Who's the earliest HOF you met in person?

[Dpoolem3]

Mine would be Kirby Puckett and Jim Rice down in Florida around 1989 or 1990

My best friend and I had collected baseball cards since first grade together. Everything was baseball between us and during the winter he and his dad planned a trip down to Florida to watch some spring training games and get autographs and they invited me to come. I couldn't wait for spring to get here.

Finally spring arrived and we headed out from middle Georgia down to florida...we visited the Twins site and they had a practice field across the parking lot from their stadium so you would go to the practice field early and they would all sign autos when they walked across the parking lot...I managed to get Kirby Puckett to sign 4 cards for me while my friend was busy chasing down someone else(he didn't see puckett was leaving, and Kirby was in his top 3 favorite players)...so now I had 4 autographs and knew I could get something great from my best friend in trade if I made him sweat...so when he asked I told I him I would think about what I want in trade for a puckett

We then went to the Red Sox camp and after the game, all the players were peeling out in their cars(oil can boyd had a sweet Mercedes 450) and not signing ...so as me and my best friend stood there at the fence we saw a batboy walking a huge trash can of bats out to the dumpster....and we noticed the fence gate was still open where they were letting the players drive out...so me and my friend walk into the stadium and over to the dumpster and my buddy hops in and starts throwing out bats to me....when I hear "You boys supposed to be back here?"....I turn around and its Jim Rice....I say "no sir"......and Jim Rice says "well don't get caught"..and walks over to his baby blue chevy bel air, cranks it up, and drives off.

Was an awesome trip that created incredible memories for two 17 year old boys that had been baseball fans all their lives, played little league together every year of their lives, etc....

Unfortunately a week and a half after we got back, my best friend contracted spinal menigitus(sp) and passed away 2 days later. After his wake, me and his father went back into the room where he laid in his casket and I took out a Kirby puckett autographed card and put it in his hand. He was buried with Kirby in his hand.