Who's the earliest HOF you met in person?

ValKehl · #1 01-25-2015, 11:20 AM

I met and chatted with Harmon Killebrew at a show in VA roughly 25 years ago. I think the show was put on by Tuff Stuff founder, Ernie White, whom I think was based in Richmond. Anyway, it was during the last hour or two of the show after he had finished his autograph-signing duties and the collecting crowd had thinned when Killebrew, rather than scooting asap as most signers do, began walking up and down the aisles of the show and un-hurriedly chatting with collectors and dealers about anything and everything they wanted to talk about.

Killebrew was extremely gracious and pleasant to chat with, even after I got bold and told him that I originally thought he was a huge waste of $$ to the Wash. Senators I loved when I was a youngster growing up in the DC suburbs. Because of the large $$ amount of his signing bonus, MLB rules at that time required that the Senators keep him on their roster for 2 years (I think it was) rather than let him play in the minors to get needed seasoning and experience. You see, to my Dad, striking out was a Cardinal sin, hence, my Senators heroes were contact-hitters like Pete Runnels, whereas Killebrew struck out a very high % of the time whenever the Senators did give him a chance to play in his early years. I never suspected back then that Killebrew would become a HOFer, much less even a decent MLB player!
Val

lhardem · #2 01-25-2015, 12:20 PM

From 1970 through 1972, my wife worked in the MLB Commissioner's Office on 5th Ave. in New York City. As a result, we were issued "gate" passes (we were on our own to find a non-reserve seat) which got us into any MLB ballpark in the country. On one occasion, we attended a game at Yankee Stadium with several of the brass from the Commissioner's Office. As I remember (it was 44 years ago), we sat about 15 rows up, behind home plate. We sat next to Monte Irvin, who also worked in the Commissioner's Office at the time. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame a couple of years later, in 1973. It was quite an experience.

My wife's gig also got us invited to the Commissioner's Office Christmas party for a couple of years, held at Toots Shor restaurant in mid-town. At one party, we met and talked as some length with sports artist Leroy Neiman, who had just published the book, "This Great Game," beautifully illustrated with many of his paintings. Great memories of NYC in the early 1970's.

Lyman

frankbmd · #3 01-25-2015, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ValKehl

I met and chatted with Harmon Killebrew at a show in VA roughly 25 years ago. I think the show was put on by Tuff Stuff founder, Ernie White, whom I think was based in Richmond. Anyway, it was during the last hour or two of the show after he had finished his autograph-signing duties and the collecting crowd had thinned when Killebrew, rather than scooting asap as most signers do, began walking up and down the aisles of the show and un-hurriedly chatting with collectors and dealers about anything and everything they wanted to talk about.

Killebrew was extremely gracious and pleasant to chat with, even after I got bold and told him that I originally thought he was a huge waste of $$ to the Wash. Senators I loved when I was a youngster growing up in the DC suburbs. Because of the large $$ amount of his signing bonus, MLB rules at that time required that the Senators keep him on their roster for 2 years (I think it was) rather than let him play in the minors to get needed seasoning and experience. You see, to my Dad, striking out was a Cardinal sin, hence, my Senators heroes were contact-hitters like Pete Runnels, whereas Killebrew struck out a very high % of the time whenever the Senators did give him a chance to play in his early years. I never suspected back then that Killebrew would become a HOFer, much less even a decent MLB player!
Val

Killebrew was 20 when I met him.

It's amazing how kids learned to write legibly back in the day.

Big Ben · #4 01-25-2015, 12:40 PM

In the 1980's I attended a lot of card shows in the Illinois area. I got to meet the likes of Dimaggio, Mantle, Ford, Mays, Boudreau, Appling, Mize, Buck Leonard, Musial, Feller, Minoso, to name a few. Great times at reasonable prices!!! One time, I ended up going to a card show during Labor Day weekend in which Bob Feller appeared. The show was not well attended and I ended up talking to Feller for the better part of an hour about baseball and obscure topics such as the Titanic! lol

David W · #5 01-25-2015, 01:08 PM

My wife and son and I got to meet Bruce Sutter after he spoke and appeared at a BPA World Series youth event in Warsaw, Indiana several years ago.

As a Cardinal fan, it was a great experience. He was very cordial and engaging, and talked about why he left the Cardinals for the Braves.

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