Brush with HOF fame...

[Exhibitman]

"Rickey always flies 1st class"

Classic.

[Howe’s Hunter]

Every year for my birthday, my parents would take me and a friend to St. Louis to see the Cards play. Usually a Saturday night, stay at the Stouffer's Riverfront Inn (where the visiting team stayed (now the Millenium)), get autographs after the game that night, get up early and then get autographs from the players as they checked out before the afternoon game on Sunday.
In 1974, it was hot as all get out. We drove the two hours in a car with no air-conditioning, and even though it was my gift, I was not in a good mood when we arrived. As I lugged my Mom's suitcase through the lobby, I was run it to by a slender gentleman, wearing a red turtleneck sweater with a huge seashell on the zipper front, white slacks and dark glasses. "Watch were you're going" I grumbled quite loudly. "Sorry, little man." Little man-humph. Then the bell boy comes running over. "You just mouthed of to the greatest base-stealer of all time. That was Lou Brock!" Instantly, I dropped Mom's bag, opened mine and started looking for a card for him to sign. By the time my friend Tad and I found appropriate cards, he was no where to be seen. But the bell boy told us he was going to dinner in the lower level restaurant, and we could catch him there. I yelled over my shoulder "We'll be back, we're after Lou Brock!" When I said that, about ten more kids all started yelling and running after us.
We tracked him down to the lower level, and could see him through the glass, sitting at a table with three others. It was decided I should be the one to ask for the autograph, so me, Tad and about ten other kids approach the table. "Mr. Brock, can we have your autograph?" I ask. He finishes slowly buttering a roll, looks at me and says "Little man, I ought to punch you in the face." then takes a bite of the roll. Instantly, the room clears of all the other kids, leaving only me and Tad, who stuck around, he said, so he could tell my parents exactly what happened when Lou Brock beat me up.
Finishing the bite, he said "Well, now that the others are gone, what did you want me to sign?" He then politely explained that it wasn't nice to disturb a ball player during a meal before a big game, then proceeded to introduce us to the manager, first and third base coaches of the Padres, who were seated at his table, and pointed out Red Schoendienst, who was seated with Dal Maxville at a nearby table.
We were still in the lobby when he had finished his meal. He stopped, told me he hoped I enjoyed the game, then walked across the parking lot, into a covered garage, that lead right to Busch Stadium.

[Vol]

SlantyCouch- Thank you for the Rickey stories. They never get old! Cracking me up!

[Collectorsince62]

Curt Flood had always been my favorite player growing up, so when he was scheduled to sign at a card show here in St. Louis, I had to go. As he signed a few items for me, I asked him if that was his '64 or '67 WS ring. I can't even recall his response because as he was talking, he takes off the ring and hands it to me to admire! Amazing. When your idols turn out to be truly worthy of your admiration, it's a pretty cool thing. By the way, prior to sitting down to begin signing, he asked to address the crowd, and proceeded to thank the St. Louis fans for making his career so enjoyable. First class.
One more . . . Recently I went to Stan Musial's office to drop off the two scorecards from his 5-homer doubleheader to get autographed. Stan happened to be there at the time and his grandson asked me to come on in and get them signed right then. Stan was extremely nice and told me with a laugh "I should have had six." The Man.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Man, do I wish I could share my Rickey experiences with the world at large! What an absolute riot that man is, regardless if he means to be or not!

[GasHouseGang]

Scooter, I guess Mr. Bench was trying to be nice and give you a deal by only asking for $50 to sign your bat. I knew he was actually a nice guy. Here's a recent price list for an appearance the weekend of 10 July.

Johnny Bench
14 time All-Star
1968 NL ROY
1970 & 1972 NL MVP
10 time Gold Glove Winner
2 time World Series Champion
1976 World Series MVP
HOF 1989
balls and flats up to & including 11x14: $79.
large flats: $99.
equipment: $119.
bats, jerseys & original art: $149.
inscriptions: $25.

[Cooptown]

Sorry to resurrect this post from the dead, but a couple of stories I thought I could share.

In the early 90s, I was a real autograph "hound" in minor league stadiums, and attended every baseball HOF induction ceremony from 1987-99. I was a know it all kid, who had balls of steel going up to athletes, and never really got intimidated or starstruck. As many people who have been to HOF Induction Weekend can attest, the golf course is a good place to try and score some free autographs. In 1991 I was walking back from the golf course and thought to myself "I wonder if any HOFers ever play tennis?" So I walked past the tennis courts. To my surprise, Ted Williams was sitting on a bench watching some people play tennis. I just happened to have this 8x10 with me. I am not even sure if I even said anything to him, I was so nervous. To this day, I really think it was the only time I have ever been starstruck by anyone.



In 1996 (I think), I was walking down Main Street in Cooperstown, when I hear a car honking. I look over, and it's Phil Rizzutto driving, and his wife in the passenger seat. He's honking because I am carrying a Phil Rizzutto lithograph, and he's giving me a thumbs up. I was pretty excited about this, and I never even thought about going over to the car to see if he would sign it (DUH!). Now I HAD to get this lithograph signed, just because of the story behind it, so I paid to have Scooter sign it the next year in Cooperstown.

On the flip side....In 1995 (I think) I see Reggie Jackson walking down Main Street of Cooperstown. Just a backstory, Reggie was my favorite player growing up. Although I was young, I would always tell my Dad to tell me when he was going to be at bat for the Yankees because I wanted to watch him bat. I still remember telling my Dad that one spring, and he said "Scott, Reggie doesn't play for the Yankees anymore". Anyways, Reggie was all alone, and no one seemed to recognize him or be bothering him. I went up to him with a Perez Steele postcard and asked him to sign it. Instead of signing it, he informed me of when, where and the pricing for all of the paid signings he would be doing that weekend. It probably took him 10x longer to explain all of that to me than to just sign my postcard. Stupidly, I actually paid for him to sign it....when I look at it now I am still bitter about that. Although I did get a bunch of Reggie items signed at Cooperstown in the mid90s and got free inscriptions at the time such as "HOF 93" and "Mr. October" without paying.

Lastly, I was on a plane one time with Scotty Bowman and got my picture taken with him on the way in. Seemed very friendly, but in the picture he doesnt look happy at all. I was with a buddy who wanted an autograph, and he asked me for one of my business cards. Scotty Bowman signed one of my business cards for this guy.

[David W]

In 2005 I was tipped off by a customer that Muhammad Ali would be at a local sports complex for his son's baseball tourney. They said if you see a big motor home, it's probably Ali.

I dug out a bunch of old Sports Illustrateds and had them there, as my kids were all playing soccer at the complex. My wife saw the motor home come in, grabbed my oldest daughter and went to the motor home, where they let her in and he signed 3 SI's. He was very gracious and all that weekend he posed for pictures and signed autographs I was told, but only when his son was not playing.

[Nap Rucker - The Southpaw]

That story about Mr. Bench is interesting. My wife, who knows nothing about baseball, and I watched his interview on the Tim McCarver Show. She told me that he [Mr. Bench] seemed really cocky and arrogant.

I have met several hockey HOF guys and they were, for the most part, really nice.

[albrshbr]

I met Bob Feller several times when the Buffalo Bisons were an Indians AA team. It was always great to see him, and he has always been a pleasure to talk to. Maybe I'll get lucky and run across him in Cooperstown this weekend.

When I lived in San Antonio, I ran across David Robinson a few times in our local grocery store. It seems that everyone you talk to in San Antonio has met Robinson at least once, and everyone is impressed with how nice and down-to-earth he is.

At the Football HOF Induction Ceremony last year I seemed to constantly run across James Lofton. Everywhere I went he was there signing for anyone who approached him. With both Bruce Smith and Ralph Wilson being inducted, there was a very large Buffalo Bills fan crowd present. There were also many current and former Bills there, and many went out of their way to sign for the fans. One notable exception was Andre Reed who went out of his way to ignore the fans. I saw him several times, always with a phone up to his ear, and he had the largest "security detail" with him that I saw. He had more than any of the actual HOFers.

My uncle worked for the Buffalo Sabres, and I've met quite a few. I'll agree with what others have already, and hockey players are generally the nicest to meet. One big exception was Sabre great Gilbert Perreault. Always a jerk. Of course this was over 20 years ago, and I've talked to some folks who have met him in local establishments recently, and he seems to have mellowed quite a bit since his retirement.

[cubsfn01]

When i was a senior in high school in 1996, I was the editor of my HS newspaper, and we found out that a local lawyer had organized a fundraiser for a former NFL player from the area who had been ill. I met with the lawyer for a story and he gave me a pass to go backstage and meet everyone. At the time I did not know much about NFL history, but i was excited anyway. I met Johnny Unitas, who i had hear of, but didn't know much about, and Coach Weeb Ewbank, who i thought was older than dirt (remember I was 17). I then got my picture taken with two big Defensive linemen who I had never heard of, Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen. The funny thing about the photo was the two hofers (who looked huge) with MY skinny self in the middle, wearing a Cincinnati Reds shirt. Had I known then what I know now, I would have had a million questions.

[t213]

I once witnessed Frank Robinson blow off a little kid at Camden Yards -- "I get paid when I sign" and he stomped off.

On the plus side, in the mid 80s Lyle Alzado lived in my town and he used to come into the Pet Store where I worked. He was always very cool. One time I spent over an hour with him talking about parrots. Very nice man and he always had his wife and kids with him each time we met. He also always wore a muscle t-shirt and I've never seen anyone so big up close.

Other nice guys I've met:
NHL: Mike Knuble, Matt Bradley, Marcel Dionne, Jason Chimera
Baseball: Brooks Robinson, Frank Howard (if you get in line for his auto, be prepared to wait because he talks to everyone, poses for pics and it's easy to get him telling stories from his playing days)
NFL: Henry Ellard
TV: Mr. T (A little kid (maybe 6 years old) came up to him at the baggage carousel at LAX in the late 80s - he had the gold chains and mohawk. The kid said "Mr. T, when I see a bad guy, I'm going to bop him on the head." Mr. T replied "Hey little man, Mr. T doesn't want you to do that. If you see a bad guy, you come find Mr. T and Mr. T will take care of him." The kid responded with "Alright!" or something like that and Mr. T patted him on the shoulder. Mr. T made that kid's year.

Bruce Willis once very politely and friendly asked me if he could cut in line in a shopping mall bathroom when he was filming a Moonlighting episode. He looked like he was 2 seconds from dying so I said yes.

Andy

[FUBAR]

Jason Chimera is an arrogant ass in my opinion.. almost kicked the crap out of him in his first year. Jason grew up in the hood i used to live in. The company i worked for had a hockey team and i used to keep my goalie equipment at the shop to dry out rather then my apartment. Jason was friends with the owners sons and the whole gang of them used to play road hockey in our shop yard.

I show up on a Saturday to our shop and there is Chimera wearing my goalie equipment out on the street, playing road hockey. Now i am not one to start trouble but using 5 k worth of high end goalie equipment is not something you do. I asked him to take it off and put it back. He told me to go F- myself because he was using it. I walked over to him and I am quite a bit bigger then he is and then insisted he remove it or i would! He said he would put it back when he was done with it. He then said he could buy and sell me if he wanted... If it wasn't for our mutual friends, the Oilers would have had one dead little mouth piece in goalie gear. Arrogant little p.o.s thought he was something special cause he played for the Oilers, i could care less.

Now i am not too much of an ass, i had given these kids my old set of goalie gear to use months before for their road hockey but Chimera thought he was above the old equipment.

He/ they ended up having to buy me a new stick cause they frayed the bottom of mine....

On the upside, all of the other Oiler players i met over time have been great... Grant Fuhr was the nicest guy ever and sat and talked with me for about an hour. He auto'd all my old equipment(wish i still had it) His auto looks like it says Great F**k....

[Orions father]

My very first and most memorable to me was meeting Muhammad Ali as a young kid in the late 70's. My father is a big time boxing fan. He was a Golden Gloves referee and always went to the big fights in Vegas. Muhammad Ali in my house was like Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle in most others. It was 1979 or 1980 and my mom, sister and I were staying in San Diego for the weekend. We went down one morning for breakfast at the motels restaurant. After a few minutes my mom told me to look two tables over, there was The Champ. He was eating breakfast with 3 other people. My mom took us over to his table to get an autograph. After we got to his table, he looked at my and said "Do you want to box kid?" It was a mixture of fear and jubilation to the young me. I didnt wash my hand for a week after calming down and shaking his hand. Altough the napkin which I got his auto on has been destroyed from showing it off and keeping in my drawer, the memory will always stay. Looking back, he could have not been nicer. We interupted his meal and he was nothing but a class act.