berra Experience
 

Story being told by request. However, I am putting it in a new thread.

It was May 12, 1990. I was in Atlantic City for a concert. I stopped in at a baseball card show that featured the 1961 Yankees. After getting a few, I saw Yogi and went up to him and asked him if he would personalized a photo to me Tom. He said "Sure, go get a ticket". After spending on a photo and a ticket, which was not cheap, I waited in a long line for what seemed like forever. Finally, I went up to the promoter and told him I had to leave for a concert, showed him my tickets, he put me ahead of the line. I went to Yogi with my photo and asked him to sign it "To Tom". He said "no, if he did it for me, he would have to do it for everyone." Well! Why didn't he tell me that in the first place??? With the time he spent explaining that to me, he could of easily wrote "To Tom"! What a waist of time and money. He can go shove that medal that everyone wants him to have far and deep. F..k you Yogi.

With all the stories of guys like Mays and Berra (and many others) acting like jerks at paid signings, has anyone ever seen them called out for being such idiots?

Imagine being paid to sign your name and treating your fans/customers that way...hard to understand

It might not be a good idea to suggest someone who was part of the D-Day invasion shove a medal up you know where. Just saying.

I met Yogi several times and he was always nice to me and my wife. I never asked for a personalization though so I can't comment on that. He did talk and take photos with us.

He used to sign at Yogi Berra Stadium for free, all you needed was a ticket to the New Jersey Jackals game ($8). He was always nice to me and signed just about every flat and ball. I had my girlfriend at the time ask him to put his number, he did it with a smile and a wink. I guess I should start bringing my wife to more signings lol.

I've never had any problem with Yogi, and he's always been nice although sometime a little quiet (which I chalked up to age more than anything else). The only player I've ever thought was a complete jackass was Mays, with a distant second going to Rose.

Mays
 

I was too young to register anything but here's what my father experienced.

Mays was his hero growing up. Mays and Maris. Willie did a show for my dad. When he picked him up at the airport everything was fine. They talked baseball and stats. He took him to the hotel and picked him up a few hours later. He was a completely different person. Rude, abrasive, ill tempered. It was night and day. Unfortunately, he treated the show attendees, that paid to meet him and get his autograph, like turds.

At that moment my father lost all respect for Mr. Mays and no longer valued him as an essential part of his collection.

I only had one bad show experience and it was with Willie Randolph:

My dad and I went to a White Plains show because my dad wanted to get him on a mini-helmet. It's sort of his thing and he was working on a team mini-helmet project while Randolph was a coach. When my dad got up there, Randolph refused to sign the helmet. He said "sorry partner, no helmet today" despite my dad holding a ticket for a mini-helmet, which he paid for.

So F Willie Randolph and his unearned plaque in monument park. I don't know what it is he has over the Yankees head, but it must be something for him to be tolerated like he is.

What a jerk! Did your dad get his money back?

I love threads like this, hearing about how these guys really are.

Yeah he got his money back but it was total BS. We even got them to give us our entrance and parking back because we said we only went there for the autograph. PLUS the ticket specifically said mini-helmet.

Seems like there are a lot of bad Willie Mays stories.

I've only seen Willie twice in person. In 1967 I got him at the team hotel in NY. Don't remember much.
In 2011 I believe he was at Giants spring training where you wait outsode for theplayers to walk buy. It was your usual mix of fans, nice dealers and aggressive obnoxious ones. There was a 90 year old man that had a special item he really wanted Willie on. Never saw the many before and he only wanted Willie. Mays came out. We all stepped away- even the dealers which was a miracle to give the man a chance. Willie blew him off and the man was crushed. What more can I say.

I never met Willie Mays, and from what I am reading, I am glad I never did!

Growing up, Willie Mays was my idol, but i had heard so many stories of his disdain for fans that I purposefully never took the opportunity to go meet him at shows when I had the chance. I wanted to keep the wonderful memories of my childhood fully intact and unblemished by the realities of the world. (Wow, that sounded poetic!) And I'm glad I did. A half minute of watching him angrily sign my card while never making eye contact with me would've completely wiped out a lifetime of good impressions I've had of him as a ballplayer.

From what I have read on this site, Mays would have just signed his object on the worst possible place anyway.

Another Willie is a jerk story.
At a card show in the 80's in Salem Oregon at the state fairgrounds, I was in line behind a woman in her mid 30's -40's holding a Giants program. When it was her turn to get an auto, she very nicely told Willie how she always loved and admired him and how she had seen him play many games in SF having grown up there. She said the program was from a game in 63 which she had attended, as the program was slid over to Willie she told him it would be an honor if she could please shake his hand. The woman just totally gushed fandom of Willie and that prick wouldn't even look up at her, keeping his head close to the table and eyes constantly looking down. After she left heartbroken, Willie quickly looked up to see her walking away. I felt no joy in getting my ball autographed by that detached, rude piece of crap

I need one card to complete the 1964 Topps Giant set- Clemente. That being said when I was actively collecting the set I need Mays and he would sign TTM for $100 so I decided I'd pay. Got it back signed on the back. Now I know why.

What about Tom Seaver, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio? I have not heard any good stories about them.

Unfortunately I have had several bad experiences with Willie Mays over several years at different venues , different cities, with different promoters , being an in line autograph purchaser and also getting in on the dealer signings. Granted these were from 1988-1999 but he never changed and I believe getting older made him more of a jerk.
I believe any autograph signer can have a bad day as we all can, and I have enough stories that can verify that, but Mays was always a jerk consistently. This covers me doing this for over 40 years and meeting hundreds of players in a variety of settings.
On the other hand I have seen enough players go out if their way to accommodate people also, and this includes Mantle, Williams , DiMaggio Rose, Mike Schmidt and others.

I have had nothing but good experiences with Yogi in the three or four times I have met him. On the other hand, Mays has been unpleasant, surly and rude. Sometimes it seems he goes out of his way to mess up your collectibles. To me the only person on a comparable level of obnoxiousness is Johnny Bench.

Just once I'd like to here a story about someone finally giving Mays a piece of their mind and putting him in his place for being such an asshole.

It's also funny how some athletes object to personalizing an autograph. I just sent an album cover to be autographed (hopefully) by my favorite band, and they actually make a point to personalize every piece as a way to prevent people from sending stuff in to simply resell for profit. A seller wouldn't get as much for a personalized piece, and a real fan would better appreciate an autograph made out to them.

Just to illustrate that Mays isn't rude only to fans:

One of my former managers worked in the Giants organization a few years ago. I guess each year during spring training the organization brings in some of its former greats, including Mays, for a day just to hang out with the major-league coaching staff and some of the minor-league directors, instructors, etc.

At the end of the day, all of the former players were holding court in the clubhouse, and the atmosphere was great. Lots of laughter and stories being swapped. A few of the current coaches and staff started passing around balls to have signed. My friend said that as soon as Mays saw that, he announced loudly that if anyone asked him for more than two autographs, he was leaving right then and there.

All of the current members of the Giants just kind of froze and stared at each other, not really knowing what to do.

To put it in perspective, in my years in and around professional baseball, I'd never seen or heard of one member of the fraternity treating another like that. It's just not done.

I agree totally. As I said I have had several bad experiences with Mays, and one set of memorable experiences involved over 1 year of work and travel and 100 of the Ron Lewis 500 Home Run posters ( the Yankee facade background style), and Mays trying to screw them up until my partner and I put a stop to it . Now I laugh about it but back then it just made my partner and me furious.

After reading about Mays being a very gregarious person during his playing career, it almost seems unreal to read some of the stories here. Any idea what turned him in to such a grouch?

he thinks he got screwed by the money they got back then for playing, when he would be a trillionaire today with the skills he had, and signings autographs for money is beneath him but he does it anyway because he needs the cash.

He thinks he shouldnt have to sign to make money when he was such a good ballplayer and todays guys can make multimillions of dollars per year , even a pitcher with a losing record.

so he hates it. a guy had a home plate beautifully signed by mantle and snider and he brought it to mays at the show and mays messed it up and you could tell the guy's arches were fallen when he saw it.

There is a story I saw on this board where a promoter had jumped through all sorts of hoops to bring in Mays, and minutes before the signing was to begin, Mays demanded another $2000. The promoter told Mays where he could put the $2000, and cancelled the signing.

Mays complaining about money makes no sense. He was making the big bucks while he played. Here's an easy way to put things in perspective:

In 1960 Mays made $150,000. The average median household income was $5,600.

In his final season in 1973, Mays made $165,000. The average median household income was $7,580.

Now adjust those numbers for inflation. Mays was a millionaire in his time and has absolutely nothing to complain about.

180 degree day
 

Meanwhile, in another part of the collecting world....Warren Spahn was great. Was a small show in N.C., but talked with everyone and even took off his championship ring for a fan to look at. Nice memory for me of a great HOF'er and a great guy too.

Agreed
 

Two more guys you can put on the great person list: Brooks and Duke. Out of all the players we had sign at shows, hear guys were the best. Brooks is awesome with kids and Duke took us out to dinner!! Talk about class act.

A good motto for Mays was " if there is a camera on him he is gregarious and friendly , but turn the camera off and the true bitter and mean spirited man comes out ".
Mays has always put on a good front for the media.
I guess that is where his godson Barry Bonds learned it from ....watching his godfather Willie Mays!!!

Never met Willie but the most accommodating HOFer I ever met was Stan Musial. I remember dragging my wife to a signing and she stood in line for over an hour as I waited to get my item sign and Stan made sure to thank everyone in line and shake their hands, including my wife, even though she didn't get a signature.

+1 for Stan the Man

Stan was not only great in person, but also TTM. I received a package from him with a note that stated the ball I sent him had been stolen out of the envelope and he included one of his own as a replacement. He also sent a personalized 8x10 to boot. An all around class act.

Tom Seaver was very nice to me when he was at a White Plains show. Shook my hand, asked me my name, and let me step behind the table to take a picture with him. I'll never forget that.

Ahhhh good old Ted Williams. If you were a hot girl (under the age of 25) he loved ya. If you were anything else he was Prickusis Maximus. I watched him asking all kinds of questions and gushing over some (roughly) 18 year old girl about five people ahead of me. When 13 year old me got up there with my bat he did the old Willie Mays routine of not aknowledging me. That would have been fine except he took my bat (already signed by 20+)by the handle and banged it against the table like he was (over) killing a spider. Then after he signed it, he ROLLED it to me. By some miracle it didn't get smeared.
flash forward to last month - I go to see a chiropractor who has no personality and wouldn't engage in any sort of conversation about my back issues. However if there was a pretty girl in the room, he was a whole different person. I called to tell them I wasn't coming back and when they asked why I said " I've had enough Ted Williams in my life " and hung up. I know they didn't understand but it felt great to say that :)

Brooks Robinson is a great guy.
Years ago when I used to set up at shows he was doing a show in Staten Island.
My son used to work at my table with me and in those days we would get FREE (yes, free) autographs for being a table holder. My son would get on line for the autographs. I would take his picture, with the player, when he would get to the head of the line. Brooks saw me taking a picture, he stepped away from his chair, came around to the front of the table, and said to me "take another shot to make sure you have a good one." That was such a classy thing to do and a great memory that I and my son will always have.

Remember reading many years ago, I believe it was in SCD, of an instance where a father and son were at a show getting Brooks Robinson's autograph, when the son became ill. Father and son went immediately to the parking lot to get some air, followed by Brooks, who was concerned for the young guy and wanted to be sure he was okay.

Amazing and wonderful care for others by Brooks Robinson

Tom Seaver was extremely nice to me in a non hobby situation.
My daughter was valedictorian of her high school class. A ceremony was held in the city for all the valedictorians from NYC high schools. Tom Seaver was the guest speaker.
He gave a great speech and was very cordial when I asked him to sign the program.
I also had a great non hobby contact with Ted Williams, spending an hour with him in Florida. He was wonderful. Regaling me with stories and looking at memorabilia with me and commenting about the memorabilia and the player associated with it. When he found out I was a Mets fan he commented about how he loved the batting strokes of Darryl Strawberry and Greg Jeffries.
While in Florida I spent an entire day with Monte Irvin, he is the definition of a great guy. He signed a bunch of wire photos for me and told me some wonderful stories. About a year later my son had an assignment for his journalism class, interview a famous person. I contacted Monte Irvin for my son. He graciously agreed and spent 30 minutes with my son on the phone.

I like hearing these positive stories much more than the negative ones. While the bad ones are informative, they are also like a train wreck that you want to look away from but can't.

Tom C

Since we're talking about the good guys now, I cannot say enough good things about Don Mattingly. At spring training he signed for everyone, took photos with people, spoke to people and just in general was in a great mood and happy to see fans. It made me happy to see that since he had always been my favorite player.

On the positive side, I cannot imagine anyone who has met Buck O'Neil who didn't love him. What a great, great human being. Easily my favorite IP auto.

Bert Blyleven was cool to me, too.

Tony gwynnGreat guy.

Don Newcombe and Frank Howard were both GREAT! I cannot say enough good things about both of them.

Same with Denny McLain.

I love hearing the good stories!! For me, it's going back quite a ways, but the coolest guy EVER was 'Pistol' Pete Maravich. My brothers and I went to his basketball camp in upstate NY and what an incredibly nice, awesome person he was. Something I will never forget!!

Hank Aaron was a gracious gentleman when I went to get his autograph. Engaging and friendly. His plane was late from ATL and he stayed as long as needed to get everyone who'd waited taken care of.

I can't believe that was 20 years ago...

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...size/Aaron.jpg

I wonder if Hank Aaron would of been so nice if you had asked him to personalize and inscribe.

Connie Francis said it best, "if you don't like signing autographs, become a librarian!"

Don Newcombe:

My Aunt Carolyn is a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan. She went to her first game in 1950 with her brother David. They played the Phillies. When I met Newcombe at a show, I asked him to please sign the photo "To Carolyn". He started to sign her name, but misspelled it. He ripped the photo up and threw it away and said "I will keep signing photos until I get her name right!"

Denny McLain:

I met him at a show in November, 1990. I commented how I admired his wife for standing besides him. He said "I can't afford to let her go." I also told him 61 homers in a season will be broken many times over, but no one will ever win 30 games again.

He came and left the show in a pick up truck.

Brooks Robinson
 

There have been some really nice HOFers like Killebrew, Spahn, Buck O'neal, etc., but Brooks has been the best. Every time I met him he was more than friendly, and treated me as well as my family as a long lost friend (and was sincere at that...). Gotta love Brooksie!

A friend had Killebrew for a show just before Christmas one year. Killebrew arrived dressed as Santa and his was dressed as an elf. How many players would do that?

Agree on Brooks Robinson, also found Enos Slaughter to be very nice.

As always there are always more good guys than bad guys ,but you really only hear about the bad guys. It is the nature of our hobby and unfortunately our world!
My personal great experiences out weigh the bad 100 to 1 in my collecting lifetime.

Addie Joss was a little gruff, but not nearly as surly as Pud Galvin. Man, those were the days.

Warren Spahn left something to be desired. Very few actually made a great positive memory.

Where's the darned 'like' button on this site??

Were they together at the Coaches Corner signing last week?

Kevin Maas was also very nice.

You should've been with me when I graphed the Declaration of Independence signing. Ben Franklin was surprisingly generous. On the downside, Charles Carroll insisted on adding 'of Carrolton' to everything and John Hancock always took up half the page.

Joe DiMaggio signed items for me and a number of others in a hotel lobby in 1986 when he was in DC for the Cracker Jack Old Timer's game. He was pleasant to everyone.

Frank Howard definitely the nicest former player I've ever met.

I posted this a while back but thought I would share it again. When Tacoma was the Twins AAA affiliate I played whiffle ball with Lyman Bostock in the parking lot of Cheney Stadium. I was 11 and he was very friendly and left a lasting impression. I was crushed when he was murdered.

Although it is not a baseball story it is still fun nonetheless. I took my son to an Oakland A’s spring training game about eleven years ago. During the game Mohammed Ali made a surprise appearance. When he entered the ball park you could hear a pin drop. It was surreal. The game stopped and the players applauded him.

The crowd chanted Ali, Ali! He sat a few rows away from us and an autograph line quickly formed. He signed between innings. Those in line knelt to avoid obstructing the view of others during the game. My son asked why people were kneeling. My wife smiled and told him you do that before royalty. I told my son that this was an autograph opportunity he should not miss. At that time he was painfully timid but with a bit of coaxing he stood in line by himself for two innings. When it was his turn to receive an autograph play resumed forcing him to kneel and wait. Ali looked over at him and motioned to him. My son approached Ali rather nervously. He told my son to sit next to him in a vacant seat. He then opened a bag and pulled out a large oatmeal cookie broke it in half and handed half to my son. He sat with Ali eating that cookie for a half inning. At the end of the inning Ali smiled at him and threw a quick jab his way. He then signed the autograph and thanked my son for sitting with him.

When we returned home my shy son shocked us with the announcement that he wanted to be a boxer. My wife and I cringed but he was persistent so we relented. He boxed for a few years and although he was an average boxer the sport changed him in a positive manner. He became assertive, disciplined, and extremely confident. He is in law school and has grown into a young man I am very proud of. I have to attribute some of that to boxing and his fifteen minutes with Ali.

Great story, Mike! Well told and the picture almost puts you in the moment.

Speaking of nice guys, I have never met him but have always heard Bob Feller was great at shows. Any Feller tales?

One day in Spring Training in Winter Haven my friend and I were outside the Indians minor league clubhouse. We were the only two around because the big league team was away and only the minor leaguers were there. A car pulled up to the curb and an old man popped out. He walked by and asked how we were doing, then talked about what a nice day it was for baseball. It wasn't until he walked into the clubhouse that we realized it was Feller. We just didn't expect a HOFer to drive up in a Cutlass and walk around like he wasn't anything special. He came back out a few minutes later and happily signed three or four cards for each of us. We talked for another few minutes and he wished us well and drove away.

Another instance with Feller was at a AAA game where he had been brought in to sign. Standing in line about 30 people back, and realized we were standing FOREVER. When we got to the front of the line we quickly realized what was taking so long. Feller would talk about every image on every card and photo that he was signing, telling us where the picture was taken and different facts about that season or even that day. I truly believe that he remembered every single thing that happened throughout his remarkable career. He took as much time as anyone wanted, saying he was in no rush and would stay until the lights turned off if he had to in order to accommodate everyone.

Feller was a truly first class man in every sense of the word.

My dad grew up near Cleveland and as a kid all I heard about was Bob Feller and Larry Doby. I too had a couple of really nice experiences with Feller. I never met a man who enjoyed being himself more than Bob Feller. He was a class act from a generation that knew many. Although his generation is silently fading away that man lived out loud. What a life! The man was pitching and dominating in the majors at age 17. He was toeing the rubber at Municipal Stadium when his peers were playing high school ball. If his teenage years played out in front of today's media and cable sports TV can you imagine the stir he would have caused? Just thinking of such a precocious talent makes me smile and shake my head in disbelief.

Outstanding. :D

+1 I couldn't agree more :)

The Declaration of Independence is one thing, but good luck trying to get Ben to sign a kite unless you are a middle-aged woman who would appreciate Ben's technique. The guy thinks he's Willie Mays or something. ;)

I was at a PawSox game some years ago where Johnny Pesky and Frank Malzone were signing. They were only supposed to be there for an hour or so. If you haven't been to McCoy Stadium, they have a giant spiral ramp that is about 3-4 stories tall. The line wound around that entire thing and spilled out for some distance into the parking lot below. As my luck would have it, I was almost the last person in line, and everyone was fretting that Pesky and Malzone would be gone before we got through. I found out later from talking to one of the security guards that when Pesky was told how long the line was, he just smiled and said he didn't mind. Sure enough, three hours later, when I finally got up to the top, those two were still there smiling and joking with the fans. He was 88 at the time, and his hand must have hurt like the dickens after all that signing but he never let it show.

HA!!!!!

Since this has turned into a good guy thread I thought I would share a story I just heard from a work college the other day.

His name is Glen ans was born and raised in western Mass. for ten years before his father was transferred to South Carolina. He still remained a huge Red Sox fan and when he graduated from high school in the mid 80's his parents gave him a trip to Boston which included tickets to a three game series and hotel accomidations for the duration. His favorite player was Wade Boggs who was on a tear at the time.

While during his stay at the hotel he was hanging out in the lobby waiting for his friends to meet up with him. Glen didn't know this was the same hotel Boggs was staying at during the season. Boggs walked through the lobby and was talking to the front desk person when he noticed my friend starring at him. Boggs smiled and said hello. Glen was speechless and finally stammered "Do you know who you are?"

Boggs laughed and shook his hand and said it was nice to meet him. Glen quickly told him why he was there and couldn't believe he got to meet him. Boggs asked if he wanted an autograph. He said yes but couldn't find anything to have him sign. Boggs said to wait right there, retreated to his room and quickly returned with a 83 Topps rookie card. He signed it and gave it to him.


Boggs then asked if he wanted a picture taken with him to remember the day. He said yes so Boggs asked if the front desk person wouldn't mind snapping a photo with him and "my new friend Glen".

After hearing so many horror stories of people meeting thier heroes and having them turn the moment into regret I was happy to hear such a happy and lasting encounter.

Drew

thanks for sharing that story - shows how athletes can have a substantial impact on the thoughts, beliefs and lives of the kids who follow them. it's a shame that many athletes (old and young alike) take that for granted.

Great Feller stories, Derek and Mike! Thanks for sharing.

Good one about Boggs, too, Drew.

I waited in line for 2 hours for him to sign my copy of Poor Richard's Almanac. He was a bit cranky and gratuitously added an inscription so raunchy I wouldn't post it on a family friendly forum. I won't post it here either. :D

The impact of meeting a hero is huge. Not just athletes, but entertainers as well.

+1 It's almost a year that he has been gone. Like Jr. Seau, he should still be with us and family.

Was running a baseball concession stand in smalltown indiana and someone told me they saw a guy who looked like Ali there the night before. Did not think much about it until the next day I saw a team banner from Mich that had a kid on its roster named ali. Looked in the parking lot and saw a huge motor home with plates that said "champ" . So taking a chance knocked on door and a lady answered and said it was indeed champs RV and he was napping and if I come back in a hour or so he would be glad to sign something for me. He signed a really nice baseball for me and about 20 other people. Nice guy the 2 times I met him!!! There was a teenage girl in line who had a white square purse and he drew a boxing ring and a stick figure of himsel and frazier on it with frazier laying on the ground and his eyes were xx. I remembered how cool it was to watch him draw that I hope she still has it.

WOW:eek: Ali sharing a cookie with your son and how it helped shape his life is one of the best autograph stories I have ever read. Thank you for sharing.

Oh my! Tried to get him one time after an A's game, he put his huge arm around me and said he had to get to the bus...got on the bus, must have found out they weren't leaving right away...then actually came back out off the bus and signed for everyone, but did mine first!

Huge man, huge heart.

Absolutely. There are countless stories about how generous he has been by spending time with fans. As has been stated about a couple of other players on this thread, autograph lines for Hondo move slowly because he enjoys taking his time talking with fans.

I don't do autographs often at all, I think maybe about eight total in person.

But they've all been really good. A couple were average because of the show setup or the size of the crowd. Orr, Rice, Evans.

The others have all been great

Especially Feller.
Dad took me to see him pitch a home run derby between games of a AAA doubleheader. Pretty amazing since he was a bit older, late 50's and still had a lot of speed.
During the second game he came out into the stands with a big stack of printed pictures with some career highlights on the back and started signing them. Being a bit shy I hung back and was one of the last lids in line. Got a couple pictures and a scrap of paper for dads autograph album. He asked if I played and what position. When I said I wanted to pitch but my league didn't allow pitching if you were over 12 (They went to being T ball a year or two after I became too old.) He started explaining what the pitcher in the game was doing and why apparently the guy in the game had some speed but not great even for the mid 70's so he mixed his pitches a lot. during all this kids kept coming up for more pictures but they were making paper planes out of them! I asked if that bothered him and he said "they're kids, it's what they do" I must have been there about two innings getting a lesson in pitching from one of the best before he said it was fun talking but he had to leave. That never really sunk in until I was telling someone about it maybe 20 years later.
It didn't help my pitching, which was hampered by a serious lack of raw talent, but it did very much improve my understanding of the game.

Brooks Robinson was also fantastic.

The other two really good ones were Neil Gaiman, and Chris Hadfield (Graphic novel author and Astronaut respectively)
Hadfields book signing schedule was pretty insane, having already done one about 3 hours away earlier in the day but he gave a nice talk answered questions and was really pleasant. We had a nice exchange since the two books I was getting were for my daughters and he remarked that the names didn't seem like mine. I mentioned them and that one of the great things was having made a part for the space station and being able to watch it go over with them and telling them that light was a spaceship that daddy made a piece of. Nowhere near as cool as going there, but as close as I'll likely ever get. I was surprised that after so long a day he asked what piece and when I told him he apologized for not recalling it. When I said I wasn't surprised because they had thousands of bits of equipment he just smiled and said yes we do.

Steve B

All apologies for bringing this thread back to the negative experiences, but did you tell him that the only reason you bought a ticket was because you asked him, and he specifically told you that he would personalize the photo?

Time was very tight by this time and I didn't have the opportunity to debate the issue. I did appeal to the promoter to no avail. The only thing I could do in the future was to contact the promoter of a show in advance to see if a particular signer would personalize. This save me a lot of grief later, especially with Don Drysdale, and it helped with Warren Spahn.