DiMaggio was quiet and went about it like a job. Wore a suit, No eye contact unless you were a woman, and wouldn’t converse with you. As others have mentioned, Mantle was grumpy until he started drinking. After he had a couple drinks he was gracious and cordial. Mantle smiled and joked around with people. Both were flawed in their own ways.
Other than guys like Brooks Robinson, many of the early guys were like this. LOTS of drinking. Pretty sad lives. I met and did signings with many of them when I was working with a guy who regularly promoted shows. We also travelled to many shows to get autographs for resale like Mark mentioned. I vividly remember a show where we were at with Mantle and the promoter went around to the autograph guys begging them to buy more autos so he could cover the signing fee. This was when Mantle was $20.
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