Show your most sentimental item

[Lordstan]

Let's see the item that has the most sentimental value to you personally.

Being that our interest in sports usually starts as some sort of personal experience, it stand to reason that each of us has one or two items that really make us feel something in the gut. I think with autographs it is even a more emotional experience as often the item comes from some sort of personal interaction with the signer. Often, it's not ness our most expensive or rare item, but something that perhaps only each of us values as special.

Let's share those items and the story of how you got it and why it means something to you.


I'll start with these 2 Bookbinders matchbooks signed by Warren Spahn.



The story is that in 1982, the Lehigh Valley SPorts Collectors club held a show in Bethlehem. I was 16 at the time. My father and I were asked to go to the Philly airport to pick up Spahn. We did so Friday afternoon. He appeared at the show most of Saturday and was awesome to everyone.

That night, in a spur of the moment decision, he wanted to go to a nice dinner in Philadelphia at Bookbinders Restaurant. At the time, it was one of Philly's premier spots. I was chosen to go with Saphn. Al Wexler and Dale Diebert, both of whom were involved in running the show, also accompanied him that night.

Well, as you can imagine, Saturday night at a top restaurant in a big city is near impossible to get a table at without a reservation, but we went anyway. As, we parked and walked in, the 3 of us were talking about how difficult it might be to get a table. Spahn said "Don't worry. I'll take care of it." We opened the door and walked in. As soon as the maitre'D saw him, he shouted across the waiting area. "Mr Spahn! How are you? It's great to see you again. It has been such a long time since we have seen you. Let me get you a table" Spahn proceeded to call him by name, which I don't remember now, exchanged greetings and chatted with him about how he hasn't been in the area in a while, etc. I saw the staff bringing out a table from the back and setting it up in the middle of the room. We were then led to that table where we sat and ate. I remember seeing all the people in the waiting area with looks that included surprise, shock, disbelief, anger, and envy. Not sure if they were because we walked in with Warren Spahn or because we skipped in front of everyone waiting, and it was jam packed.

He was one of the nicest men I ever met. He spoke with us as equals, not as 2 schlubs and a kid that some might have. He told stories of baseball and his life for 2-3hrs that we were there. It was an AWESOME night. I grabbed these 2 matchbooks on the way out which he signed for me. What a great memory.

OK who is next?

[tazdmb]

Shared on here back in 2012:

Al Lopez, since I was a big HOF IP collector and he never did shows, I wrote to him in 1996 asking if I could come to his house (flying in from MI to Orlando on holiday) and get an autograph. He wrote me back saying that when I come to Tampa, stop by and he would sign 1 (underlined) autograph-and did not sign the letter. Finding his house (in the days before mapquest/GPS) was no easy task. We get to his house only to find out he wasn't home. I was devastated and left a note in the mailbox (only to find the keys to his home inside, no I did not steal them). Went to dinner and went back for one last try. Sure enough, he answered the door! He couldn't have been more gracious and laughed that someone came from Michigan for his autograph. He wished us well and signed my most cherished baseball.

[packs]

Here's mine:



I got this ball signed by Sandy Koufax at Dodgertown in Arizona during spring training 2015. My dad and I have been going to spring training together for a really long time now and every year we went to Dodgertown in Vero to haunt Sandy Koufax. We'd always heard he was known to show up unannounced every now and then and blend in while he was there but we never caught sight of him. But in 2015 after the Dodgers moved to Arizona the Dodgers I guess paid Koufax to come to spring training. The first day we were there we snagged him. And this was before he started doing his line up. I'll never forget the look on my dad's face.

I have other Koufax balls but I'll always have this one.

[niembre]

It's pretty obvious what my most sentimental autograph is. I always hoped to get this card signed. My wife also use to make fun of me asking why I carried it in my wallet all the time. All I could say is that I never know when I might run into Sandberg and this would be a great way to show how much of a die hard fan I am of his. The fact that I was able to share it with her and my 8 year old daughter made it even more special.

[packs]

This is another one for me. It too has its origins at spring training. Way back in 2002 me and my dad were at Yankees camp in Tampa and it just happened to be media day. We were on a railing outside the stadium that no longer exists when in succession Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera all walk past us. I was able to get all four of them on this baseball.

Nearly 15 years later at the National in Atlantic City I was finally able to add Pettitte to complete the Core Four.

[mattjc1983]

Great thread, I look forward to contributing when I get home


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[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by niembre

It's pretty obvious what my most sentimental autograph is. I always hoped to get this card signed. My wife also use to make fun of me asking why I carried it in my wallet all the time. All I could say is that I never know when I might run into Sandberg and this would be a great way to show how much of a die hard fan I am of his. The fact that I was able to share it with her and my 8 year old daughter made it even more special.

all are awesome, but this one is especially awesome! Congrats!

[daves_resale_shop]

Excellent thread Mark!

[bbcard1]

I always get a handful of autos when I go to Spring Training with my son. I don't really hustle to get them and I'm not aggressive, probably the best I ever got was Trevor Story. I am shocked at the number of Double A-bound guys with a future in real estate sales who will not sign autos for fans, but I appreciate the ones who do.

[thenavarro]

Circa 93/94. I met Ali several times over the years but this was my favorite.

[mrmopar]

I guess my most sentimental would be the one and only Steve Garvey autograph that I have obtained in person. However, even though I was finally able to meet my favorite player after a devastating near miss in Southern California 21 years earlier, I was in a bad spot and didn't have anything for him to sign. It was at the 2001 Seattle All Star Fan Fest. All of my baseball stuff was in storage at the time and I didn't have time to dig anything out. I think Garvey may have been announced later than other signers, which is why I probably didn't have anything on stand-by either. Shops were getting harder to find in the area then and Garvey wasn't a highly stocked commodity in the area anyway.

In the end, I went with the only solution I could come up with and printed a copy of my computer screen saver at the time, the 1975 Dodgers Yearbook. It was done on regular paper and it wasn't the greatest quality, but at least it was something other than a scrap of paper or a 3x5 card.

Honestly, the signature piece itself is not all that special and I would gladly have replaced it with something, ANYTHING, better to sign in a heartbeat if I could have, but the experience that went with it makes the signature a little more special. I still wish that I had better access to my stuff at that time though, then I would have picked something very unique and I would have had a much better piece to wax nostalgic about.

[mcgwirecom]

I like this thread.

This is one of my sentimental items. I bought a lot of tickets and stubs a long time ago on Ebay, maybe in the 90's. This one was in the lot. A full ticket from October 1st, 1950. The White Sox played a final day of the season double header against the St. Louis Browns. After researching it I found that Gus Zernial hit a homer in the first game and 3 in the second game. This is the AL record for homers in a double header. (NL record is 5 by Musial and Colbert). Anyway I held onto it for a long time not for any particular reason. I told my father about the ticket and he mentioned how he like "Ozark Ike" when he played in Philly.

Then around 2010 The Philadelphia A's Society, which was located in my hometown, held an autograph show with a lot of the old A's. I saw that Gus Zernial would be there so I took the stub over to be signed. There were not too many people there at the time and he talked to me for a good while, remembering the particualr game and other stories from his playing days. I knew he was pretty old at the time so I was listening intently, feeling like maybe I may be the last guy who got to talk baseball with him. Well thats basically true. My father died shortly after as did Gus. So this just reminds me of both of them.

[mattjc1983]

The answer is easy for me, but requires a little context. Kurt Warner was born in Iowa and played college football at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), graduating in 1993. He then played a couple seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena League after a couple unsuccessful years of trying to get picked up in the NFL (although he was invited to the Packers training camp in 1994).

I was an Iowa kid, and even spent my teen years in the city of Cedar Falls where UNI is located. However, given that UNI is FBS and the smallest of the 3 state schools, and Kurt only started his senior year, and Arena League doesn't have a huge following, and I was just a kid at the time, I basically had no idea who the guy was before he shot to stardom in the 1999 NFL season.

Sometime between 1996 and 1998, the Cedar Falls mall hosted an autograph signing. The guest list will seem very random to non-Iowans: Don Denkinger, Terry Steinbach, and Kurt Warner. Don Denkinger was presumably there because he's a Cedar Falls native. Terry Steinbach was there because there was (at least at the time) some random painting featuring Denkinger and Steinbach, and someone had made it into a mass produced poster that the two were signing that day. I have no idea why Warner was throw into the mix, but he was there signing Barnstormers posters.

I have a terrible memory now, and can't remember meeting any of the 3 guys, but I do know that being a baseball-first kid, I was only there to get the Denkinger/Steinbach poster signed. Like I said, I had no idea who Kurt Warner even was, and actually folded the poster he signed into quarters and put it in the back of my closet after the signing (I was probably only 12-14 at the time and didn't really understand how to properly handle an autograph). I hung the Denkinger/Steinbach poster on my wall.

Fast forward 2-3 years, Dick Vermeil is giving an emotional press conference after Trent Green's pre-season injury, with everyone basically thinking the Ram's season is over. 5-6 months later, Kurt Warner is league and Super Bowl MVP, and the Hy-Vee grocery store I'm working at at the time has signs everywhere advertising that apparently Warner worked there on night shift between college and the NFL. We also sold "Warner's Crunchtime," a very short-lived cereal that someone created to take advantage of the hype

Anyways, I can't remember when exactly it was during that 1999 season that it occurred to me that this guy who was tearing up the NFL and making the cover of Sports Illustrated was the complete no-namer (at least to me) that had signed the folded poster in my closet. I pulled it out, lovingly admired it, and then carefully rolled it and placed it in a tube, and eventually had it framed as it is today.

I absolutely love it, both the fact that it's a Barnstormers poster and the personalized inscription he wrote that he hoped I "grow up to be a Stormer!" The fact that the poster has foldmarks both length and width-wise actually makes the poster even more special to me, because it reminds me that 1) I got it at not only a more innocent time in my life but also a time when I had the collecting mentality of a kid; it never even occurred to me that the poster would ever have value, and 2) it reminds me to never count people out. As for the Denkinger/Steinbach poster, I'm not even sure I have it anymore.

I've attached a picture of the signed poster, a Sports Illustrated from that season, and a box of Warner's Crunchtime that I bought while I was working at Hy-Vee


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[MacDice]

For me it was going through a bucket of bp balls that my dad used to throw to me and finding a ball he for some reason signed. It was faded but I was able to trace over it to make it stand out. As he currently lays in a hospital bed waiting to die it is my most sentimental item

[frankbmd]

Previously told, but too lazy to find it, is my sentimental journey.

In 1957, as a nine year old overweight kid who could hit but not run, my passion for baseball was enhanced by going to an elementary school about a half a mile from Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida where the Phillies played their spring training games. After school I would ride my bicycle to the games armed with only a cheap ball point pen and this



After the fourth inning, admission to the games was free. This was not a problem though, because it was usually the fifth inning by the time I arrived. I soon learned that the visiting teams dressing room was under the stands on the third base side and that the team bus was parked close to the gate where the players left after the game. Soliciting autographs between the gate and the bus (less than 50 feet) became the post game norm.

When the Yankees came to town, they brought a B team without Mantle that day, but I was able to get this one



However the day the Dodgers came from Vero provides the reason for this post. They brought their A team with all the big guns. My anticipation of the post game autograph hunt reached a fever pitch as the game progressed. Even the Dodger bus was special in 1957.

After the game I assumed my post at the gate where they would exit to the bus. I was sincerely crestfallen when every single Dodger turned me down. Not a single Dodger autograph in my book. I was more despondent than the kid in the old Mean Joe Greene Coca Cola commercial that wouldn't be made for nearly twenty years.

I just stood there by the bus in disbelief. The bus didn't leave. Then a window opened and I heard "Kid, let me see your book". To this day I don't know who it was, but I reluctantly handed my treasured book and pen up to the window and waited. The window closed.

It seemed like an eternity and I soon became convinced that the bus would pull out and leave with my book. The door to the bus was closed as well, but still the bus didn't move. I was about to leave and accept my loss when the same window opened again and my autograph book was returned.

I thumbed through it quickly and learned that about 20 of those smug bastards, who previously turned me down in person moments before, had now signed the book. Even Joe Pignatano had signed



Now fast forward forty plus years, long after I realized that my dear mother had admitted to disposing of all my baseball cards from the fifties, I was visiting my parents in their condo near Clearwater. They had a storage unit next to where their car was parked. One day I asked them what was in it. They didn't know. I asked for the key hoping to find a gem mint Mantle RC.

I opened the door and the stench was sickening. Boxes that had been packed for decades were stacked. I went through them all and alas not a single baseball card was found, but my eyes lit up when I found my old friend



I thumbed through the pages, largely intact, until I came to a section where the Dodgers had signed, Duke Snider, Carl Furillo, Clem Labine, Don Newcombe and Roger Craig, all there present and accounted for.

And then I turned one more page and saw this



As an adult I had never been an autograph guy, but recognizing Walter Alston was not difficult. The other one I didn't recognize immediately, but I soon learned it was very special. Remember, this was the spring of 1957, months before an accident that would render this autograph impossible to obtain. I had been reunited with my buddy, Roy Campanella, nearly fifty years after that bus window opened.

[SAllen2556]

Wow. What great stories.

I was 11 in 1977 when my dad got to go to a Tiger party and came home with a bunch of autographs. Even at 11 I just thought it was a really cool thing for the manager (Ralph Houk) of the Tigers to write to a kid even though I knew I was probably not a "future Tiger". Plus, there's just something really sentimental about your dad getting you an autograph isn't there?

image.jpg

[GoCubsGo32]

Some very cool stories on here!

Mine goes back to 2011:

My girlfriend got me tickets to see Paul McCartney for his Cincinnati show.I had a postcard already signed by Ringo Starr himself and when I realize my birthday gift...I knew I had to try to get Sir Paul McCartney autograph on it as well. I didn't have my hopes up since I knew the chances were very small...

We got to the ballpark early because, I had never seen Cincinnati and wanted to spend some time around the city before the show.We went to the ballpark early to say hi to a friend and as we were leaving to walk downtown. We saw Paul's SUV drive by and go into a parking garage.
*Me pointing at Paul's arrival!*


Then the stadium garage door was down about 80%....



and all of a sudden the garage door reopens up and BOOM!


*My big head*



Paul McCartney comes out to signed for me and my girlfriend!! There was less than 10 other people around besides me and my girlfriend.Those other people just so happen to be walking the street at the right time.His guard said,"You are lucky..he's ahead of schedule." Paul came up to me saw my hand was shaking with the postcard.Look at me and said,"You are shakin' my dear boy!"(I was sooo anxious and nervous!) .He wanted to make the autograph nice and I didn't have anything hard to sign the postcard against...sooo Paul grabbed my hand, to make sure it was underneath the postcard to make it easier to sign...which he took his time to give me his best signature! I told him how much I appreciated him and how he influence my life.He look at me and said,"No problem man!" smile and gave me a wink. I was soooo excited and in disbielf...I was shaking for about 20 mins after I met him.





He came out only to sign for me and my gf..then quickly went back into the ballpark garage and closed the door...as the mob of people were coming.

I still can't believe the timing of everything and how it just seemed meant to be... I'll never forget the day that my I met my idol and how nice he was to me.

(a quick pic...still need to take a better pic)

[John V]

Last year, my 10 year old grandson had the honor of being a batboy for a South Carolina Gamecocks game. I asked him to autograph my ticket, so now it is on display in my memorabilia cabinet. The umpire in the photo is seen teasing him by not releasing the bat when he went to retrieve it.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by thenavarro

Circa 93/94. I met Ali several times over the years but this was my favorite.

Very nice, Mike.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by GoCubsGo32

Some very cool stories on here!

Mine goes back to 2011:

My girlfriend got me tickets to see Paul McCartney for his Cincinnati show.I had a postcard already signed by Ringo Starr himself and when I realize my birthday gift...I knew I had to try to get Sir Paul McCartney autograph on it as well. I didn't have my hopes up since I knew the chances were very small...

We got to the ballpark early because, I had never seen Cincinnati and wanted to spend some time around the city before the show.We went to the ballpark early to say hi to a friend and as we were leaving to walk downtown. We saw Paul's SUV drive by and go into a parking garage.
*Me pointing at Paul's arrival!*


Then the stadium garage door was down about 80%....



and all of a sudden the garage door reopens up and BOOM!


*My big head*



Paul McCartney comes out to signed for me and my girlfriend!! There was less than 10 other people around besides me and my girlfriend.Those other people just so happen to be walking the street at the right time.His guard said,"You are lucky..he's ahead of schedule." Paul came up to me saw my hand was shaking with the postcard.Look at me and said,"You are shakin' my dear boy!"(I was sooo anxious and nervous!) .He wanted to make the autograph nice and I didn't have anything hard to sign the postcard against...sooo Paul grabbed my hand, to make sure it was underneath the postcard to make it easier to sign...which he took his time to give me his best signature! I told him how much I appreciated him and how he influence my life.He look at me and said,"No problem man!" smile and gave me a wink. I was soooo excited and in disbielf...I was shaking for about 20 mins after I met him.





He came out only to sign for me and my gf..then quickly went back into the ballpark garage and closed the door...as the mob of people were coming.

I still can't believe the timing of everything and how it just seemed meant to be... I'll never forget the day that my I met my idol and how nice he was to me.

(a quick pic...still need to take a better pic)

One heckuva memory, Gary.

[tazdmb]

Gary wins this thread.

[mcgwirecom]

Originally Posted by MacDice

For me it was going through a bucket of bp balls that my dad used to throw to me and finding a ball he for some reason signed. It was faded but I was able to trace over it to make it stand out. As he currently lays in a hospital bed waiting to die it is my most sentimental item

Thats a good one! I actually had the forsight to get my dad to sign a baseball a few years before he died. He was a very good high school player leading the league in batting. After he died I signed it and gave it to my nephew who is the only male heir in the family.

[T20Brew]

Originally Posted by tazdmb

Gary wins this thread.

Agreed. Gary wins.
So awesome.

[doug.goodman]

Here is mine:

[Lordstan]

Great stories all.
It's all about what is personal to you.

[Huck]

Good stories. I enjoyed reading each one.