Wow...I had never heard of those!
I thought the title of this hinted to something else. I know a guy who use to volunteer at the Otesaga every year for Induction Weekend. The Hall would give him a few cases of baseballs, and his job was to get every HOFer to sign one. He would then give them back to the Hall, and the Hall would give one to every member as a remembrance of the weekend. He has some great, great stories to tell.
He loved the old timers, many of whom are no longer with us. Billy Herman, Pee Wee Reese, Kell, Koufax, etc. He said that Seaver use to give him fits because the Hall would give me, say 6 dozen baseballs to sign. Seaver would sign 3 cases, and would tell him he would come back later. So then this guy always had to keep track of what balls Seaver had and had not signed.
He would kind of "set up" in the hotel lobby, but Mays asked him to have them signed in his room. So this guy lugs them all up to Mays' room (keep in mind, they have already been signed by a bunch of HOFers) and Mays tells him to leave them there. The guy wouldnt leave all of these balls with Mays, and Mays threw a fit. Mays never wound up signing that year's ball.
He said he knew the 1989 class was going to be difficult, because in 1998 Dick Gordon approached him and said that Yaz probably wont sign that next year when he gets inducted. So going into that weekend, he figured Yaz was going to be a bear to work with, and that the all american guy you see on TV was going to be a pleasure; Johnny Bench. He said it couldnt have been further from the truth.
I love listening to his stories. Anyways, sorry, it wasnt related to your question, but thought I would share!
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