Most Embarassing Moment

[EurekaDave]

We've all had them. You ask for an autograph from someone who looks like a celeb but isn't. You can't say your own name. Your pen runs dry.

Mine:
During Spring training, I went to a Phoenix jewelry store show featuring baseball players from San Francisco and the Diamondbacks. Having struck out getting autographs at the Giants ballpark, I was very, very jacked up.

When an older African-American man wearing a Hawaiian shirt walked in, I tripped all over myself to get his autograph. He looked at me and deadpanned, "You don't even know who I am, do you?"

"No I don't," I confessed.

"I'm Vida Blue."

[gatorcollector]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

This was in the early 90's, and I had not been collecting very long. I didn't have a good sense of how scarce or common certain things were. I had recently purchased a 1972 Sports Illustrated with Steve Spurrier on the cover. I brought it with me to "Gator Day", Spurrier's local stop on his summer tour of Gator booster clubs. I was sure that the Ol' Ball Coach was going to be amazed to see this relic from his past. I waited patiently in line and finally got to his table. I set the magazine in front of him and said proudly, "I bet you don't see too many of these." Without even looking up from the table, he scrawled his sig and said, "Nah, sign 'em all the time."

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

In 1984 I was 14 years old and was vacationing with my parents in Chicago. I went to a White Sox game and Scott Fletcher came over to the rail to sign autographs. He signed an 84 Topps card for me (which I still have) and as he moved on to another fan, I blurted out "can I buy one of your bats? I'll give you $20 !

[ahuff]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

I believe I was 17 years old. I went to my local minor league park, to watch a game and see what autographs I could get. At the time, the stadium club dome cards were pretty hot, and I tried having all of the players in my league sign theirs. Since these were a glossy card with gold trim, I took a gold paint pen for signatures. Well, I gave one of the players his card and the pen. He proceeded to start signing. (I've never had this happen before or since.) During his signing the tip of the pen fell out. Gold ink went everywhere, and he just looked dumbfounded. He was pretty cool about the whole think, because he simply rubbed the card on the ground to get the excess paint off, put the tip back in the pen, and resigned it. I was totally embarrassed, since the paint had gotten everywhere.

[Eric]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

I wasn't even there, but this I still found this slightly embarrassing.

I got a call from my mother who was in a Florida airport. She got off the phone with me because there was some commotion near here. Meaning well, she went up to a large man who was signing autographs and wanted to get one for me.

She asked him "Excuse me, are you somebody?" It was Meadowlark Lemon.

I guess if it was someone else, she might not have gotten a smile and a nice reply.

After the fact she knew that wasn't the best way to approach someone, and we still laugh about it.
Eric

[staindsox]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

Like Eric, I wasn't at my "best" moment. My mother is a flight attendant and would get autographs for me (as you can guess, Jack Morris refused to speak to any flight attendants, let alone sign his name for anyone). Anyway, a large young black man boarded the plane. She approached him and said, "You're a pretty big guy, do you play any sports?" He replied, "Why yes I do. I play basketball for my college." She asked him if you would sign an autograph for her son, who was a huge sports fan. After hearing this story from her and expecting to see a name I had never heard of, seeing Shaquille O'Neal #33 LSU signed on the page in front of me, I was shocked, excited, and embarrassed. He was extremely kind, so what can I say.

Chris

[toddhead]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

I know this is an old thread, but...

I was probably about 14 and was at an Idaho Falls Braves game. The Braves had a good player named Darryl Blanks. I really wanted his autograph on my glove so I got the attention of one of the players and I asked him if he could get "Darnell Blanks" to sign my glove. The player got this huge grin on his face and started yelling... "DARNELL BLANKS! HEY DARNELL this kid wants you to sign his glove." He walked over, signed the glove and said... "It's Darryl, not Darnell"... he was really good natured about it, but I know he got a lot of crap from the other players...

[5kRunner]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

Some of these are really funny.

Heres mine. I was 12 and my family went to a Cubs/Cardinals game in St Louis. I am a huge Cubs fan so I was excited to get to the game early and get some autographs. Of course the only thing I brought to get signed were cards. I picked out about 10 guys I was hoping would sign. So I'm hanging out by the dugout with about 20 or so other kids hoping to get Sandberg or Grace or Dawson to come over and sign. Well one player was walking off the field after taking some grounders, and someone asked if he would sign their ball. He said sure. The kid says "Thanks Mr. McClendon" thinking of course that its Lloyd McClendon. It stead of signing, the player hands the ball back and says he will sign for anyone who knows his name. No one else knew his name so I say "You're Curtis Wilkerson." He says "Hey, someone knows who I am, you get an autograph." I look at him and say "I didn't bring your card." 5 minutes later my mom comes down and says (loud enough for people to hear) your dad bought this ball for you in case someone is signing and you don't have their card.

My mom asked later why everyone was laughing after she brought the ball to me.

It wasn't a total loss. Andre Dawson did sign, and I did have his card.

[BMH]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

I went with our Pro rep to Cincinnati to see the Mets. He's talking to the players in the club house and I'm in the back going through the bat bags they brought testing bat hardness on different manufacturers. Anyway, a player comes over and starts talking to me. I don't know who it is but he's wearing a pair of shorts with the #21 on them. I quickly glance at the roster lists that our rep gave me and #21 was Scott Hatteberg. He asks be about what I'm doing and I explain what the test is. Satisfied, he goes back to talk to our rep and in parting I say, "Have a good game Mr. Hatteberg." The Physical therapist was standing near me and started to laugh. I asked her what was so funny and she said that isn't Scott Hatteberg, it was Carlos Delgato! Apparently when I looked at the roster I was looking at the one for Cincinnati and not New York...

Luckily Mr. Delgato had a good sense of humor about it.

[skipcareyisfat]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

As great and witty as his broadcasts are, Skip Caray can be prickly. For years the Braves used to make him and the other announcers cohost a call-in show before games. You could tell he hated doing it. Most callers were legit but you'd hear some every now and then (a few were from me) who called in just to get him going. One topic he hated getting into was his dad. Years before I started harassing him with calls about firing Bobby Cox and bringing back Chuck Tanner, I called in to see what ever happened to Ken Dayley. This was about '85 or '86 and Dayley was at that point pitching for the Cardinals. I was around 11 and had no clue. So I asked him about Dayley and his reply was "Didn't you watch the World Series?" I think I started crying as soon as I hung up the phone. So here I am 12 years later posting under the name skipcareyisfat. Clearly I'm completely over that experience.

[skipcareyisfat]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

After the Skip Caray story, I came across this:

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/09/19/0920_skip.html

FWIW, I do like the guy and would be totally wrecked if he stopped doing games for the greatest team on earth ... okay, third best team in the NL East. He's signed a number of autographs for me over the years and he's always been cool.

[jboosted92]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

After the Skip Caray story, I came across this:

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/09/19/0920_skip.html

FWIW, I do like the guy and would be totally wrecked if he stopped doing games for the greatest team on earth ... okay, third best team in the NL East. He's signed a number of autographs for me over the years and he's always been cool.

I took my wife up to a mall in massachusetts, cause David Givens ( former Patriots Wideout ) was signing...

Well , when we left, i said im getting an auto..i didnt tell her who..

Well David walked in wearing a Andre Tippett throwback jersey. Since the crowd was large, the line went in circles and even behind David. When we were standing behind me, she says ( very loudly )

"Who is signing anyway...who is this TIPPETT guy"

Needless to say, she didnt know who David was...or Andre Tippet....

eeshh

Then i began berading her..about what player do you know that would were his own jersey to the mall...even if it was TIPPETT!?!!?!?

[kingjammy24]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

i attended the 1991 all-star game and also the accompanying "fanfest" that was held in some nearby convention center. after getting tired walking around fanfest for half the day, i manage to find an empty chair to take a breather. i'm flipping through my magazines, programs, etc and some kid comes and sits down in the chair next to me. he starts asking me about stuff i've picked up. i show him some of the items and we start conversing. i asked him if he managed to get any autographs, what kind of stuff he collected, etc. he seemed pretty green to me. so as we're talking, a group of kids come up to him with some cards and ask him for his autograph. they were really young so i figured they must be mistaken in thinking that he was "someone". i already had a good joke in my head to share with him after the kids left about how long it would take the kids to figure out that he wasn't anyone. out of curiosity, i leaned over to see what cards the kids were giving him to sign. i realized he actually was the guy on the cards. craig biggio.

rudy.

[toddhead]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

i attended the 1991 all-star game and also the accompanying "fanfest" that was held in some nearby convention center. after getting tired walking around fanfest for half the day, i manage to find an empty chair to take a breather. i'm flipping through my magazines, programs, etc and some kid comes and sits down in the chair next to me. he starts asking me about stuff i've picked up. i show him some of the items and we start conversing. i asked him if he managed to get any autographs, what kind of stuff he collected, etc. he seemed pretty green to me. so as we're talking, a group of kids come up to him with some cards and ask him for his autograph. they were really young so i figured they must be mistaken in thinking that he was "someone". i already had a good joke in my head to share with him after the kids left about how long it would take the kids to figure out that he wasn't anyone. out of curiosity, i leaned over to see what cards the kids were giving him to sign. i realized he actually was the guy on the cards. craig biggio.

rudy.

Did you get his autograph?

[mdube16]

Re: Most Embarassing Moment

I always travel with baseballs and a pen as I collect baseballs signed by celebrities and athletes from any sport. In airports/planes I have gotten Terry Bradshaw, Dominique Wilkins, Norm from Cheers and others. 2 years ago I was in the Toronto airport waiting for a flight to Detroit. An older couple sits in the waiting area. The man looks familiar. He had very white hair and was in good shape for his age. I stared at him for about 20 minutes and realized...that guy looks like Gordy Howe! Im thinking...why would he be on this flight...WAIT....Im in Canada going to Detroit! Its got to be him! At that moment they called for first class to board and sure enough the couple gets on the plane. I waited for my row and went to my seat. I pulled out the baseball and made my way up to first class. The man was in the window seat next to his wife. I stuck the ball and pen out and said, "Mr. Howe...would you sign my baseball? He looked a bit puzzled but that always happens when I give baseballs to the celebs to sign. I stated that "I collect baseballs autographed by non baseball players. I always travel with baseballs since you never know who you might see". He smiles and takes the baseball and signs it on the sweet spot. His wife excitedly says with a heavy accent, " Now you have a baseball from someone from Denmark!"
I took the ball, thanked them and slinked back to my seat.
The ball is now proudly displayed in my office. His name was Felix something...you cant really read the last name.