Your BEST Experience Dealing with an Athlete

[allstarsplus]

allstarsplus that chest protector is awsome! Is it for sale?

This one isn't for sale as afterwards I photomatched it to the one Brian wore while the catcher in the game when Bonds hit #715 so it has some real historical significance. I then got Mike Bacsik to autograph and inscribe it.

[thomecollector]

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.

[allstarsplus]

Among the good guys would be Dave Kingman in 92 when I met him the first time, and many times after that. He has always been very cordial with my wife and children as well.

*Bert Blyleven

Was Bert wearing this shirt when you met him?

[skyking26]

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.

[mvandor]

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!!!

[plt4008usmc]

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.

[AWA85]

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.

[godwulf]

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.

[BernBabyBern]

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".

[gameusedbat.com]

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.