Have you ever met the player you collect?

[BiggioBrooks755]

Thought this would be a cool topic

I haven't met Biggio or Brooks yet, but I do hope to at some point

 

[TBTwinsFan]

I stopped counting a long time ago.

 

[byronscott4ever]

I stopped counting a long time ago.

Me too but It is still fun

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Always has to be cool to meet a player that you collect though

 

[TNP777]

yep

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Any stories you guys can share about the first time you met the player you collect?

 

[1st4040]

Met him at a card show in 09.. Was really relaxed and cool and chatted alot with the people he was signing for

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Me too but It is still fun

Oh, definitely. I always enjoy it.

 

[TBTwinsFan]

I think I met Perk for the first time in 2010 on a Caravan stop. I'm not 100% sure of that. I saw him a few days later at TwinsFest.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Ate lunch in my house and played ball with him a few times in my backyard.



http://www.freedomcardboard.com/forum/baseball/74529-ws-ring-scott-mathieson-baseball-clinic-vance-worley.html

 

[Hendersonfan]

Last November. Will again in August and September.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[Matsuicollector]

Almost ate dinner with him actually...I was at one of those Japanese places where they cook in front of you, and Jorge was there with his family (On Maui). However, there was a birthday party already going on in their private room so they ended up leaving. When the server called out the names for our table, they called up my family and "the Posada's" :benson: That would have been crazy.

 

[Juan Gris]

After the final game at Cinergy Field in 2002 I went down to the player's parking garage (after looting a sign, of course) and, since nearly everyone stayed after to watch the post game festivities, my buddy and I were able to stop Adam Dunn and talk to him for a good long while before fans began trickling down looking for autographs. That experience helped make Dunn my all-time favorite player.

 

[AmishDave]

Not yet. Super nervous about it too, whenever it should happen to take place, since, I'm 'borderline' obsessed with him.

 

[Austin]

Yes, and that's why I collect Andre Ethier, Jeff Francis and Charlie Gehringer.

I met Ethier in 2005 when he was in AA for the Midland Rockhounds in West Texas.
He was the nicest player and always talked with fans before and after every game.

Over the course of the season, he gave my wife and I three bats and several balls.
I have dozens of autographed cards, balls, bats, programs, tickets, pictures and more from that season.
Luckily, he had tons of different Major and Minor League cards from 2002-2005.
I even got his rare ASU college card autographed.

After the season, I sent him a few more newer 2005 cards to sign (I was trying to get every rookie card autographed (Topps, Heritage, Cracker Jack, Gallery, Bazooka, etc.) and he signed them and sent a nice letter back.

I like my Ethier in-person autographs a million times more than my certified stuff.

I started collecting Jeff Francis a year earlier in 2004, when his AA Tulsa Drillers team visited Midland.
He sat next to us in the stands, charting pitches and we talked a lot and he gave me his game-used Drillers hat and signed it for me!
Francis was also a great TTM signer in the following years and I have tons of his cards autographed.

I met Gehringer at a card show in Dallas in 1988.
He was so cool and I loved his fancy signature.
So I sent him cards to sign once a year until his death in 1993.

I met Rickey Henderson at a card show after the 1990 season.
But I collected him since 1985.
He's my all-time favorite player and I loved checking the morning newspaper box scores to see if he got a stolen base.

 

[olerud363]

Met Olerud once back in 2006 when he came to Toronto for an alumnus appearance. The full story and pictures are on my website, but I was able to get a card and ticket stub signed, and a picture taken with him. Almost didn't though! I didn't get to chat with him but in watching him interact with the fans he seemed like a really nice guy.

Sent using the Freedom Card Board mobile app.

 

[GriffeyFan]

Never met Griffey,But have met Longoria and Price.I did see Griffey hit a HR at the Trop.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

When I was collecting him, I met mattingly in hawaii.

That was the only time I ever was lost for words, felt like a 12 yr old girl seeing bieber.

Anyway, got to talk with him & asked him about then rookie matsui (this was early 2003 & mattingly was the st batting coach).

He said don't expect 55 hrs like in japan but he will hit them.

I also asked about "phenom" drew henson & he replied "im going to have to work with him"

He hit both on the head.

 

[tramers]

Twenty years of minor league and I've met about all the stars . Local team has had 120 make it to the majors and I've met their G/F's [ WOW], parents and other kin . 350 signed baseballs and 100 plus bats .
Favorites ; Matt Capps , Chris Young [pitcher] , Nyjer Morgan ,Profar , Magglio and sadly a bunch that never made it

 

[JackLondon]

I was lucky enough to meet the two players I collect, Rod Carew and Jim Fregosi.

I met Jim back in 1979 when he had just signed on to become the Angels new manager. He was appearing at Anaheim Patio and Fireside and when my mom and I got there, nobody else was there. He signed a baseball for me and I got my picture taken with him. He thought it was funny that I kept asking if he was going to play for the Angels AND be the manager. Really friendly person.




Rod Carew appeared for a free signing in the late 80's, after he had retired from the Angels and before he was elected to the Hall of Fame. The store where he appeared pulled out all the stops and gave everyone a free Polaroid as well as free 8X10s and mini pennants for signatures. I brought my mom and sister along and got several autographs, all personalized to me. He signed his autobiography for me after I babbled on and on about how I had done a book report on the book in junior high. Great experience from a class act.