Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

[Jenx34]

I'm not trying to excuse what he didn't do at that event. He really shouldn't have agreed to do it. That type of event is not in his comfort zone for sure. Who know's he could have had an agent agree to the deal and tell him to just show up? Still, not an excuse.

I just noticed that his body language changes when people approach him. In fact, after the 3rd day with him as I was dropping him off at his hotel, I asked him if he would be kind enough to sign two things for me, a 1962 issue of Sport Magazine and an 8 x10' of him in a Birmingham Black Barons uniform. I asked him without even getting the items out so as not to put pressure on him. He immediately started to grumble. Renee, his PR woman, said "Willie sign the stuff for him. He's been nothing but nice to you!" As soon as she said that, he relaxed, smiled and said give them to me. He signed them, shook my hand and said thank you and that he enjoyed meeting me and went on his way.

For whatever reason, something or someone has made him that way. He signs because he is knows he should, but he is not comfortable doing so. Not sure if it goes back to the days he grew up in Birmingham and its racial tensions and now inside he's perturbed that white people love him and want his autograph now that he got famous? Or if someone took advantage of him financially along the way? Or if he's bitter the players "today" make so much more than he ever did? Or something else? But in your situation, I would have been very disappointed as well.

Originally Posted by Jayworld

Chris, yes- I re-read your post, and that would explain Mays stand-offish attitude, yet it does not explain that when a promoter (in my real-life scenario, The Insurance Company The Equitable) is paying former players to show up at an old-timers game, and part of the agreement is that the players will attend a pre-game meeting at the hotel with special guests (meet, greet, sign autographs, etc.), then attend the old-timers game, then attend a post game get-together and dinner, and Mays didn't do anything but show up at the game. In other words, he took Equitable's money and did not fulfill his end of the contract. That's why my friend who worked for the Equitable said he would not be invited back.

Conversely, every other old-timer showed up at the pre-game, game, and post-game events and signed plenty of autos, posed for pics, etc. Ernie Banks was an incredible gentleman at the post-game dinner.