Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

[stlbats]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

I have a great story that isnt about a player, but an umpire. I was about 17 at the time and went to Arlington, TX to the '95 Allstar game. After the Allstar game, my buddy and I were playing catch in the hotel parking lot when a car pulled up and parked. This man got out and starting talking to us. After a while he told us he was the plate umpire for the allstar game that night. It was Durwood Merrill. He went back to his car and pulled out several new and used allstar game balls and gave them to us. We had him sign one. After I got home, I looked him up and sent him a nice letter, not asking for anything but I did include my address and phone #. About a week later I got a phone call from him. We talked several times on the phone and the next year met him in Baltimore where he left us tickets to all 5 games he was working. (right behing the plate) I spoke with him several times over the years. What a great guy. Sadly Durwood passed away a few years ago. What a great guy and person. He was a big league ump for 25 years. That signed ball is one I will always have.

Jason

[godwulf]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

In 2002, I was at a signing by David Dellucci, then a utility outfielder for the Diamondbacks, and as I was waiting outside the card shop for my turn in line, the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen walked by. Every male head turned, and jaws dropped to the ground in unison - it was actually pretty funny.

Turns out that it was Gena Lee Nolin, of Baywatch and Sheena fame, and she was going out with Dellucci at the time.

She signed a baseball for me - "Love you always, Gena Lee Nolin, XXOO".

Oh, yeah...Dellucci was nice, too.

[davetiki]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Rob,

Percy is a very cool guy for sure. I met him at Angel Stadium in 05 at game 5 of the ALDS against the Yanks. It was the first year of his retirement and he was hanging out in left field in front of the bullpen drinking a beer getting ready for the game. What was special, is that the stadium lady who worked that area in front of the bullpen had known Percy for years and years. She was so happy to see him and for the first time ever she got to ask him for his autograph and take a picture with him. I guess there is a policy against that for the players and employees. She is probably the only who respected that policy I guess. He hugged her and gave her the auto and took a picture with her. She was so touched and happy afterwords that she had tears in her eyes. Then Percy got spotted and he was swarmed for his autograph and he signed them all. I didn't ask him though. Instead I bought him a beer.

Dave Z

[Tedw9]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Great stories everyone! Thank you for sharing.

I grew up a Red Sox fan, third generation, in small town America and my idol was Dwight Evans. When I played ball I tried to use his stance and I would spend DAYS throwing a baseball just to get my arm strong like his.

Fast forward 20 or so years and I find out Dwight was doing a signing down state. I drove almost 4 hours just to meet my childhood hero. I shared my story with the store owners and they were kind enough to put me near the front of the line and let me stay after the signing so I could spend a few moments with Dwight. He was everything I hoped he would be, and then some. What a super nice guy. It was nice to find out that Dwight was worthy of me looking up to as a kid. And I got to admit, standing there with him, I felt like I was 9 years old again!

A week or so after the signing, I sent him a letter telling him I was the guy who met him after the signing and I explained how much he meant to me as a kid growing up. I just wanted to thank him for being a positive role model for me and for being a good guy. I didn't ask or want anything, other than to convey my story and appreciation to him.

A couple of weeks later, I got a package in the mail from Dwight! He sent me a signed and inscribed photo and a note thanking me for such a nice letter. He said it meant a lot to him and thanked me for being a fan. Needless to say, that photo is one of my prized possessions.

No, it's not game used or super valuable, but to me, it's priceless.

[Dewey2007]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

This was a very brief experience but still one of the best I've had. Here I was after a GS Warriors/LA Lakers game in Oakland getting disappointed by none other then Magic Johnson himself who had promised me his shoes after the game telling me he didn't have them anymore. When out of the blue James Worthy walks by, pulls his gamers out of his bag and just hands them to me as he heads for the team bus. I can't remember if I even got out a thank you I was so shocked and excited. Definitely nice of Big Game James to make a kids day!!

[Rob L]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

One of the coolest encounters we had was with Troy Percival in 1998. My son, who was 4 at the time, had been emulating the Percival pitched since he was 2. We went to see him at a local signing and got there a little early. Percival pulled up with a guy from Mizuno and my son and I walked over by the car. My kid was star struck. Percy came over, talked with him and took a photo with him. About a six months later, my wife's grandmother showed the photo to a neighbor who was the head of player development for the Angels. He took the photo to Percy who looked at indicated that he remembered talking with us. He signed the photo also (not the copy shown here). As a side, McGwire hit HR #60 while we were driving to Percival signing.

In 2001, I was at the Big A with my son and 1 1/2 year old daughter, sitting in the row immediately above the bullpens. The Angels were playing the Blue Jays. In the late innings, Lance Painter got up to warmup. A s**tload of kids around us started badgering him to give them the ball. My daughter was sitting on my lap and my son was sitting quitely. After warming up, Painter looked up at us, pointed to my daughter and tossed us the ball. Even though we are Angels homers, we did root for Painter that inning.

Rob L

[uwmrules09]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

My best experience has to go along with my PC collection. Carlos Villanueva from the Milwaukee Brewers. He is a little known prospect for the Brewers that is one of their starters this season. Anyways last season I wanted to start collecting game used items and decided to pick a player from the Brewers so I chose Carlos since he is an up and comer and one of the nicest guys on the team. Whenever I was getting autographs before a game he would come over and sign for everyone there and even carry on a conversation. Well anyways he liked the 8x10s and stuff I had him sign and he agreed to trade me a pair of his cleats for some 8x10s and rookie cards and stuff. Throughout the season we would talk and I would show him his gu items I picked up which he always thought was sweet that someone was collecting them. We pretty much became friends. So at the last game of the season I asked him if he was giving out any of his gear since I had yet to get his shoes, he said we'll see with kind of a smirk on his face. So I watched the game and went down to get game used stuff after the game was over since Brewers players usually hand stuff out (its a madhouse down there), and needless to say I couldnt get close enough to get anything or to get Carlos' attention. So I left the stadium bummed and waited after the game for autographs. Well after most of the team had gone when he pulled up on a cart to his car and put all his luggage in and began to look around, I got his attention and he signaled me over to the parking lot where he game me his cleats like he promised and signed each one for me. He thanked me for the photos I game him and stuff saying that his family really loves them and he hoped I picked up more of his stuff during the offseason so he could see it next season. Anyways here are a picture of the cleats he game me too....





I have many other good stories too but nothing like this, its the first time I really became friends with a player.

[bigtruck260]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Here are a few more:

Gary "Sarge" Matthews:

I was sitting at a the bar of a local Japanese restaurant with no television. The only other person there was this older black gentleman - and we struck up a conversation about sports and baseball. I asked him if he was a Cards fan and he said "NO!" - he shrugged at me and said "SH#t man, I'm the hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs."

It didn't register. I laughed and said - lemme see your ID.

His response - "Why would I lie about something like that"?

Me - "OK - so who are you"?

Him "Gary Matthews"

Me - Sarge! (I loved him as a kid - though he was a Cub.) I told him a story about how I got kicked out of a little league game for throwing off my helmet the way he did after hitting a homer...

Him - "I only did that on base hits"...

We talked for at least an hour about his kid, the best players ever...and coaching Sammy Sosa on hitting.."everyone has holes sometimes".

He was not bothered by my chain smoking or Saki-talk. We got a little buzzed together as he waited for his drop dead gorgeous lady to arrive.
I never asked him for an autograph or a photo. It was just a neat experience. I had two witnesses too - whom I introduced him to - unfortunately, they are both hockey fans, and had no idea who Sarge was.

Not really an athlete per se, but still a fun time was meeting my childhood idol, Bill Dance - the bassmaster. My dad and I talked to him at a boat show, and he had us in stitches. I don't have many autographs left from my collection, but I still have Bill's personalized auto stashed somewhere.

[gameusedbat.com]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Our funniest experience was at braves camp in orlando with greg maddux. It was lightning hot out and we had our shirts off and the camp was dead because it was still pretty early. Maddux was warming up next to smoltz in outfield and we were just kind of standing around and hanging out getting autographs. Out of nowhere maddux calls over to my friend "you need a belt with those pants boy?? We start laughing and respond yea greg only if you give us one of yours. Then we proceed to ask him if we should draft him on our fantasy team this year. And hes like hell no I wouldnt draft myself and he points to smoltz and says draft that guy. I think he signed one autograph that day and it was for us.

[BernBabyBern]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

There is a story behind the picture. It's pretty funny.
Here it is:
The day before this picture was taken I was just getting to the hotel with my family to see the Yanks vs the Devil Rays the next day.
I had no clue the Yankees stayed there. I've been in Miami, FL now for 2 years. Originally from NY/NJ and was dying to see the Yanks play.
Anyway, pulling up into the valet. My wife noticed that Don Mattingly was there signing autographs for a mob of people outside of the hotel. I saw all the Yankee
t-shirts and put two and two together and realized that the Yankees were staying at this hotel. My wife said go, go there is your childhood favorite player. Go get his autograph. I jumped out of the truck and then glanced back to my truck and noticed it was rolling forward. I accidentally left the car in drive or neutral. I could have jumped back in since it was only rolling forward about 1 mile per hour towards another parked car. But, I saw my wife jump from the passenger side to the driver said. (No problem, right?)
I yelled brake, brake. But my wife hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and rammed into the parked car. I couldn't believe it. My wife was freaking out crying, my son in the back seat crying. It was chaos! Called the police but no violations were issued. It was an accident. In all this Don Mattingly steps away from the crowd and gets into his car that was there to take him to the stadium. I was crushed. I got no picture and no autograph and my car was wrecked. But looking on the bright side no one got hurt. Took me 2 hours to fall asleep that night. The next morning we got up early to check out since we were going to have breakfast with some old friends from NJ who had recently moved to Apollo Beach (near Tampa). And then we were going to the 1PM game and heading home to Miami after that. Went down to get the car and pack it up to go and I was all bummed out. When we got outside of the lobby my wife pinched me on the arm and side "look whose sitting there on the steps of the hotel". It was "Donnie Baseball" himself. I couldn't believe it. I asked him for a picture and an autograph. He even remembered that I had crashed my car the day before. What a nice guy. Best experience I've ever had with an athlete and it turned out to be my favorite baseball player of all time.
Oh, by the way. That's my son just behind me "Future Yankee Slugger".

[godwulf]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

After reading the latest posts in the "Worst Experience Dealing with an Athlete" thread, I got depressed and decided to give this one a bump.

This very good experience involved not only an athlete, but a well-known broadcaster, as well.

One evening in '02, I took one of Jim Traber's old bats to the park, hoping to get it signed. Trabes was then doing the color on the radio side for the Diamondbacks. To ensure that I would have no trouble getting it in - this was less than a year after 9-11, and security was insane - I went so far as to contact the Event Coordinator and get the phone number he'd be at before the game, so I could have Security call him if it came to that. As it turned out, I walked right through the gate with this mailing tube in my hand, and nobody so much as took a break from searching little old ladies' purses to ask me what it was.

Before the game, which happened to be against Houston, I ran into Thom Brenneman, the play-by-play t.v. guy - now broadcasting with his dad, Marty, in Cincinnatti, I hear - and I showed him the Traber bat and mentioned that I was going to try to get it signed that night.

The game went something like 14 innings, and didn't end till almost midnight. Exhausted and hoarse from screaming, I nevertheless went looking to see if I could find Traber before he left the ballpark. I knew that the broadcast booths were nearest the second deck, so I went there and got as close to the exiting crowds as possible, looking to spy him. The second deck at Chase Field is the "luxury suite" level, so only those with tickets for that level can walk around there, and I had to stay behind a rope, which was guarded by a couple of Sheriff's deputies, charged with keeping the riff-raff (like me) out.

After a couple of minutes, I was about to give it up and just go home, when I saw Thom Brenneman leaving, moving fast, and I shouted for him and held up the bat, saying, "I'm still trying to find Traber to get him to sign my bat!" He looked at me for a second, and said, "Really?" I must have been really tired at that point, because I don't even remember how I got onto the other side of the rope and past the deputies...and the next thing I know, Thom and I are speed-walking through the park, heading for the special elevator that goes up (or is it down?) to the broadcast booth level. On the way, he shakes my hand and says, "Hi, I'm Thom"...like I didn't know that. Guess he was tired, too.

Thom vouches for me with the elevator operator, and then we're walking through some executive office area, where we meet the GM, Joe Garagiola, Jr., coming the other way. The three of us share a brief laugh about the long, somewhat ugly, back-and-forth game we'd just watched - "Well...it was a win!", Joe Jr. said - and then Thom and I were outside the radio booth, where Trabes and Greg Schulte were just wrapping up their show.

Thom opens the door and has a word with the producer - a huge guy named Leo, who looks like he could be a bouncer in his spare time - and tells him that the guy out in the hall with the bat is okay...just waiting to get an autograph from Traber.

In a few minutes, Trabes comes out and shakes my hand - he's a much bigger guy than I'd thought, and his hands are enormous - and we talk about the bat some; it's a black Worth, with a sanded handle, and he says that he can't really date it, but that it's definitely one that he used, he could tell that. He put a really nice gold paint pen signature on it, and then somebody escorted me out.

A couple of things that still strike me, to this day, about this experience. First, I'm not now, nor was I then, a kid, or an attractive woman, or any other kind of individual whom one would think, under those circumstances, would have had the best chance of getting the attention of someone like Thom Brenneman, to help them get an autograph, on a hot July night after a 14 inning game. I was then, as I am now, just another 50-ish guy, and I honestly would not have blamed Thom, hearing his name called and looking over to see my sweaty, wild-eyed face, if he'd waved, avoided eye contact, and kept on walking.

Second, the DBacks - and Thom Brenneman - had to be on a plane to Philly in less that eight hours, following that game...and yet, he took the time to escort a fan he didn't know from Adam up to the radio booth, when he absolutely didn't have to, instead of thinking of himself or things he no doubt needed to do.

Sorry this is such a long post...but I, for one, think it's a pretty cool story. Glad I was there for it.

[AWA85]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Gotta give it to those guys that go down the whole first base or third base wall signing for everyone. David Weathers and Bill Bray signed for every fan along the line before the game at Great American Ballpark. Really have to appreciate the time some players do give to the fans.

[plt4008usmc]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

The best experience I can remember is when the nationals were still in montreal, my cousins and I went to see them play. Well we got there early enough to get autos, well it was fanfest or something becasue we were able to go on the field to get autos. After everyone was told to go back to the stands my cousins and I tried to get the attention of three players walking by. One of them came over and was very nice to us and signed what we had, while the other two just stood and watched. The player that came over to sign was Javier Vasquez. Another Expos dealing was with Michael Barrett My cousin and I were the only ones in the area and we asked for his auto he came over and signed and even talked to us for a while.
Mike Timlin was really nice when I went to my first red sox game. He came over and signed down the line for everyone and would talk to you if you asked him a question. Great guy!!!
My best Experience though are with minor leaguers. They are usually some of the nicest guys that you can meet.

[mvandor]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

To this day, I have to say that Jim Thome is probably the best player I have dealt with. I have talk with him numerous times. He has always been the same. I ran into him twice last Saturday while in Peoria. Shot the shizit with me for about 10-15 minutes each time. Wasn't prepared with camera, or something to sign either time. But it was still worth it. Here's an older pic of me with him from 1999. This one went in Beckett Baseball Monthly.

Wow, you're Ryan O'Neal!!!

[skyking26]

Re: Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

Nice picture. No, I met Bert at a local show a few years ago. He did well with the fans. Very nice man...should be in Hall in my opinion and I think he will be one day.