Let's see some pics from signings in the 80's and 90's

[RichardSimon]

A few more HOFers with my son.
Now the kid works for ESPN, co hosts an ESPN podcast, writes for the ESPN NY blog, is one of the stat gurus there, and is the in house "Mets historian" at the network. Wonder where he got his baseball interest from . And he also has thousands of twitter followers.
And he also was sitting next to me at the Robin Ventura grand slam single game .
He also was sitting next to me at Game 5 of the 2000 WS .

[mcgwirecom]

McGwire '87 and '96

[mcgwirecom]

The Hammer, Yaz, Van DerMeer and Joe D.

[Mr. Zipper]

My word... is DiMaggio actually smiling?!?

[milkit1]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

My word... is DiMaggio actually smiling?!?

yeah! and thats a killer 11 x 14 they are getting signed! very unique!

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

My word... is DiMaggio actually smiling?!?

He saw somebody picking up his restaurant check so he smiled.

[JimStinson]

Thats funny ! Joe would not even have known what a restaurant check LOOKED like if it bit him in the arse (smile), In the book they said that restaurant's actually PAID HIM to eat there. My guess is that he is smiling because he sees the item is "oversized" as is about to ask for FOUR times his normal signing fee.
Icon or no icon he was cheap. A show promoter told me that when he would book him for a show DiMaggio would insist that first class airfare be included in the deal. Then when he got his ticket Joe would exchange the ticket for coach and pocket the difference. Then when he arrived to catch his "coach" flight the airlines would always "bump" him to 1st class because he was Joe Dimaggio. Clever guy!

[mcgwirecom]

LOL, thats great. I've heard stories like that. Actually he probably was smiling because I was one of the last guys in line and he was just about done. The funny part of the story was the whole time I was in line everyone kept saying how ornery he was. Don't take a flash photo, don't ask him about Marilyn, don't say this or that, don't, don't, don't. When I got up there all I really wanted was to get a good photo with me shaking his hand. So as he was signing my ball I said, "hey Joe do you mind if I get a picture with you?" He stopped dead, looked me up and down and said, "sure come on around." The whole time I was there I saw no one even try to get in the same shot with him, let alone get to walk behind the table! I was really happy! So the resulting shot is my icon photo...

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

A few more HOFers with my son.
Now the kid works for ESPN, co hosts an ESPN podcast, writes for the ESPN NY blog, is one of the stat gurus there, and is the in house "Mets historian" at the network. Wonder where he got his baseball interest from . And he also has thousands of twitter followers.
And he also was sitting next to me at the Robin Ventura grand slam single game .
He also was sitting next to me at Game 5 of the 2000 WS .

Those pictures are PRICELESS Richard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had one of the first SX-70's Poloroid when I was a kid. I would take players pictures on the field (Dodger Stadium 1974-5) and on Sundays when they set up for autographs on every level. Many times the players would want to see them develop before their eyes. (Andy Messerschmidt and Garvey). They are all in a photo album somewhere. I have to look through them and post them sometime.

[mr2686]

I remember those autograph Sundays at Dodger stadium. You'd get in line and hope it went quick so that you could run to the next one...or bypass it if it was a coach so that you could find a player. I was so mad when I got Walt Alston and Jim Gilliam, that is until I grew up and realized they were part of the 55 Dodgers.

[jgmp123]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I remember those autograph Sundays at Dodger stadium. You'd get in line and hope it went quick so that you could run to the next one...or bypass it if it was a coach so that you could find a player. I was so mad when I got Walt Alston and Jim Gilliam, that is until I grew up and realized they were part of the 55 Dodgers.

Two very solid pieces for a collection today!

[thenavarro]

Here's a pic from my favorite signing circa 1993/1994. I've met a ton of HOF'ers in different sports over the years, celebrities in other fields, Presidents, etc, but Ali has been my favorite. I met him on a few different occasions from a couple different card shows, to bumping into him at Notre Dame a time or two. My favorite time was meeting him at this show in Dallas. While waiting to meet him, they had video monitors up playing highlights of his legendary boxing career with sound bytes. I signed up for a photo op, so that was first. When I first met him, I was kind of sad as he moved pretty slow and talked real soft, however, he was a showman when we were taking pictures, and we took a couple different poses, much different than the hurried photo ops that the promoters push you through today. One of the poses was him punching me on the chin and me looking like I was recoiling in pain, very cool. One thing I asked him was how it felt to be "The Greatest". He smiled and bent down in my ear and spoke in classic Ali, "It feels good", very neat moment for me. This is my autographed photo from that photo op:



After the photo op, we had to wait in another line to get autographs on our other items. As I approached in line, I would watch him sign and move pretty slow, but every now and then, a young kid would approach and Ali would throw out several fast shadow punches, or do a magic trick or something. Very cool and highly entertaining. I got up there to get my glove signed, and he signed it "Muhammad Ali AKA Cassius Clay" for me, and then he stood up in front of me, started leaning toward me, and he started writing on my chest. He was autographing the shirt you see me wearing in the picture above while I was wearing it (you can't see it in the pic as it wasn't signed for the photo op) very cool experience.

[toyman55]

1986 We met Ali at a signing where he did two items for me. He picked up my youngest boy and kissed him on the cheek but I didnt get the photo. Greatest of all time, what a thrill.

[Exhibitman]

Don Newcombe and me, from a day I got to spend at Dodgers Stadium with Newk.



One of the cards I had him sign, from 1955 of course:



Me and Manny Mota, same day: